ALASKA

I am just about ready to finish up a vision trip to Alaska. I have been here about 10 days, and will be returning home in 2 days. I have joined with a group that goes to small villages throughout the the Alaskan Bush to provide eye exams and glasses. Just myself and one other person (the optician) go out together. This is the second trip I have taken with them, and let me tell you, it is an adventure. I am currently in the village of Dillingham (fortunately, I have internet service). Other villages I have been to include Naknek, Togiak, Manakotak, Nome, Kotzebue, Shishmaref, and others. I could write for hours about the adventures I've had, but for now, I'll stick with some of the highlights:
--Staying at a "Bed & Breakfast" which was actually just a double-wide trailor with microwave breakfasts in the freezer.
--Giving Sarah Palin her cool glasses that everybody is talking about (OK, so I didn't really do that)
--11 plane rides in 12 days
--4-passenger, single-engine bush planes flying low over the Bering Sea (Yes, that's the same sea from the t.v show "The Deadliest Catch." Scary!)
--Not getting sick (see the previous 2 highlights)
--Seeing the mountains of Russia in the distance while flying out to the St. Lawrence Island (didn't realize that Alaska was so close to Russia)
--NOT having enough time to go Salmon fishing (OK, that's not a highlight--it's a discouragement).
--Arriving in a small village on Sunday. The local native trading store was closed, and so a local rounded up some supplies for us and charged us $50.00 for a loaf of bread, a gallon of water, and a six-pack of pop.
--Staying at a local search and rescue building for 3 days, with no running water, a "honey-bucket" for the toilet, and having to dump all water out the window because the pipes had all frozen and cracked. However, they did have the internet (go figure).
--ALMOST taking a bush flight with a local pilot until we heard he had crashed 4 times in the past 12 months (we decided to wait on that one).
--Never getting dark (and hearing kids outside playing until 1 am in the morning).
--The breathtaking rivers and valleys that abound throughout Alaska.
--and on and on....
I'm sure there will be more to tell about in the future, so I'll try my best to keep you updated. Unfortunately, I currently don't have a way to download my pictures, so after I get home I'll try to post some pictures.
The biggest highlight, of course, will be in 2 days when I step off that plane and see my family. Only 2 more days!