Everything is where I left it 15 years ago: the mountains, the ocean, the shops, the homes, the playgrounds and the parks. The air is the same scent and you’ll just have to experience it yourself because I can’t put it in words. It’s a gorgeous and perfect blend of snow and ocean and good dirt and pine and spruce and birch and no noticeable trace pollutionary corruption. Sweet…I think I just invented another word.

I’m tired now at 7:03/3:03, still jet lagged, sitting at Kaladi Brothers ($20 for the month of WiFi sounded a bargain) glancing at the picture of Kerouac (a sign?) and at the pedestrian traffic thinking I’ll see a familiar face as though those years hadn’t passed and I’m in the neighborhood of my youth. As if.

4 hours out of whack, I’ve enjoyed two peaceful nights of sleep, a few games of moose (like horse only Alaskan), some four square and hanging from monkey bars (I can still do a cherry drop, BING), buffalo tacos, a close encounter with a momma and her calf (photo doesn’t do justice to the 3 feet and a car door separation), a run up Hilltop (jingling my keys all the way b/c I didn’t have a bell) and some Bad Ass Coffee.

Tomorrow the plan is for Brian (older of the two brothers) and I to get up early and climb O’Malley Peak - the trip should be about 8 hours RT based on his previous visits. Mind you he’s done them solo and he’s a full foot taller than I am so we’ll see how that impacts the TT. My sister and her husband arrive tomorrow, as do my dads surviving siblings….things are about to get crazy in old Anchortown.