RV'n 4 Jesus: Our last fare-wells and Valdez, AK

Our time and excursions with Zackary and Cyndi came and went so fast. It was hard to believe our time with them had already come and gone, which meant it was now time for us to say our final "See-Ya's" and "Fare-wells". Our time in Alaska was almost over, the feelings of grief, sadness and it's over all hit me at once. We had been praying about and looking forward to Alaska for over a year and a half. We came, we fell in love, and now it was already time to leave.

Looking back at our time in Alaska made my heart smile. Never would I have believed I would have met so many amazing people that would touch our lives in so many ways. It's funny when you meet people along the way you find they will remind you of this one or that one from somewhere else in your past. Well, Alaska was no different, I found sisters, daughters, moms and dads while I was there. The best part of all that, is that they were all Brothers and Sisters in Christ, they really were our FAMILY!! It took us a week to get around to everyone and our time together was so bitter sweet.

It was then time to start our trip out of Alaska, with one last excursion....Valdez! Most of the people, well no, make that everyone we asked about Valdez said it was a MUST SEE. I think I took 200 pictures just on the way there. I truly couldn't believe my eyes. We had seen so much beauty already it was hard to comprehend that it got even better....well it did just that. We got to Valdez and the campground where we planned to stay was full, so they sent us to the adult only sister park, and WOO HOO it was right on the water. Couldn't have asked for a better spot if we got to pick it ourselves, and yes I did a great big Thank You God! When we look for Him in everything we will see Him in everything!

We did a day of sight seeing, mostly salmon looking. They have a hatchery in Valdez, that is why there are so many salmon that come back there every year. But when I say so many, I mean you can literally bend down and pick them up, so many...It was the craziest thing I had ever seen. Thousands of them, but the sad part is that there were also thousands of them dead as well. I will say the smell wasn't the best in that area, but we weren't camping there, so all good.

As we were out touring, you couldn't help but notice the lack of businesses, aka jobs other than fishing and the few restaurants. This is most definately a summer tourist town, but it was weird, it had to me, the only way I could describe it, was a darkness. I was telling Mom, that all the towns folk we met along the way, just seemed miserable. It was just weird. While we were eating lunch at one of the few restaurants (The Fat Mermaid - HA I loved that name) we struck up a conversation with our waitress. I asked her what does everyone do during the winter, and she just looked at me and said...Drink! She said that there is nothing else to do there, they have a movie house but the movies are old that they show and that people just hang out at the bars. She said she had been there 2 years and couldn't wait to get out. Well, my heart immediately sank, then she said that meth was so bad there that it is taking over everyone. There were 6 deaths in that little tiny town already that summer, either due to an over dose or suicide. Again, my heart was so overwhelmed with grief for that community. Please, everyone that reads this post, I beg you to go to the throne of our Lord on behalf of Valdez. There is a darkness there, but I do know that our God is bigger than that, and HE can do anything!

So, we couldn't put off leaving any longer, it was that time...We packed up and headed to Tok the next day, our last night in Alaska. After which, we were off on our two week adventure through Canada, I'll share all that with you on our next post! Enjoy the pictures!

Loving God and Loving others -
Kristi
Carol and Bob
Galatians 6:9-10

The trip to Valdez