My summer in summary

Hi everybody!! Remember me? Contrary to what you may think, I did not drop off the face of the earth into another dimension without internet... okay, so technically I kinda did but Alaska was worth it!!

My summer in summary

My entire summer has been amazing, but the real Alaskan adventure started after Fairbanks. Our first excursion was Denali national park. 



It was incredible! One of the only ways to see the mountain is to take a bus tour deep into the park. It is restricted from any personal vehicles. The day we took the bus tour was clear and sunny, so we were able to see the mountain in all its majesty. The employees at the visitor center said Denali is only at full visibility 2-3 times a month, so we got lucky! 


Another place we experienced was a small town called Talkeeta. When I say small, I mean SMALL!!! The town consisted of two blocks, and a handful of tourist shops. This tiny town is famous for its fireweed* icecream. I tried some and it was pretty good. It tasted like vanilla with some floral flavoring. During our stay in talkeetna, we boon docked next to a river.


One night after a large rainstorm we saw the most breathtaking double rainbow. So that just was icing on the cake. 

Later we visited Seward. Our stay was about 2 weeks. It was a cute town, and conveniently everything was within walking distance.


One of our tourist outings was exit glacier. It had multiple walking trails and a visitor center at its base. We also did a whale watching and glacier tour.


I didn't get very good pictures of the whales, but the glacier was amazing**! (The staff pulled a piece of glacier ice out of the water and broke it up to sell in drinks!)


On Sunday, we attended the local church. I really enjoy experiencing new churches, and their different methods of preaching. 

Our last stop before heading south was Valdez. We boon docked on the side of a lake that had a glacier attached to it.


It was filled with large chunks of ice, so we were able to go kayaking and touch them!! It was a wonderful last place to visit in Alaska, but our time was tainted by sadness.

A hard good bye 

 As we shared our last potluck with the ledeboers the reality sunk in that our time was up. We had a great summer, but that season was over, and we were splitting up. This was a hard pill for me to swallow. Our last day together was very sad. As we said our goodbyes, I lost to my tears. I thought to myself, "this is the worst part about traveling" but I knew that this wasn't good bye forever. I'm happy to report that we will be spending Christmas together with the Ledeboers in Florida this year. As I look back though, it was worth it. I had the most amazing summer! I learned more about my family, Gods creation, and myself. To my delight, I also made new friends! The Ledeboers are a wonderful family, and I'm very thankful that we got to spend our summer with them.

*Fireweed is a purple flower. 

** This is the glacier closer up, check out how blue and textured the ice is! 

Comments

  1. I enjoyed reading your update and the ones that will follow this. I agree, that was a very sad day indeed when we had to part ways. I am also so thankful that we can look forward to seeing each other again in a few months! XOXO

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