And the boy turns “18”
Gil and I head to Alaska!
On March 20 2018 Gil turned eighteen it is his senior year in high school and he heads off to college in the fall. I am feeling like my days are limited to doing a special trip with him at least a trip that he would be into spending time with his mom. The cards sort of lined them selves up with a trip a Alaska between a couple of Farmer friends that live in Alaska and a pie making class in Talkeetna Alaska. I mapped out a 7 day trip for him and I and grammie agreed to come to Maine and spend some time with Sage While Gil and I were away and thats how it all came to be.
So on March 12th Gil and I board the concord coach out of Augusta and head to Logan and off we go with a stop in Portland, Oregon and three hours later we are landing in Alaska. and for 6 days I got to spend 24 hours a day with my son and it was so much fun and we made so many memories. I am honored to call Gil my son and we had a ball, we started the adventure at the air museum at the Anchorage Airport and the museum was several hangers filled with antique plans that shaped the history of Alaska, from there we gathered up our rental car and headed out to the Alaskan zoo and many examples of Alaskans wildlife were there and the most fun was watching the Otters play and slide in all the snow, from there we headed out to the trappers post where Gil was in heaven being into trapping himself and Alaska is rich in trapping history he really got a feel for the last frontier that Alaska is know for.
After a full day of touring Anchorage and a few of its awesome museums and Salmon fish ladders we headed out to Sutton and beyond, we found a awesome glacier to explore and a lodge with back country snowmobiling and after that experience the boy was hooked. If any day stays in the foremost of his mind as the most fun I know that was it. He left smiling ear to ear on the snowmobile and returned with that same smile. I entertained my self with a dog sled ride and a pie making class in Talkeetna and Gil kept track of the never ending sites of Moose considerably larger than the moose in Maine. 30 something was the number that sticks to my mind.
We discovered a muskox farm and beautiful clothing knit from the muskox underlying coat. After 3 days spent north of Anchorage we headed south to Homer and the most beautiful car ride I can ever remember going on, each corner brought us into another wow and pulling out the camera. Homer was more beautiful then I imagined and Gil was taken back by the deadliest catch boat and the size of the crab/lobster traps. After a amazing night of Salmon at our draft power friend that we met in Vermont, we headed back to Anchorage for a few more sites and a beautiful hike and the we were off to Seattle for the first leg of our return trip home. We celebrated Gils 18th birthday with a delicious salmon dinner and lots of purchases and samples at Pikes place farmers market. And then just like that we were home. I have some beautiful memories of my week with my son. I am a blessed women to have had the chance to spend this special time with Gil. 