Alaska Trip: days 8, 9, and 10

Yep, sure enough, I woke up sick.  Packed my bags and left Delta in the rain which cleared up, south of the mountains.  I got to Glenallen and gassed up.  Then because I was feeling so tired, I parked and took a nap.  After an hour or so, I headed out, but happened to drive past an Urgent Care and decided to drop by for a covid test which turned out positive.  Fortunately, I had already canceled dinner plans with Peter and Laura, and I asked the nurse if she could write me a Paxlovid prescription and pick it up in Anchorage which she did.  I drove on to my Air BnB in Chugiak and didn't make any other stops except for the pharmacy because I felt pretty bad.  Once I got all checked in, I started my antivirals and tried to find a way to get Emma home without driving with her.  I couldn't find any flights on bush planes so I just went to sleep.

The next morning, having canceled my breakfast plans with a friend in Anchorage, I just headed south to Homer and Emma.  The drive south was beautiful and uneventful.  I got to Homer on time and met Emma at the boat harbor where I broke the bad news to her which devastated her since she had had such a good time.  Although I thought someone might be driving to Anchorage, it turned out nobody was, so we ultimately ended up just rolling down the windows and masking up and driving back to Anchorage.  Again, the drive was gorgeous and uneventful.  We got to Anchorage and I dropped Emma off at a Panda Express for dinner before I took her to Earthquake Park for a sunset view of Anchorage.  Then we dropped the car off and shuttled to the airport.  "Unfortunately," we got seated together on the plane, so we kept our masks on.  The red-eye (1:30am) flight to Seattle was about as much fun as it sounds.

I vaguely remember saying "goodbye" to Emma in Seattle since she was flying back to Medford, but I don't even really remember my flight to Portland because I was so tired at that point.  Luckily all my bags arrived in Portland and I hopped on the MAX to Union Station where I was supposed to catch an Amtrak to Salem.  All of this sounded much more fun when I was planning the trip and wasn't riddled with covid.  Since I didn't want to get Dohnele and the twins sick, I had quickly got an air BnB in Salem for a couple days at which point in time we were all supposed to go to Dohn's place in southern Oregon for Dohnele's birthday.  I figured at that time I could just go home and by the time everyone returned, fingers crossed, I'd be all better and testing negative.

Crossing the Willamette River on Amtrak (above) and passing Willamette Falls (below)

The Amtrak was actually really nice and relaxing and I ended up sleeping most of the way which incidentally took just as long as it would have to drive.  Bonus: I got to see Willamette Falls which is really tricky to see from a moving vehicle, but the train offers great views.  Once I got to Salem, I caught a Lyft to the Air BnB and then proceeded to basically sleep for a few days.  I did binge watch the "Mandalorian," though.  It was just entertaining enough to keep watching, but I wouldn't recommend it.