Alaska Adventurer

My new title. How'd ya like?

I earned it by ... (drumroll please) ... surviving two weeks on a college campus!

I know, I know, really impressive. But pick your jaws up off the floor - I've got more to share.

Alaska is beautiful. Not as pretty as the Pacific Northwest, in my own opinion, but probably third on my list of nature-stunning states. It wasn't very cold while we were there (I lost my chance to experience negative degree temperatures), but Alaska gave us clear skies and amazing views to make up for it. But the really neat thing is that Alaska Bible Institute, where we stayed, was internally beautiful as well as externally beautiful.

The community on campus between staff and students, teachers and campus kids was warm and friendly. I would walk down the path and wave to Brystel through a window; whistle back and forth with the cook as he walked a dog; catch a glimpse of a mother chasing her laughing toddler around the house; step into the campus kitchen and catch the cleanup crew dancing to music as they washed dishes; stop and chat with whichever kid, teen, peer or adult I happened to pass.... Neighboring campus kids knock on the door of my uncle and aunt's house and ask if my cousins and sister can come out and play. I follow the sound of shouts and laughter to someone's backyard and join a troop of kids from 5 different households on a trampoline, where we stay past dark until a bell calls us home for dinner.

It's the small town life you read about in books - where everyone knows everyone and there are a dozen people ready to step up and work together on whatever needs doing, a dozen more willing to sit right down and pray with you and another dozen ready to jump up and join whatever escapade, exploration or event you have in mind.

But anyways, some things I learned from this 2 week adventure:

• You've never seen the sky's best version of pink until you watch a sunrise over Alaskan mountains covered in snow

• Murphy's next law should be: you ski your first black diamond with zero problems and then tip over on the beginner slope when you rejoin your friends

• Riding for hours in a 15 passenger van full of kids will bring out the weird side of everyone

• Old Fritos (found in an undisclosed location) so stale that they're soft -- would not recommend

• Only in Alaska will you meet a moose 30 seconds out of the airport

• Don't ask about your driver's driving capabilities/record until after you get out of the car at your destination - you'll enjoy the view better if you don't know

• Don't be embarrassed to call a break on a hike and save the guys their manly dignity by not making them ask for one

• Assume all the men you meet with beards are about 7 years younger than they look

• Don't be afraid to take risks in wintertime Alaskan hikes - there's a soft cushion at the bottom of every drop

• Walking with confidence is not attainable in parking lots, roads or paths 3 inches under ice

• Alaskan air apparently renders it 67% harder for people to remember the name 'Christiana'

• -hence, I will now answer to 'Keeky's niece', 'Corrie's sister', and 'you Oregon girl'

• Playing ultimate UNO is a great form of young adult entertainment

• If your sister falls in the exact same spot while cross-country skiing 4 times, that spot therefore becomes a mini-memorial to her, and something for everyone to comment on every time you pass

• Don't be so focused on singing and not falling on the icy path that you walk within ten feet of a moose without seeing it

• Going barefoot through the snow is a huge timesaver (everyone else takes 4-5 minutes taking their boots on and off at both ends of the journey)

• There will always be people who doubt your sanity at going barefoot through the snow

• Playing mafia in the dark is better with Pirates of the Caribbean blasting from a speaker

• Accept spontaneity. ('Let's learn a song and sing it in church tomorrow', 'You wanna come to youth group? Car's running!')

• I am now considered an 'older person' (at a youth group, assigned to a team, looking around for the 'knowledgeable older person', then realizing I am the 'knowledgeable older person'!)

• The elderly couple in books who parent/mentor all the kids of the community with fun, guidelines and Jesus do exist and live in Homer, AK

• Ice balls hurt significantly worse than snow balls - but they throw better

• God decorated for Valentine's Day with pink cotton-candy clouds strewn across the skies

• Climbing a tree in hiking boots in the dark is possible

• Don't be sure of yourself on ice even when you are just a step away from the safety of the dry boardwalk (your dignity will thank you later)

• It never gets pitch dark in Alaska in the winter with the snow reflecting any bit of light

• It's hard to remember how much to cook for only seven people

• Clouds may block the moon, but sometimes they reveal a rainbow around it (apply analogy yourself, please)

• Ice skating is like rollerblading

• It's refreshing to see the only professional skater at the rink forget he has covers on his skates and go splat when he steps onto the ice

• God cares about 'little' things like a pair of boots and a lost phone

• Sleeping in a log cabin built by a 13 & 11 yr old in the snowy woods is perfectly safe as long as you don't knock down the pole supporting the cracked beam in the ceiling

• Knocking over a pole (like the one described above) is very easy and extremely likely

• Reading a comedy story aloud to a cabin full of people in sleeping bags is challenging when you've never read it (and therefore can't keep a straight face when reading)

• Powdered coffee creamer is highly flammable

• Packing 5 people into the back seat of a pickup isn't bad - saves you from having to buckle

• Driving a snow machine is one thing; keeping a snow machine from getting stuck is another

• Sadly, not all snow machines will go 80-90 mph. Some will only go 55.

• Swallow your 'I can do it' attitude and take someone's hand when you're up to your waist in snow

• It takes at least 2 people to get ski boots on and off my feet

• Steering a cargo sled down a hill while you're riding in it is practically impossible

• Climbing out of a ravine while pulling a sled is hard

• Horses in Alaskan winters might not look good or smell pretty, but they're still absolutely worth it

• Jumping on a trampoline barefoot is fun. Jumping off onto trampoline springs barefoot is not fun, but neither is jumping off the trampoline barefoot into ice-encrusted snowbanks to avoid the springs. Moral of the story: just stay on the trampoline

• Only at a Bible college will you look out the window and see a bunch of young adults running around in sheets in the snow, preaching dramatically to a crowd of -(cough) - stuffed animals, and ascending (in reverse) from the top of a shed*

• You can bruise your diaphragm muscles as well as your ribs by falling on an ice rink - a good thing, because...

• You won't have to fake your distress when a little friend gives you a 'tight squeeze' when they say goodbye to you. Your dramatic yell will delight said little friend, and inspire them to squeeze tighter.

• Flying in a plane where you can feel every move the pilot makes is amazing

• God's grandeur displayed in the mountains is even more prominent when you are flying beside and below them

• Don't panic when you look up and see that your ten-year-old sister is the one flying the plane

• If you like bruises, go ice skating, sleep on the ground in a cabin, learn snow machining and go down-hill skiing and sledding all in a 24-hour period

There are some valuable lessons in the list above - learn them well. And if it made you laugh too, then I succeeded in my purpose and you have learned the key lesson. Laughter is one of God's gifts, and you can find it anywhere if you search a little.

p.s. If you're an Alaskan and reading this post, please comment and verify whatever points you can.

*Legitimate class projects from the book of Acts.