Do you know what Termination Dust is? Read the bottom of the blog.
Sorry for not posting for a couple of days. We have had a couple of exciting days. As I mentioned in the last post we got up early and headed to Denali National Park. When we left out of Wasilla the weather was overcast and the cloud ceiling was very low and there was not much visibility. However, on our 4 hour drive the weather started clearing and you could now start to see some beautiful sites. We arrived at Denali and had a bag lunch and took off to see the sites. We started by them showing us a dog sled demonstration. The difference between their dogs and the dogs we saw at the Iditarod is that these dogs are bred for work and the others for racing. The Park Service uses these dogs all winter for park maintenance. We also got to pet some of the dogs. Our group to a bus to the kennels that are about 3 miles from the park headquarters. On our way back we took a 3 mile nature walk back to the visitors center. Some of the kids were not happy but the majority wanted to walk so we did. No one was disappointed when we finally arrived back at he visitor center. We then drove 14 miles into the interior of the park to see wildlife and more vista's. We were able to Moose, Caribou, and sheep to name a few. I will have pics up later. We did not leave until after 6 and everyone was pretty hungry so we stopped at a local place called Panorama Pizza. It looked like a dive, but once they tasted the pizza it seemed much better than it looked. We then headed home, and it rained hard the whole trip. Thankfully it stays pretty light so you can see quite well. Laura's van got up close and personal with a moose on the side of the road as we headed home. Stopped in Trapper Creek for gas and snacks and it was back to Our Redeemer Lutheran Church around 12:30 am.
On Sunday we got up cleaned and packed for our last 2 nights in Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church in Anchorage. We attended morning worship and visited with some of the parishioners and loaded up to drop off our things in Anchorage. WELL, this is where it gets a bit interesting! So we arrive at the church and all the classrooms are in cleaned out as the carpets were all just cleaned. This also is a school and this is their week off. So Laura calls the lady and asks whats up and she tells here that she did not make arrangements for us. She thought we would be gone or something like that. The funny thing is that in our orientation she told all of us that she would see us back here on Sunday night. Well that did not happen! Thankfully Laura has the connections up here and called Pastor Steve at Our Redeemer in Chugiak and he was more than gracious to host us for the final 2 nights. To say Laura was frustrated at this time would be a gross understatement. So we loaded up our stuff back in the vans and headed out for some sightseeing. The kids were wonderful and have been very nimble with changing plans. The funny thing is that Pastor Steve's sermon was about facing the storms that will challenge you and believe that god does have a plan for you. With that said, our plan truly must have been that we were meant to stay in Chugiak .I am going to have the kids sign a thank you card for the folks here.
The day got better from here. We headed down the road to Seward and stopped at the Alaska Conservatory. It is a place where you can drive through and see animals in their natural habitat. So as we are driving around we see a big tour bus that looks very familiar. The bus was from Rustad Tours in Kerkhoven. We stopped and chatted with the group but no one from the area was on this tour.
We then went to Byron Glacier, we hiked about a mile into a valley and were truly amazed at what was in front of us. Breathtaking does not completely describe the beauty of this place. A couple of the kids mentioned that this is what heaven must look like. Simply amazing. After spending some time there no one was in hurry to leave but we headed to Whittier a town only accessible by sea, air, or a 3 mile one lane tunnel. On the top of the hour traffic goes from Whittier to Bear Valley, and on the bottom of the hour traffic goes from Whittier to Bear Valley. We entered the tunnel at 6:30 and arrived in a very foggy Whittier. We ate at the Anchor Inn and set off to see some other sites that were postcard perfect. After spending 3 hours in Whittier we had to be lined up a the tunnel by 9:50, otherwise we had to wait until 11:00. We headed up to Chugiak and arrived just after midnight and set up and for the most part it did not take anyone long to fall asleep. While we were at the Anchor Inn we were talking to a fisherman who owns a boat and he was wondering who and what we were about. He lives in a town near Wasilla where we are planning to be on Monday. He told us about an ice cream store in Houston that has the best ice cream and if we went there he would treat. He gave Laura a crisp $100 bill and told her to treat us to ice cream. (WOW)! If there was change to send it back, if it is not enough he would send Laura a check. He believed in what we were doing and was really proud of this ice cream. So that will come later today.
We experienced Termination Dust on Friday. It is the first snow of the season in the mountains. So guess what winter is coming! The seasons are switching and it is beginning to look a little like Fall here.
I will have pictures up soon. There are many!
Mike
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