North to Alaska - Day 2

Thursday morning, Aunt Janice took us on a tour over to the Turnagain arm of the bay, where you can sometimes see buluga whale when the tide is in. We were amazed at the many beautiful waterfall cascading down the sides of the mountain and all the lush green vegetation. We did not see any whales, however. The tide was out and there are miles and miles of sand and bars. We were told that people do not go out on the sand because the water level is so high that it acts similar to quick sand and when you get mired into the sand, it is very difficult to get out and the tides come up so quickly that a few people have died before they could get them out. There are warning signs all over the beaches at this area .

We drove out to Elmendorf Air Force Base and around downtown Anchorage.  There are about 300,00 people living in Anchorage and about 700,000 in Alaska all together. 

Larry, Venna, Janice, Sue and Sandy at the Sour Dough Mining Company

Brett and Tiffany ~ enjoying the soft ice cream at the Sour Dough Mining Co

For lunch we went to the Sour Dough Mining Company Restaurant, which is a replica of an old mill house and enjoyed a great meal with Mom, Dad, Tiffany, Brett Janice, Sue, Ray and I.

Ray at Wild Berry Park.  It was hard not to whip an index finger through this fountain!  Yes, it is real chocolate! 

Afterwards, we walked across the street to the Wild Berry Park, which had all kinds of Alaskan souvenirs, foods, jewelry, etc as well as candy samples, lots of clothing, etc.

Our Alaskan home

Then we went to pick up the RV at Great Alaskan Holidays - - - and we were on our way! Ray motored us downtown to the Ulu Factory, where Brett wanted to see how the Ulu knives were made. We drove back to Janice & Suzette’s home. Jim, my cousin, who is just a couple of years younger than I came over and it was so great to see him. He looks much like his father, Stowell, and we so enjoyed his delightful sense of humor, and entertaining conversation.

We had dinner, then drove over to Jim’s home where we parked the RV for the evening. Jim has four children and has coached all of them in hockey and soccer.  He built this great rink in his back yard.  It also has a great tree house with a twirly slide exit on the side.

Tiffany and Brett were designated to go get Brittany and Cory that night from the airport. (I felt bad because we all came in at different times and we were all going out at different times, which meant a lot of trips to the airport and inconvenient hours.) Mom and Dad slept in the motor home, Ray and I were given Jay bird’s bed and Brittany and Cory went downstairs to what Cory fondly referred to as the "sweet man cave" after they arrived.

North to Alaska Day 1

Mom & Dad - in Alaska at last!

In January, my parents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary! Quite an achievement and we are happy for them and extremely grateful for them. In lieu of the usual family/town gathering, they wanted to go to Alaska to celebrate. On May 26th, we met them at the Salt Lake Airport and we were on our way. Flying in to Anchorage, we were awestruck at the multitude of mountains and lakes. The mountains are very pointed and sharp and went as far as our eyes could see. Snowcapped, they seemed to go on endlessly. Since we live right next to some beautiful mountains, I was surprised that I should be so overwhelmed at the sight of these mountains, which I presume were the Chugach Range, lying southeast of Anchorage. Dad was sitting by the window and was looking out most of the trip. He asked the steward where we were, so after that, the steward would come and update us every little while. I enjoyed visiting with Mom, watching a movie and doing a little reading.

Sandy, Mom, Dad, Janice & Sue ~ around 9:00 p.m.

We arrived in Anchorage, where Aunt Janice and Aunt Sue picked us up at the airport. Dad’s sister, Janice has lived in Alaska for over forty years now. Her whole family loved the state so much, they have all settled there and most of their children have stayed as well.  It is so beautiful, I can understand why you would want to stay.  We had dinner and visited, went outside to the backyard and visited. I was amazed because I knew we had been out for quite some time, but the sun never seemed to change positions. It still felt like 7:30 p.m. . . . yet it was 11:30 p.m.! We really enjoyed the novelty of no darkness. It simply did not get dark. And it was so easy to stay up into the wee hours without even realizing it.