One day Don took me to some spots that he remembered from when he was up there before. We saw a horse and buggy on the beach with a dog running alongside of it. He could not find the house that Melanie and Ben had started out in when they moved to Anchor Point. Melanie later took us to that house.

Another day we headed to Homer to pick up allergy medicine for me. I think the fireweed that was in seed bothered me. There were white things in the air all of the time. The medicine did the trick so I recovered and was able to enjoy the rest of the visit.

One day we headed to a senior center where Sarah was playing the piano and singing for the guests. It was so nice to be able to hear her. She gives a lot of private lessons at a school in Homer.

She is also a talented seamstress. She has a line of clothing that she features on etsy.com. She had just completed an order for the stage production of “Frozen” that is in Pittsburgh. They found her over the Internet and placed their order. Everyone got a new costume hand-made by Sarah. While we were there she created and mailed out three orders. Her poodle skirt was really cute. She has orders for an additional thirteen costumes for Halloween.

Don had sent some AJ’s (hotdog) sauce since the family all like it. It was supposed to arrive before we did. Something went wrong and it did not get there. When he checked on it, it had never gone out. It went out that day and Melanie confirmed that it arrived safely.

On Friday Don celebrated his birthday. Melanie baked him a mincemeat pie. For the last two years she mailed him a pie, but this year we were able to enjoy it in person. She also made him chocolate covered raisins. For supper she fixed him halibut, his absolutely favorite fish. Everyone was on hand for the dinner. He was happy camper.

We just received word that Aurora, another granddaughter, had her second little boy named Tobias. He was born on the same day as another relative celebrated her 98th birthday. Julie was very happy. Aurora’s son Ransom is much better about sharing Mom than he was when he visited in April. He had not yet his baby brother, but they were sure he would be fine with it. They live in the wilds of Alaska — that is off the grid. They have solar panels covering their roof. The panels provide electricity along with a generator for the winter months.

On our last day in Alaska we went to Soldotna, the largest city near them. We ran some errands and found a place to eat lunch. Since we had rented a truck, we picked up Melanie’s treadmill at a second hand store. We saw moose on our way back.

It was a good thing we rented a truck. The roads we traveled were narrow and rough. The truck got us up high enough to not harm the suspension.

When we returned to Melanie’s there was time to visit with the other granddaughters. Anna shared about a writer’s conference she attended. We talked about the writing she is doing. I am not sure if any of the advice I gave was worthwhile to her, but I tried.

I saw this week that she posted a blog. I complimented her on how well it was written. I also told her to keep writing because when you continue to write you improve.

Aspen and Haven are the two who are still in school. Melanie and Ben home-school them. They were off of school for the week so that made them happy. I think their trip to Denali counted as an educational trip. They were on hand to help their mom with kitchen chores as well. Both of them give Ransom a lot of attention.

On our way down to Melanie’s we lost time because of the fires that happened in August. In places the fire melted the road. Many repairs were being done and we kept having to wait.

When it was time to head for home Don wanted to get on the road early so that we would be sure to get there. We were told that if the gas tank on the rental was not filled, they charged $10 per gallon so he wanted to be sure the truck was filled.

I was thankful that all of our arrangements worked out. When you do everything online you wonder what might go wrong. The bed and breakfast I chose in Anchorage was delightful. When the gentleman showed us to our room, he indicated things that would make noise so we could sleep. He told us it is too quiet for many of their guests. I assured him that would not be a problem for us.

There were three couples there. The couple from Belgium had been there for a month but were leaving that day for home. The other couple was from Utah. We met a lot of retired school teachers so I had a lot of talking time. The flights went just fine and the truck was a bonus.

The ride home was long and tiring. We did not sleep for about thirty-six hours. The seats were too tight and we could not sleep. We were beat when we picked up our dogs. Family members made our trip to the airport a breeze. Janice delivered us to the door and picked us up there.

We enjoyed a wonderful trip. The people we stayed with told us to come back any time and we had a place to stay. We even got a phone call from them that evening.

Oh, and I nearly missed my hair appointment the next morning because we slept in to make up for the sleep we missed.

Ann Swanson writes from her home in Russell, Pa. Contact at hickoryheights1@verizon.net.