High and Dry

Well, shucks. I just realized that I left you all hanging by your fingernails after meeting my new friend, Pam. The fact is that life intervened, and I had a project I had to complete. But then, it's always something. Now that the project is done--or nearly so, once I meet with my clients--it's time for taxes. In the meantime, let's move on with our story a bit at a time

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One special part of every Road Scholar program I coordinated was the evening of introductions. Of course, I had the advantage of receiving and reading all the "prep mats" the participants sent in, so I had a bit of a preview of the makeup of each group. Without fail each one was filled with fascinating, involved people who'd come from every walk of life, with a preponderance of them from education.

This time, I was meeting the group from the other side of the desk, and it would prove no less engaging. There ended up being 25 of us. It should have been 26, but one California participant cancelled at the very last minute. Of course she was the only one whose name sounded vaguely familiar, and I had been anxious to see if she'd attended one of my programs.

Contrary to all of the other participants, I was watching the program to see how it was organized, the level of service provided, the quality of the program team. Only one word fits every aspect of this program:  Excellent.

Jodi, Mollie and Kimber, our on-site program coordinators, went out of their way to provide us with the best experience possible. They kept us informed at every step of the way as to what to expect and what we would be doing and where. Jodi shared only the first evening with us; Mollie and Kimber were with us each day and were available to offer any help required. As they shared meals and events with us, they also regaled us with stories of their lives in interior Alaska--living in "dry" cabins with no electricity and no running water.

Meals have always been an important part of any Road Scholar adventure, and the cuisine served at the Westmark was excellent. One of the attendees who'd participated in an earlier edition of this program said that the quality of food had actually declined.

"It was gourmet-quality," Marty told me.

As far as I was concerned, it could hardly have been improved upon. The first night, each day's breakfast and some lunches were buffets. The rest of the meals were beautifully prepared, plated and served. The final dinner was the piece de resistance, served in a penthouse dining room with an expansive view of the Cook Inlet.

As we finished that introductory dinner, I saw a bearded gentlemen standing next to Mollie and thought to myself that looks like Mark Nordman. Nordman has been the race marshal, overseeing every aspect of the Iditarod sled dog race for many years. No, it couldn't be. He'd have way too much to do to attend a Road Scholar program just a couple of days before the race.

Yes, it could.

That caliber of speaker set the standard for the rest of the program.