On the Schedule for Today:

• Bus trip from Middle School to Detroit
• Fly from Detroit (1:35 or 2:49)
• Arrive in Anchorage
• Stay overnight at church in Palmer

Report from the Science Committee:

Temperature (High/Low):

Average Altitude:

Weather Conditions:

Daily Report from the Journalism Committee:

Race to the Gate
Kate Belew
13 June 2007

We arrived at the Detroit Metro Airport in a flurry of duffels, sleeping bags, and the whole Alaska Great Lakes Project group. Our group unloaded the bag van and slowly but surely accumulated a growing pile of bags on the floor of the check-in area. We waited in a long and separate Alaska Great Lakes only check-in line to get us all ready to face the trying day ahead. At the moment we had thought we had plenty of time to get everyone through check-in and security, even having some left over time to hang around by our gate. Our group was separated into two planes, one plane going to Atlanta then to Anchorage and the other going to Cincinnati. The first plane was the one that was headed toward Atlanta and some people thought that the plane was going to take off at 1:30. The plane was actually set to take off at 12:30. With a combination of the time and the almost stand still check in line it was 12:00 and there were still people going through the security line. Everyone in that first plane was racing to gate B16 that was headed to Atlanta so we could then fly to Anchorage. We had to run up and down escalators to get to our gate. Then we ended up booking it on a neon glowing moving walkway under the halls of the airport to get to concourse B. Breathless, we all arrived in waves to the gate as they were calling each section to board the plane. When asked about the chaotic morning, Ishtar’s van had a lot to say. Gabi Fratta, who was almost last in line to get through check-in, security, and to the gate said, “We were running up and down escalators and through a tunnel with music and it was definitely a workout, but we made it, so that’s good.” When Brett Merkel was asked about the race to the gate he said, “The moving walkways were going too slow for me.” When asked about how it was, being in charge of getting the group to the gate on time, Ishtar replied with, “It was frustrating that the people at the Delta counter were so slow in getting the first part of our group through, which cost both us and them in getting us to the gate on time. Luckily they gave us some accommodations at the end to make sure we got to our flight on time.” After such a hectic day full of racing through a busy airport to reach our plane on time, landing in Atlanta, and then sitting in another airplane for a monotonous seven hour flight, we finally made it to beautiful Alaska. If you asked everyone if the race to the gate was worth it, most people would say yes!

Our First Day
Kaitlin Frazier
13 June 2007

This morning I woke up early because it was the day that I would leave for Alaska. I was extremely excited, for it was going to be a blast! I ate breakfast, but not a lot because I was too nervous. I then got all my bags in the car, and my parents took me to into town. A lot of my other classmates were going through the same process at this time as well.
We arrived at the middle school a good half hour before the bus was set to leave. When I got there I was greeted by a lot of my classmates. I put my bags where they belonged, got all the stuff we needed and waited patiently with my family and friends for the buses to arrive.
It was finally 9 A.M. and all the Alaska Great Lakes Project participants waved madly at their family and friends from the windows of two school buses as our group pulled out of the Marshall Middle School parking lot bound for the Detroit airport. We got to the airport right on time. Every one of us checked in our luggage, went through security and boarded the plane. Our flight, which was an hour and a half long, took us down to Atlanta, Georgia.
In Atlanta we were to catch another plane that would eventually take us to our final destination: Anchorage, Alaska. When we got to the airport, most of us scrounged around for our lunch. We rushed to eat before we had to board, since we were taking off shortly.
The plane we were taking was a humongous plane. The whole flight was long but fun as we watched movies, listened to music, talked to our friends, slept and just had a great time. At the end it started to get a bit dull, but then we could look out the airplane windows to see the beautiful, majestic mountains. It took most of us, the ones that haven’t yet been to Alaska, by surprise.
We finally landed in Anchorage after seven grueling hours. We all got our luggage from the baggage claim area, which was quite a process, and climbed into the vans that took us to a church in Palmer. Palmer was where we stayed the night, falling asleep as we were thinking of what other surprises Alaska would give us for the next day.