Land of the Midnight Sun

Wow! What a week we had in Alaska last week! I'll try to describe everything, but sometimes you just don't have words to explain. Anyway, here we go:

We arrived in Anchorage after a long, but otherwise unexceptional, flight. By the time we got our luggage and dealt with the car rental people and drove to Palmer, which is an hour north of Anchorage, it was 2 pm. Rene went fishing that evening; Janet and I stayed home and helped make lots of cookies for the reunion.

Sunday we got went to church at 1 pm. It's a good thing Sacrament meeting was so late, because our sleep schedules were messed up the whole time we were there. The sun sets about 11:30 and rises again about 3 am, but in between, it's still light--kind of like twilight. It's leads to staying up late. We ate dinner lots of night around 8 pm and after that, it just never seems like it's time to go to bed. Plus, it was a reunion, so we stayed up late talking and enjoying being together. As far as the church goes, there are lots of members in Alaska. In the Matanuska valley, where Bryan and Mary live, there is a stake. Palmer itself is only about 7000 people and Wasilla is about the same. But there are lots of homes out in the country. One-tenth of the population there is LDS. There are 3 wards in Palmer, 3 in Wasilla and 3 in between.

Monday, we drove up to the Matanuska glacier. It's about an hour drive. It was interesting and fun. We wanted to walk out onto the glacier, but that cost $15 apiece and we were too cheap to pay that.

Tuesday, Janet left to go with a bunch of cousins on a halibut charter out of Homer. She was pretty seasick, so she didn't enjoy it much, but I'll let her tell her own tale. Rene and I and Blair and Leslie drove down to Whittier and took a half-day glacier cruise. It was a little pricey and at first, I was wondering if we had been taken, but it turned out to be so awesome! We went 65 miles down Prince William Sound in a big catamaran and then came back, stopping to look at glaciers and wildlife all the way. We saw 26 named glaciers and a bunch of smaller ones. We got up close to a couple and were able to see one "calving". We also saw sea otters, seals and lots of bald eagles. We were hoping to see some whales, but didn't. It is hard to describe how beautiful it was. There we were in the ocean, with snow-covered mountains 360 degrees all around us. It was totally worth the money. Oh, for Joseph's benefit, we also saw a bunch of sea kayakers there. They have a plane or boat drop them off way out there, then kayak around and are picked up a week later, or whatever.

Wednesday, we mostly just puttered around Bryan and Mary's. Rene and Blair went fishing. In the afternoon, Leslie and I walked Sarah's pig. It was pretty funny. We were doing pretty well until we rounded a corner and the pigs saw their home and took off running. In case you're wondering why one has to walk a pig, it's to develop leaness, which is prized nowdays in pigs. Janet got home from the halibut charter in the evening.

On Thursday, Rene and I and Mary Ann and Jim took a bunch of the teenage counsins to see Thunderbird Falls and Eklutna Lake. The lake was more impressive than the falls. It is a glacier fed lake. It was pretty up there. That evening, the official reunion started with a picnic, fishing, canoeing, etc, at Matanuska Lake.

8 of the 11 siblings in Rene's family were there. One of their cousins and his family also lives in Wasilla, so they attended all the events, too.

Friday, we went to the Wasilla 4th of July parade. It was pretty much like every parade we ever went to in Mount Vernon. In the afternoon, we drove up Hatcher's Pass to Independence Mine, an abandoned gold mine. We had a private tour and then poked around on our own. It was really neat. It was established in 1939. It employed about 200 people and they all lived right there. They did not pan for gold, but actually mined it like you would coal. It was going strong until 1945, when it was deemed not essential to the war effort and closed. It was actually really cool. Some of the group also hiked up a mountain nearby to a pretty lake. On the way up there, we stopped at the prettiest river I've ever seen--the little Susitna. By the way, Hatcher's Pass is where the US ski team trains sometimes.

Saturday, we went to the Anchorage temple. It is one of the first 3 smaller temples built and is somewhat different than ours in either Columbus or St. Paul. The teens did baptisms, helped by their uncles, and then we did a sealing session. It was very nice. Afterwards, we all went out to dinner at the Golden Corral. After we got home, Rene went fishing with a group and Janet went on an ATV ride up to a glacier. She can tell you about that.

I'm not sure if I'd want to live in Alaska or not. And, of course, we only saw a little corner of it. But it was beautiful and the reunion was fun. It's going to take awhile to catch up on the sleep, though.