I forgot to mention

Before we left the Cassiar Highway, we took a side trip to Hyder Alaska

I think it was one of the prettiest parts of the drive. Glaciers came right down to the road.

 This picture shows how they kept the utility poles upright. Since the ground is permafrost, they cannot be buried in the ground, so they pile rocks around them.

There were many waterfalls in the mountains along the highway.

When our children were small, we would tell them that their Great great grandfather was Chief Run A Muck. I could not resist taking this picture.

One of the homes in Hyder

View down Main Street.

The only way into this town is either through Canada or by water.

A bridge that was washed out along the road.

Another waterfall.

Tomorrow, Mt. McKinley or Denali.  It was magnificent.

I have written a couple of posts

But I had a terrible time getting my pictures to download.  My grandson Darian came over last night and I told him I was having troubles.  Being the tech wizard he is, he made a couple of adjustments on my settings and VIOLA pictures post!!  What would we ever do without our younger generation:)
So, now back to blogging.
Stan and I drove to Alaska again this summer.  This time we took a side trip to Dawson City in the Yukon Territory.  We then ferried across the Yukon River and drove the Top of the World Highway to Fairbanks.  How to describe the drive? Besides looooooong? Just one word........Breathtaking.
We drove the Cassiar Highway and connected with the AlCan just south of Whitehorse. From Whitehorse we headed North to Dawson City. We have driven the Cassiar two times now.  Last summer and this.  It does not have as much traffic as the AlCan.  I guess it has not been "discovered" yet. The wild life along this highway is more abundant than along the AlCan also. Both times we have traveled it we have seen up to 14 bear as well as moose and other small animals.  All of the years we drove the AlCan, we never saw a bear.

Old Church

One of the restored buildings

Front Street

One of the Steam Ships that used to travel the Yukon River

The ferry we took to cross the Yukon River

Dawson City from across the Yukon River and atop the hill.

Dawson City is a real life Western Gold town.  Actually, today, it makes most of its revenue from Summer visitors. It is full of historic buildings and there are still many gold mines tucked away in the hills.  I head the pleasure of visiting with two young girls, teens, as I was walking around taking pictures at 11PM. They were so cute and friendly.  They told me much about living year round in such a remote town.  Both of them loved it.  When the visit the city, (Whitehorse) they can hardly wait to get back home. After spending the night in Dawson City, we took the free ferry across the Yukon River and headed to the Alaska, Canada border and the Top of the World Highway.  I was a bit disappointed because I had hoped to see more wildlife along this stretch of the journey, but it was not to be.  The vistas were beautiful though.  Different than earlier because most of the time we were traveling across tundra and the trees were few and far between. We made a quick stop in the town of Chicken Alaska, another gold mining town.  After a hard day of driving, we made it to Fairbanks.  Even though we lived in Alaska for 11 years, this was our first visit. We did not have a lot of time to explore there and we were exhausted so I cannot say anything good or bad about the City. Dinner and bed was the extent of our stay there. From Fairbanks, we headed down to Denali National Park. It was another very hard drive.  We had hoped to take one of the buses into the park, but the trips are longer than we could afford by the time we arrived so we drove the 15 miles you are allowed to drive into the park. We were able to see the Mountain in a couple of places, but the best views were outside of the park and on the other side.
More Later:)

Catching up

Like I said in my last post, it was a very busy summer. Did a lot of things and rode a very emotional roller coaster.  I say I trust in Him and have complete faith in Him, but sometimes I do slip into my human nature.  He understands, He created me.  He knows all of my weaknesses and my strengths.  He will stand beside me and hold me up when I ask, even when I don't ask and sometimes He allows me to fall and wallow in my weakness.  I did some wallowing this summer. It was not fun and it did not change any of the circumstances of my life. So often I have said to a person that God designed something in or for his/her life at their conception. Now I am having to live that truth in my own life. God designed it. I do not like it, but he designed it. I cannot change it. I can trust Him and I do try, every day. When all is said and done, we will continue.  Her grace and beauty will shine on as a true testimony of Faith and Trust. She will be always be mine and a part of me.

My life mantra has been Acts 16:31.  It tells me to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. If I do, I will be saved and also my household.  I have believed.  I do believe.  I have seen salvation in most of my family.  He did not tell me that salvation would come in my lifetime, just that it would come. I praise Him that he led her into salvation and that she will one day sit at his right hand.  How terrifying this journey would be if He were not walking this path with us.  Yes, I BELIEVE and so does she.

I lost it. I lost my desire to blog.

I did not want to, It just happened.  I have sat down to write something so many times, but nothing flows.  It seems the joy is gone.  I want it back.  I want to keep up with all of my "cyber" friends, and all of my real friends.  I want to hear about your babies, your happy days and your hard days.  Blogging to me was like sitting out on my front porch visiting with friends on a summer's eve.  It was fun, it was fulfilling, it was gossip and sometimes there were tears shed for a friend who was struggling.  More often than not, there was a heartfelt prayer sent up.  For a friend awaiting the adoption of her second baby. The friend whose little girl struggles with a sick heart. The friend who lost a baby girl to a cord accident, while her twin brother survived. Coming back here a few days ago to find this same friend has now given birth to two little girls after a very long time on bedrest. I kept her in my prayers along with all of the other special needs of so many people whilst I was "gone". I want to come back.  I hope I can.  I have had a very busy summer and I want to share it with you.  I have also been overwhelmed by life.  I may share that with you too. But for now, I will just say, I have missed all of you.  I think I will go read a few blogs and see if I can reconnect

Sunset tonight

Spring

Vinca cascading over the rocks and heading down the back path.

My flowering Cherry.  In the corner of my back yard.

Spring is definitely my favorite season of the year.  The flowers begin to bloom, the trees get their new leaves, the hummingbirds return and the sun shines more and more.  You begin to hear the sounds of children playing outside once again.  All is new, fresh and clean.

Last week I found $100.00 that Stan had given me for Christmas and I had tucked it away and forgotten about it until I was organizing a drawer. $100.00 later, most of my pots are planted.  I have enough flowers to do one or two more pots but now it is raining so I will have to wait for the sun to return once more.

Since we have a postage stamp yard, most of my flower gardening is done in pots and I usually have about 30 interspersed throughout my yard and hanging from my fence.  I think so far I have 12 done.  One real treat was when I found the two pots of fuchsia I had left out all winter had survived. My wisteria is fat with buds and my favorite azalea is nearing bloom. Yes, I definitely love Spring and its promise of new and continuing life.

For some reason, I seem to have lost my posting mojo

These are some pictures I took when Stan and I went to San Diego last month. I though I had posted them, but I was wrong:(

I shot this one directly into the sun on purpose. I wanted to silhouette the woman as she walked down the beach.

As I sat on the beach looking to the west, waiting for the sun to dip down below the horizon, I looked behind me on the hill.  I saw this Palm tree with the moon directly above it.

I am thinking waiting for the sun to set, was well worth it.

Another rather pretty shot I took as I was waiting for the sun to go down.  I love the cloud formation and the colors.