8-8-2010- Anchorage: Planes, Trains, and Glaciers

Yesterday at the hostel I had a guy ask me what country I am from. Immediately I thought this guy could not recognize my accent. It was obvious that he was from the States, so surely he knew from my accent I was from the States too. I gave a sarcastic response to him that implied that I was from the same country as he was and removed my sarcasm, since from the past I learned it can offend quickly. His name was Clay. I would run into him again and become good friends with him.

This morning I was sitting at the hostel table and a few people were scurring around trying to get ready for the day. Clay came into the room and said that he was headed to church in a little while. I was interested in going to church, since I hadn't gone in a while and it seemed like a good time to get to know him better. We ended up heading over to the church just two blocks down the road from the hostel. It was a great service that covered the topic of world religions and the supremacy of Christ. I enjoyed how the pastor ensured every trail was cut off that allowed people to believe they could be saved by anything besides Jesus death. He used John 14:6 frequently, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

After church Clay and I were headed back to the hostel when he asked if I would be interested in going flying with him and Anie today. Anie is a woman that works at the hostel whom I had met earlier. I was surprised by the invitation and accepted quickly.

Clay if from South Carolina and went to school in Nashville at Middle Tennessee State University for aviation. He had been working for a airline company that flew banners at major events such as Nascar and Spring Break beaches. At some point while working at that company he decided he wanted to come up to Alaska and be a pilot here. He is working for a company called Grant Aviation as a mechanic and will soon become a pilot in western Alaska where he will fly between native villages. I thought he would be flying very important documents, medicines, or transplant organs, but it turns out most of his deliveries are going to be potato chips and Coca-Cola.

Around one o'clock Clay and Anie found me in the hostel and asked if I was ready to go. I quickly grabbed my camera and backpack. Clay had a Toyota two seater truck. Anie sat in the from and I ended up in the bed. It was great to be in a car after so many miles traveled on crowded buses. The airport was only a few miles away and it didn't take very long to get to. Clay went through all the processes and checks that need to be completed before flying and we were off. He checked fluid colors, levels, cable tensions, and ailerons movements.

The flight plan was to head along the Cook Inlet towards a glacier up in the mountains. Along the way we passed by downtown Anchorage. There was ocean on one side, mountains on another, and river on the other. Anchorage is a city of 250,000 humans surrounded by the rest of the state with at least 900,000 caribou. I could see how the city was truly just a short distance from wilderness that held massive and dangerous wildlife.

The Cook Inlet changes throughout the day. It is relatively shallow and at high tide it is filled with water. At low tide the majority of the water leaves and there is about fifty percent of the bottom showing. The silty bottom is scarred by the receding water and as a result there are veins that show how the water left.

As we were approaching the glacier there was a railroad bridge that crossed over the inlet. I could see that one of the Alaskan trains was approaching with its well manicured yellow and blue coat of paint. I was hoping to get some incredible pictures of this train in the foreground of the glacier, but at the altitude we were I could not align the train with the glacier. I was able to get a few shots with the train passing by the silty bottom of the inlet, but no glacier.

I thought that the glacier was going to be the major attraction, but when we reached

it Clay started turning and did not stop until we were going in the opposite direction and headed back. It was not a problem to me, I didn't think that I would get much more out of seeing the glacier for one minute or one hour. We headed back and I got to see everything that I had missed on the way there because it was on the opposite side of the plane. It wasn't much different, but still enjoyable.

Clay landed the plane and we quickly tied it back down. All of us were hungry so we headed over to Piper's Restaurant. During lunch I mentioned to Clay that it would be fun for me to drive out into the

Alaskan tundra with a truck, trailer, and

rifle and he could spot Caribou from his plane. I'm sure I could easily take down four caribou when there are herds in Alaska with over 450,000 head in them. Clay could keep two and I could keep two. We would be well fed for at least a year and a half.

This was an unexpected adventure and I consider myself blessed for it.