We finally have finished our Alaska Bucket List!  Just in time, too, since Levi and I (Lisa) fly out Sunday night for Washington.  Our last to-do was a trip to the Arctic Circle.  It’s one of those trips that you take just to say you’ve been and to get the picture.  But, it was a fun family day for the most part and, well, we can say we’ve been to the Arctic Circle!

For reference, the Arctic Circle is at about 66ºN.  We also went the day after the summer solstice, which was purely coincidental, however it does make for a much better conversation about visiting such a unique latitude.

Matthew had been calling every day for a week to rent a vehicle.  While, technically, it’s highway 2 to highway 11 and then you cross the imaginary line, highway 11, the Dalton Highway, is mostly dirt/gravel.  It’s also not consistently two lanes, it’s usually under construction, and it is “owned” by the truckers – do not get in their way!  So, unless you don’t mind your vehicle getting a few dents (or a lot), cracking your windshield, and perhaps misaligning your wheels, among other more horrible things, it’s best to not take your personal vehicle on the Dalton.  We saw plenty of RVs, but we just felt badly for them.

So, finally, Tuesday night there was a proper vehicle available to rent for Wednesday.  God’s timing is perfect…Wednesday was our last day available to do it!  After sorting out a few annoying setbacks with the rental company, we were on the road only an hour later than intended.  The 200 mile drive north took about four hours.  We did stop for lunch and running around at the mighty Yukon River, about three quarters of the way up.  Levi was ready for a break and we were hungry.

Levi at the Yukon

The drive itself, while beautiful, was fairly uneventful.  Unlike the drive to Valdez, it was mostly the same views until just prior to the Circle, where it changed to tundra.  I was short on sleep and the bouncy road caused me to fall asleep throughout the trip.  Bummer.

We arrived to the little sign, got out, got the picture, got a certificate, and swatted mosquitoes.  Levi ran around a lot and developed his own phrase: “I run to the mountains!”  He pointed to the hills on the other side of the highway and then started running (not onto the highway, but in that direction).

We made it!

We arrived back in time to enjoy pie the trucker stop, Hilltop, that is famous for their pies before going home.  I was grateful for the mellow day in the midst of the chaos.

Mmmm, coconut cream!

See more pictures on my facebook account here!

(This part of the post was written last Friday…)

Checking another one off of our Alaska Bucket List, Matthew, Levi and I headed to Valdez last week to see that part of the state and go on a glacier/wildlife cruise.  Those cruises are probably one of the most popular “tourist” things to do, especially for cruise ship visitors.  However, I hadn’t really seen a glacier here yet and it seemed like an excellent way to one.  So, Tuesday afternoon, after a few annoying delays, we headed south to Valdez.  It took exactly six hours, including a short stop in Glenallen for fuel (at $4.61/gallon) to arrive at the highway’s end on the water in Valdez.  The drive featured the most beautiful scenery I’ve seen in Alaska!  Of course, I didn’t take any pictures…that would’ve been too smart.  So, if you don’t live here or haven’t seen it, you’ll have to make the drive yourself.

Levi was acting slightly ill that morning and even threw up once on the drive.  So, I drove while Matthew sat next to him in the back seat  to keep him busy (I get too car sick in the back seat).  We had rented a cabin in Valdez – an adorable little room with a tiny bathroom.  It was far more fun (and slightly cheaper) than a hotel, and much more comfortable than camping, since Valdez tends to be pretty rainy.  We got in pretty late (9:30pm) and so ate a late dinner and headed straight to bed.  Levi slept great and we were grateful for a good night of rest!

We all slept in Wednesday morning and got up just in time for the cruise.  Levi loved wandering the docks (well, he was riding on Matthew’s back) and looking at the boats.  And the rocks, grass, water, birds, and anything else he could name.  We boarded the boat and, thankfully, it was fairly empty since it is so early in the season.  We got most of the lower level to ourselves for much of the trip, so we felt better that, even though Levi was not his usual good-natured self, we didn’t have to make sure he wasn’t ruining anything for anyone else.  He did love it once the boat started to move and he was a fan of the wildlife!

We saw otters as soon as we left the harbor and the wildlife kept on coming!  By the end of our trip, we’d seen mountain goats, puffins, sea lions, orcas, humpbacks, and porpoises.  The water was a beautiful blue-green…it looked tropical thanks to the glacial runoff.  The iceburgs and smaller ice chunks floating in the water were quite surreal.  According to our captain, they would all be gone and replaced by new chunks within 24 hours.  We even saw a few that had recently flipped – they flip over once the underside melts enough.  The Columbia Glacier was a little underwhelming, but still very neat to see in person and the beauty of the rest of the cruise was certainly worthwhile!  I suppose the seven-hour cruise was made even better when we put Levi down for a nap under one of the benches and he was asleep in less than a minute and stayed that way for nearly two hours!

Once returning to land we found a little spot to have battered fish and fries (definitely a must in Valdez) before heading back to the cabin.  We relaxed in the cabin for a bit before bed.  Matthew and I both agreed ice cream would finish the day, so we walked over to the store and grabbed some.  It was perfect.

The following morning I woke up with a sore throat.  Levi still wasn’t feeling much better, either.  We got ready and left by 9:30am – not bad!  Levi slept for about the first hour of the drive, but woke up cranky.  It was sad because he was so sick.  My throat hurt so badly I was unable to talk for most of the trip, so it was a quiet ride home (except for the back seat whining).  About ten minutes before we got home Levi fell asleep (classic, no?).  Matthew had to head off to work to drop off some of his stuff, so we left Levi in the Jeep.  I checked on him every so often, but he stayed sleeping in his car seat for TWO HOURS!  Long enough for Matthew to finish up at work and for us to go to our next appointment: a farewell BBQ hosted by Matthew’s co-worker.  Most of the officers from the department came to wish Matthew and another officer adios.

If you’d like to see pictures of our Valdez trip, please visit this link to my facebook photo album.  I am no photographer, but there are lots of wildlife pictures!

(This part of the post was written today…)

So, in other news, Matthew’s last day of work was last Friday!  How strange, especially in an economy such as this one, to be without income…on purpose.  We are at peace with what God wants us to do and being without a job.  But, I think both of us are think it’s odd to experience such peace.  Shouldn’t this be stressful??  Ah, there is enough other stress in ours lives that perhaps there is just no room for one more thing!  🙂

In the week since we’ve returned from Valdez, we have spent much of the time packing all but the bare necessities.  We had a showing today – our first since replacing the floors – and perhaps this will yield good results?  We dropped the price a little, hopefully to expose more buyers to the property.

We’ve also had a drastic change of plans to leaving Alaska.  As we looked at our list of things to do and the number of days left in Alaska, it was determined that it was simply not enough time.  And, because we have MAF training in Idaho in July for two and a half weeks, we had to move our plans by a lot more than we wanted.  In the end, Matthew and his brother won’t be driving out of Alaska until the middle of August, though Matthew will be in the Lower 48 for a month this summer to fulfill training and other obligations.  It was such a tough decision to make, but we know the Lord is sovereign and we are depending so much on Him in all of this, and some decisions are harder than others.  In case you are wondering, Levi and I are flying to Washington on June 27th (yes, just over a week away) and, besides going to Idaho for training, we will not be going back North.

Please pray for us this week that the price drop on the house will generate more interest, that packing will go smoothly, that the extended time in Alaska will be what Matthew needed to wrap things up here, and that we find a new home for our cats soon!

Matthew and I have a “bucket list” of things to do in Alaska before we leave.  You know how it seems that you don’t do all those things that people who visit your city/state come to do?  Well, that’s been us.  We’ve been here for nearly five years and we only have a few weeks left, so it was time to start actively checking things off of our list!  First was camping in Denali.  Denali National Park is open year-round, but once Tourist Season begins the rules change, so we wanted to visit before that (read: while things are free).  One campground is open for the winter, so we drove down after church on Sunday and picked a spot.  The drive took about three hours (we were pulling a trailer, so it was a little slower than normal).  Levi didn’t sleep for one minute of it!  Funny, because he barely makes it home after church most weeks…  While the campground is open, none of the “amenities” are available – no mercantile, flushing toilets, or running water spigots.  Oh well, at least we came prepared!  The afternoon was sunny and fairly warm, though there were still spots of snow in the shade.  This was all the snow at our particular site…

Some had a bit more…

And others were not really camping-friendly quite yet…

We set up our huge tent and then set off to find some electricity with which to blow up our air mattress.
You can say I “wimped out” by bringing our queen-size, full height air mattress, but I will reply that a) I am 21 weeks pregnant and b) it got below freezing at night and being off that ground is far better than being on it.  So, there.  We found some electricity at the mercantile, which was preparing to open for next week (Tourist Season beings May 20), drove up to the loading dock, threw the mattress on the roof of the Jeep, plugged it in, waited, unplugged and drove [slowly] away.  Very stealth.  Very worth it.  Our federal dollars paid for the electricity, so we can justify “stealing” it, right?  🙂

Levi enjoying a special camping treat!

Once camp was set up, we set off to walk around the area.  Though, I must say that setting up camp is easy when you must take all bear precautions.  No food, toiletries, or anything scented can be left outside the vehicle unless actively being used…but Matthew made the back of the Jeep into an easy-to-use kitchen, so it worked out without being terribly inconvenient.

We found this lovely trail and the sunset provided some amazing views…

Train bridge - Alaska Railroad

When I say “sunset,” by the way, I should also say that it never actually got dark.  We have hit that part of the year where, from now until August, it won’t be fully dark…ever.  This is both awesome and annoying.  At least camping wears you out enough to not notice how light it is in your tent.  It also made us realize why other tents at the campground had ratty tarps on them, even though it wasn’t raining.  Or, why camping in a camper is superior (one of many reasons, I suppose).  🙂

After a dinner cooked over the fire, we got in the Jeep and drove into the Park.  During Open Season, errr, Tourist Season, you can only drive the first 15 miles, then you must take a bus (either a guided tour, or just a shuttle) to view the rest of the Park.  In the off season, you can drive 30 miles.  Levi slept while we watched for wild life.  I eventually also fell asleep, but Matthew didn’t see anything wild.  The views, however, were amazing and pictures cannot possibly do them justice…

The next day we woke to discover it was actually very cold.  We guessed somewhere in the mid-20’s (F), because we were able to discover it was about 36F in the morning.  Rather chilly.  But, we made it (with a little help from our Jeep…for Levi’s sake, of course).  We had breakfast then went off to see the park again and, perhaps, do a little more walking.

This is Denali (aka Mt. McKinley)

Cliche Alaskan truck

We had lunch at the 30 miles mark with this great look-out over a mostly-frozen river.

Running!

We found another trail and Levi found a friend along the way: our state bird, the Willow Ptarmigan.

His female companion was nearby, too.

Tundra

Caribou

Arctic ground squirrel

That's quite the drop off behind you, Levi!

Obligatory moose picture

It was cold and windy by the time we got back and made dinner, so it was early to bed for all of us.  Tuesday morning we got up and were extra cold and decided to see if we could find a hot breakfast.  Of course, nothing is open yet because it’s still the off season, but we tried and Levi got some more sleep in the car (and we were WARM).  So, we packed up camp and headed off for home.

Bye!

We drove through the little town of Anderson.  Anderson made national headlines a few years ago when they announced a unique project to increase their population:  free land!  The project mostly failed because most people did not keep up their end of the bargain – to build and occupy a house – but the town was, uhhhh, an experience.  That would be the nice way of putting it.  Let’s just say we didn’t feel like we’d missed out on a great opportunity for free land.

We had brunch in Nenana (a teeny town about an hour south of home) and then made great time home.  We were happy to be warm and sleep in our own beds.  Now, we can officially cross camping in Denali off of our list, though we are sad we didn’t see any bears.

Happy Resurrection Day!

For today’s Easter meal I pulled out a whole chicken for roasting.  This is the first time I’ve ever done a whole chicken.  I don’t know how I’ve gone five years of marriage without doing it, but whatever.  I would have loved to have a more traditional ham or lamb, but we already had the chicken and the point is to be using up the rest of our food before the upcoming move.  Plus, putting the chicken in the crock pot before church and having it done by the time we got home seemed the most convenient anyway.  Especially because Matthew’s work schedule requires a semi-rushed lunch as he begins work at 3pm.

The chicken, though, is not without its own significance.  As many of you know, we raised these chickens from when they were one or two days old.  We fed them, watered them, and moved their chicken tractor around the yard every day for eight weeks.  We stepped in their nasty mess, chased them around to make sure their legs wouldn’t give out, and, near the end, began to detest them and their smell.  Then, in July (and a second batch in August) it was time for them to become freezer fodder.

With this breed of chicken, they go from egg to slaughter in eight weeks.  You cannot keep them longer – their legs give out and/or their heart explodes.  It is merciful to kill them before this happens (plus, you’ll waste their meat if they die naturally!).  So, we watched several YouTube videos to determine the method we liked best and went out to make them into tasty meals.  Too graphic?  Well, I suggest reading any section of Scripture that describes any sacrificial procedure!  After beheading, skinning, gutting, cutting up, and freezing 16 birds, Matthew and I learned that, logistically, those sacrifices were an amazing and disgusting feat!  The flies that came around only minutes after the first bird was being gutted were not terrible, but throughout the time we were processing the birds they got fairly unbelievable.  I didn’t even know we had such flies around here; I’d never seen them before!  The gut pile was quite foul (no pun intended).  And there was blood all over the place.  Partially because, as you know, chickens tend to flail (putting it mildly) once beheaded.  That saying about letting a chicken run around with its head cut off?  It’s true, though we never tried it…it would be quite messy and potentially bad for the meat.  When reading about the dedication at Solomon’s temple, you read the animals were so many they didn’t even bother to numerate them!  The killing (and the feasting) are incomprehensible.  And yet, so much more realistic having killed a few things myself.  I would also point out that killing something you’ve raised is different than hunting in some ways.  We’ve hunted a few things since living here in Alaska.  There were those grouse that (literally) wandered down our driveway and became the next night’s dinner.  The rabbit that was eating our potato plants (thought we didn’t eat it).  And, of course, the bear that became (and is still being enjoyed as) sausage.  The killing and processing of those animals was just not the same as the chickens we’d known and cared for for eight weeks.  The butchering of our meat birds actually became harder with each bird.  It was like as more of their friends disappeared, they knew what was coming and there was fear and sadness in their eyes.  I’m projecting, obviously, but it was hard to not read into what they must be “feeling.”  Anyway, Matthew and I discussed a lot about the Biblical practice of sacrificing during the days we butchered the chickens and how now that process is tangible.  And pulling one of the whole birds out of the freezer last night and comparing that to the ultimate sacrifice made that we remembered on Friday and how, unlike this poor (and tasty) chicken, was not permanent, except in its significance, brought our conversations and experience from last summer back to me.  How wonderful sacrificing an animal is no longer required of us when we sin!  So, while a chicken is not a traditional Easter feast, I thought it was quite appropriate this Easter Sunday.

By the way, the chicken was delicious!  Happy Easter!

Matthew and I are soon to celebrate our fifth anniversary and the other day I was thinking back to the time before we were engaged, but we were talking about when to get married.  The main issue that was presented was the fact that Matthew wanted to go live in Alaska – a great adventure.  He had found coursework there that he wanted to pursue, along with a friend’s ministry he wanted to help start.  The question was, should we get married and go together, or try a long distance relationship while he goes on an adventure?  Well, now, the answer is quite obvious if you’ve ever been in love!  You have to go an adventure together!  So, we talked about what life in Alaska would look like.  (On a side note, we also talked about how soon we’d have to get married if we wanted to be in Alaska by the start of the fall quarter, hence a six week engagement!)  I made two requests.  Well, they were really requirements.  I wanted (1) electricity and (2) running water – hot, too, please.  These simple things seem silly if you’ve spent your life in suburbia.  Obviously, what house comes without those things!?  Well, if you’ve met anyone who lives a “real” Alaskan life, you know that those two things, especially running water, are mere luxuries.  Thankfully, Matthew was willing to bend to my demands for luxury.  Looking back, I realize how many people I’ve met and loved here in AK, especially women and mothers, who live or have lived without running water (and a few without electricity from a grid) and life is just fine.  Different, but fine.  Harder, but fine.  I still cling to running water and electricity as my lifeline, though!

So, now we are looking forward to life in Africa, in the city of Kinshasa, capital of the DRC.  And, thanks to the technology and popularity of facebook, I’ve made friends of some of the wives and mothers who currently serve with MAF there, mostly to get a glimpse ahead and learn all I can about what life is like in such a place.  And guess what I’ve learned?  Well, guessed what I’ve learned they often live without?  Yep and yep.  Especially electricity.  Well well well…

Before you have any pity on me (or perhaps that didn’t cross your mind), please note that I find this funny.  First of all, I trust that God saw this one coming.  He saw it coming back in early 2006 when I made those “demands” of Matthew and our life in AK.  He saw it coming during our interview at MAF in January when they decided where our services were most needed.  And then, finally, He saw me make the connection just a few days ago.  I actually laughed out loud when the thought occurred to me.  I’m so grateful for those women that live there and realize it is a [hard] part of everyday life.  I’m so excited to have friends here in AK who live without running water, who must haul it from somewhere else into their homes, and they live just fine – that gives me courage and hope!

Anyway, I just wanted to share those thoughts with you all.  Please pray for me.  I’m not saying I will ENJOY a life without those things.  They are still on my list of demands, but Matthew can’t do much about a corrupt power company or a finicky water supply, so in this case, it’s not really a life choice like it is in Alaska.  I know it will be frustrating and tiring and annoying, but the Lord is sovereign even over these little things and I will lean on Him for my strength!