Alaska!

As I said in my last post, we reached the Alaska border late Friday evening. We reached Tok that same evening and reached Fairbanks Saturday evening. On Saturday, we also went to Delta Junction, which is the end of the Alaskan Highway. We got a family photo by the ending mile post.

Once in Alaska, we saw a beautiful bull moose (I had been hoping for a better shot than my first one and I got it!), but other than that we have not seen much wild life yet. We plan on heading to Denali Park and taking an 8 hour bus tour into the park on Tuesday….so excited for that! We’ve spoken to several people who have taken it and they saw lots of wild life…including grizzlies!!

We also stopped at a beautiful lake in which grow stunning yellow water lilies. I have never gotten a picture of a water lily before, so I was very pleased to get some good shots. I was particularly pleased with this one.

There was a cute old cabin set in some trees. I was able to get some good pictures of it, one of which I think might work for the cover of Be Still My Soul…we’ll see if it does or not! I also got a new author pic taken there for the back cover of BSMS. All my other author pics have horses in them J and I thought it appropriate to have this one taken at a cabin since that is the main setting for the story.

We saw some gorgeous snow covered mountains. This particular picture with the clouds and snow is destined to be one of my favorites. The setting was so perfect.

A few weeks ago, a girl emailed me saying she had read a post about our upcoming Alaska trip. She said she and her family, the Millers, were missionaries to Alaska and if we were going to be in Fairbanks, they wanted to meet us! We emailed a few times and I got the address of their church. We weren’t sure if we would hit Fairbanks on a Sunday, but we did! So this morning we attended their church and then went over to their house for lunch. They live waaaaayyyyy back in the woods, off grid, with a beautiful view of the mountains. Mr. Miller gave us a tour of the house and it was very interesting to see how they lived and the different things they have done to make their off grid life easier. Mrs. Miller and her daughters prepared a delicious meal for us and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit. Baby Timothy kept us entertained with his giggles and Mr. Miller and the three girls played their instruments for us. You can check out their family website: http://millersinalaska.org/

Just a few miles from the Miller’s house, there is a turnoff where you can walk right up to the Alaskan Pipeline. We stopped there on our way back to the RV park and got some pictures. It was neat to see it up close! Seth was being silly as we walked back to the RV and I snapped this picture of him jumping off the rail…it’s so perfect!

We plan on doing a few things in Fairbanks tomorrow, including a historical village, kind of like Green Field Village for those of you who are familiar with that. Then we will be headed to Denali, as I mentioned earlier.

It was very nice to stay in one place for a day. We are on day ten of the trip and so much moving around can get slightly tiresome. I was glad for a day away from my camera. I love taking pictures, but it is exhausting work!!

Getting used to all the daylight has been a challenge. As I type this, it is nearly ten thirty in the evening and it is as bright out as it was at five pm. I have woken at two am and found it still dusky. We also had to get used to the time change, as Alaska is four hours behind Michigan. I think I could easily get used to more daylight…more time to go riding!!! The downfall to that is that at one point in the winter, they only get three and a half hours of sunlight. I’ve always been a dark loving person, so I don’t think that would bother me too much, nor would the snow as I love winter and the cold. I imagine in would get tiresome toward the end of winter…even in Michigan I am ready for warmth by the time spring rolls around.

I think our schedule is going to pick up a bit one we reach Denali. We intended to hit Anchorage and Seward…other than that, I do not know much of the plan.

Until the next post...