Mike and Jenny Schlecter were on the dock to meet us at 6:00 a.m. yesterday. They are very warm and were wonderful in welcoming us. Sister Schlecter is the Juneau Stake Seminary & Institute coordinator. We will be working closely with her. They escorted us to our apartment and we got acquainted for a bit. After they went home we hurried to McDonald's to get some breakfast. We then returned and started organizing the apartment. We took a short nap and went back to work. The Schlecters invited us to dinner. Prior to dinner we drove up to the Mendenhall Glacier to watch the bears feast on sockeye salmon. We saw the pinks, but the bears will have to be observed another day. It was very noisy from the many tourists and the bears were hesitant to come out of the woods. The scenery is incredible in every direction. It is cool...jacket cool. It is raining every day so far.
Our dinner at the Schlecter's home was barbecued salmon cooked in an herb rub and some were basted in a pesto sauce. It was wonderful and she topped it off with peach pie ala-mode. And then there was a visit from our YSA (Young Single Adult branch president, David Olsen and his wife Jeri Lynn. He is from Montana and very dedicated to the YSA. The 2nd councilor in the Stake, Don Huntsman and his wife Karen came. And the high councilor over YSA, Harold Mikesell also came.
Our discussions were, what, who, where and when. Pres. Huntsman will be flying us up to Yakatat here in a month or so to visit that branch seminary. He also expressed that he would like for us to visit each outlying branch twice a year. That will mean some ferrying around the Inland Passage but he is going to help us arrange the trips. Brother Mikesell is all for anything that helps seminary students and institute students.
Once we got to Bellingham we wandered the streets.
It was a very wonderful town with lots of quaint shops
Diane enjoyed walking through.
We had a sandwich in this old restaurant.
More sight seeing on the streets of Bellingham, WA.
Bellingham, WA.
We waited in line for a couple of hours while
the crew decided where to put everyone. They were
very organized on the parking lot. It seemed they were quite
slow in getting the cars parked.
We all drove our vehicles into the mouth of the Kennicott.
Diane as we start the voyage through
the inland passage.
Yes it was cool enough that we needed jackets.
There were lots of tables in the lounges. And there
were lots of puzzles. You better guess this made Diane happy.
There were dozens of beautiful islands to pass
through. I spent lots of time watching for whales.
We did see two orcas early on Sunday morning.
One was frisky and breached for us. A pod of
over 50 brown colored dolphins played with the ship
for 2 minutes and then were gone. I did see one humpback
as he displayed his fluke while going under.
We stopped once on the way to Juneau. This is
Ketchikan harbour.
We walked around the industrial side of
Ketchikan and came upon this tribute to those
who had perished at sea.
A side view of the Kennicott as we approached
to board for the final leg of the journey.
Schlecter's suggested we go see the bears
feed on the salmon in front of Mendenhall
Glacier. There were several tourist buses there
and it was too noisey for the bears. They were leary
to approach these spawning sockeyes.
We were awed by the size of this glacier. And like
most glaciers in the world, it too is receeding.
Yesterday afternoon the zone leaders dropped by to welcome us. They hinted very subtly the Schindlers always had candy for them. In fact, there were 4 dishes of treats on the table left by the Schindlers. Diane helped them get enough to get them through a day or two.
It warms my heart to see the pictures of you wearing your missionary tags. I am so proud of you both. Thanks for posting pictures...
ReplyDeleteJuneau looks beautiful. Glad you made it safely.
ReplyDelete