Day 6 & 7

Day 7:  The Yurts  

Sourdough Sue's yurts are absolutely wonderful.  The girls are in the bigger one.  It has 2 bedrooms, a pretty large bathroom, a main living area and a full kitchen.  The boys are in the smaller yurt across the yard.  We were greeted by Sue, who even baked us blueberry banana bread, and her dogs Ute and Midi.  She is a native american and her dogs both have native names, Ute means acorn.  

We woke up to a view of snowcapped mountains with a foggy mist hanging over them.  We took a walk down the road to the salmon weir and watched the elaborate procedure of separating the males from the females for breeding.  There was a small waterfall and a stream there too.  The boys found a long rope hanging from a tree and everyone took a turn swinging from the rope, even Elisabeth.  We have a picture to prove it.   Sue took the group on an hour hike to a glacier lake and shared her knowledge of the area with them.  After dinner Addison and Ryan built a big fire.  We had 45 minutes of silence where the students were asked to spend the time in a directed journaling exercise.  We stayed up pretty late talking and playing games to see what time it gets dark, it was 1:30 am and the sun comes up around 4.

Days 6 and 7

Day 5

Day 4: Seward Adventure 

Half of us went on an 8 course zipline adventure.  The members of the group were very supportive of each other and helped some of the group overcome their fear of heights. They started off learning how to brake and it took a few tries for some of them but once they got the hang of it they were off and up high above the trees.    

The rest of us went dogsledding with the 2015 Ididarod Championship Team.  Our guide, Patrick, shared his years of experience with us about what it's like for a musher on the 1,042 miles of the ididarod trail.  We went out on a mile long sled ride and at the end we got to play with 4 puppies.  

On our overnight at the Sea Life Center we each dissected our own squid.  Because our students asked great questions and were so mature we were able to do an unscheduled behind the scenes tour of the Center where we learned about marine life perservation in Alaska.  When the Center closed we walked around at night and observed the animals.  We were all particularly fond of the sea lions, especially Woody, and the seals.  

This morning after breakfast our students were challenged with a boys against the girls marine life jeopardy.  The boys won.  Students led our own noon  prayer at St. Peter's Episcopal Church, which was established in 1904.  We are now at the yurts.  Julia, Ben, Liza and Sam cooked us a great dinner of grilled hot dogs, baked beans and chips. The boys are playing football outside  Addison is building us a fire in the firepit, some of the girls are drawing or reading.  Life without social media is great!

Day 4: Seward

Day 4:  Seward is a small town on Resurrection Bay surrounded by snow capped mountains.  We woke up to a rainy 43 degree day and found a great coffee shop in town called the Sea Bean Cafe.  The owner was a swim team coach and shared a story of his visit to Atlanta last year with his team.  He says that Atlanta has the best food he has every tasted.  

Alaska Adventure Kayaking:  Half of our group went kayaking on the Bay.  Their instructor and guide, Nick from Australia, outfitted them with their gear and they partnered up on their tandem kayaks headed down the bay.  Some of these partnerships were more successful than others and I loved hearing their stories about learning how to communicate with each other.  Natasha was a great partner for Liza who could not paddle with her broken arm on the mend.  This group saw otters, sea lions, puffin and a bald eagle.  They kayaked past glaciers, docked on the beach and took a hike to the waterfall.  

Alaska Adventure Whale Watching: the rest of the group took the local free shuttle to the harbor and climbed aboard the Nunatak for our day on the bay.  We saw puffin,  several kinds of whales, otters, glaciers and sea lions. We stopped on Fox Island for a lunch of Alaskan salmon, beef and environment instruction by a local park ranger.  We all enjoyed our 4 hour boat ride around Resurrection Bay.  

Last night Team 1 cooked chili and bread for dinner.  Then we shared our six word poems on nature that we had written in our journals during our bible study.  The rest of the evening was filled with stick ball and frisbee outside, a card game, ukulele playing and a serenade that Karina and Liza sang for Elisabeth. 

Day 3 in Alaska

Day 3 in Alaska 

Alaska Culture: today we visited the Alaska Native Culture Center where we observed and participated in native Yupik dance.  Demonstrated by local Alaskan Native high school students.  We walked around assimilated villages to see how the native people of Alaska live in the different regions here.  We were amazed at how much they use the land and sea to survive.  At each dwelling were young students and our youth were able to ask them questions about their lives here in Alaska.  

Alaska Nature: on our way to our next location, Seward we stopped at Beluga Point.  The view here was more beautiiful than words can describe.  We were able to walk down to the beach and Sam was the adventurous one who took off his shoes to feel how cold the water was, "freezing."  We took lots of pictures but mostly enjoyed our time together surrounded by water and the beach on one side and snow capped mountains on the other.  We stopped at the Wildlife Preserve and saw bears, a fox, lynx and bald eagle. 

We are now in Seward and had a great dinner of halibutor burgers in town.  During our bible study last night we all shared our spiritual journey to this point. This journey has been longer for some of us and it was a great bonding moment for our group.  The rest of the night was spent playing a card game that had us laughing together in fellowship until lights out at 11pm.

Day 2: Anchorage

Anchorage Culture: Today we visited the Anchorage museum and learned about how the Alaska baseball league started and how the Native Americans already  had a similar game that was a combination of baseball, dodgeball and cricket. We explored both Native American and Alaska exploration exhibits. We also spent some time at the Anchorage Saturday Market where we tried some of the local foods. 

Anchorage Adventure: Most of the day was spent on a challenging hike/climb up Flatop Mountain. At the 3,600' summit the views were breathtaking. 

The night was spent eating Alaskan reindeer and baked cod, corn fritters, salad and fries. In a tent next to the restaurant we listened to music and storytelling with Dusty Sourdough about the history of the Alaskan Gold Rush. 

We have arrived in Anchorage

We have arrived! 7 hour flight, 2 movies, lots of reading, 4 hour time difference, Bible study, pizza and snow capped mountain view. Good night it's 11:07 pm here which means it's 3:07 in the morning at home.