Work-cation

Back in June, Gavin and I were able to join Kevin on a week-long work trip to Fairbanks, Alaska. Kevin has to work for three days (which sort of stretched into four days), but we took the whole week so we'd have some time to enjoy the scenery as a family.

We went right after the solstice, and Fairbanks is just a couple hundred miles south of the Arctic Circle, so there was a lot of sunlight. Technically, the sun set for a little over two hours every night, but it never dipped far enough below the horizon for the sky to actually get dark. Instead it was a kind of twilight that was really surreal the couple of times I glimpsed it. Despite the lack of night, or maybe because of it, since the hotel room had blackout curtains, Gavin slept like a champ for the entire trip. He took two solid naps every day, which gave me plenty of time to read and watch mindless TV while Kevin was working. The flip side of that is that I spent a lot of time confined to a hotel room with a sleeping baby, but that's not such a bad way to spend a vacation.

That frame of mind is helped by the fact that there isn't a ton to do in Fairbanks, especially without a car. The downtown area is small. Even with my limited time I managed to visit every shop and museum and almost every restaurant. We spent a morning at the children's museum, which had a play area for toddlers. Gavin was a little too young for it, but it was a nice change of pace.

With Kevin along we ventured a little farther out. We took a riverboat cruise and learned about the history of the area. We visited a park that had a number of museums and attractions in addition to the playgrounds and grassy areas. Gavin even got to go on his first train ride around the park. We also went on a short hike around a lake and stopped off at the North Pole. Gavin was sleeping, so we didn't get a picture of him with Santa, but we'll get one this Christmas.

It was a nice, relaxing vacation, and it was fun to see Alaska. I was surprised by how much it reminded me of Colorado, except without the mountains. The climate and wildlife were so similar to what I grew up with that I wasn't as awed as I probably ought to have been. I was surprised at how warm it was, and was especially weirded out that it kept getting warmer late into the day. When the sun doesn't set until after midnight, the temperature is still rising at dinner-time. I'm used to it cooling off by then.

With this trip, Gavin has completed his tour of the non contiguous United States, traveling as far north and west as Kevin and I have ever been. Too bad he won't remember any of it. I guess we'll just have to go back when he's older.