Wow, what a busy two weeks.  I think we have finally landed, but now we head into the last 3 ½  weeks of our mission, which we know will be crazy busy.    Carolee covered most of what happened that week of the 11^th.  But left out some exciting times for me.

Salmon Fishing Story:   On Tuesday night the 6^th, Elder Newman said the President Smith counselor in Mission Presidency (he of bear mauling fame and 50 year resident of Alaska and Master Salmon fisherman) invited us to go Salmon fishing with him at the confluence of the Russian river and Kenai River.  It was an offer that we could not resist.  The reds (Sockeye) were running up the rivers.  

I still didn’t have my power-point presentation for my Institute lesson done, but since we were leaving so early I figured we would be home by 3pm and give me plenty of time to finish preparing. 

The turquoise color is the Kenai, the brown is the Russian, but it is  really clear

Kenai & Russian Rivers Confluence

So Elder Newman came down from Palmer (45 min NE of Anchorage)  and slept at our apt till 2:30 AM, when we left with Pres. Smith at 3am.  We got to the parking lot at the campground at 5 AM and met some of his friends who had come up from Utah.  We put on our chest waders (I borrowed from one of the Stake Presidents here), rain gear (it was raining pretty hard and did so till we got out of the river) and headed out for a mile walk to the river.  I kinda looked the part of a veteran fisherman with my chest waders, but my rented fishing pole was way out-classed by everyone there. ☹  At the confluence, we waded across the Russian in thigh deep water and moved down the bank to get to the  “best spot”.  The water was moving very fast and I was a little nervous with my footing in that deep and fast-moving water.  There were only about 10 other people there when we got there at 5:30am, .  By the time we left at 2pm, it was almost elbow to elbow fishing for almost as far as I could see, up and down the river.  It was insane.  Pres. Smith had caught his limit of 3 Reds or Sockeye Salmon, not Kings (Kings are endangered and so you can’t harvest them if there are any).  Anyway, he was helping me and I finally got one by around 1pm.  That was 7 freaking hours in this freezing cold river leaning into the current to keep my balance.  My glutes quads, calves’, hamstrings and ankles were burning. 😩 

The chest waders were like a dry suit, so I wasn’t wet or too cold.  Pretty amazing.  The boots weren’t too good so my feet got a little wet and cold.  I only got out for about 30 minutes total to relax my muscles.  And I did sit on the bank for a while.  I am just a bad fisherman…I would change out where I was fishing to another in our group and as soon as I did, they would catch one.  It kept happening over and over.  It drove me crazy.  The Sockeye is about 2-3 feet long and weighs about 5-10 lbs and fights like a demon. 

This was our whole catch for the group.  Mine is the one in front.  

The one that I got was using Pres Smith’s $1,000 fly rod.  As I was pulling it in, it had the pole bent in half.  Pres. Smith kept saying let the pole do the work, walk up-stream, then “don’t break my $1,000 dollar pole!”  So I decided I won’t borrow a pole anymore.  But that one fish fed us and Tanner’s family for two dinners and still had a little left-over!  It is really good.  So, after lally-gagging around the river and talking to other fisherman in the river and the parking lot, we finally left at 3pm!   So, that would still get me home by 5:00 so I was still feeling ok about finishing my lesson in time.  But then, on the way home Pres Smith wanted to know who was buying ice cream at Wild Mike’s ice cream shop in Cooper Landing.  Apparently, that is kind of the gesture one makes when someone takes you fishing on the Kenai.  So I bought ice cream for the 3 of us--$22.  The scoops were big, but…  So the line was long and now it was 5:30 ETA.  As we were driving home I could tell Pres Smith was getting way tired so I wanted to make it home alive, so I offered to drive for him.  So we pulled over and I started driving after the pit stop (10 minute exchange) and we were almost to the outskirts of Anchorage when he told me to pull over.  I could tell something was wrong so I pulled off into a pullout almost immediately.  He had a Charlie-horse in his leg with no where to stretch it! I know what that’s like…ouch! He jumped out of the truck fast. Another 10 minutes.  By now I was just hoping  to be able to shower before going to teach, because we still had to go to his house and unload and load our stuff into the other car and drive to my place.  It was a little hairy, but I did get a real quick shower and showed up to teach a little unprepared for my comfort.  But, good students and good questions help us learn together, which is what we did. Sorry, but the fish story doesn’t end there.  Michael Metcalf our YSA EQ President had invited me to go fishing for Pink Salmon or Humpies on Friday night at 7:00pm.  This is the next run after the Reds.  The color is based on the color of the meat.  The pinks are more undesirable meat, and is used mostly for canning and dips and stuff.  So, sports fishermen usually catch and release.  So, we drove 45 minutes to Ingram Creek down at the end of Turnagain Arm.  It was raining solid again, the whole time we were in the water and quit when we got out at about 10:30 pm.  Of course it’s still not dark at 10:30 pm, but we all had caught one so we headed out and I got home about 11:45 pm and it was almost totally dark by then.  But I am now a certified Salmon fisherman (unofficial of course) but recognized by all the locals.  😊 I would still like to catch a Silver or Coho Salmon which are bigger than the Sockeye, but my fishing time may be over.  We’ll have to see.  I missed out on catching a Chinook or King Salmon 35 years ago when I came up here with Seldon (my boss).  We came up to set up the books for a friend, Mike Babcock, and we got skunked due to commercial fishermen netting the river the day we were there.  So that ship has sailed…

Tanner and Family visit:

Saturday morning after my last fishing escapade, we went to our Seminary training meeting from 9-12 at the Institute building.  We came home and headed to the airport to pick up Tanner, Kassy, Zoey & Nate.  It was so good to see them and get such good hugs.  We loved having them here and had a pretty magical week.  We saw the majesty and beauty of Alaska with and abundant intersection with wild life.  For those of you who have been here before you may recognize some of the places we visited and things we did.  So here is kind of a highlight of things we did and saw.  I made a more thorough itinerary of what we did and saw for Zoey and Nate and I’ll include it at the end for the record. 

We saw documentary movies about bears and the Earthquake of 1964.  We then visited Earthquake Park where you can see how far the land dropped into the ocean. We walked to a salmon estuary 3

blocks from our house and discovered an amazing, colorful forest of mushrooms.  I knew Tanner & Kassy were into mushrooms, but they are the King & Queen of mushrooms. 

They can spot and identify them all over the place.  We drove to Seward, the epicenter of the earthquake, visited the Sealife Center where there were rescued sea life like seals, sea lions, octopus, sea birds and a touch tank of starfish, urchins and other cool stuff; visited a massively powerful waterfall and followed it into the ocean; skipped rocks in the gorgeous turquoise waters of Kenai Lake—twice. 

        
Back in Anchorage we rented bikes and rode on the coastal trail and over to the 2^nd busiest Seaplane seaport in the country, Lake Hood and

watched planes take off and land on the lake.  We even saw 4 “moosen” as we traveled the trail.  E-bikes I think will become a necessity when we get home.  They are amazing.   This is a moose--no, Nate is not                                                                                             a moose!

We went up to the Glen Alps Flat Top trailhead to get a view of the whole city and Cook Inlet.  And we picked wild blueberries and raspberries with many people from Anchorage.  We rode the tram to the top of Alyeska ski resort, hiked even higher, saw 7 glaciers before coming down.  

Then to Virgin Creek Falls which is the furthest north Coastal rain forest in the world.  They get over 70 inches of rain a year, just down the road from the ski resort! The falls were breath taking. 

We skipped rocks in Portage Lake, the glacier lake filled by the Portage glacier but could only see it by going on a boat cruise.  We saw the Byron glacier from there and headed to Whittier through a 2.7 mile tunnel through the mountain.  The longest auto tunnel in America—we’ve been told.  It is one way only and carries traffic from trains, busses, and automobiles.  It’s pretty cool.  Saw some cool glaciers there too.

Driving on the road by the Turnagain Arm (an arm of water off to the south of Cook Inlet) we saw rare Beluga Whales.  They are white and rather small—15-20 ft.  We had never seen one, so we thought they were mythical 😊, But now we have video proof they exist!  (i can't get the video to work, so you just have to take it on the 6 witnesses who saw them) 

We went to the Zoo and saw all the Alaskan animals in one place, including a pair of polar bears that were very entertaining. 

We finished with a picnic, hiking in the rain and then watching a movie “The Great Alaskan Sled Dog Race” starring Togo the hero dog who led the team to Nome to get a DPT serum to save the children of the remote city.  It was early 1900s and the Iditarod Dog Sled Race is held each year to commemorate that run.  I’d recommend the movie. 

So, all in all, it was just an awesome week.  It didn’t matter where we went, those kids were off and running to see everything they possible could.  A lot of the places didn’t have protective fencing and keeping them off the very edge of disaster was difficult at best.  I think I’ll quote Tanner here that I think you will all agree with “Parenting is impossible”. 😊 

We loved the week with Tanner and we loved the week with Chalae’s family.  It would have been awesome if all of you could come for a week, but we know it was not possible. 

On Friday after they left, we went to dinner with the North Anchorage Stake President and his wife.  We have become friends with him because he has an office here in the Institute Building and Carolee feeds them a lot.  That’s a good way to make friends, ha-ha.  He is part of the unique cultural diversity here in Anchorage.  He is Persian, born and raised in Iran.  His mother joined the church there and they escaped to America.  They took us to the highest class, expensive restaurant in Anchorage and told me that if we ordered the cheapest thing on the menu that he would be deeply offended.  Wow…did you all know that halibut have cheeks?  Not buns, but cheeks.  Well, we had them as a starter and wow!  As you know all 5-star restaurants are big into presentation and sauces and dips.  I’d forgotten food could taste that good.  It was a wonderful evening. 

Then on Saturday, we rented e-bikes again and went on a bike ride with the Badgers, our good friends who we’ve had many adventures with. 

They are the temple construction missionaries who came out with us but will be here for 2 more years.  We explored the city green space creek trails for over 3 hours.  It was really awesome.  It’s like you are way out in the woods and suddenly you go through a tunnel under a major roadway.  Lakes dot the length of the trails and the water in the creeks is really high from all the rain up here this month, but it’s still so clear!

Sunday, we went to 3 Sacrament meetings trying to cover all our bases before we leave.  And Monday we start the Institute and Seminary semesters all over again and we hit all the night time activities.   We love being busy and involved and making relationships with so many YSAs, young missionaries and other senior couples here in Alaska.  We hope that what we have done here will have made a difference in someone’s life. 

3 weeks is not very long and I’m getting a little panicked that we will run out of time with what we want to still do as missionaries.  We made a list on Saturday of the things and also the personal things.  I think we’ve hit almost all of our Alaska bucket list, so that is fun. 

We do look forward to seeing all of you, but I am feeling a little melancholy about leaving.

But life is good, the gospel is true and God loves all of us as His children!