We had a really great weekend in Anchorage, with lots of good family time, fun with Scott cleaning out the basement (sounds fun, I know), a 5k race, and most importantly, a surprise dinner for my parents’ 40th anniversary that went off without a hitch.
Aimee and I arrived late Thursday night, after a delightful flight on a free first-class upgrade, and set the first part of our surprise plan in motion when we went to pick up Scott at the airport Friday afternoon. Our parents didn’t know he was coming, so his arrival helped make a second surprise seem unlikely. We went out to dinner at Mexico in Alaska on Friday night, something we hadn’t all done together in at least five years (the last time Scott and I were in Anchorage together), where we posed underneath our little 20+ year-old info sheets: our name and photo along with our favorite dish and date of first meal at the restaurant.
On Saturday, Scott and I ventured into the basement and spent a good seven hours down there going through what was essentially the physical record of our childhoods, boxes of junior high algebra work, model airplane parts, pin collections, books, newspaper clippings, Matchbox cars, magazines, geodes, empty Coke cans, and just about anything else we might have accumulated and held onto. Every time I go back I sift through and consolidate a few boxes; this time, Scott and I must have gotten rid of a dozen, which is huge progress for a family of collectors. I had to hold onto some things – boxes of books, letters, and photos – but most everything else went, either to recycling, to be sold at Title Wave, or on eBay (I’m looking at you, Magnum, P.I. scale model of T.C.’s “Island Hoppers” Vanagon). A lot of our time was spent reminiscing about whatever it was that we had found; we had to get some new batteries and fire up the Bambino again:
That evening, Aimee and I went to Orso downtown a little early, met all of my parents’ friends, and assembled them in the banquet room to surprise my parents, who arrived with Scott and the Barnetts, thinking it was going to be a dinner for the six of us. And they were certainly surprised, and happy to see many of their friends there, and we ended up having a great evening, with excellent food and a lot of good conversation and stories. We’d been planning it for a long time, ever since Aimee came up with the idea last year, and it was great to see it all come together.
We headed home tired and happy after the dinner, and got up the next morning for our 5k run downtown, on a nice, flat course with cool weather. I think it ended up being a little longer than 5k, but we all enjoyed ourselves and it was nice to get out and race for the first time in awhile. We’ll all be doing the Long Beach 5k/Half Marathon in October, which it’s time for me to start training for… It was a great trip, but I’m glad to be back in L.A., and home for at least a few weeks without any travel plans.
