Vacation Gone Wrong

Yesterday we finally got back to Kodiak from our '3 day' post Christmas vacation to Anchorage.  It ended up as a 6 day slog.  To be fair we actually had some fun and in the long run I am positive we will remember the trip.  It was a memorable trip in a Groundhog Day sort of way.

We got to Anchorage, spent the night, and then on the first day of vacation, on the very first ski run of the day at Alyeska, Stuey wiped out and broke his leg.  Vacation gone wrong.  There was a horrific interlude getting Stuey to the bottom of the mountain.  Afterwards, I left Nora at Alyeska to ski with our friends, and followed Stuey's ambulance to the hospital in Anchorage.

I spent the rest of the day with Stuey in the ER at Providence Hospital. You can't really sugar coat that part of the trip - it was heart rending to see Stuey in so much pain.  They gave him medication and splinted him up ('Daddy you're a 3 headed sea serpent').  And thankfully there was no need for surgery.

Ironically, another boy Stuey's same age crashed on the mountain at the same time, and they both got the sled ride to the medical shed at the bottom where they both lay in pain side-by-side.  Then they took back-to-back ambulances to the hospital where they ended up in adjoining rooms in the ER.  And they both broke their legs in almost identical fashion.  His name was Porter and after the ordeal they chatted a bit from their wheelchairs.

For the rest of the vacation we spent a lot of time with our friends Julie and Ray and their kids.  Lars played a lot of Roblox with Stuey.  Their house was right next to our hotel and we did a lot of visiting back and forth.  Thank God for Julie and Ray!

At the end of our three days it was clear that Stuey was not ready to board a plane home and so I extended our trip.  And then it got surreal because the weather in Kodiak went bad and the planes kept getting cancelled.  At one point we did leave Anchorage, boarded a plane and flew most of the way to Kodiak - only to not land due to high winds.  We returned to Anchorage and ended up with the exact same rental car and hotel room!  We crashed Julie and Ray's New Years Eve party and Stuey was actually happy to get back to his Roblox and board games with Lars.

Finally in the end we did make it back to Kodiak - and the plane actually landed!
Patrick