When it comes to the two big cities I have been too in the last couple of weeks, you can say about December: It’s was the best of times, it was the worst of times.  (Do you see what I did there? :D)

Fulfilling my civic duty, I left Anchorage for a week in Hawaii, kicking it off with a couple days in Honolulu.  As I flew into the 50th State’s capitol, I was reminded how much it and Anchorage has in common.  Both are the largest city by a wide margin to the rest of the state, both have heavy military & tourism influences, both are remote to the other 48 states, and both are jumping off points to the remote parts of the other towns in the state.  When I think of towns in Alaska like Barrow or Nome or Bethel that the only way to reach them is by plane, the same can almost be said about Kona or Kahului or Lihue in Hawaii that require the same.  Both are on the sea, both are surrounded by mountains, and both roll up the hillsides and spill out into other metropolitan areas.

But man … I wished the comparisons would have continued the rest of the week.

The morning I left for Honolulu, I was shoveling over 6 inches of snow off my driveway, decks, and sidewalk.  We were delayed out of the airport because it took a long time to de-ice the plane.  Then when the wheels touched the ground, it was like the shield of ice crackled off of us and we began a new life in the tropics.

During that week away, Anchorage stayed at it.  In total, nearly two feet of snow fell from the time I left work until the time I got back.  When it comes to a shock from a vacation, getting off that plane Saturday morning was a shock.

But the holidays approach, so it’s time to focus on what’s important this time of year.  Hot drinks filled with booze.