Jack Flaherty

I have been to Alaska three times now, and I am going again. If you’ve ever gone on a big trip like this, you probably have been really excited.

But it all starts with driving and driving. Then you are really bored. That is exactly how I felt when I went to Alaska. The reason is that we had to drive to Minneapolis. This was the plan: we drive to Minneapolis, sleep, fly to Alaska, stay there for a week, fly back to Minneapolis, sleep again and drive home.

I packed my bag and suitcase. It was really full. Everything was full. My bag was too full of stuffed animals to add any more books. I had three books, four stuffed animals and nine items of clothing.

I went downstairs and saw that my family was ready, too. My brother Andrew is 13 years old and likes sports. My mom and dad’s names are Katie and Mark. I just call them mom and dad. That is probably not surprising to kids.

We went to the bathroom and loaded the car. In minutes, we were out of the driveway. The drive was starting pretty well. We came out of Marquette and started heading in the direction of Minnesota.

It did not take long for us to get bored. Andrew said so.

We decided to play Guess the Object or GTO. “All right, I have one!” I say. “Is it in the bathroom?” asks Mom. “No,” I answer. “Is it in the car?” questions Dad, “Nope! “Is it in the house?” “M-m.” “Is it outside the house?” “Yes.” “Is it on the porch?” “Yes,” “Is it by the door?” “Yes.” “Is it a doorbell?” Andrew guesses. “Yep!” I say.

We played the game a little more, and yes, there was an object involving the bathroom. The toilet. Soon, we came upon Negaunee. And then Ishpeming. And then, sorta Houghton.

Then we went out of Michigan. We stopped in a park in Wisconsin. We took out our stuff and went to a picnic bench. I have a saying for when you pick a bench. “Not too buggy, and not too sunny.” We ate the pizza that we ordered.

Some people were water skiing in the small lake next to us. Oh, and there were no seagulls.

So we were free and could actually eat our lunch without any seagulls eating our food! If you know what I mean, then you know the pain of a seagull standing by your lunch and staring at you and the food. It’s kind of weird.

Anyway, we finished our dessert of Oreos and marshmallows. The marshmallows were really sticky. We packed up, went to the bathroom, loaded up the car, and then we continued our drive.

We drove some more. And we drove some more. And drove some more.

Andrew and I had an iPad and a Nintendo Switch. We took turns for a while. Then we got off because Mom told us to.

Then we came to a bridge that crossed the Mississippi River. It was cool to see the massive body of water. Andrew questioned whether there was a boat race across it or a canoe race. We said none of the above. He still was not convinced.

We began to approach Minneapolis. We could see the airplanes flying above us. And there seemed like there were nice seagulls. The ones who are not thieves.

Although it seemed like we were close to our destination, it still took us 30 minutes to even enter the stinkin’ city. Andrew and I started to say, “I’m bored.” Over and over again.

Jack’s Alaskan Adventure will be continued in a future story on this page.

Jack Flaherty, age 11, lives in Marquette and enjoys relaxing and reading. He wants to be an author, a pilot and an architect. He loves watching planes and flying in them. In addition to enjoying seeing huge buildings, such as skyscrapers and museums, he likes pizza, cookies, cupcakes and brownies while also enjoying video games, board games and card games.