Travel Diary

While I have done a few mileage runs to Alaska before, I didn't wanna do the same thing again. Sure, I needed (wanted?) more miles, but I also figured I should make a vacation out of it. So that's what I did.

It was a foggy morning when I headed out to Oakland Airport. Since it was 5 AM there was really no line at TSA. I got upgraded to first class and we took off and headed north. One fascinating thing were the yellow glows that were under the clouds as we flew over cities. It was a cool effect I hadn’t seen very often. For my drink, I ordered a mimosa, and the meal was granola, grapes, nuts, fruit, and breakfast buns. I also got some really neat shots of Mount Rainier as we passed by, and soon we were landing in Seattle around 8 AM.

I had a layover there because for some reason flights from the Bay Area don't go straight to Anchorage Alaska on Alaska airlines, but they do other airlines, which is weird, though I guess it’s because Seattle is the home base of Alaska Airlines.

After my layover, I got on a flight to Anchorage and was upgraded to first class. In Anchorage, the first thing I had to do was obtain an iPhone cable because I had forgotten to bring one. It reminded me of how annoying it was that iPhones use a different cable – since I did have my USB-C cables. Luckily, the cab driver had a variety of charging cables, so I could at least get tiny bump in power before I got to downtown Anchorage.

In town I checked in at the Four Points by Sheraton ($180 for one night) and then found a nearby mall. The only viable place I could find was an AT&T store, where I bought an overpriced iPhone cable, but it was something I had to have. I then returned to the hotel to charge up my phone, and finally I got out to go for a nice walk.

The weather wasn't particularly great, but I was able to see a lot of the interesting streets, and in the distance they were the snowcapped mountains, which were pretty magnificent. The proximity to the airport prevented my drone from taking off. Eventually, I got over to the Museum of Science and Nature which was quite nice. I only had a half hour before it closed, but I was able to see some fascinating fossils, and Pterodactyl bones, and some very unique exhibits. One super impressive thing was a bear skeleton. As well, they had some stuffed bears. Just not something you see every day. I then took a long walk back to the hotel. The weather was getting colder by the minute.

At night I, went over to the F Street Station, which was highly recommended; however, the place was packed and there was no way to get a seat there. So I headed over to the 49th State Brewing Company, but they were also very busy and didn't seem eager to take new orders. Thus, I just went to their store and grabbed three cans of beer. The worker seemed a little dismayed that I hadn't tipped, but this was just a simple transaction. There was no service involved. You're not getting a tip for that.

On the way back. I found a pizza slice place and got a slice of pizza. Again, since the worker only involved moving an item from one location to another (maybe two feet away) I was not going to tip for that, or feel guilty. Back at the hotel, I had my pizza and beer and called it a night.