Two and a half days is somehow both a long time and a very short time to be somewhere. Aimee and I found this out this weekend, when we traveled to Alaska to enjoy our three-day weekend with my folks amidst the snow and cold and cozy warmth of home.
We enjoyedsome entertainment from Alaska Airlines’ digEplayer, choosing the odd man out in the list, Idiocracy, which had a very strange theatrical (non)release and has just come out on DVD. It was certainly not worthy of being dumped, without so much as a movie poster to advertise it, as it was, and while it wasn’t spectacular, it was very funny in parts, and had a lot of great, sharp observations about mass culture.
The flight had a few delays, nothing too bad, but we didn’t end up getting home until about 2:00 am, when it was definitely nice and dark. We woke up around 10:00 am, when it was still very much nice and dark, and spent the day tooling around town and running errands. Familiar sights, like my old high school, had new features, and in some empty lots, new buildings were coming up, like the massive complex that has taken the spot where Benny’s Taco Wagon used to live. 
Snow City was bigger and just as good as the last time we ate there, and we also revisited Title Wave for some last-minute Christmas gifts. Sure, we’re three weeks late, but we decided to celebrate Christmas along with my dad’s upcoming birthday and my even more upcoming birthday all at once, so the house was decorated for the holidays, just like I remember it. That pack of carolers around the minature lamppost, the elves sitting on the edge of the speakers in the living room, the ornament advent calendar, and our economically miraculous fake tree. Only the Scandinavian flags were missing, and that’s probably ok.
Food traditions were upheld, too, including a delicious fondue dinner and some potent glögg afterwards, heavy on the aquavit… Perfect. Before dinner, I cleaned out a cabinet full of old VHS tapes and enjoyed watching some inexplicably taped Saturday Night Live episodes from the early nineties, whose host and musical guest combinations were the stuff of trivia contests: January 11, 1992? Well, that would be Rob Morrow and Nirvana. October 5, 1991? Ah yes, Jeff Daniels and Color Me Badd. Wow. A few old “Magnum, P. I.” episodes, an NBC News special on the Ramstein air disaster (?), and some Diana Rigg-hosted “Mystery” shows, but everything, in the end, went in the discard pile.
After dinner, we exchanged gifts, and everyone seemed happy with their respective treats: among them, a DNA kit to help Mom trace the genomic roots of her ancestors; more books for Dad, big surprise; the coveted George Foreman grill for Aimee; and some great books, CDs, and sartorial assistance for me.
Sunday morning, we enjoyed brunch with the Barnetts and Reeders, regaling them with stories of Los Angeles, and then we headed out to check out some ice sculptures after Dad and I took apart the cabinets in the family room to make way for a new LCD TV that’s on its way. It’s strange to see a TV not in that familiar Ethan Allen cabinet, possibly because the cabinets predate my parents’ marriage and we’ve always hidden the TV, way back to the Trinitron of our childhood, in it. First cable, now a flat-screen, and out in the open…what’s next? 
The ice sculptures were nice, and I caught up with Wayne, my old friend from Cyrano’s days, at Cook Inlet Books, and then we enjoyed a birthday dinner for my dad at Bear Tooth, always delicious. Aimee and I headed to Sub Zero, our favorite ‘microlounge’ (?) to check on its life signs (doing ok, not the only customers there), and then met Neil and Melanie at Kinley’s McGinley’s (thanks, Dad) for a drink. An Irish pub in Anchorage, and a decent, non-cartoonish one at that – who’d have thought?
More relaxing and choring around the house on Monday morning, followed by a mid-day flight back to Los Angeles. Strangely enough, it was only a few degrees warmer in L.A. this morning than it was at its warmest in Anchorage, though I suppose we should be happy we missed the real cold in Anchorage last week. It sure was great to be at home once again, and to enjoy the snowy quiet at the house with the family.
