YaKuTaT, AlaSkA

I'm not really sure how to blog about this trip so I'll just do it by days and then load a ton of pics :) So when we found out about Rex my mom was ready to fly up and be with Marianne and I gave it a lot of thought. It was a lot of money but I just felt like I needed to go with my mom and be up there for Marianne. We had got home late Sunday night from Utah and our plane left at 6:30 Monday morning which meant we needed to leave my house by 3:30. Let's just say it's a good thing I went with my mom or else she'd still be in the Vegas airport! (she doesn't do well with directions)

Monday 6/27: this was basically our day to be in airplanes - we flew from Vegas to Salt Lake, Salt Lake to Anchorage, Anchorage to Cordova and Cordova to Yakutat... it was a 12 hour day for us! Then entire family met us at the airport which was pretty emotional - when we saw Marianne we just hugged and cried. Then the airline people had to deliver Rex because he had been cremated and that took place in Anchorage so he was on our same flight :(
We went to Rick and Marianne's for a little bit to visit and then she took us to our little place we stayed. They had to attend the service of Wayne (the other man that was with Rex) so Rick's sister Vicki took us to Cannon Beach. We visited and roasted hot dogs and made smores!!! I was blown away by the scenery, it was beautiful although the mosquitos were quite annoying. We walked along the beach and enjoyed the peaceful sound the ocean brings.

cannon beach

mom's souvenier

danielle, sarah and quinn

the gang by a cannon

Tues 6/28: We woke up around 9:30 and headed to the little store to get some drinks and I was blown away at the cost of everything ($15 for a bottle of water, 2 bottles of apple juice and a diet pepsi-crazy). We ate breakfast at Scott and April's and had a really nice visit with Marianne. I think we were a bit jet lagged so we headed back for a nap and then dinner at R & M's. Our project for the day was to make a poster with all the info about Rex's service to hang around town (this is how they let everyone know things around town). So I went to Scott's to use the computer and guess what comes up in the backyard??? Yes, a big ole male bear and I totally missed it. But my mom got some great pics - it came up to get the Stergon head that was out by their old truck. After all the excitement with the bear, everyone came over to S & A's we watched the dvd Sharley had put together and also the messages everyone had said at the party. It was very awesome and I know Rick and Marianne appreciated all our love towards them and Rex! We finally made it to bed around 1am and it was still light outside --- so crazy! We also hit the store for the necessary items such as a 12 pack of Coke which was over $10, carrots and chips = $17 but the Coke was well worth it and didn't disappoint!

so bummed i missed seeing this beast!

Wed 6/29: Happy 17th Birthday Rex!!! We knew today would be a tough one for everyone... We really needed to get the service/program all finalized so we could type it up. My mom and I just kind of took over and made an outline and just had R & M agree on it and they needed to decide on who'd be speaking. Then they decided they wanted another dvd of Rex so we started looking thru pictures and scanning them. After awhile, I took a 4 wheeler ride with Quinn in the rain! It was so awesome riding thru the forest but kind of creepy, not knowing if something was going to jump out in front of me!
We also had a birthday party at Uncle Jack and Aunt Laura's house - we ate potluck for dinner and Marianne made Rex's favorite gooey cake for dessert. We went around and shared memories to put on video and then we wrote birthday messages on balloons and sent them up to Rex! It was a wonderful evening and also very emotional.

quinn and mom

marianne and mom

marianne and steph

Thurs 6/30: I sat at the computer and worked on the dvd for 9 hours... I don't think I'm meant to make dvd's because if something can go wrong, it will. No pictures today so I'll show you our little place!

Fri 7/1: We met at the high school around 10:30 to set everything up so we wouldn't have to worry about it later. Then we headed over to S & A's for breakfast. Vicki had offered to drive us around to a few spots so we took advantage since we really hadn't seen anything and today was a sunny day!
We went to Ankau which was a beach, 9 mile bridge which had the Situk River flowing under it and then stopped at the log dump which was beautiful! By that time it was time to head back because the service was at 6:30. Everything went perfectly - the people who spoke did a wonderful job, the dvd turned out great and it was opened up for people to share their memories of Rex. It was a very touching night and it showed how loved Rex was by the Yakutat community - I bet close to 300 people were in attendance. They had a potluck afterwards and a gentleman had volunteered to go out and catch halibut the day before and have it ready to serve so my mom was in heaven!
We left the service and the sun was setting and we could tell it was going to be picture worthy! So my mom and I headed home for our camera's and a change of clothes. It was breathtaking - we headed to the beach but due to road construction (getting their first paved roads) we missed the end of the sunset but it was still awesome out there!

beautiful!

Ankau

situk river

log dump

mama kaye and her shrimps

rick and marianne

the newlun family

a.m.a.z.i.n.g.

cannon beach

Sat 7/2: We just hung out in the morning and then Nic and Marianne picked us up to head to the Dangerous River to check out the glacier. We headed out to the middle of nowhere and was about 3 miles from our destination and we get a flat tire! No spare cuz the night of Rex's accident Rick got a flat and used the spare so it was getting fixed. We just looked at each other and laughed cuz basically we were stuck until somebody came to save us :) Well Nic, my mom and I decided to walk to the glacier so we could see it - I'm sure we were quite the sight! Anyhow, we made it to our destination and it was awesome... When we started headed back, 2 local guys rescued us and took us back to town. After the tire got fixed we went to Glacier Bear to eat dinner and headed to R & M's for some last minute visiting.
Just a sidenote - the Dangerous River was so cold, like freezing and this is where Rex's accident happened - probably 8 miles or so from where we were. I just felt so bad for him after feeling that water, I can't even imagine what he went through.

it's really flat!

at this little cabin - happy to be stuck in the middle of nowhere :)

i get the top bunk if no one finds us

shooting pieces of the glacier

having a taste

this is for kirst - i'm sure she's jealous of my beach shot!

the river flows into the ocean about 8 miles down and that's where rex was...

dinner at glacier bear

Sun 7/3: I can't believe our week is over, it went by so quickly. I'm so happy I was able to go see Alaska and be there with the Newlun's. It was beautiful up there! We had another 12 hour day of flying leaving Yakutat to Cordova, Cordova to Anchorage, Anchorage to Seattle and finally Seattle to Las Vegas. I think we pulled in the driveway around 1 am... So good to be home :)