Every weekend I set a goal to update this blog with pictures and stories of my adventures in the north country so far. Needless to say, when the weekend rolls around I usually end up devoting my time else where, hence why there has been a huge gap.
The weather is finally taking a turn for the better, and people seem to be shaking off the winter cobwebs and coming out of their hibernation. I am glad I didn't get here any earlier than I did, apparently it was a wicked cold winter up here with temps reaching -40 F. I like to think that I am hardcore at times but I have no desire to experience that in the town I am living in. If I was sacrificing warmth to climb a peak that is another story, but not in my everyday life. I was talking to a gal last night about the winter and she said that at -40 when you go outside and run the gel inside your running shoes freeze and if you don't have a respirator you will damage your lungs from breathing the cold air so rapidly. I have no desire to experience that at all. Fairbanks is growing on me though. The farmers market just started up and I found a local coop of sorts that supplies fresher veggies than the local grocery stores offer. Food is expensive up here and eating healthy is even pricier. I was greatly bless though by a friend who gave me a whole freezer full of Caribou to eat for the summer. He also tossed in a rabbit and a few assortment of fish. So I bought a little Smokey Joe and I am grilling on the reg. Life is good!
As for what I have been up to since I got up here... Well so far I have had the opportunity to check out Palmer and McCarthy. Both are towns that were on the list to see and I was able to do it on the Gov's dime for work and this made it all the better. Palmer was absolutely beautiful. It sits in valley with mountains almost all the way around. One of the ranges is the infamous Chugach that many ski movies are shot in. I was there for a class for one week and my hotel room window faced them so I woke up instantly stoked each morning. When I left Palmer, a buddy from work and I drove to the Wrangell St Elias town of McCarthy. To get there you have to drive way into the park down hard pack road for 60 miles. Epic views all around. We were there burning piles for about a week and since it was in the mountains there was still a bunch of snow on the road. It was quite a taxing walking around in the snow with snowshoes on but the drive to and from the work site everyday made the hiking totally worth it. Since there was to much snow we couldn't use the truck and had to utilize 4 wheelers instead. It was hard to believe that I was working when I riding my quad home at the end of the day. I tried to take a video one day on the drive out to help you understand my disbelief but since I don't have the video uploaded yet but here is a brief description till I do. During the day the sun would melt the snow into a slushy mess and riding quad on slush is amazing. So on the way out my buddies and I would stay in the back of everyone so we could basically drive around like idiots and see how much we could drift sideways before we tipped or got stuck. I pretty much had a smile on my face the whole time, and to top it all off were were driving towards Mt Blackburn (16,390 ft) and the Kennicot glacier. I will upload picks when I find my camera cord.
I am so glad that I made the decision to come up here, I wasn't sure at first but I know now this was the right decision. I am however heading back down to the lower 48 for the winter. The skiing would be epic up here just a bit south from where I am at now, but there is more to life than fresh pow pow.
As of this minute I think I am headed back to Whitefish in the wonderful state of MT. While sitting at church the other day I was thinking back to my winter and how awesome Whitefish was and that I would like to possibly call it home for a while. I also decided that having a church where you really feel like you belong at is essential for growth in your walk with the Lord and for me that church was Fresh Life. Its been long overdue for me to dive into my walk with the Lord and to not continue sitting on the fence dabbling in both aspects of life. I am not sure what verse it is but I remember reading once that God said for us to not be luke warm for if we ware he will spit us out of His mouth. Its time to settle down and be serious about doing my part in advancing the kingdom of heaven. I hope that those of you reading this will ask yourself the same same question... What am I doing to advance the kingdom of heaven? As well as evaluate your current relationship with the Lord. He is always there waiting with arms wide open, and all we have to do is accept Him into out lives and follow Him without hesitation. There are no shenanigans we have to go through, no saying hail mary 7 times to be forgiven or giving up of the sweet nectar of life (coffee) in order to call yourself a follower. Its simple, confess your sins to Him, tell him you believe in Him and that he is the one and only God and that Jesus was His Son sent to die for out sins and POW, you are forgiven.
Well thats all I have for now. Like I said, when I find my camera cord I will put pictures up.
