Dear Family,
Holy Smoke!!! What happened to all of you last month?! I’m still trying not to take it personally!
Curt and I actually got out of Utah. I know….isn’t it exciting! We took Tammy’s advice and did a road trip in Alaska. It was the first time in 30+ years we went somewhere by ourselves just for fun. We flew into Anchorage and rented a car to see the fantastic sights and scenery. In my planning I tried to mix things up a bit with our lodging. One night we slept in the airport (5), another at a standard hotel (4), two at a bed and breakfast (3), two in a lodge (1) and the last night we were in a cabin (2). (I have rated them for your convenience.) The bed and breakfast got a (3) only because it had a moose in the back yard which we thought was pretty cool…other than that…the hosting couple were a bit odd. Think of an eccentric Mr. & Mrs. Claus. But then, we met a lot of ‘odd’ people…none of which were native Alaskans.
We hiked incredible glaciers, climbed a fence to see a reindeer farm, panned for gold at an old but still operating mine, and banged on the door of a state silver salmon fish hatchery until someone answered and ‘volunteered’ to give us a tour. We were really blown away with the gorgeous, gorgeous scenery as we took our time driving the scenic roads. I missed taking a great shot. An adult bald eagle kept pace with us as it flew alongside Curt’s window. We drove up a mountain road and came to a unique business where hunters brought their bear, caribou, and fish for processing. We got an ear full about the right way to bleed and cut up your game for best flavor. I was so proud of myself for not throwing up and keeping a smile on my face the whole time. We bought some interesting jerky and sausage to bring home.
In Seward we took a six hour tour through the Kenai Fjords and watched doll dolphin, humpbacks and several orca pods. The captain would point out mountain goats and their new born kids clinging to the rocky islands as well as a few black bear, and groups of sunning sea lions. The sea otters were the cutest just bobbing up and down on their backs amongst the floating chunks of glacier ice. I especially enjoyed watching the puffin and other sea birds diving and swimming underwater for fish.
In another small town…of course, they are all small….we bought rubber gloves at the store and went tide pooling. The tide was unusually far and low so we had a great chance to tip toe around the puddles and look for live animals such as sea anomies (sp?), small crab, some live blobby things we couldn’t identify, and star fish. We took a nerve racking short hike through a swampy area where we kept seeing fresh moose and bear scat and foot prints in the muddy ground. We came face to face with a huge great horned owl who was willing to let us just stare at him as long as we were not moving.
One day I snooked ,(he hates not sticking to the rules and risking being where you might not suppose to be), Curt into going down to where the commercial fishing boats bring in their catch and watched as they unloaded huge halibut, weighed them and packed them for shipping. The boat ‘Time Bandit’ from PBS ‘The Deadliest Catch’ happened to be docked as well and we sauntered down to the pier for a shot. The large fishing boat next to it was getting a fresh coat of paint and we were asked to sign their boat. Which we did!
Our last great adventure was on a river float down the Kenai Wilderness Refuge. It was odd to start at 6:00 p.m. and still find it light when we returned 3.5 hours later. We didn’t see a whole lot of wildlife on the river but by then seeing large eagles took on the same excitement as seeing salt lake gulls. The most fun was our guide who had spent the last winter caring for the dogs and new puppies for the winner of the Iditarod (mushing) race. We didn’t choose to do that so it was fun to hear of that adventure first hand.
We spent Sunday at the closest branch which was held in a nondenominational chapel at a skiing resort. We sat down in front of a large crucifix and the Branch president walked in wearing a gray pony tail to his waist. The 10 of us sat reverently for twenty minutes while two slices of bread in a zip lock baggie arrived with the first counselor’s young wife and children. A group of Y.W. were assigned to come and do the talks. Sunday school was a cozy gospel discussion. When it was time for R.S. the two men left the room (one was Curt) and a few more ladies sat down. Everyone kept talking. I kept thinking “shouldn’t we be getting up and going to R.S. or something?” and then one of the ladies said, “Well, I guess this is Relief Society. Have a great week!” It was nice. I could do that.
Well, I have certainly worn out my welcome here in this letter. April took care of the animals while we were gone and didn’t get too creeped out being alone at night.
I should mention that I had a great birthday turning 53 last Saturday. All of our family here in Utah got together in Provo Canyon where we hiked, picnicked and celebrated June birthdays for Travis, Matt and myself. We had a great time.
Love to you all,
Susan, Curt, April
No comments:
Post a Comment