Day 1: I arrived in Anchorage, Alaska at 12:30 am on early Sunday morning. One could also say that it was late Saturday evening because the sun was just setting. At baggage claim I noticed a guy grab a baseball bag off the tracks and asked if he was on the Goldpanners. He said yes and introduced himself as Kevin before we figured out what to do next. A few minutes later Todd Dennis, the general manager of the Panners, picked us up in a dilapidated RV outside the busy airport. We then drove to the University of Alaska at Anchorage where I stayed in a dormitory for the rest of the night.
Night is a term that should be used very loosely throughout the summer, as there is not too much of a night time. So far it appears that there is a very extensive sunset that turns to a brief darkness. There is a three hour time difference between Alaska and Missouri, which doesn’t sound like much but in reality is a huge difference. For instance if I wake up at 9, everyone in the Midwest is having lunch, and when everyone in the Midwest is going to bed, it is only dinnertime here. Also, since it is light out I feel like conversing with my friends back home but it is actually 11 or so here, and everyone back home has been asleep for several hours.
Alaska is a weird place. After waking up in the dorms we went to a mall for three hours and basically got to know each other. We eventually left the mall and headed to Kenai, Alaska where we will be staying until Friday night. Our first series is in Kenai against the Peninsula Oilers but the first game is not until Wednesday so we have a few long days of boredom ahead of us. The drive from Anchorage to Kenai was absolutely the most incredibly beautiful drive I have ever been on. The first two hours of the drive we were on a highway on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. We could see across the ocean bay to the other side where huge snow covered mountains emerged directly from the water. The mountains got larger as we went further toward Kenai until we hit the peninsula and a valley with streams and rivers with rapids became the scenery. The entire trip was surreal. I spotted one bald eagle perched on a tree and countless other birds along with many waterfalls from the melting mountains.
When we arrived in Kenai we had a nice practice and meeting. Coach Jim Dietz told us how the program would be run this summer and explained the way the Goldpanners work. We threw light bullpens and watched as the hitters took batting practice. The team is staying in quite the setup for the week and it is hard to explain our living quarters. We are living in the back rooms of a bingo hall/ the Peninsula Oilers headquarters. The entire team is in one room with walls that partition cubby holes that contain two bunk beads. There are four people in every room and the dynamics of the team are starting to take shape. The team is getting along well and the obligatory conversations about where people are from and how each player’s team did this season are turning into stereotypical “baseball player” conversations. We have practice tomorrow at noon, but I anticipate that my sleep schedule will be so messed up that I will wake up and watch the France vs England soccer game. As I am typing this an alarm is going off. Our assistant coach told us that two doors cannot be opened or an alarm will sound and police will come to secure the bingo hall J This is hilarious and a great start to the summer.
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