What were we thinking?

As I said all my family is coming to Alaska. Yeah!!! This is the first time most of them have ever come to visit us. I have had 2 sisters come up prior to their mission or marriage. And my parents have come a couple of times for babies birth, blessings, and baptisms. Once we were able to combined the baptism and blessing so that they only had to make one trip.
So now they are all coming, 28 people traveling Alaska together. On Sunday the 15th I met my sister Aspen and Troy at the airport. Due to their flight being delayed I ended up driving in circles around the airport for 1/2 an hour, and then around Ancho0rage to find someplace to park and wait. I was not going to pay the airport parking fee, even it is was only $2. I like to think I was keeping the Sabbath Day holy, but really I was just being cheep. After my little drive around town I went back to the airport to await my tardy sister. Who was even more tardy because they were the last ones off the plane with their two little kids and giant stroller. By the time they showed up at baggage claim most of the bags had been claimed and I was ready to hunt down an Alaska Air official to check if they had even been on the plane. It was 3:00 am by the time we got back to the hotel, totally exhausted.
Being that it was Sunday of course we hunted up the nearest church building. How fortunate that there was a Stake Center just a couple of blocks away! It was even better when we walked into Sunday School and was greeted by Shannan , a gal who briefly lived in Kodiak while working on a road paving project. (Someone I could always count on to teach a lesson, and I knew on sight. However I can’t remember her last name ) The last time I saw her, she had been preparing to take her youngest son to the MTC, and during her Relief Society lesson she told about her trip to Norway to pick him up. It really is a small world and we all have a connection somewhere when we are with other church members.
After church my brother-in-law Troy was all set to lead up all out on a hike. I am all for hiking, and I love to get outside often, but he is a little more hard core than I am. His idea of a casual Sunday after noon hike was a 9 mile round trip hike up to a glacier where a WWII bomber crashed. The hike sounded great to me, all except for the nine mile part. I know that Chad was thinking that Troy was just crazy, and well, I am sure that is probably true. I did my best to talk him down, and instead we found ourselves doing a little hike up Flat Top Mountain. Yes, I said mountain! This was not a little mountain, or even a small hill. I had read in our Milepost magazine that it was the most hiked trail in Alaska, so I figured it shouldn’t be too bad, but I had no idea what we were in for.

The first part was pretty easy, a nice wide path gently winding up around the hillside. Once we reached the top of the hillside, we saw the trail up the rest of the mountain, almost straight up in places. Alyssa claims she saw a sign that said no children past that point. I did not see, and neither did the crazy brother-in-law and was practically running up the trail despite his 2 year old son on his back.

So we all began to climb, and climb, and climb. The kids where all up ahead with Troy while my sister Aspen, carrying her 2 month old baby, continued up a little more slowly with Chad and I. At one point she had to stop as we did not see a way up that did not involve hugging the rock face. I, in my craziness, persisted one hand and toe hold at a time and reached the summit. I then sent her husband back down and he assured us that they would be up in a few minutes. Going back down I found that I had definitely gone up the hard way, but I made it to the top, leading Chad and another couple of hikers along the rocks. After climbing Flat Top I am sure that the kids will not have any problem going up Barometer when we get home.

It was a beautiful view from what felt like the top of the world. Even the kids were amazed, although by this point they were thinking more about what was for dinner and less the amazing scenery. Climbing back down was not as difficult as I had thought it would be since we went down the right way and not down the almost sheer rock face that I climbed up. It still took at least an hour to reach the car, and the sun was going down which in Alaska means it is late . Dinner at TGI Fridays, because kids eat free on Sunday, telling the kids we only can do this on vacation, and back to the hotel for bed. The next morning is going to be another early one, and we are all ready for a break.