Whittier Glacier Cruise

Brent, Jacob, and I attended a dinner cruise fund raiser sponsored by Boy Scouts of America Great Alaska Council. We boarded the cruise boat in the port in Whittier.  As we sailed away, we could see the very small town of Whittier in the distance.

There was an upper and lower deck of the boat, but we mostly stayed on the lower deck.

For dinner they served Alaska silver salmon and prime rib along with salad, rice, and dessert.

This part of Alaska gets a lot of rain so we were fortunate to have dry weather. The sky was somewhat overcast, but we were able to see landmarks that the captain said aren't usually visible because of the weather.  From the inside of the boat, we were able to see several glaciers.

We stopped at "hidden falls" which is a water fall that is only visible when you get up right next to it.  The captain stopped fairly close to the land and let us go on deck to take pictures.

We stopped at one of the big glaciers for about 15 minutes.  We walked on the deck to get a good view. As we looked at the glacier, we witnessed "calving" or big chunks of ice falling off the glacier.  We could hear the loud cracking sounds as the ice broke off.

We enjoyed this 3 1/2 hour cruise.  The dinner was delicious and the scenery and glaciers were beautiful.  We had a wonderful time.

Visit with Dad

At the beginning of August, I flew to California to visit my Dad.  An hour before I left for the airport, Jacob came home from a church activity with his faced all bloody.  He had fallen off his bike and and his face took the brunt of the fall.  This picture was after he had showered and cleaned up.  I felt bad leaving, but both Brent and Jacob are Eagle Scouts with the First Aide merit badge so I knew they would be OK.

The purpose of my trip was to see my dad.  A nice extra was that both Linda and Nancy came to Dad also and our trips overlapped.  I arrived on Thursday morning and Nancy and her family had already been there for about a week.  Linda arrived Saturday morning.  On Saturday afternoon we all went to the beach.  Heidi and her family joined us there.  It was nice to be with all of my sisters.

All of the cousins had a great time playing together.

It really was a pleasant day at the beach.

During the week, I also got to visit with my brothers and their family.

Every day I went to visit Dad.  He is in a care facility home where is is very well taken care of.

He has a very comfortable bedroom and the living area and dining area of the home are neat and clean.

Linda did back and hand massages for Dad and Kayla showed Grandpa videos on her phone.

Linda along with Nancy and her children enjoyed our visits with Dad.

I'm so glad I got to visit with my dad and my siblings.

NYLT

This year Jacob had the opportunity to be on the staff for Boy Scouts of America National Youth Leadership Training.

The training was held at Denali High Adventure Scout Base which is a three hour drive north of Anchorage.  Jacob was one of the eleven Boy Scouts who ran the program under the direction of two adult leaders.  The staff went up to the Scout Base on a Thursday.  They spent four days preparing their presentations and preparing to be youth leaders to the younger Scouts.  On Monday, 20 Boy Scouts arrived for a week long training.

Jacob had a wonderful experience being a youth leader.  He taught classes on servant leadership, valuing others, and leading yourself.

On Saturday, at the end of the training, I drove to the Scout Base to pick up Jacob.  It was nice to see where he had spent ten days.

The Road House is where the boys at meals.  During part of the time the staff slept upstairs in a big loft area.  Most nights they camped in their tents.

The theme for the training was based on Star Wars.  The staff was the "Jedi Council".  They made this patrol flag.

 At the closing awards ceremony, the staff stood together to shake hands with each of the Scouts as they received their awards.

There were three boys named "Jacob".  To help tell them apart, Jacob (second from the left) had the nick name of "Fish Sticks".

As the boys were getting ready to go, the adult leader gave each of the staff members a light saber.  The boys had a great time playing with their Star Wars gift.

Jacob had a wonderful time, made new friends, and learned and practiced leadership skills.

Visit from Heidi and Robert

At the end of July, Heidi and Robert came to visit for a week.  I had a great time showing them around this beautiful part of the country.

We drove up to Flat Top mountain so they could get a good view of the city.  They day was gorgeous.  Unfortunately, several of the days after that it rained.  But it didn't stop us from having fun.

At Flat Top we found some wild blueberries and ate them for a snack.

Heidi was intrigued by some moose poop we saw so she brought some home and dried it in the toaster oven so that she could take it home to shellac and have as a souvenir.

Rachelle and her boys met us at Potter's Marsh.  We had a nice time walking along the boardwalk.  Peter loved riding his bike.  We saw salmon swimming upstream and a bald eagle in a tree.  We also saw a salmon thrashing on the creek bank and a seagull pecking at it.  You never know what you will see in the wild.

We drove downtown to Ship Creek to watch the fishermen fish for salmon.  There aren't many places where you can drive to the middle of the city of see people fishing for salmon.

While they were here, Brent went on a fishing trip and came home with 32 salmon.  Heidi helped Brent prepare the fish for freezing.

 We drove to Girdwood and went on the Winner Creek Trail.  It is a beautiful hike through the woods.  The hand tram takes you across the gorge to the other side of the creek (river).

This is the river you cross in the hand tram.

Heidi and Robert also took a day and drove to the Matanuska Glacier.  They had a great time hiking on the glacier and going a the zip-line.

The week went by fast.  I'm so glad Heidi and Robert were able to come visit us.