Fernando's B-day Festivities

Last Sunday was Fernando’s 28th birthday, which also happened to fall on Father’s Day. On Saturday, after taking a nap from arriving at 6am from taking a red eye back from Anchorage, I took him out to Sugar Land where I experienced Grimaldi’s New York-style pizza for the first time. Birthday festivities continued at Christopher’s Vintage Shave at the Sugar Land town center where Fernando experienced a true vintage shave with a straight blade razor and facial. The process he says was a little painful, but the results were worth it. His face hasn’t been that smooth since before puberty, I’m sure. We strolled around our favorite store, you guessed it, Costco, and hit up our nephew’s birthday pool party for the rest of the day. On Sunday we had a nice dinner of flank steak pinwheels with carrot risotto and Costco cheesecake with some of our good friends. I’m really enjoying having him back in town.

yummy pizza!

Pesto sauce with fresh mozzarella, basil and tomatoes

Getting a shave

Alaska :: Days 2-6

I showed up to work and things were pretty non-eventful. I was essentially asked to do what I normally do in Houston–only for the users in Anchorage. That made things pretty easy. Tuesday morning, I woke up with I think might have been food poisoning. All I know is that I didn’t sleep well and I threw up a couple of times. After that, though, I was fine.

Being without Diane got old very fast. While Anchorage and the surrounding area is beautiful, it’s a lot more fun when you can share the experience with somebody. Here are some pics from the week.

Coastal trail a few blocks from my hotel

A recently built house in Anchorage

All houses are basically the same style

Anchorage Temple

Botanical Gardens

Pretty flowers

Alaska :: Day 1

Flew to Anchorage–picked up my rental car and was shocked at the sticker price: $1650!! Sundays in Anchorage are pretty quiet. Downtown wasn’t very happening, but I still walked around and got to know the town a little. Had dinner at Ginger and it was OK. “House-made” ginger ale was terrible; the ginger was too strong. Halibut was tasty. Went to Earthquake Park and got attacked by mosquitoes.

World record halibut at 400+ lbs!

North-facing view from hotel room

9.2 earthquake ~50 years ago

More earthquake devastation

Driving through Anchorage