So, you heard about the king salmon fishing. That was quite an experience - so fun to watch Duane and Jesse catch those big fish. Hopefully, it will be my turn this week.
Duane and I turned into tourists Saturday and did that sort of thing. Downtown Anchorage has "Anchorage Market & Festival" every Saturday in the summer. I image they had around 100 vendors selling everything from food (all kinds) to native crafts (ivory carving, etc.) to photos to purchase to glass to furs to you name it. It was really fun and relaxing. We scored a couple of things and just enjoyed the day. Saturday night we went out to eat with Jesse at McGinley's Pub also in downtown, Anchorage. Food was fabulous - I had halibut and waffle fries (yum). Duane said when you're in an Irish pub you must eat "Irish" - so he had Shepherd's Pie and a Guiness. Also delicious (so he said). It was really a fun day.
Yesterday we went to church with Jesse in the morning. We can now understand why he enjoys that church so much. Great sermon, true worship and also an adult full-immersion baptism. It was good to worship God with that community here in Alaska. After church, we met my cousin, Edith, who lives in Anchorage - I have not seen her in 30 years. We got to meet her husband, her two daughters, see her beautiful house and then went out to eat at "Moose's Tooth." It's a brewery in town that specializes not only on "brew," but also in pizza. They have people come from all over the world to taste and then try to duplicate their pizza. It was amazing! The best part, though, was catching up with Edith after all these years. Jesse put it the best (he's never met her before) - "that lady was fantastic." It was one of those special things that happen, but we never planned on. Another thing to be thankful for.
Then, we had another barbecue with Jesse's friends Sunday night. This time, we even participated by bringing our fresh king salmon and a spinach salad. Again, we so enjoyed Jesse's friends - they are truly a great bunch. Only problem with last night was waaaaaay too much food. Good grief! I have to put those chaps back on in a few days.
Today is a light day - catch up on laundry, run some errands, get some post office boxes (so we can mail our stuff back), etc. Tonight we're having dinner with a friend of Duane, Ryan, who is a deputy Marshal here in Anchorage. After that, Jesse is still talking about midnight golf (I keep saying - can we fudge a little and have 10:00 golf instead?).
We have been truly thankful for our host and hostess - Pastor Dave and Darlene. What wonderful people. They not only let us hang out in their whole basement, but they let us do laundry and even offer us a car to use when it's raining, which was really nice Saturday. After all, I am a girl (who kind of likes to look nice) and putting that helmet on when I'm having a good hair day only to ride in the rain is sometimes, well, not great. So, we are very thankful for them. As I said, they are truly great people - and he can really preach, too.
A couple of comments about Anchorage. It's cold! Simple - it's cold (to me, anyway). These people are convinced it's summer (I have no idea where they get that idea - it's 55 to 65 degrees almost all of the time and overcast or raining) - so they all have their windows open all of the time. For goodness sake, it's cold! But, as I said, they're convinced it's summer. I think they should be in the midwest when it's 98 degrees and 80 percent humidity and the night "cools off" to 76 degrees - then they'd understand what summer is. My other observation is that Canada and Anchorage people love A&W restaurants. They are everywhere. We're accustomed to seeing McDonalds and Burger Kings all over - well, they have some McDonalds, but they really have lots of A&Ws. Difference in parts of the USA I guess.
Well, Duane is chomping at the bit to read this - I'm not sure if he loves my blogs that much or is hoping to catch a typo. We'll see what the day brings.
Thanks for checking and thanks for the prayers.
Gayle - BOTB
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Good stuff. We enjoy keeping up. I would like you to please ship us some of that salmon so we could enjoy it as well. We have never had halibut but I guess that would do in a pinch.
ReplyDeleteAnother Walhof family rebellion in the bag. I think we all had a good time. Most memorable moments were Saturday night when the rain was coming down horizontally and the clouds were dark and swirling. About the time the pork chops went on the grill the weather sirens went off in Currie. Imagine 20 Walhof relatives sprinting (okay maybe a fast walk for some) heading toward the campground office seeking cover in the basement. As they arrive at the front door the owner informs them that it was a false alarm. No warnings out for us. All Walhofs run, trot, walk, (Makenna skipped) back to the shelter house where Eric, Don, Dean and Bill all stayed behind to keep the pork from burning. We kept the mockery down to a minimum however I did make a comment about Grandma Muriel's hair being out of place. Automatic inheritance demerit!
We had a great time on the boat. Ben and Natalie learned to ski, kneeboard and tube this weekend. Kiley got up as well but couldn't master it yet. Heck, Dean even broke out the combos and went a round or two. Austin sprained an ankle jumping off the dock and went to the emergency room. Nothing broke but it was pretty serious. No work for a while. We also had too much food.
Have a blessed week! Can't wait till you get back to the midwest. We need to pull the sticks out and hit the ball for a while. EW