Monday, June 15th - Day 3

Though I couldn't tell you what we had for breakfast, it was yummy (cooked by Carole and Mardene) and in good company (we ate together as a team). I think this may have been the day we deemed Richard as King Coffee Maker... That man can fix a mean pot of coffee!!!

We loaded up into the vans after breakfast and got started a little after 9am passing out door hangers in a "neighborhood" off of Knik Goose Bay Road. What a name! The neighborhoods most certainly were not like the ones here in metropolitan Atlanta--long driveways with anywhere from 30-300+ yards between driveways. After hanging less than 100 (of 1,000) door hangers, I was thinking maybe we should have just taped fliers to the mailboxes... but later on I realized how ineffective that would be and how many people/houses we might miss!

Just to give you an idea... This gorgeous view was between two houses...

Here are Kelsey and Nolan trekking to a couple of the houses (ones with a short driveways).

Camille demonstrating the proper technique for hanging a flier.

Nolan zonked from all the walking (and change in time zones!)

I wouldn't call this "hard core mission work" ...yet, it was tedious and we couldn't see/anticipate the effect (if any) our hours of walking would have. Once we finished passing out fliers for the day, we made our way back to SBCC and Pastor Jim told us he was already getting phone calls about VBS!! That was so encouraging to hear.

For lunch we got some Subway to-go and took it to the park for a picnic. We ate our subs, and while everyone else was finishing up, Camille, Kelsey and I sat in the sun for a bit. We took a couple of goofy pictures...

Love my chapstick! ...Kelsey is a little less enthusiastic!...

Me (L), Kelsey (O and V), and Camille (E)
"We're making love." --Camille

Pic courtesy of Pastor Henry "Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil."

Funny enough, or at least to me, shortly after Henry took that photo, Kelsey and Camille were snapping away their cameras at something (or should I say someone?) else. I took one of their cameras, and was looking at a picture of a good looking guy in his swimsuit when Kelsey told me she thought she and Camille should go for a walk... "No." was my quick reply, followed by lots of laughter from all of us.

After lunch, we drove into Talkeetna. Just before the town there is a pull off marked with a camera sign to let you know it's a great photo op (haha!). Though you can't really tell from the picture, we got to see Mt. McKinley.


There was a guy at the pull off/scenic overlook that was handing out brochures for plane rides in/above/around the mountains. There was one flight that looked awesome to me, and had it not been for the $300 ticket, I might have taken it! Richard and Josh, however, decided to take the flight. Storms were approaching from the distance, so we weren't sure if they would get to take their flight, but thankfully they got to enjoy the experience and landed safely!

Their plane with distant storm clouds.

We did some shopping in Talkeetna-- it is a very eclectic town. Also, we stopped by the National Park office/building and saw a 20 minute video on Mt. McKinley aka Denali. SO COOL. While waiting on Richard and Josh to get back from their flight, the rest of us had a snack at the Wildflower Cafe (I think that is what it was called?). While sitting on the patio, the storm came in with lots of rain, thunder and lightning right on top of us. Henry was making a joke about the guys on the plane, and something or another about Richard throwing up (which, even the mere mention of vomit almost makes me gag)... Out of nowhere, still no idea how this happened, but just as Henry is saying that, something that sounded like a bucket of rainwater was dumped about 2 feet behind me, making me gag and completely freak out!!! Everyone erupted in laughter--I suppose I made quite a face--but the timing of it all amazed me. No sooner had Henry said "Richard throwing up out of the plane..." when that noise hit. After processing it all I joined in the laughing and had tears in my eyes within seconds...

The guys rejoined us after their flight, and we went to dinner at the Latitude 62 Lodge and Restaurant. I was adventurous and tried the navy bean and reindeer soup (which was surprisingly good until Mom accusingly asked "What about Santa?" in a text...haha) and also had a side salad with a yummy blueberry vinaigrette. A couple of people ordered the lentil soup, which they thought was out of this world... I tried some-- it was good, but I know of nothing to compare it to!

The drive back to Wasilla was beautiful and we saw 3 rainbows. It was very hard to get a picture of the two we saw from the road, but we got a great one when we got back to Jim and Brenda's.


I'm not quite sure how I got suckered in, except I was the one "responsible" for the two 16 year-olds that wanted to go canoeing at 10pm... So we took the canoe out. Nolan, of course, was also wanting to go canoeing. The plan was for me to take Nolan first, then Kelsey and Camille second...


I took Nolan for a nice, long canoe trip. About 2 minutes in he took a "break" from paddling. Off and on he'd help paddle (wink, wink) ... and when we were still a good 200 yards from the dock he turned around and informed me we were going to slow. Can't we go any faster? I was pretty tired at this point and couldn't help but laugh...


Once we got back to the dock, Nolan wanted to go again, so all four of us went back out. This time he sat in the bottom of the canoe, Camille in the middle seat, and Kelsey up front "helping" paddle. Seriously, where did these kids learn to canoe?? Because I never quit paddling!! In all fairness, it was Nolan's first canoe trip... and Kelsey apparently had a traumatic canoeing experience a few years ago and wouldn't even dream of getting back in a canoe before that day. This trip had many firsts for all of us!!



Stay tuned!