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First Full Day Back

Today was our first full day back and it was a doosey. Lily and I were both sick, but had a mountain of tasks to tackle that had piled up while we were gone so we pressed on. I tackled work until late into the evening, and Lily took our car to two shops to find one that would repair our windshield, shopped, visited her mom to help with a Telehealth appointment, worked on the house, picked up Basil, got an oil change and registered our car.

We were both so busy that we felt profoundly grateful that our children played magically the whole day together, which included some puzzling).

In the late afternoon the kids walked Basil, I had a phone with my brothers, and I took Ammon and Clarissa out biking briefly so Clarissa could enjoy her new bell, helmet and gloves that came in the mail. We bought them to celebrate her learning fully to ride her bike! Then we had dinner.

Lily made an incredible dinner of spaghetti with corn and roasted tomatoes and a caprese salad (some of the best tomatoes I’ve had from the Brigham City area fruit stands on HWY 89 we went to yesterday). I ate a ton.

After dinner, I worked a ton more and then finished the day with a game of Wingspan with Lily. We tied!

Boom!

Today we woke up late at the Super 8 hotel. We hit the road by a little after 10 and drove straight to home (we arrived just before 8PM).

Two eventful things on the way, one bad, one good:

Bad: While driving on the freeway, we heard a loud “BOOM!” and there was shattered glass everywhere. Our sunroof had spontaneously exploded, I assume by the wind pressure created by driving on the freeway with a cargo container on top of the car. Everyone was quite shocked. Lily held the cover shut so no more glass got in until we pulled off and I bought tape to tape it shut.

Good: We stopped at 3 to 4 amazing fruit stands on HWY 89, just South of Maddox in Brigham City and ate peaches, plums and apricots the whole way home.

Traveling Towards Home

Today we woke up around 7. I thought it was really cute how Clarissa was sleeping:

This is a Queen size bed…..

We packed up and headed out to catch our flight. Everything ran on schedule. I thought this item from the airport gift shop was funny:

On the plane, I told Clarissa to put her backpack under her seat and I thought what she did was funny:

Swathi picked up from the airport and drove us to her house where we packed up some last items, and said goodbye to her and Clark. Mani, Sruthi, Soren and Meera were going to arrive later that night.

The trip was so magical, all of it. We loved spending time with Clark, Swathi, Sruthi, Mani, Soren and Meera and the kids got along so wonderfully the whole time. What a special experience!

After saying goodbye to Clark and Swathi, we hit the road to make it part-way home. The kids had a lot of fun in the car goofing off together. Here is a funny video of them:

At night we found a Super 8 hotel with three queens in one room for under $200. What a solution! The hotel was certainly good enough too. Lily said she heard Super 8 has been stepping up their game.

Denali National Park and Fairbanks

We started out the day by taking the shuttle from the lodge to Denali National Park. We got off at Horseshoe Lake Trail and spent a couple hours wandering the lake. Sruthi and the kids saw a giant moose pass right in front of them!

  • There was a giant beaver dam in the lake!
  • We think that blue at the bottom of the lake is the permafrost ice, but we’re not sure.

We also saw lots of adorable little squirrels peeling pine nuts.

The kids had a lot of fun together on the trail singing, “Going on a Bear Hunt” and variations of “Baby Shark”

Then we ate lunch at the grill near the visitor center. Then we wandered over to the visitor center to get our stamps, watch part of a movie about park sled dogs, and check out the exhibits.

After that it was time to head back. Soren sadly threw up on the bus, but after that he felt much better.

We then caught the bus to Fairbanks. The driver was a BYU student from Provo, and he took us to a stop in Naneena where we got some souvenirs and ice cream. The air by that point had turned incredibly smoky from all of the Alaskan wildfires. Fairbanks was pretty smoky too.

In Fairbanks we went to a local theater and watched a film about the art of ice sculpting, after which we got to check out their ice sculptures and watch an artist sculpt some ice.

Then we walked to the antler arch and a Thai restaurant, ate a warm dinner and headed back to the hotel.

Train Ride to Denali

We woke up in the Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge in Denali State Park and took a bus to catch a train to Denali National Park where we were to stay the night.

The train was incredibly scenic and Lydia said it was in her top two highlights of the entire trip (kid’s club was the other)

On the train, I finished, It Takes What it Takes which is one of the best self-help books I’ve ever read. Not only was the book amazing, but it came at the perfect time in my life. The book is all about not thinking negatively or positively, but staying neutral, anchored dispassionately in facts, and consistent taking positive forward motion and doing the next right thing. To put it in Nick Saban’s words, “Don’t worry about the scoreboard, worry about the next snap.” It’s also about deciding your personal goals and making the plan to reach that goal, not worrying about what others think. Once you know what you want, figure out what it takes, and do what it takes, because, “it takes what it takes.” I’m writing this entry a week later, and I’m still thinking about principles from this book and applying them dozens of times per day. I think it is safe to say it has changed me and will continue to change me for the better.

On Saturday we ate our last meal on the cruise before disembarking the ship.

Then we took a bus from Whittier to the lodge near Denali State Park. On the way we saw some beautiful glaciers and passed through a very long, claustrophobic tunnel.

Lydia took this shot of Clarissa on the way.

The kids drew to entertain themselves. I took a picture of Soren’s drawing because I knew it would make Nana most especially happy!

When we arrived at the lodge we took a very short walk to the Treehouse, which had amazing views of Denali. It is such a breathtaking mountain!

After that the kids played at various parts in the lodge grounds before dinner.

  • The kids made all sorts of rock altars.

We watched a presentation from two climbers of Denali and a beautiful slideshow of pictures of the Aurora.

Abe made friends with one of the climbers who lost a leg and still broke records with his climbing accomplishments.

Glacier Bay

On Thursday we spent the day at sea and saw Glacier Bay National Park. While the kids were at kids club Abe and I just sat in the sunshine at the front of the boat and talked for hours and hours. It is so fun to visit with Abe!

Everyone got a kick out of the otters. Sometimes they would just float on their back leisurely. This one appeared to be playing with its food:

Skagway

Skagway was so unexpectedly beautiful. I felt like I was in Yosemite. Everywhere you look the view is incredible, but my poor photography skills could not do it justice. I honestly did not even try to take many pictures because it was too impossibly pretty. Absolutely gorgeous.

We wandered into town and learned about the gold rush before going on a the Dewey Trail hike to a lake.

  • view from the cruise
  • boat taxi
  • Gold rush

After the hike Lydia, Mary, Sruthi and I wandered around downtown Skagway. I bought the girls some hats and popcorn. It was very relaxing and peaceful and fun–one of the best highlights of the trip for me!