RV'n 4 Jesus: Our little "Family" vaca with Zackary and Cyndi!!!

After a long wonderful summer serving the Hatcher Pass Baptist Association and Schrock Road Community Church and Zackary's commitment serving as a summer missionary was over, it was time for him to rejoin us and time for my sister Cyndi to join us from the lower 48.

The excitement was almost unbearable. Cyndi, Momma and I started a picture count down once we hit the 10 day mark. We kept trying to out do each other. I will say, we came up with some really fun and cute ideas. We were finally to the day of arrival so Daddy, Momma, Zackary and I all piled in the car and headed to Anchorage to pick Cyndi up at 12:55AM! I guess with all the excitement we were able to stay awake. Now that we were all together, it was time to let the good times roll.

We had so much we wanted to show her, but we also had so many new experiences to be enjoyed. I can't even begin to tell you how blessed I felt to be spending this time not only with my parents, but with my son and my sister. Alaska was definitely a trip of a lifetime for us and the blessings have just overflowed from our Lord.

We told Cyndi and Zackary to be ready, we only had a short time to do a WHOLE LOTA STUFF! I think we managed to get most of it done too. Let's just say, we slept really well at night. We had our itinerary all laid out and we were ready to hit it.

Our first day was to head back over to Talkeetna to try to see Mt McKinley. As I shared on a previous post, only 30% actually get to see her in all her glory, and I am excited to share, we got to see her, again! Three trips to Talkeetna, and we saw her out and shining twice. I was just so grateful that Zackary and Cyndi were able to see her as well. It was a great day being tourists with family!

The next day was to go back to the Matanuska glacier and hike. To say the least, we came, we saw, we conquered the glacier! (well part of it...it goes 27 miles back up in the mountains, so we conquered the little area...that was safe :)) I think we ended up hiking almost 5 miles just at the glacier that day. It was an amazing experience. There were so many times I would just stop and stand in the silence praising God. I can't explain just how beautiful it was. We hiked back to the lake at the bottom of the glacier. Thanks to Zackary for being our expert guide and trail boss! We never would have made it without him. It was so cool having Momma out there with us too, and Luke, I used your line again...yard by yard it's hard, but inch by inch it's a cinch!

Day three, was driving from Willow to Hatcher's Pass, which doesn't mean much to anyone that isn't familiar with the area, so let me try to fill you in. This is approximately a 39 mile

stretch connecting the two places. The road is a gravel road and is pretty much on the side of the mountains and valleys until you get from point A to point B. At this point

I will say PRAISE GOD I was NOT driving, PRAISE GOD we survived and PRAISE GOD for Zackary being our driver. I will have to admit, it wasn't as bad since I wasn't driving, but poor Daddy stopped breathing a few times, and Cyndi was busy taking pictures and loving every minute of it. We finally got to Hatcher's Pass and it started to drizzle a bit, so Momma and Daddy stayed in the car while we hiked around, took pictures and played on top of the mountains. We finished our excursion at Hatcher's Pass with some coffee, hot tea and hot cocoa at the lodge and enjoyed the amazing view. On our way back down the mountain, we stopped for a few more pictures of the amazing view of the mountains.

Day four, we were off to Seward, traveling to new territory for all of us, we were all ready to

hit the coast. All I have to say is I LOVE SEWARD! Just a really cool blend of touristy town and fishing town with an awesome marina. I so could live there, pfft who am I foolin, I could live anywhere in Alaska, I love it! Ok, but before we get back to Seward, I also need to let you know on our way down we also stopped at Portage Glacier and Byron glacier and hiked it, NOW back to Seward. We pulled into the military campground, or should I say parking lot called a campground....YIKES...not my favorite place to say the least....but we had a place for the night, at least we thought...the campground was so crowded, it was hard to actually sleep until everyone went to sleep.

Day five, Momma and Daddy decided they were going to do a little wildlife/glacier cruise and they said it was AMAZING and a MUST DO, so add that to your bucket list too! They spent the whole day (6 hours) out at sea, seeing everything from whales to sea lions to puffins to sea otters from glaciers to glaciers caving and having the ice from the glacier in their drinks, not to mention a salmon and prime rib dinner to boot! Yea, it was pretty much their favorite thing they did! And about the whales, they saw two different kinds, an orca and a humpback which by the way breached (flipped out of the water...as seen on TV... lol). They said they hadn't seen the whales breach in 2 weeks, so yea, God did that specifically for them, I just know it!

Our day five was pretty awesome too, it was spent hiking on some really cool trails around lakes and up mountains. Again, Zackary was our trail guide, scouted out ahead and checked out spots to see if it was worth the effort (for me) to see it. Oh and remember the campground...well we found another one, RIGHT ON THE WATER and moved the RV that day also. We did however forget that Momma and Daddy rode the shuttle to the boat that morning, so we had to meet them at the docks so we could get them back to the RV that was in a totally different place than it was that morning. Now the marina, that place was so cool, as the big charter boats came in they would go clean their catch. I have never seen such huge fish, so many fish and WOW those guys cleaned them as fast as they pulled them out of the barrel....it was definitely an art they had down pat.

Day six, we spent together with the rents showing them what all we saw and did the day before, plus we went out to Exit glacier and hiked there before we came back to do the downtown touristy area and played tourists. We even got ice cream, not near as good as Gifford's in Maine...I think they will always be my favorite! We even met some folks from Cocoa Beach and yep they knew where Ocala was too. I love it when God shows us how small this world really is.

Day seven, was spent traveling back up and back down to Homer. We tried one small

campground, it was filled. So we forged on to the Homer spit, which was sooooo cool. We found a campground! Dry camping, right on the beach and nothing but sand. Well, no, it was actually just tiny rocks and big rocks, but we were right on the beach. I can't tell you how elated I was to have this spot. I think we all were pretty stoked to have it. We really didn't mind that we had no electricity or water hook ups, but we did have the great handy dandy generator, so all was well! We immediately jumped out and started exploring the beach, collecting some firewood for that night. Zackary built us a great first rate fire pit and a great fire. I really can't tell you how I felt that night sitting around the campfire with my son and my sister. It was such an amazing blessing that God gave all of us to experience this together. We laughed because we would see something and nobody would get a picture and we would say, That was for our eyes only, from God to us! It made us realize how special these times were and that they were from God.

Day eight, exploration around town, tourists again, which it is always fun to be one of those, window shopping in all the cool little stores. We also just rested up hanging at the RV, walking along the beach and collecting some driftwood for a project. Later that afternoon, we decided to head on back towards Anchorage so the drive wouldn't be so long the following day, so we packed up and pushed on and decided to stop at Cooper Landing along the Kenai River....WOW what a spot! That river is beautiful and a great fishing spot for all those salmon fisherman. Everywhere we went seemed to be a great spot for them, I think we were the only ones that were NOT fishing...lol

Day nine was a slow morning then pushing onto Anchorage to await the departure of Zackary and Cyndi. The rain had finally caught up with us and it was there to stay and boy does it get chilly when the rains come.

Day 10 was here and it was to the airport with Zackary, our first to leave, but not before a trip to Barnes and Nobles to get a travel read for the boy...He was feeling something Rome, eastern Rome to be exact...LOL (his words, not mine) He found it...and he was ready to head out. It's funny, you leave Alaska on one day and arrive in Florida the next day, makes for a long flight. Thank goodness Zackary only had one layover then it was a straight shot to Orlando.

Day 11, Cyndi's turn to head home. We spent the day just hanging together, laughing as much as possible before she left, oh and also a trip to the Lucky Wishbone (skillet fried chicken like grandma use to make). Back to the Anchorage airport....in through security, through the scanner and "Excuse me Ma'am, can you please step aside, come with me..." Yep she got busted by the security guard...problem was...we didnt know why....LOL turns out the little jar of jelly she was taking home wasn't little enough, so, we are now in possession of some jelly...hmmmm will it make it home? LOL (just kidding Cyndi, it's already packed in with mom's stuff...LOL)

Day 12 was the quietest day of our trip....partly because we slept till 11 but also because Zackary and Cyndi were gone. We truly enjoyed our time with them and also knew it would come to an end. But this also meant, our time here in Alaska was almost over, only one more week and we too would be heading back to the lower 48.