Once school was out on Friday, I had about two hours to make sure my classroom and home were cleaned out and ready for me to leave. I said my goodbyes and then before I knew it, my plane was buzzing the school and it was time to leave Pilot Point. After a short layover in King Salmon in which I was able to go to dinner with some colleagues, I found myself once again in Anchorage. I was excited because this time I would actually be able to stay and play for a few days.
Some friends of mine and I stayed with my principal who lives in Palmer. Palmer is located in “The Valley” which is about 45 minutes from Anchorage. Once we’d all gotten our luggage, we hopped in our rental cars and headed out. It was pretty late by the time that we got to the house, but we all spent some time catching up before calling it a night. It felt so nice to know that we were all together and that we’d get to spend time visiting before we all made our way home for the holidays.
Saturday morning came with the best wake-up call from my principal. She was at my door telling me to get ready to go work-out (as I was on the elliptical, I promised myself that never again will I take exercise equipment for granted!). Later, as we ate a yummy homemade breakfast, I couldn’t help but envy my principal and her husband. Not only is their house beautiful, but their backyard has the most incredible view of mountains in every direction. Watching them transform as the sun came up was breath-taking. I can’t imagine being lucky enough to wake up to that every single day.
While it is winter vacation, our day was not spent being lazy. We took most of the morning and afternoon shopping for the spring semester. What once was an overwhelming obstacle now feels like a normal routine. We packed up totes and got them ready to be sent; it feels so good to have it out of the way. Now, when I fly back in, all I need to do is buy my freeze and chill.
Our night was spent eating a yummy dinner and visiting with my principal’s daughter and a few friends. My principal’s daughter is also a teacher and we have connected a lot over Skype and messaging this semester so it was great to finally meet her in person. I was happy to be in such great company, but I was also sad that three of the friends who I’d flown in with had to leave already. We each had such different flights out, but luckily we were able to coordinate and carpool to get everyone where they needed to be. Thankfully I was able to spend one more night in Palmer relaxing and enjoying the company. My principal even has a hot tub and I can’t even begin to explain how great that felt after the stress of this semester.
My Sunday was spent in downtown Anchorage doing some shopping and other errands with Sam. I was glad to have some free time with him and it felt nice being able to just wander around and shop at our leisure (I didn’t buy much though because my suitcase was too close to the 50lb limit for comfort..oops). Before I knew it, I was at the airport and it was time to begin my trip back home for Christmas. I’m glad I was able to spend the weekend in Palmer with my friends and my principal’s family. It was a great way to break up the travel too, because flying from PIP to NJ in one day would have been such a long trip!
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