KNECHTTREK

I enjoy hot drinks. Specifically coffee, cocoa & tea… all with steamed milk on chilly mornings or cool nights. Over the years, I’ve collected unique mugs from places we lived and people we loved.

As I began packing up our kitchen, I peered into our cupboard overflowing with these beautiful cups filled with precious memories. I paused for a moment, cherishing each little treasure. Then I had the idea to share these gems with our Alaskan friends. I paired each cup with a friend and included a note.

I am truly thankful for the caring friends the Lord placed in our lives during our stay in Alaska. I hope my friends will remember our good times together as the sip tea or coffee for many days to follow.

As we begin our farewells with friends, classmates, teachers, neighbors and our favorite places, tears flow in the corner of my eyes thinking this is “the last” time… doing something or visiting somewhere in Alaska.

These moments are deeply bittersweet as we are looking forward to our next adventure in New Mexico and love our Alaska family, friends & adventures! We’ve collected timeless memories during our five and a half stay in this land of wild nature.

The next few days we will celebrate with and bid farewell to our Alaska ministry team and Faith family.

The Last Frontier will always be embedded in our hearts.

This morning we woke up to snow. This was a surprise as yesterday was “bike to school” day. Over 110 students rode their bikes to school with sunshine on dry roads or soggy trails through muddy puddles.

Our second surprise this morning was seeing a moose on the way to school. This little one seems to be a regular in our neighbor but s\he is always fascinating to watch.

Every year in Alaska, we look forward to Star Wars Day at the Alaska Zoo as they celebrate May the 4th (Force) be with you or Revenge of the 5th or 6th (Sith).

This year, the 501st Legion and the Alaskan Droid Builders made an appearance with R2D2! The zoo had signs with QR codes for visitors to scan for fun Star Wars pages and trivia.

We ended up seeing several friends from school and church.

It is always a “galastic” time! Thank you AK Zoo! https://www.alaskazoo.org

We had an amazing visit with dear long time and new friends at the ministry conference. It was amazing to reconnect with our co-missionaries from Mexico who now serve in London as well as our new Native America teammates who served in Africa! Both a flashback from the past and a glimspe into the future! Countless conversations and blessings were experienced in those 2.5 days together. We celebrated 25 years in the ministry with much appreciation and encouragement!

Our children loving staying with Grandma at the rental house. They were introduced to the local ice cream truck, yummy food and a little homework. 😉

After the conference, we spent time exploring: the Riverwalk & Cruise, SeaWorld, Doseum, Legoland, Natural Bridge Caverns and Wildlife Ranch. Wonderful memories were made that we will treasure for a lifetime with Grandma!

We worshipped at Our Savior Lutheran Church. The current pastor used to serve in Wasilla, AK! There also was a family who were members of my father-in-law’s congregation in Ft. Worth. They shared childhood stories about of my husband.

An extra bonus: We had a long layover in Phoenix, AZ so we were able to visit Papa & family!

We hoped to travel to the valley of Fredericksburg area as it was in the band of full totality to watch the solar esclipse. Upon arrival in Texas, we realized many had made reservations and plans months or even years in advance. Theses towns were preparing for masses of visitors, multipling their population.

We stayed in our rental in San Antonio and watched on the back deck. It was 99% Totality with lots of clouds.

Some Observations:

Strong Breeze

Temperature Change Animal behavior like dusk (started with cicadas then changed to crickets, frogs singing, dogs barking, birds began strange flying patterns)Seemed like it’s going to rain

Darkness

Sun looked like moon

Resources we used:

App: Solar Eclipse Timer – Gordon Telepun

Video: Smarter Every Day – https://youtu.be/eNK2LI7VeX4?si=0DUP7Gr2VNJGaWWc

Flying to and from Anchorage has limited direct flights. Many itinerary’s include a layover in Seattle, WA. This month, my husband and I attended a ministry conference to celebrate and encourage 25 years of the ministry in San Antonio, TX. We brought our children along and met up with my mom at the airport.

Alaska winters can be long and lined with darkness. Minutes of daylight disappear daily as we move toward solstice on December 21. Then we eagerly welcome the return of those moments we run toward spring. During those those shortened days, I found it essential to spend 30-60 minutes outside in the sunshine for physical and mental health.

This month, Dallas Seavey won the 52nd Iditarod and made race history with his sixth Iditarod Championship! He completed 975 miles from Willow to Nome with an incredible team of dogs (started with 16/crossed the finish line with 10) in 9 days, 2 hours, 16 minutes and 8 seconds. Absolutely amazing!

During this last great race, our family stayed in a yurt on musher Nicholas Petit’s property which was perfect for a mini getway.

We also booked a dogsled tour but Nic was finishing up the Iditarod (he came in at 12th place) so we did a tour with musher Kristin Bacon. We loved every moment of it and thank Nic, Kristin & the pups!

The experience to ride on and help drive a dog sled is an unforgettable adventure. The dogs are Alaskan Huskies, but look different as they carry mixed features from their breed. The dogs were so excited when we pulled up to the team… barking, jumping and running in a circle around their little houses. We met the dogs, trying to remember their unique names. The dogs from the same litter were given “theme” names: holidays, potatoes, weather…. They loved to be pet and the kids loved to pet them. The kids helped harness the dogs for the sled ride. There are lots of behind the scenes duties-record keeping, supplies, food, water, clean up, training (2000+ hours)….

On the trail, every ride is unexpected due to weather, animals, the sled, the dogs, the driver or anything in between. The driver has a slow down brake, stop break and snow hook (looks like a metal claw) to control the speed of the team. The rails of the sled seemed a bit like skis with a plastic track surrounding them. The dogs listen to the commands :

• Hike! | Get moving
• Whoa! | Stop
• Gee! | Turn to the right
• Haw! | Turn to the left
• Easy! | Slow down

It is all very fascinating as an observer. It takes much time, patience, strength, trust, love and work as a musher.