priceless...

So many people wonder, what could you possibly do for two weeks in a remote place with no tv, no internet access, no shopping, and no work? Here's a glimpse at our to-do list while on vacation in Gustavus, Alaska:

Walk to the Salmon River and fish for Dolly Vardens
Walk to the marsh and pick wild strawberries
See tadpoles at the gravel pits
Go to the beach and look for treasures, build sand castles, fly kites, have a campfire
Go to Glacier Bay National Park and hike on the Forest Loop trail
Explore the tide pools
Drive around and look for bears and moose
Go golfing
Play basketball at the school
Go to Salmon River Park playground
Go sailing
Go whale watching
Catch a fish (Mike caught the biggest, a 215 lb. halibut...I caught two 40 lbers)
Go to church
Play cards
Do watercolor paintings
Hike to the plane crash (in 1958 a small National Guard airplane crashed in the forest near Gustavus. It's eerie to see all the twisted metal with the forest growing up through it.)
Get ice cream at the ice cream parlor

...and we did almost everything on our list, plus more! It's priceless to spend two weeks doing everything we wouldn't normally do in our routine lives at home. There's such perspective you gain when you step out of schedules and into nature. I found myself countless times soaking up the pure, marine air while drinking deep of the moment...trying desperately to bottle the bliss that I was experiencing as I stood in awe of God's creation. I'll never stop enjoying the raw living and adventure of visiting remote Alaska...and now I get to teach my girls how priceless it is!