Glacier NP

We just got back from a week in Glacier with the Koning side of the fam. It was fantastic, refreshing, and spectacular. Our first stop was at Sakuma Farms near Mount Vernon. Nate met us at their big fruit stand a mile of I-5, and hooked us up with the best strawberries that this fertile earth has every produced!!! I've had plenty of berries in my 30 years on this planet, but all pale in comparison to what those Sakuma Bros grow right here in WA.













They had some fun toys for the kiddos, and Abigail didn't hesitate at all climbing right into the cockpit and drivers seat. Look out Amelia Earhart and Danica Patrick.
















We stayed the first night in Revelstoke, BC, at the Frontier Hotel. It was an old-west style ya-hoo good time, with a great breakfast! We put Abee to bed and Melis & I played frisbee in their mostly-empty parking lot until it was too dark to see. Melis tossed the disc out into the highway once, but I hit our car twice before we called it a night.













From there we went into Banff and drove up to Morraine Lake where we grabbed lunch and walked out a ways, admiring the deep turquoise color.













Taking advantage of light that kept the day awake until 10:30 at night, we did a bunch that day. We drove the Icefields Highway to the Columbia Icefield in Jasper, and forked out the dough to take the bus-on-steroids up onto the Athabasca Glacier.













I was again reminded why I'm convinced that ice is the most beautiful part of God's created world. For any of you that haven't crossed off 'walking on a glacier' from your bucket list (it ought to be there if it's not), I could write pages trying to describe the depth of the blue that exists deep in the crevasses in a glacier, but it wouldn't be enough.













Melis dipped our Nalgene (yup - we still use 'em dispite all the warnings against them) into the river flowing through the ice and we enjoyed sipping on the 32.1 degree high quality H2O.













Abigail did great on the ice, but we were glad we put on her extra layer.













From there we drove back to Banff and saw the iconic Lake Louise. The Abee Joy wasn't all that impressed. She slept great all the way to Calgary that night.













Then came the main event. We drove from there to Martin City, just outside of Glacier NP in MT. We met up with the Koning side of the family - those from ID, SD, WA, CA, & even CO ('sup Steve!). Here Grams Great enjoys making Abigail smile.













Aaron, Serena, & Dillon at Avalanche Lake.













Cousin Dillon had a blast in the water, but Abee wasn't quite so sure about that lake water. And she was pretty sure there was something a little fishy with the slimy mud between her toes.



















Uncle Steve got quite the smiles out of her.



















Enjoying just a few of the many waterfalls that cut down from the peaks.







































Check out the tongue of this bighorn sheep. Beargrass, anyone?














I enjoyed tinkering with a new lens that I got recently (I owe the idea to Malissa Eekhoff - thanks!). It's a simple, inexpensive, fixed-focus lens that has the ability to have a very wide aperature. The affect is a single point of focus, with everything else blurry. I'd be happy to go into the physics of why this happens. . .but I don't want to put anyone to sleep.



















The group shot near the Many Glacier area. Coming back through this area a few hours later, we saw 4 bear in this general viscinity.













A small peice of Redrock Falls, aptly named.













The place we stayed was awesome. We had three cabins, and had a great time. It was a rustic area a ways off the beaten path. Abee seemed to take to the area well. As long as she didn't have to touch the grass.














She has grassophobia.



















My two cute chicks.



















She got a handful of slivers crawling around on the porch, but didn't mind at all. After all that time in the car, she was just happy to be a free baby once more.



















Fence & daisy with the new funky lens.









After getting particularly dirty one day, the cousins got a badly-needed bath. Together.












Blongo ball was a favorite pasttime.













The whole clan again.













As we were leaving, we put Dillon & Abee in an old wagon they had on the property. I'd say they loved it!













After everyone else headed home, we climbed up to the Apgar Lookout, an old fire post. It's 1,850' in 3.5 miles each way was mostly through areas burned out by the 2003 Robert Fire.



















Great 360 views.














We could look down to the east and see Lake MacDonald, which we'd taken a boat tour on a few days before.














This fine young buck sporting stubby velvety antlers bid us farewell just before heading home.














We sure appreciate our family! We miss you already.

Melis & I finally redeemed a Christmas present from Michelle & Kristin - a night out on the town (Seattle, that is), and tix to the Seattle Shakespeare Company's 'All's Well That Ends Well.' We enjoyed some awesome dishes at a Thai place not far from the Space Needle and had enjoyed a cool play at the small theater.













We gussied ourselves up for the event. Thanks for the babysitting services too!



















Abee doesn't like grass. She'll go to great lengths to have as few appendages on the lawn as possible at any given time.



















Here's one of her unfortunate extremities.

Glissading on King 5 News!

Check out this video link on this unfortunate news story from one of Seattle's major news station. About halfway through the video, there's a short segment of a video that Tom took of Alan, me & The Mighty Matanuska Sioux last summer glissading down Mount Ellinor! Melis spotted it on the news today - thinking as it played, 'Hey! That's my dog!' Just goes to show that you better be careful what you put on the internet - you never know where it'll end up!

Here is the original video:

Of Lena Lake & Life

Lena Lake was the destination this weekend. It's been a rough past couple of weeks for us in many different ways, and this was a needed time of re-creation. More on that rough patch later. Family, dogs, & hikes have a way of bringing joy back into life.














Abigail looks like she just tried to drink some water. Tried being the operative word.




















Matanuska on the famous Lena Lake bridge.














Don't worry, we put sunscreen on her.














The three of us. . .with a Matty Sioux hindquarter.

We hiked across the creek on the far side of the lake, for a total round trip of around 8 miles. I was very pleased with our baby backpack, as was Abee Joy.

I was also very pleased at the spontaneous show Melis decided to put on ;-)

















'da sista's














Abigail got cranky about an hour after leaving the car, and after giving her the vast majority of the food we brought for her (we'll bring more next time girl!), she did great the rest of the time.















So about the 'Life' part of the title: I've been struck a lot in the past month by the frailty of life. Our neighbor passed away quite unexpectedly. One of my 'favorite' patients died (they're all my 'favorites', but I had somehow connected with this elderly lady quite well). A friend of ours at church suffered a heart attack (she's fit & healthy). Yesterday a man was hit by an inattentive driver across the street from our office while crossing the street. He was fine, but the car ran over his hips - it could have ended much differently. And I suffered a heat stroke at mile 10 of the half-marathon - had I not had medical intervention or been far away from help, I very well might not be here today. . .or at least with full faculties. Most troubling of all for me is my mom, incredibly healthy and 50-something (I promise not to tell your exact age Mom!) was just diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, which is typically terminal with a 10-15 year average survival. Because she shows no symptoms and is in great health we're hoping for much more than that of course, even as we are praying for a miracle.

Philip Yancy's 'Where is God When it Hurts?' reminds us that pain is an essential part of our everyday life. A life void of pain - to remind us that a fire is hot, the sharp edge of a knife can cut, or an infection needs time to heal - would lead to all sorts of negative consequences. Pain, in a way, reminds us of life. It tells us that there is a problem with our circumstances. But pain in life - especially the pain of circumstances like strained relationships, of emotional hurt, and the ache of losing loved ones - isn't how God intended Life to be.

After my heat stroke, I have a two hour block of time from which I have absolutely no recollection. The roughly two hours immediately following that were by far the most terrifying of my entire life. None of my senses worked, and I felt like I was in a dream that I couldn't wake myself up from. The only thing I remember hearing was the word stroke (I'm sure now which was coupled with the word 'heat'). I was convinced that I had a stroke, and I was going to live the rest of my life in that vegetative state. There's a lot more to the story than that - and almost all of it was sheer terror for me and my family - but I've come now to think that's it's good for us humans to hear the loudly clanking chains of death periodically. As my dad said, we're all in a terminal state here on earth. Our true Home is in heaven.

In Philippians 3, Paul has a lot to say about the eternal perspective that we all should live with. Job learned a lot about suffering. . .with God's reply to his questioning including few answers to the 'why's,' and more emphasis on his almighty power. A God wise enough to create me and the world I live in is wise enough to watch out for me and my loved ones.

I look to I Peter 5:10 as a huge comfort to the broken and hurting world that we live in. Suffering and pain won't get the last words. There is something better that He promises. Something much better. Life - strong, firm, & steadfast. Until that time comes, I will continue to hurt, struggle, and feel pain. But I have the hope that Life, as it was meant, is coming soon. I pray for the faith to hold firmly to that Hope.

What a Week

Here's our first feeble attempt at Blogspot in 3 whole years. If posting pictures is this difficult, I think I might be a Xanga-maniac for life. Someone please tell me it's not as hard to post this many pics as I made it.