Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Northern adventure - part one

 After many hours in travel, I was on the last leg of my journey flying from Vancouver to Whitehorse. "Shouldn't it be getting dark." I thought to myself. "Oh. Ha. No. This is the north in the summer, where it does not get dark." I smiled to myself. Little bursts of excitement rushed through me, I was almost there and I could hardly wait! I looked at the  beautiful snow capped mountains as I thought about the coming month I would spend with my dear friend, Candace, and all the wonderful adventures we were sure to have together. 
 I had a very wonderful time visiting the Yukon and Alaska with my cousin and her husband. I am so thankful to God for His rich blessing!

I flew into the Yukon and we visited a few lovely places before heading to Alaska
A lovely old cabin and lupin
Candace's husband, Riley, is from Juneau AK. We drove to Skagway and then took the ferry to Juneau to spend some time with Riley's family. It was a beautiful drive/ferry ride. God's country as Riley calls it. 

Candace and I had the fun idea of getting the crews to land on Riley :)
As you can see, it worked :)





Crow's are pretty funny creatures. I will always have a special place in my heart for them after having Bella Donna in Africa 

America my home sweet home! 

Beautiful!

My sweet cousin and her husband

The ferry trip was amazing! 

We spent a few days at the in-laws and then went with Riley and his dad up the Taku river. 
As you can see it was quite cold!

Capturing floating ice out of the river near a glacier 

Amazing!!

Candace, Riley and I. Bless Riley's heart for putting up with two women for a month :) 

Riley and his dog, Jess, on a floating ice chunk. I was too scared of falling in and freezing to death to climb on one

Salmon. Candace and I had plans of watching them catch the fish, but they had a record catch and had their limit in 45min! 

This is one big fish!!! :O) 

Northern glamor 

 Mosquitos! I would say I killed over 500 of these monsters during my month  
Poor Alli Boo Boo 

Can we say FUN!  
The cute little yurt I stayed in up the Taku 

A Tianne den :) I used the blankets to block out the light, it was super cozy

A sweet note from a sweet friend. With no clock and it never getting dark I never knew what time I should get out of bed

The sauna. Getting all hot and sweaty in there enabled me to dive into the icy Taku with Candace.  It took two tries and some screaming, but we did it :) 

How amazing you are, Lord of all creation!!!

Bosom friends. How I love you and am thankful for all the wonderful times we have had together and all the wonderful ones yet to come!

Soaking it all up

Shrimping! I loved it!

Funny creature 

Amazed again and again by my creator 

YUM

Candace before the beheading 

It had to be done... the headless shrimp
Returning on the ferry after a lovely time! 

Time to discover the mighty Yukon!
Stay tuned for the continuing journey in the next blog post 
 “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”  ~ Psalm 19: 1-4

Monday, June 18, 2012

I'm leaving on a jet plane

Last night as I was trying to sleep, I started thinking about my very first plane trip. I was 16yrs old and extremely excited! We had driven for a short term mission trip to Baja Mexico and were flying back. I don't remember much about my first time on a plane, but I do remember the excitement, my wide eyes and fascination. Many years later with many hours in flight, I can't say air travel holds the same fascination. In fact if I could skip these long flights, I sure would. Yet, I am extremely thankful for the ability to go halfway around the world in such a short time. Not so long ago it would have taken an entire month just to get to America!



Round trip I will be flying 15,722 miles, this is excluding any road travel 


I wonder what kind of food Air China offers? Or even more important, how comfortable will their seats be?

I'll spend a grand total of 35 & 1/2 hrs in the air
And
I am not sure how much time in the airports
 This will be me snoozing away between
my flights.. well not quite, I'll have
that blanket over my head :)
This is me on the plane... I just wonder with all that sleeping why I feel So tried once I arrive at my destination?
Beauty, quietness, yummy food, flowers & much more await me

More importantly, fun times spent with my dear friend awaits me!!!
I can't WAIT!!!!!
One week from today, I should be there - YAY!!! 

Monday, June 11, 2012

Mr. bug

This guy was buzzing outside my window tonight as I was being a diligent
studious student


What was I to do? Get some tongs & bring him inside to take a closer look!

He turned out to be pulling our bluff with the scary looking outer shell

Meet Mr. Japanese rhinoceros beetle 

These friendly little guys are sold as a pet in department stores in many countries in Asia.
Who knew? Not me until I read it on wikipedia. In Japan they are even sold in vending machines


They are used for gambling in some places. Placed on a log one male tries to push the other off, the last beetle on the log is the winner.

Isn't he just the cutest?? 




He was a good distraction from my studies :)

And then I ate him
THE END
... OK maybe I put him back outside ;)