July 25: AMONG THE LAST DAYS IN ALASKA

Hi everyone,
Today we returned to Willow for a parish picnic at our adopted parish, St. Christopher's Church. Had a lot of fun and said good-bye to new friends. Didn't take any pictures, because you've seen lots of pictures of the church. The new deck looked nice....from the inside looking out....because it was raining, of course.
The following are some of the pictures from the last few days.
Although we will still see the Yoders on Monday at our BBQ for the State Parks’ volunteers, we did have what was our last dinner with Lauren and Suzanne Yoder. Our weekly dinners, at home or at a restaurant were such fun. This last one was unexpected because we didn’t expect to run into them last week. They have lived in exotic places like the Congo, Haiti, France, etc….and….Redshirt Lake in Alaska. So, Suzanne is so used to making any little place we have dinner SPECIAL. Note the table cloth and flowers.

Afterward we had a rousing dominoes match. This picture was not taken in the heat of the game…but as the guys were trying to retrieve a domino that fell through a crack in the picnic table. Note: the incredible picnic table. The story is that a long-time volunteer made it a few years ago. Paul brought it from the storage yard for the Volunteer BBQ on Monday…he just brought it a little early for our evening with the Yoders. This table is so substantial that he used a bob-cat to move it. Weighs a ton!

This A-frame at the Maintenance yard is where the Yoders and one of the trail crew volunteers stayed on their days out from Redshirt Lake: no running water, but nice and warm when needed.

Chris was getting the camper ready for our trek to Haines on Tuesday. When we camped at Squirrel Creek State Park last week, overnight some sticky stuff fell on the truck. Ranger John explained what it was, but I sure can’t remember the explanation. Then, as we drove the rest of the way to Valdez , the cotton wood trees’ white cotton stuff was blowing through the air. I thought that we were going to have a fuzzy car! But didn’t happen….would have been a good picture!

The following are some of our “last of…” pictures.

On Friday morning Chris picked up Phil Heinz at the shuttle stop in Willow. He had traveled nearly 24 hours to come back up to this north country from Indiana. He came to retrieve that wonderful RV he loaned us during our camp host stint in Willow Creek. It was such a treat for those 2 months. I don’t know how to thank him…other than a big THANK YOU, PHIL!!!!

We said good bye to Karen Lynn. We have known each other for 41 years, lived next door to, and then, never followed her and Kurt to Alaska. It’s been fun to be able to pop in to see her like long ago days, and be surprised by her and friend, John, popping in to visit us at Willow Creek Campground. Karen, daughter Paige, and John are just fun folks to be around. And they have been a big help in different areas during our stay in Alaska

Just a quick little shot of the Willow Post Office. Showing this just to show you all the flower pots hanging on it.

Paul's "guest house"
Paul, a friend we met at the Alaska State Parks, and who works for them, and is a transplant from Florida (what a change!) invited us to his wonderful corner of Alaska that he calls home, in Wasilla. Paul is clearly a person who is a hard worker and loves his family, Alaska, and the outdoors. He also cares for his brother’s home near-by (because retired from Air Force, bro flies for United Arab Emeritz of Dubai and is not home often). Following are pics of this beautiful hide-away that Paul and his family call home.

Paul and baby Adison or Adi
We spent two wonderful days around the corner from Paul and his family. Chris and Paul went silver salmon fishing in the Little Susitna River.

Riley, 5 yrs. old, is a real live wire. She plays real "cut-throat" Uno

Riley and some of her painted rocks....
We've been real spoiled this summer about the relative ease at being able to get on the internet to post our blog. Rough times are comming....tee hee. Tomorrow is the BBQ at the Alaska State Park compound in Willow. After that we will head out to go toward Tok and then through British Columbia to Haines, Alaska. It will be 752 miles. Some of it on pretty rough roads back on the Alaska Highway (formerly known as the Alcan Hwy). We will have to post the blog whenever we manage to find WiFi.

Tomorrow the BBQ and then the road....so, until we "connect" again.