Anchorage, Friends & Rhubarb

Friday morning, August 3rd, Nick, Garth and I left for Anchorage. There are two ways to travel to Anchorage from Fairbanks, and we took the Richardson Highway, which is the longer of the two routes. It was beautiful with wildflowers, trees, mountains and glimpses of glaciers along the way! We stopped at the Sourdough Roadhouse where Patsy was our cook and Todd was our waiter. Their claim to fame is that they use a sourdough starter originating in the 1890's. Patsy said she doesn't spend winters there anymore. After we ordered, a quaint looking woman came in and said they had shot a bear. Todd told us it was in the back of the pick-up outside. We were drawn to the pick-up with the thoughts of seeing a bear! It was sobering to see that magnificent animal lying in a pool of blood. The fascination didn't last long and we were left wishing we hadn't looked, that we could have seen the bear down by the pond instead. With our stop for lunch, the trip took us 9 hours.

One of the attractions of going to Anchorage was seeing our friends, Eddie & Sharlene Hakala, who were in our ward in Albuquerque for a couple of years. Eddie is from Anchorage and they have lived here almost 3 years. We had a great visit with this wonderful family - we didn't call and let them know we had moved to Alaska, so they were very surprised to see us! Nathan is 12, Haley is 8, Jarod is 5, Chad is 3 and Katie is almost 5 months old. We look forward to seeing the Hakala's again.

Going to the Temple in Anchorage was a very special experience. We are so thankful to have a Temple in Alaska and I hope we can attend frequently. I know making the trip in the winter will be impossible. Kevin and Susana Kennedy from our ward were in the same session. The Anchorage Temple is a small Temple so making a reservation to attend a session is required. While we were attending the Temple, Nick visited his favorite store, Borders. I think he acquired a new CD, surprise!!

We ate lunch at the Moose's Tooth, which is known for specialty pizza's. We tried the Spicy Thai Chicken because we loved Mike & Melissa's so much. We vote for Mike & Melissa's pizza over the Moose's Tooth, but their pizza was good. We also ordered 1/2 Avalanche & 1/1 Sgt. Pepper's. You'll have to come to Alaska to find out what those pizzas are all about.

We took the Parks Highway on the way home, which goes through Denali National Park. It rained all day Saturday and the clouds were very low, so we did not see much along the way. There are a couple of places where Mt. McKinley should have been visible. There was an accident, which blocked both lanes of the road and we were stopped for 1 1/2 hours. We were very comfortable in the car listening to some Miles Davis, reading and talking. Garth walked up the road to check out the accident - nobody was hurt. I had been driving and just after I got out to take a picture of some flowers, I noticed the lights on the dashboard dimming. I had run the battery out! Well, what better time to have a dead battery than sitting on a road with vehicles all around you. Garth asked the nice couple in a jeep behind us to give us a jump. No searching for cables or someone to help, they were right behind us with nothing else to do. The drive home took 6 hours (not counting the wait). The public restrooms on both highways sure leave a lot to be desired. It was great to be home.

Last week we went out to George & Gail Farley's home to pick raspberries. They didn't have too many raspberries, but did send us home with lots of rhubarb! I made a batch of freezer jelly (only 2 pints), a rhubarb crisp for Garth to take to work, and two loaves of rhubarb streusel bread (yummy). I still have tons of it left and will probably make some more jelly. I didn't like the chunks of rhubarb in the jelly, so this time I will put it in the blender and see if I can make a smoother product and I will share it with some neighbors.

Garth has been called as a Sunday School teacher for the 12-13 year olds. Tuesday night we have an appointment with our Bishop. I guess I might be receiving a call soon, too. We test drove a Saturn Vue on Saturday - I'm hoping to get myself another car, and Garth would like a jeep. I love the Honda, but feel like I am sitting down so low, and I have a hard time seeing out the back window.