The other day I went to the post office to mail off some glow sticks for the grandchildren for July 4th. (Hope everyone got them on time) The clerk made the comment that children love to get something in the mail. I agreed wholeheartedly. She went on to say how it will be dark enough where they (glow sticks) are going that they (children) would really be able to enjoy them. She then said how she has been trying to talk her husband into getting out for the Fourth of July so they could experience their first real one in many, many years. It got me to thinking of all the local terms that are used around here.

Getting out - exactly what someone says who is leaving
Alaska to go somewhere else, usually the lower 48.

Lower 48 - term used when talking about the rest of the
United States, except Hawaii, that is a separate state
altogether

Snow Machine - if you refer to it as a snow mobile, they
will know you are an outsider for sure

Ditch Divers - drivers of SUV's that think they can drive
faster in the snow than anyone else. They pass you and then
you pass them after they have gone off in the "ditch".

Arctic Entry - What I wish I had, a small room or large enough entryway for all the shoes, coats, hats, gloves, and scarves that get left at the front door in the winter.

Termination Dust - the first snow on the tops of the mountains, it signals the end of summer and warns of the first big one just around the corner.

Alaskan Sneakers - Fishing waders

Combat Fishing - standing shoulder to shoulder on the banks of the
rivers when the salmon start to run. Rick went the first night
for King Salmon fishing. The fish and game stood on the
bridge and at the stroke of midnight fired a starting gun. Rick had
his fish and was home by 4:00 am.

Moose Gooser - the cow catcher on the trains

Bear Insurance - make sure you take along someone
who canNOT run as fast as you.

The Bush - any village, valley, or mountain, that is only
accessible by plane.

And there you go....

Halibut Anyone?

One of the major topics of discussion in Alaska anywhere is the fishing. Rick's co-workers talk about fishing, the men at church talk about fishing...even the Relief Society schedules a fishing day for the ladies. Rick could hardly wait to have the boys up for a fishing trip together.

A halibut fishing excursion was tops on the list of things to do while everyone was here. All those that wanted to go were up bright and early and out the door by 4:00 am with a drive of a couple of hours ahead of them. I would use the term "crack of dawn" but that description just doesn't work here during the month of June. I am sure they were tired before they started the trip because we had just returned from a little road trip to Seward two days before. Those of us that stayed behinds were actually glad for the little break.

All ready to go and heading out to sea. Notice the oversize load sign on the back of the fishing boat as it is towed toward the ocean. Once there the van is traded for something a little more up to the task of launching the boat into waters.

Captain Jim and Moenika. Imagine the boys' surprise (and probably hers too) when Moe caught the first fish. Moe caught it, but didn't want to touch it. Captain Jim insisted that a woman touching the fish would bring good luck, but he couldn't get her to cooperate.

Bryan caught a skate. Similar to the mantra or sting ray. These aren't the best for eating so it went back into the ocean.

Bob in full fishing mode, reeling that halibut in.

And Rick who's day was made when he hauled in the biggest catch. Shaking hands with deckhand Gabe. That number on the fish...estimated weight. The others look small by comparison.

And the happy fishermen and fisherwoman. I should have added the picture of my freezer, everyone wants to fish, but no one wants to take it home! We have enough halibut that we can feed the whole ward for the annual fish fry and still have left overs. The problem is, is finding the one or two families that don't do their own fishing. I've got to find a neighbor or two who would love to have some!

Riding the Rails

A train ride has always seemed like a great adventure to me. We would sometimes see them off in the distance traveling parallel to the road while on vacation as a kid and we would try to count the cars as we passed by. In Tucson I would often have to wait for the train on my way to or from the discount bread store. Of course these were trains that were carrying cargo and not people, but still I always thought it would be fun to travel by train.

Max loves trains and when they came to visit he told me about all the trains he has, he even brought a few trains cars with him. Apparently he has so many toy trains sets that the one I moved all the way to Alaska no longer holds any appeal to him. Nevertheless, the thing that I was most excited about his family's visit (other than seeing them all) was an excuse to go for a ride on the Great Alaska Railway.

Don't you just love the color scheme? These passenger trains are so colorful. You can get on one at Seward and ride it all the way to Fairbanks. I booked Max and I a ride from Anchorage to Wasilla, a mere 40 minute ride up the tracks.

The train station in Anchorage. Max was a little trooper and after many late nights and busy, busy days, he woke up early the last day he had here and joined me for a ride. He had been waiting for this train ride for a very long time and finally we got to do it.

The conductor actually called "all aboard" inside the station and as soon as the doors opened we were on our way.

He looks a little excited doesn't he?

Ready to board.

We found this model of the train just before we boarded.

Still think he's excited? As soon as the train pulled out of the station, excited Max became serious Max. He would not smile or hardly even look at me. He sat like this for a minute or two and then he was kneeling on the seat with his arms resting on the window ledge just watching everything as we passed by. Everything means mostly trees, but we did see some random buildings, men working on the train tracks (they stood back and waved) and a few homes. A while after all this excitement Max feel asleep with his face still up against the window. He woke up in time to watch us pull into Wasilla.

Waving to everyone in Grandpa's suburban as they pulled into the cute little depot in Wasilla.

A little side note. This little depot is the oldest original train station in Alaska. It is not a manned train station - no way to buy a ticket or even go inside, you can safely guess that although a few people got on here, we were the only ones getting off. While standing just to the side of the windows I thought I saw someone out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look thinking "oh, maybe we can go in and they will have a bench to wait on, a memento or two available to purchase...the ever ending "what to do in Alaska" literature. But no, what I saw was a life size photo of Sarah Palin smiling at me through the window!

Yes, it is June and yes, we are still wearing jackets. Sometimes we actually get to take them off it gets so warm.

Family in Alaska!

We felt so lucky to have some of our children come visit us. What was even better was that we had them here together. It was like old times, times that we have missed since all of us moved and went our separate ways.

A group photo at Exit Glacier. Bryan, Spencer, Rick, Elizabeth, Analee and James, Steve, Moe, Shayla and Isla, and Bob and Max.

Analee and James on Baldy.

Steve and Moe enjoying a cruise in Resurrection Bay.

Bob and family at Matanuska Glacier.


Isla. It was so good to see this little bench with little people on it once again!

Max at Byers Lake.

Sunset in Eagle River

I had just come home from book club last night around 9:00 pm and Bryan came home from an activity shortly after that. It had been a beautiful day all day, and even more so in the evening. We decided to go for a ride and headed for some of the higher elevations in Eagle River.

This was taken at the top of the Mile High road. You can see the Eagle River in the foreground.

The view towards Anchorage. If you click on the picture you can see Eagle River Road that big curve towards the left, our neighborhood is to the left of that.

We then drove up to Mount Baldy and got some pretty cool pictures of the sun going down. From Mt. Baldy you can see the Knik Arm. The pictures below show some serious celebrating of the sun.

Bryan

That's me. I can still jump, even if it is only a few inches off the ground.

A big apology to Spencer's jump. I am constantly deleting pictures without knowing how I actually manage it. It takes forever for me to post a blog, so I am just going to finish this without his amazing Karate Kid leap. But most of you will have seen it on Facebook, if you haven't, go there and take a look.

Back home again. Looking towards Hiland Mountain, the moon and the sunset lighting the tops of the peaks. And the time documented in the lower right corner.

Moose Sighting (Again)

We went for a drive yesterday and met this moose on the side of one of the busiest roads in Eagle River. He was enjoying a mighty fine dinner of tree limbs and fresh new leaves. You may be getting tired of our moose pictures, but it is still fun for us to see them.

Church Prom

One thing about living in the "mission field" is the attention the church gives to the youth. The school dances here do not have the same "standards" that you see where we moved from. I don't really understand the role of chaperones at these dances, since it seems that "anything goes" is accepted at them. The kids in our ward went as one big group to the school prom, but the Church prom gets the same attention here, as the school proms do in Utah.

Bryan asked one of the girls in our ward to go with him. We pumped up three bags of balloons to help him do the asking. That was 216 balloons total. After they were pumped we then bagged them up into 15 large black trash bags. It was a lot of balloons!!! Fortunately we still have the Suburban so he was able to get the balloons to the girls house all in one trip.

Using the cool color feature on the camera.

Getting ready to go.
One cool looking dude! (Why don't I ever remember to check the background before I take the picture!)