More Glaciers and Fall Weather

 

    We really enjoyed seeing and landing on the mountain glaciers last week with Jane and Larry. This week we went for a boat tour of the tidewater glaciers and it was amazing to see too. The weather was very cold and rainy most of the time. We were on a catamaran in Prince William Sound but the boat ride was extremely smooth. It was a 6.5 hour tour partly in the sound and partly in the fjord. A sound is is bigger than a fjord and connects to the ocean but it was not rough at all even though the wind from the boat ride was 35+ mph. It felt like being on the crabbing boats on Deadliest Catch (cold rain blowing in your face). 

The stops by the glacier were worth it. The glacier ice was a pretty blue. The black is from rocks and earth debris deposited as the glacier moves. It is called moraine. It was also interesting to see the icebergs and floating ice around the glaciers. The waterfalls were beautiful too. I think seeing the glaciers from air and water has been one of the highlights of being in Alaska. We had hoped to go to Seward to hike and see Exit Glacier but it was very rainy on the Kenai Peninsula. It would not have been fun to hike in the rain. I appreciate learning about how the earth is formed and the mountains are carved by the glaciers. As beautiful as the earth is, the intricacies of its form and function are beyond anything I could imagine. Creation is a miracle. 

     A few interesting facts about Whittier, the port where we left for the glacier tour. There are about 300 residents in the town. It receives 18 Ft. (216 in.) of rain a year. It has a single school for K-12. There were 2 graduating seniors this year. The only access is through a 2.5-mile one-way tunnel (alternating traffic flow). All of the land is owned by the railroad. Everyone lives in a single apartment building that has a store, laundry, police station, post office, playground and swimming pool in the basement. There is an underground tunnel from the apartment building to the school behind the apartments. So the kids walk to school without going outside. It closes down to tourists after Oct 2. Although the marine highway and a hotel remain open. They have a lot of delicious seafood for sale. 

We bought some spot prawns and Jane and Larry had earlier bought multi-colored carrots, potatoes, beets and tomatoes from a Farmer's market in Anchorage. We had a delicious "all local" food dinner. I'm trying to figure out what to do with beet greens that would be delicious.

     One other thing we enjoyed doing with Jane and Larry was going to the Iditarod Museum in Wasilla. We had watched the Disney movie "Togo" and found out that the real dog Togo was stuffed and on display in the museum. So we went to see it (the movie was that good). He is a small dog, only #43 lbs, but did amazing things!  I enjoy seeing the bronze sculptures the different places we go and always think "Scott could make that".

      We had a beautiful sunny weekend and were so excited to get outside, along with every other Alaskan. We were cleaning the church with the bishop's family on Saturday morning and we were the only ones there to clean. The bishop said that sunny days are so rare that Alaskans drop everything to be outside on a nice day. That is very true.  We had hoped to go to the Pyrah Pioneer Peak Fall Festival in Palmer. That was our first activity last year when we arrived on September 18, 2020. We loved the giant vegetables and the pretty fall colors. Unfortunately as we drove to Palmer there was a huge traffic jam. There had been an asphalt spill that closed 2 of 3 lanes heading north. It is truly the only road going north. The traffic was stopped for as far as you could see and we had 30 miles to go. We got off at the next exit, turned around and decided to find something to do in Anchorage. 

We went to Flat Top Mountain and enjoyed the colors there. It was not too windy but there were paragliders and lots of hikers. It was one of the nicest days we have seen. From Flat Top on a clear day you can see Mt. Denali, 143 miles away. It is pretty small from here so no pictures. The Flat Top Mountain trail is a 3 mile loop with a 1500 ft elevation gain. It is rated difficult and the terrain sounds a lot like hiking the summit of Mt Timpanogos. We did the 1/2 mile easy, paved tourist loop instead. Good enough. A lady was picking blueberries from the red bushes there but Elder Robinson couldn't find any. It was pretty picked over. But normally the blueberries really stand out on the red bush. 

Spiritual thought:  I like this quote from Pres. M. Russell Ballard: "What matters most is what lasts longest, and our families are for eternity." Elder Robinson's Aunt Vida passed away last week and he has thought about what a comfort it is for her family members to know families will be forever and they will see each other again. She was always a pleasant, optimistic, happy person and quick to laugh. She is someone you look forward to seeing again.  It made us think of what things we can do to make us want to be an eternal family and happy to see each other again. Family life can be hard at times. It is hard to share and overlook irritations. It takes problem solving, sacrifice, forgiveness and being nice even when you don't feel like it. But the  rewards come over time. The things we do today is an investment in our future family happiness. We are both so grateful for our parents and great brothers and sisters. We are grateful what good relationships our children have with each other. The older we get the more important our family has become. So imagine how much more important it will seem in eternity. We are grateful for the blessings of a beautiful family tree! Thank you for every kind thought and act to strengthen each family member. You are a blessing to us!

Hope you are all doing well. This week is Collynn's and Lisa's birthdays. A great reason to celebrate! We also look forward to having Michael and Bonnie come to visit from Sept 26-Oct 4. That is transfer week so they will get to see a lot of mission activity.

We love you all,

Elder and Sister Robinson

Larry took so much better pictures but I ran out of time to pick out which ones I liked best. He posted some on Facebook that were great! Here are a few miscellaneous pics from the past week.The small pepino melons Elder Robinson is holding are $9 each!