Alaska Days 6-9

Thursday we all went salmon fishing at Ms. Ruby's. She lives on a river there in Willow...I forget the name, Katishna, or something like that. We fished in waders out in the water for a while...no one was catching anything but it was a beautiful day and the water was so clear and green. Corban and Collin had a lot of fun playing in the mud! We took a break to go into Ms. Ruby's house to eat dinner and it was great. Shanna made taco soup..one of my favorites! After dinner, since it doesn't get dark until 10:00 pm, we went back out to fish some more. Still no luck so after awhile Shanna and I decided to go "exploring". "Exploring" in Alaska doesn't mean the same as it does here...you still are out in the woods lookin around, but in Alaska, you have to carry a gun! It was kind of scary! We kept hearing noises in the woods...they were probably all in our heads, but still, those noises kept our adrenaline pumping! We saw a lot of moose poop while we were out there...but no moose. We came back to the fishing site and Corban was trying his hand at fishing, since none of us were doing any good. All of a sudden, as we were packing up, Corban starts yelling, "I got one, I got one!" Sure enough, Corban caught his first, and our only fish of the day. He was so proud. It was a little rainbow trout. What a great ending to a wonderful day!

Friday morning Baker and I got up and got ready to go to Talkeetna to fly to Mt. McKinley. We were so excited but the weather wasn't looking so good. We got there and they told us a glacier landing would not be possible to do at that time but that we could come back at 1:00 and try again. We shopped around Talkeetna and had lunch at a cool little restaurant. Talkeetna is the base camp for climbers going to Mt. McKinley and is super small. You walk up and down it's one street...no need to drive. We went back to the airport and still no luck. We could go up but we still couldn't land on the glacier. The glacier landing is the one thing I really wanted to do so we decided to postpone our trip until the next day, hoping for better weather! We went back to Willow and got ready to go into Wasilla for the the Alaska State Fair. We watched a logging competition and walked around the tons of booths they had set up to sell merchandise. The boys rode all the fair rides and had a blast. One of the coolest parts of the fair is the gigantic vegetable competition. They had cabbages, pumpkins, squashes, you name it, that were absolutely huge!! They also had tons of barnyard animals competing against one another so the barn was pretty loud! We closed the fair down and headed back home...long day!

Saturday morning we drove back out to Talkeetna to try to fly again. The weather was looking a lot better and we were hopeful. We got there and it was a go! We were so excited! We climbed aboard a plane with 8 other passengers. The flight was beautiful and we filmed and took pictures the entire time. It's crazy how the terrain changes from green to frozen ice so quickly! We flew all in the mountains and up in front of Mt. McKinley. We saw the base camp for climbers, although the season had already ended. We then landed on a glacier in front of Mt. McKinley and got out of the plane to take pictures. Surprisingly, the temperature was not as cold up there as you might think it would be. It was so awesome to see God's magnificent creation so up close and personal. It was truly the flight of a lifetime. Sadly, we headed back to the airport. Baker and I were so glad to have had the opportunity to do something so spectacular and we can't wait for Merrill, Shanna, Corban, and Collin to get the same opportunity!

Sunday after church we headed back to Anchorage to catch our flight home. It was so sad to leave the boys but we kept telling ourselves that we would see them at Christmas! We had a wonderful time in Alaska and can't wait to go back when we can ski at Alyeska! Thank you Merrill, Shanna, Corban, and Collin for making out trip so unbelievably wonderful! We love you!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2270712&l=f4576&id=7029754
Here is a link to some pictures from the trip.