Alaska is Awesome

Everyone I've talked to who's been to Alaska always says how beautiful it is.  The part that can't be described is how vast it is!

Gary, Krista, Cheryl, and I left on August 27th.  We flew to Chicago, then on to Vancouver, Canada where we stayed overnight.  We boarded the Island Princess on Wednesday, August 28th.  The next day was an "At Sea" day, where we just relaxed on the ship as we made our way to Icy Strait Point.
Our first excursion was at Icy Strait and we were delighted that we saw whales.  They breached (blew and jumped) just like we had seen on TV but it's so much more exciting when you see it in person!

Whales are identified by their flukes (tail fins).  The two we saw were Jingles and Taco, which were mother and son.

Juneau was our next stop, where we had a town tour.

 We went up on a tram and this was our view.

My sweetheart concentrating!

We visited a place that trained sled dogs. 

We rode this Unimog and it went straight up the side of the mountain.  That was scary but coming straight down was even worse!

During the summer, they use sleds with wheels so the dogs can practice.  I had read that these dogs love to run and I saw this with my own eyes.  They work together and seemed so happy and excited.  Hope this little video will play for you.

The commands are not made with the reins, as with horses.  It's all about the relationship with the person running the sled.  The dogs take verbal commands.

This was our sledder and she has actually run in the Iditarod - Last Great Race on Earth® 

The dogs are not the dramatic Syberian Huskies 

like I had expected.

 They're smaller and are not "matching."

My first glacier!

Cold, cold, cold!!!

Time for a bit of elegance.

Our friend, Cheryl Nottingham, Krista and Gary Suter, MaryMay Angelil

 

We left the ship in Whittier and 

traveled 9 hours to Denali Park.

We had a wonderful guide.  That lady was a walking encyclopedia about Alaska and I don't think she sat down for the whole trip!

The scenery was glorious.

 

Here is one happy guy..... why?  you ask....

The Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge was near our hotel in Denali and they had one of Gary's all-time favorites -  Cioppino seafood stew.
It was good but none of them are ever as good as his brother, Johnny Suter, made when Gary visited him in California a few years ago.

 

 

FINALLY, I got to see a moose AND her calf with my own eyes! 

Their faces are long, wide and kind of flat

The antlers were heavy!

I can't remember what kind of antlers these were but they were BIG!

It was our lucky day!  We got to see Denali, the highest peak in North America.  In the past it was called Mt. McKinley.

There are many people who have gone there numerous times to find the mountain covered with fog.

It has taken me a long time to find a map that clearly shows the places we went.  This is the clearest, except it doesn't show that we went north to Fairbanks for our last stop.

August 28 - Vancouver
August 29 - At Sea
August 30 -Icy Strait 
August 31 - Juneau
Sept. 1 - Skagway
Sept. 2 - At Sea - Glacier Bay
Sept 3 - At Sea l- College Fjord
Sept. 4 - Whittier and Train
Sept. 5 - Denali Park and Mount McKinley 
Sept. 6 - Fairbanks 

 Yes, Alaska was awesome and it was a fun adventure.

 

Cousin Jim Bowman - November 23, 1941 - March 28, 2019

I don't remember a lot about Jim when we were younger. I think he was about 6 years old when they moved back from D.C.   Mother told us that Aunt Luella would come up through the fields in the snow to visit.  She brought Jim but I don't know if Betty Lou was there during that time or working in D.C. 

Uncle Vernon, Aunt Luella, Betty Lou, and Jimmy Bowman
(CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE.)

I do remember that when Jim was a boy, he touched the electric fence with his hand.  He found an old rabbit skin laying on the grass and I can still visualize him wrapping his hand in that and walking around, obviously in pain.  Much to my surprise, he remembered that, too.  I'll never know if he touched the fence on purpose or not. 

He told about going across the road to play in Muddy Creek.  He'd hang down over the bank, reach up into the mud under the ledge and pull out frogs and SNAKES!!!!

I crossed paths with Jim again when I moved back to the Valley in 2001.  Ed, my husband, had a heart attack and was going to have surgery through the military but in DC, not Martinsburg.  Ed and I went once for an appointment, using maps, and a computer program - but we got lost many times.  Mother had the idea to see if Jim would drive us.  It was amazing, we just got into the car and Jim drove us straight to the hospital!! 

Ed Angelil and Jim Bowman became really good friends - a most unusual combination - an outgoing, rambunctious, strong-willed city boy from Montreal, Canada and a basic not-shy, strong-willed country boy from Singers Glen.  Oh the hours they did spend on the computer - naturally Ed did all the mouse work since Jim wouldn't touch a computer.  They ordered everything from guns to cowboy boots. 

Jim had a friend in Maryland who had diabetes but who loved cheesecake.  Jim asked me to make a sugar-free cheesecake, which I gladly did.  Jim was thoughtful like that.

Ed felt bad about Jim eating alone so we had him over quite often for supper.  He liked everything as long as there was no cheese involved.  He had horrid memories of the smell of the cottage cheese his mother made.  For over a year, Mother, Ed, Jim, and I went to iHop for the seniors' half-off night every Monday evening.  Betty gave him iHop gift cards several times. 

Jim had a key to our house and we could always count on him to do a walk-through about once a month when we were in Florida.  One winter in about March, I asked him to check our pantry closet.  Mice had gotten in there and the devastation was incredible!  He took pictures and got an exterminator.  That was a gross job but you can rest assured that he didn't touch any of it.

Jim Bowman was the only person I ever knew who ate ribs with a knife and fork.  He did NOT like to get dirty in any fashion or form. 

For the 30+ years that Jim worked for the Washington Post selling advertising, he had to wear a suit and a tie every day.  It gave him great pleasure to get rid of all his suits when he moved back home.  Later he had to buy one for funerals but we ALL know he had to get a bit larger size! 

Jim didn't use computers but he read lots of magazines, especially car ones.  He researched a whole year and decided that I needed a Subaru Outback.  He went shopping with me a few summers ago and told the salesman to only show us cars that were fully-loaded.  That was a great choice.

I was pleased that Jim became such good friends with my brother, Philip, and Maribeth, his wife.  They had him over a LOT…..and he looked forward to the fully-packed doggie bags that Maribeth sent home with him.  

He and Philip spent countless hours working on the St. John's Lutheran Cemetery.  It was good for them both to have a worthwhile project.

Sorry this photo is so dark.

I'll always think of Jim with a cigarette in his hand and that slow grin on his face.  I will especially remember his radio-announcer voice.  He loved to have the center stage and especially liked to make people laugh!!!  

He was easy to talk to and freely gave out fatherly advice.  He was fiercely loyal and I knew I could count on him. 

It's hard to believe that Jim Bowman is really gone.  I loved him and I am going to miss him very, very much.

CareBag Can Use Our Toiletries

Click on the highlighted words to visit websites.

CareBag

The Women's Club here in my community in Florida had a speaker named Rozanne Brown last year.  She is with an organization called CareBag.  I was captivated by her dedication and passion to help homeless people.  I learned that others felt the same way.

CareBag Mobile Showers

"Every man, woman, boy, and girl, should be able to have access to the basic right of life that is proper hygiene. We will accomplish this through our Mobile Shower Unit.

Access to water and sanitation is a basic human right. It is important because it’s about so much more than just a shower or using a private toilet – it’s about providing dignity to people."

CareBag Making a Difference Video

When we were on the Power Tour last summer, my friends and I
saved our toiletries each night from our hotels.   
We ended up with a goodly amount.

 

Some friends and I have also saved from other trips and cruises.

CareBag on Facebook

Homeless Times

A couple of us from here at Savanna Club (a 55+ community) plan 

to go to the grand opening of the CareBag Mobile Shower Trailer.

CareBag Dedication 

This will be an ongoing need so I, for one, will continue saving my hotel toiletries.  

Would you care to join me?

CareBag also qualifies for Amazon's Smile program.  

Our Mission Team in Haiti in 2019

A mission team from my church here in Florida went to Haiti very recently.

We've been working with a sister church there for some years. 

They discovered that there are protests going on because of the rising costs of fuel and corruption in the country.   Rocks were thrown at their shuttle bus, which sounded like gunshots. There were some injuries to people on their team.
The next morning their bus was accompanied by police in front of and behind them.  They managed to make it to the airport where a plane had come for them. They were really shaken up but were sad they didn't get to see "their kids" again.

The man who reported to our congregation said he was reading it because he was too emotional to just tell it.    However, they do plan to go back when things settle down.  

"Thousands of Haitians took to the streets of Port-au-Prince on Friday in the latest display of public fury at the government over rampant corruption, economic malaise and other grievances." Danger in Haiti
Haiti Travel Advisory as of February 14, 2019

Please, let us pray for the poor people of Haiti - that things will settle down soon and our mission team will be able to return in peace.