May 27 Happy Memorial Day! Hope this day allows you to honor the brave men and women who have served this country so ably, and especially to remember those who gave their lives for our freedom.
Peggy and I had another leisurely start to the day. We got up, and Peggy made muffins for breakfast. We discussed what we might want to do today, and we decided to drive up Hatcher Pass in the mountains a very short distance north of Wasilla.
I went out to talk to Jim who is a retired employee of the air service we are staying at. It's a beautiful day- clear blue skies with temps near 70º and a light breeze. He was resurfacing the floats for his seaplane so I "supervised" his work while we talked.
Grant and Debby drove up in their Jeep and they are driving up to Hatcher Pass, also. I told them we'd maybe see them on top. Peggy and I left for the pass and sure enough, we were at an overlook when the Chapmans drove up so we visited with them for quite a while. They were leaving the pass area and Peggy and I were still on our way up. They left heading back to Wasilla and we continued our drive up.
The pass gave us a nice look down into the MatSu (Matanuska and Susitna Rivers) Valley. There was still a lot of snow on the mountains but with the temps we've had since our arrival it is quickly melting. The creeks, streams, and rivers are running full and some areas are having minor flooding due to ice dams forming. We took pictures of the scenes and also of a rodent smaller than a marmot called a whistle pig by the locals. I don't know what the actual name of it is.
When we got back we were watching a float plane being transferred from land onto the lake. Debby yelled and wanted to know if we wanted to join them for lunch. For being spur of the moment, she put on a very nice meal: shrimp, pasta salad, and kabobs, and then angel food cake with huge strawberries and whip cream. I think if I had asked, Debby would have pulled a rabbit out of a hat, too! They are very gracious people, and we still can't believe our good fortune to be here!
I called my dad in Brookings, SD, and he is doing well. Said it was cool, cloudy, and windy there. Last night my iPhone weather alerts kept beeping with all the thunderstorms and possible tornadoes around Omaha. The World Herald website said that many areas in the Omaha area were without power as a result.
Peggy called the girls as she hadn't visited with them recently. Nice to get caught up with all they they have going on in their busy lives.
And then there was a knock on our camper’s door. Peggy answered it, and it was Debby wanting to know if we were doing anything. She and Grant wanted to take us on a boat ride around Anderson Lake on their “Tug Boat”. Grant is really a good fabricator. He took two plane floats and fashioned them under an airplane trailer used to put float planes into the water. He then built a wheel house on this making it look like a tug boat. It was sure fun to tour the lake in such luxury! There will be a picture of the “tug” on Picassa
Tomorrow we hope to get our cable tv and Internet connected, or at least get the wheels started turning on that process. I'm still working off of the "borrowed" wifi. Wish I knew who it was so I could at least thank them and suggest they initiate more security for it so moochers like me can't have access.
My "free" wifi has been off the past couple of days so this and any subsequent posts will be late. But I can't complain 'cause it's free, and I get what I pay for! :o)
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