Sightseeing in Whittier

 

We are so excited to hear from those of you who are planning to come to visit in Alaska. So far Scott is coming to see the Northern Lights (hopefully) when we go to Fairbanks for my birthday. He will be here March 9-15. Kate and Jed will arrive to stay for the summer in May through August. LeAnn and family are coming in June. Lisa, Dan, Ethan and Amber will come July 10-18. Lindsey, Kevin, Maggie and Cooper are coming in August. I know this is subject to change. I hope travel restrictions from Covid will start to ease soon too. Of course that may mean more tourists. So we decided to start using P-day to look at things to do when you come visit. Whittier is a little over an hour away, south of Anchorage. It is a nice drive with a lot of pull outs to look across the inlet at scenery or go hiking in the Chugach National Park.  It was a gray, rainy day so we didn’t stop much (sorry for pictures from the car). Whittier is on Prince William sound which used to be a military port and now is used for cruise ships. 

You get to Whittier through a 2.5 mile long train tunnel. It costs $13 and was really interesting. Times in the tunnel are scheduled for one way traffic shared by trains and cars. Cars travel east for 15 min, next east trains for 15 min, then west cars for 15 min and then west trains. It looks like a coal mine tunnel inside. There are safe houses every 1/4 mile so if there is a fire in the tunnel you evacuate to a safe house for rescue. They didn’t say if they have ever been used. The tunnel was built during WWII by the military. It did not sustain any damage during the 9.1 earthquake in 1964 so it is very sturdy. 

The town of Whittier only has 200 people and is closed until tourist season (cruise season). It is popular for sea kayaking, sport fishing and glacier tours. It was so windy, cold and icy while we were there. The river looks like it is flowing and has currents but it is frozen that way. It was so strange to see it look like it was moving but it was completely still. Elder Robinson got out to take the picture and nearly got blown over. It is common in the winter for winds to average 60 mph. I really appreciate Elder Robinson getting out to take pictures!

Driving along the Turnagain Arm of the inlet we couldn’t decide what the black slabs in the water were. They were out in the middle of the water and along the coastline. It almost looked like broken up pieces of ice but they were black. In Girdwood where they are most plentiful we found out that the earthquake in 1964 dropped the coastal edge 8-10 ft and moved the coast line 2.5 miles further away from Girdwood. So it is broken up slabs of rock from the earthquake. I know it is hard to see from the pictures. It is amazing to see how the land is reshaped from earthquakes, glaciers and erosion. 

Our last stop was along the road where we saw a dozen people pulled over taking pictures of the mountainside. I saw some sheep climbing along the ridge. So we pulled over too and took pictures of Dall sheep. We really had such a fun 4 hrs. of exploring sights nearby. Everyone tells us the summer is so much better. I am glad we get to see it in all seasons though.

We have come through the Covid outbreak from the past 2 weeks. We had a total of 28 missionaries in 2 zones that were sick or had contact with someone with Covid. There were 12 who were positive but the others had to be isolated or quarantined because missionaries have to do everything together. It didn’t affect anyone other than missionaries. One zone had played basketball and then a meeting where everyone was exposed. The other zone had 8 elders that had gotten together after Christmas. I was impressed how helpful the health department was in providing information and follow up. Fortunately only missionaries were exposed and the illness was mild. Hurray! Elder Robinson and I and the other 2 senior couples were able to get Covid vaccines this past week. We felt so fortunate to get them with such high demand. Hopefully it will get all of us that much closer to a safer, less fearful social environment.

One last item of interest. We had run out of milk this past week and when we went to the store, the shelves were almost empty. The first store had no milk and I got the last quart of 1% milk at the second store. Costco had 1/2 pallet of 2 gal pkg  for $8.99. Rough seas were to blame. We got by with 1 qt until more arrived. Also Elder Robinson has not been able to get Diet Coke, only Pepsi products. He is going cold turkey off Coke with flavored water. It has made us more mindful of having adequate food storage of necessities at least (milk not Coke).

A few missionary things to share. When we went to get our Covid vaccines we were sitting in the waiting room and an older lady came to talk to us about the “Mormons” she has known. She noticed our name tags and wanted to visit. She was a very pleasant lady. I’m glad she saw our name tags and felt free to talk to us. On the other hand when Elder Robinson and I went to look at an apartment to rent the property manager was not very friendly at all when she realized the Church of Jesus Christ was Mormons. On the phone she was nice but when we arrived she had a list of demands about why she wouldn’t lease to religious people. It was uncomfortable but we thanked her for her time and left. Mostly people here are quite friendly but every now and then someone has an issue. Best just to walk away. 

On Tuesday our home ward had a weeknight activity with missionary moms sharing how their young missionaries are doing. I can see those missionaries in the experiences of the missionaries serving here. Some days are hard and discouraging. I have so appreciated the conference talk and missionary devotionals from Elder Uchtdorf. He is the chairman of the missionary committee. He compares the missionaries to pioneers in breaking new territory during Covid with new ways of contacting and teaching people. It is hard to see their discouragement when things don't go as expected. But is exciting to see the ways they are developing as missionaries. I especially like seeing how well they get along and are supportive of one another. They really are developing deeper relationships with God and others as they mature in the gospel. As hard as it is, it is polishing their lives for good. There are 14 missionaries leaving for home next week and 2 more going back to previous mission assignments. We will miss them! No new missionaries will be coming until March. So numbers are moving downward as other missions open up. 

Thank you for emails, texts, phone calls, messages. I love hearing from you and keeping in touch. It was fun to see pictures and hear about Grandma Robinson's 91st birthday celebration in Arizona. It is Cooper's 11th birthday tomorrow and Krista's birthday on the 22nd. Have a great birthday week!

Love,

Elder and Sister Robinson

A final picture of Alaska humor from the Pizza Shop in Girdwood. Delicious food. The ice cream shop next door is worth stopping at too! We ate everything before we thought to get a picture. Maybe next time

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