On July 11th and 12th we made a trip to Nome, AK. What is there to see in Nome, AK? Plenty! I loved visiting this quaint town. It’s charm is not your usually tourist spot, but that is why I loved it. It’s vastness is quite amazing.  

   Our first adventure, when we arrived in Nome, was to find Dorothy Falls. There are no signs to follow. The directions went something like this. Follow the road out of town, yes there is only one! Take a right before you get to the baseball field. Really its a dirt field with dugouts and a fence around it. Continue on till around mile marker 26 there is a red building. Cross the creek, follow the ridge line 1.5 miles or so to find Dorothy Falls. The first feat was actually finding the right spot, but not really knowing if we did until we found Dorothy Falls. We only say about 3 cars on the whole drive to the falls, which took about 45 minutes. Then on the way back from the falls we ran into a man who was mining his claim on the creek. He took some time to show us how to mine with a pan and where to look for gold on the river. He was able to show us a speck of gold! I was thankful for him because he gave me a ride on his quad so I didn’t have to cross the frigid creek again barefoot. It was mighty cold! The hike was totally worth it! Dorothy Falls was spectacular! We loved playing around on the falls. We had it all to our selves!

   

After this hike we headed down the road to find Pilgrim Hot Springs. The road was rough and the locals warned us to have plenty of bug dope. The gravel road was only 7 miles long, but it took 45 minutes to drive it. Yes, the mosquitos were horrendous, I was thankful for the ‘good’ dope! At Pilgrim Hot Springs there was a ghost town. About 100 years ago, there was a mission there that run an orphanage. This place was remote! Hard to imagine how they survived, even with the hot springs there. The church building was quaint in the vastness. A humbling picture to see.

   

We also put our feet in the Pilgrim Hot Springs. Unless you Greg and Esther who went all the way in! It was really hot!

   

One of my favorite parts on this first day was hunting for the spring water on the side of the road. Again the directions were, look for a pipe coming out of the hill around Salmon Lake. Right, we can find that! On the drive up we missed it, imagine that! At the Hot Springs we asked another local, he gave us the added directions: “look on the right for a white/black pipe, with orange cones…I think….and if you past Salmon Lake you have gone too far.” I’ve never drank water from the side of the road, but this water was amazing! We were all excited to fill our water bottles!  

  

 Day 2 we stayed more local to Nome. We found dredge number 5. Apparently this is the largest dredge made! It was mammoth! Crazy thing is we could walk right into this old, abandoned machine. Last time it was operated was in the 1950’s. Let just say my Mom heart was thumping. It was pretty cool to walk around in it and get a close look at it, though. Thankfully I have watched many times the Gold Rush with my Dad and actually know how it operates and how dangerous this equipment can be! Dad next time you should come with! Oh, and the locals use this as a swim spot in the summer! Crazy!  

   

Next we went to check out ‘White Alice.’ Never heard of it? Yep me either! Apparently it was a radar station used it to defend Alaska, well the US, in the Cold War from Russia. Who knew! What impressed me was the view of Nome from up there! You see the whole town and the Bering Sea. God’s beauty never ceases to amaze me! Oh, fun fact, and we FaceTimed with our friends who live in Haiti from ‘White Alice.’    

   

We ended our trip on the Nome beach. It was a sunny 65*F afternoon, couldn’t ask for better weather! We had a great afternoon panning for gold, building sand castles, making sand angels, and swimming in the Bering Sea. Well, do toes count?!? It’s cold!  

Fun Facts:

*A watermelon in Nome cost $17.99

*Cherries were $5.99lb

*The history of the Gold Rush in Nome was really 3 Swede dudes who took all the good gold claims

*End of the Iditarod 

*Two radio stations: one operated by Covenant Church

*Dredge buckets were used as planters!

*Greg was based in Nome for a month!

Chris Ireland

July 4th:   We went up to Glacier View, AK to celebrate America’s Birthday. This is how I would have imaged small town America honoring America over thirty years ago across the country. We gathered for the day with a 5k and Kids fun run, delicious food (they cooked over a 1,000 pounds of chicken and pork!) , bluegrass music, metal rodeo, parade, prayed together, honored America, and launched cars off the cliff. Before the meal they gathered the community and honored America and thanked God for this great country. We even prayed before the meal as a community! It really felt like this community was honoring the roots of America! I loved it!  

   All of the kids ran the 1 mile fun run! It was awesome to see them participate. Jadon was the first in our group. And I think he was in the top 5 of all the kids. He did amazing! Esther raced with the boys Keanan and Bristol. They had quite the finish making sure not to get beat by a girl ;). Rahab ran with Bella and Kyla. They were quite little troopers and fun to see them cross the finish line at the same time. I was so impressed with all of the kids running their hearts out. Although they still had lots of energy after the race.  

   We also enjoyed watching metal rodeo. Using an excavator to put rocks into tires and then take them out. Stack the tires, catch a ball in the excavator’s bucket while sitting on a cone. It was quite entertaining!   

   The highlight of the day was the cars being launched about 300 feet off the cliff! To be honest I wasn’t quite sure if I would enjoy this or not. BUT it was awesome! They launched 6 cars and one snow machine! I don’t think you would ever see anything like this in the lower 48. And if we did there would have been more restrictions of where to sit, how close, etc. The attitude of this event was you are responsible for your own actions. Perfect! After all the cars were launched the crowd rush up the hill side to see the crushed cars. I recommend you find so YouTube Videos! Try Googling Glacier View car launch 4th of July! But here is the first one launched in slow motion!  

   It was an amazing day with amazing friends and amazing scenery! As the day went on God’s majesty was displayed. The fog rolled away and the magnificent mountains were revealed next to the rushing Matanuska River. Spectacular!  

July 5th & 6th: 

 We headed up to the Cold Creek Mine trail north of Girwood, AK. We did the Hand tram and the ATV bridge with the Vawter’s family. We had a lot of fun playing on the creek. Throwing rocks, boulders, logs, and sticks into the creek. We wanted to explore the Cold Creek Mine but the price to enter was too high. We adventured up further up the road and saw some spectacular views and waterfalls. Greg, Zac, Esther, Keanan and Jadon came back and explored up here the next day. While the Kyla, Rahab, Jen and I enjoyed a restful afternoon watching a movie and a walk to Taku Lake. We saw a calf on the way home, but didn’t see the mama moose! 

July 7th:  

 We went on a bear hunt. We took a drive to Soldonta, AK. We looked for any wildlife we could find. Stopping several times along the road looking with not much success. As we were driving we came across a moose eating grass in the water. Fun to see this large animal enjoying herself in the water. She would dive her head under the water then come up with a mouth full of grass. She would shake her head while the rest of her was completely submerged underwater. It was amazing to see this moose in such a natural setting up close, in the car! We also saw two grizzly bears. I’m very thankful we saw them from our car on the side of the road and not while we were hiking. These bears are quite a sight! Again amazing to watch from my car as they searched the area for food.  

 The drive home late at night was unforgettable. The moon was rising as the sun was setting at 11pm. To experience the midnight sun has been quite an adjustment. I must admit I don’t think I will ever get use to it. I really have no sense of time. But pure beauty.

July 8th:  

 We explored the Anchorage Museum on a rainy day.  

Highlights of the museum:

*Seeing the $7.2 Million dollar check that was used to purchase Alaska

*Display of natives artifacts. They were similar but yet so different. You could tell which tribes were north and inland versus which were on the coast and rainy by the clothes they made. Their artistic ability was quite detailed it was hard to take it all in.  

*Playing in bubbles

July 9th:  

 Our last day with the Vawter’s we started off with church at the Chapel by the Sea. I’m loving experiencing different churches up here in Anchorage for the summer. God is moving in all His churches. What a blessing it is to pray along with these churches this summer!

 Our last hike and adventure was up to Independence Mine. Seeing this spot for a second time really allowed the history of the mine to sink in for me. WWII really affected all the mines in the area. As they were shut down for the war, deemed non-essential. After the war ended, the price of gold was fixed at $35 an ounce. Really not making it profitable for the miners to come back. This is one of the reasons why we see the abandoned mines in the state of Alaska.  

 What a jammed packed week we had with the Vatwer’s. Wouldn’t want it any other way! I’m thankful for the visit. It was much needed! I’m also very thankful that Greg was only used one day on reserve. This is the main reason we joined him this summer up in ANC. If we were still in Yelm, we would have missed out on these days with him. Instead we explored together! What a blessing we have been given this summer!        

Chris Ireland

America’s Birthday

Today is the 4th of July, we went to Glacier View, AK. We had a awesome lunch and watched cars launching from a cliff. It was awesome! We also got our face painted. I, Jadon, painted a giant American flag on my face. I, Keanan, painted a small American flag on my cheek. I also had fun throwing rocks into the water. We a rolled a tire down a gravel mound. We also did a 1mile fun run.

I, Keanan, also had fun dropping rocks into tires with an excavator. They called it the metal rodeo.  

We also had fun throwing rocks at sticks rushing down the river. There was a zip line.  

*Jadon and Keanan

Keanan & Kyla came for a visit. We went to a glacier. We didn’t get to go on the glacier, but on the lake. With lots of sand fleas. We hiked to the glacier. It was a hard hike with lots of mud and we had to cross a trail river. They had a slug bug that was their car. Sometimes the girls went in WASSABE and the boys went in the slug bug. 

We loved hanging out with the Vawter’s. 

Mom had a birthday when the Vawter’s were here. 

We just loved having the Vawter’s here.
We went to the hand tram. The Daddy’s had to haul us over. 

We went to a museum and had lunch at a restaurant. We also saw the float planes while eating dinner. We saw an airplane on the grass by the restaurant. Keanan tried to turn the propellers. He almost did it. 

*Rahab Ireland  (It never gets dark here)

We just had our friends the Vawters come from CA to visit us in AK. We had a really fun time playing and exploring AK. We saw cars fly off a cliff on Fourth of July. I also ran a race. But I did not win but it was really fun. I really liked seeing a glacier which is call Portage Glacier it was really pretty and there is a lake in front of the glacier. We went to Hatcher pass and looked at a lot of old gold mines. I think that one of my favorite things that we did with the Vawters, was seeing a bear ? on the side of the road. It was a grizzly bear we thought we saw three bears. During the Vawter’s visit we also saw lots of moose.

*Esther Ireland

We went to portage glacier. We went to independence mine. We went to the anchorage museum. We went to the hand tram. We saw a moose and a ?. We went to monarch mine. 

The end 

*Jadon Ireland

I went to go on a trail with the Vawter’s in AK. It was called Portage Trail. On the trail it was really cool because we saw a glacier. It looked huge, but smaller than some glaciers. Glaciers can be really big. In front of the glacier was Portage Lake. I kind of did not like it because there was some many sand fleas. There were everywhere, but the view was amazing! On the way back we saw some moose footprints, but we didn’t see and moose or bears. After we finished the trail we went home and had crab for Mommy’s birthday. For breakfast we had pancakes. We gave her her present. It was an ‘I’ that held jewelry. I think Mommy had a really fun birthday.  Esther Ireland

I think Mommy had a great time. I think Mommy loved breakfast. I wanted to hike. I was very tired from the hike. I hiked with the Vawter’s. I thank God for Mommy’s birthday in Anchorage. I love that Mom got her present that I made. She can hang jewelry on it. I just love my Mommy. Rahab Ireland

Yesterday I celebrated my birthday with my family and the Vawter’s. It was a unique birthday because it was celebrated in Alaska. It was cold and rainy. Most of my birthdays thus far have been celebrated in hot summer weather. I enjoy the heat and often associate the weather of making or breaking my birthday. Not this year. We went for a 5 mile hike up to Portage Lake to see Portage Glacier. What spectacular views all through this hike. This hike was considered easy to moderate. I have decided AK has a different scale of intensity. This hike in the lower 48 would be considered moderate to extreme. The first 3/4 mile we hiked had a 1000ft elevation gain. It kicked my butt! It did level off but we had to get to the top of the ridge. We saw several waterfalls! Amazing how much water is flowing down the mountains.  

   Watching my kids hike this trail was amazing. They loved every minute of it! Jadon didn’t look back the whole time, just focused on keeping us moving forward. Rahab jumped from rock to rock. Using her ballet balance skills, while trying to keep her shoes from getting too muddy. Some of those jumps can make my Mom heart stop! Esther takes in all the beauty and wants to explore everything. Thankful for Greg for finding this hike to explore and providing the opportunity to explore it!

   Greg cooked an amazing Birthday supper for me! Crab Pot style: potatoes, corn on the cob, reindeer sausage, shrimp, and King Crab. It was amazing! Great supper after an intense hike!

   Thankful for the Vawter’s to be able to celebrate with me. Also, that they enjoy hiking with us! God sure has blessed this birthday!  

 

Chris Ireland

We made it through our first week of Anchorage.  Boy was it a fun week!  We have done so much exploring even the locals at church didn’t have much to add to our list.  Most of their suggestions we have already done!  Dont’ worry there is much more to see in this great state.  We are hopeful to explore some other cities in the upcoming months!  

 

My cousin Guy lives up here.  He took us to a couple different places in ANC.  First being Point Woronzof Overlook.  The tide was really low so we got to explore a lot of the beach.  We found remains of old cars sunk in the rocks.  Pretty cool find.  We had a lot of fun guessing which part of the car we found.  This spot is also, at the end off the runway.  We got to see several 747’s take off. It is quite a site to look up and see the belly of the airplane right above you.  It still amazes me they can fly such huge machinery.  

 

Next stop was on the other side of town to McHugh Creek.  I hope to go back and explore this area some more.  Very beautiful.  The kids were so excited to find moose dung.  Crazy kids!  

We had two ‘bonus’ days with Greg.  Which means he got paid to stay home today!  Our limitation was to stay in cell phone range all day.  We had low key days staying around town checking out Potter’s Marsh and watching a movies.  It was a much needed after our week!

  

We, also, went to Lake Hood to see all the float planes take off and land!  I could see the dream in Greg’s eyes.  Someday, we will take on that adventure of landing on water instead of land.  For now we will be content in watching.  

We also had to find a coffee shop.  We needed WIFI.  The kids enjoyed their hot chocolates with whip cream on the lid!

I’m very thankful we are able to spend the summer with Greg up in Alaska.  Praying this will be an experience none of us will forget!

-Chris

Tonight I saw a moose in the back yard. She was huge! She was eating branches, not guarding her babies. Mommy saw her first moose.

Can you see her? She’s hiding behind the trees. But you don’t know where she is.  
We went rollerblading on our trail behind our house. We went over 4 bridges. My feet were so tired. It was fun.

Rahab Ireland

 June 29th, 2017

We went to Hatcher Pass. We climbed some rocks to get up to the lake. We found some rocks in the lake. I found a rock way to get to the deep part of the water. The water was freezing cold. We also found a cave. We found another pit. Which had a moss couch in it. We took a different trail down. We saw a cabin on the way. We went to the cabin. I crossed a river to get to the other side.  We found some gold at Independence Mine. It was an awesome mine. It was kind of like Thunder Mountain Railroad at DisneyLand.  It was a fun day.

Jadon

Bella was so fun. I really like her, I saw her room.  Climbing the rocks was so fun. It was easy and hard to climb the rocks. Bella and I walked together and we took pictures together. When we climbed to the top we saw ice on the lake and snow.  

After, we went to Independence Mine, we saw a train and where the workers worked. There was ice in the tunnel and a broken bridge. 

Rahab Ireland

I, Esther Ireland, went to Hatcher pass with my family and the Ness family. We climbed over big boulders with a stream going under them. When we got to the top there was a lake with some ice on top. I threw some rocks at the ice even though the rocks were heavy and the ice was thin the rocks did not break the ice. The lake was not completely covered with ice the water was freezing. Then we went down a path. And saw some prairie dogs and their holes. Then we went to the mine. Hudson and I collected some rocks and some gold or what we think is gold. We saw old train carts and the different holes were people went into the ground to look for gold. We had lots of fun doing all different things that day.

“Are you scared Dad?” Jadon asked me as he turned around with a grin about 20 yards ahead of me and 25 feet further up the mountain than me. Am I scared? I thought to myself as I pondered my response to his question. I gazed out over the valley floor some 3,300 feet below and the 1,800 feet of elevation we’d gained since we left WSAABE in the parking lot and thought about what scares me. Jadon had asked the question because he’d just heard me give him instructions for the third or fourth time to put his weight towards the mountain and stay in close to the trail that had gradually become a 3-1 grade of loose shale that sheared off to 500 to 1000 foot drops on either side of us. Only the last time I’d shouted up to him I must have had an edge on my voice because he turned around and asked me the question I now pondered as I held his five year old sister’s hand and steadied his older sister just in front of me. His question had the tone of a challenge men use to push each other forward by daring the other to admit that he is afraid while at the same time assuring the other that HE wasn’t afraid. So the question was asked, and had to be answered. But the truth is always more complicated than is often easily stated. Am I afraid for myself? No, Son, I am not. Nor am I afraid of this mountain or the challenge to climb this mountain. The truth is at this point in my life I have known fear and I have faced dangerous situations in which the outcome is doubtful and I am wise enough to admit when I am afraid. However that is not the extent of my answer I thought as another blast of the 30 mph wind caught us in the face. I now no longer worry for myself or my ability to meet the challenge but Indeed I have been watching and worrying over each footstep and hand hold you’ve taken since we’ve passed the “Danger, children not recommended” sign which is now about 800 feet below us. Every slip you’ve made has caused terror to rip though me as I’ve watched you fall down the mountain in my mind’s eye. Every time you’ve made a wrong step or tottered in the wind I’ve considered how I would get to you quickly enough to make a difference… And the truth is, I’ve done that three times over for each of you. So I guess if I’m being honest with you as I look into your half grin that has the light of a challenge written on it, I AM afraid… of my ability to protect you and your sisters on the side of this mountain. So it is my son when the challenge is no longer about getting up the mountain as much as it is knowing the limits of the people you love who you are climbing the mountain with. So even though we did not make the top of the mountain, that I saw through your tears that you wanted desperately to make, I hope that you learn an even more valuable lesson about becoming a man than the top of the mountain would ever teach you… 

Later this evening, as the kids and I were walking back from Taku lake with our fishing poles, I felt a small hand find mine as we silently and softly walked past a Moose that was on the other side of the bike trail behind our house. As we got close to the the big animal the voice that belonged to the hand softly said, “I’m afraid Daddy.” And I thought back to that question from the mountain earlier this afternoon. I smiled to myself as the Moose looked up from it’s supper towards us. And I whispered back, “It’s going to be ok son, I’m right here, between you and the moose…,” and I completed the thought in my head, “just like I stood between you and the mountain today.” As we cleared the moose and continued on towards home and his excitement at seeing such a large animal grew into an excitement to tell his mom how cool it all was I walked along happily content with our adventures for the day…

–Greg

Yesterday afternoon we met the Ness family. Brian was in Greg’s upgrade class this past spring. Their family invited us to join them hiking yesterday at Eklutna Lake. What a fantastic day! We hit it off right away. Very thankful to have met this family and hope to explore with them some more this summer!Highlights of the hike:

Watching my kids explore with new friends

Beautiful scenery

Kids exploring the teepee

Mud fights – yes the kids were covered in mud by the time we left!

No bears or moose, but I did see a mouse!  

Last night we headed over to Guy’s house. Greg was able to join us too! Guy made us halibut fish tacos and rhubarb mojitos! Our kids even loved the halibut, well, Rahab not so much. But Esther and Jadon decided they could eat halibut now! What a treat it was to have fresh fish! Blessed 🙂

My kids love the chickens and the eggs at Guy’s house!  

Today Greg was home with us all day!!! We headed towards Girdwood up to Winner Creek trail. Wow, the amazing views we saw of Glacier Creek were incredible. Going over the snowcat bridge, with no railings was awesome! It’s a weird feeling to have the river rushing below your feet. We also got to ride in a hand tram for the first time. Nothing like trusting a cable rope as you take in the breath taking scenery. It was a 5-mile round trip hike. Everybody made it without being carried! We didn’t see any moose or bears. Only a couple of squirrels.  

Chris Ireland

Jadon’s Adventure in the Mountains:

We went to a really grand ski hotel in Gridwood. We hiked on a trail with lots of bridges. There were so many creeks. We crossed a river with a hand tram. I was scared and excited at the same time. I, also, crossed a log to cross a stream. We just had pizza. Now we are driving home.  
*Jadon

Rivers:

Today we went on a trail called Winner Trail at a ski resort called Alyeska. The first part of the trail didn’t have any bridges or creeks. Then after that we ran into a creek with a big log over it. I wanted to cross the log but I didn’t. After that we saw really long bridges. We counted how many creeks there were. We counted more then seven. We saw a really huge bridge. It was like rail road ties, but they had holes in them. It went across a river. The river was really cool because it had some small rapids and wound its way about. Ever time the path went across the river you can see different spots of the river. Another time we saw another bridge. It wasn’t as cool as the first one, but it had a really cool waterfall underneath it. The waterfall was cool because it split and then came together. The next cool spot we saw was the hand tram. That went across a river. Dad had to pull a rope to pull us across. We hopped in the cart to go across the river. It was really cool. At the end of the trail I was tired. Once I got pizza I wasn’t as hungry.  

*Esther Ireland

Winner Trail:

Just went on Winner Trail and I have the hiccups. I saw so many waterfalls and bridges. We went a on trail that had lots of sticks. We saw lots of mountains and a ski lift. We went on the hand lift to cross the river. I thought it was so cool. Esther, Jadon, and Daddy went with me. We had to wait for Mommy to come with Daddy. I walked across a log to cross a stream. We went out for pizza afterwards.

*Rahab Ireland