Monday, September 29, 2008

Beautiful Downtown Dillingham, AK

Okay, because I am new to blogging and especially new to posting photos, who would've thought that the pictures show up in reverse of your selection order. Hm... anyway, Cooldad and I had the privilege of traveling to Dillingham AK for some church business. It was an awesome trip. I think about three different families came to collect us from the airport. We felt so loved! Here is a picture of the branch meetinghouse. It's very nice inside, with the chapel area, a small kitchen, bathrooms (of course) and some smaller rooms and offices. It even has a small library because how could we mange without the library! I watched the Woman's Broadcast here with three other sisters and then we had a dinner of soup made with cauliflower from a sisters garden, fruit and rolls and a box of Belgian chocolates I toted over from Costco. I might add here that gas in Dillingham is $6.49 a gallon and milk is $8 a gallon. In general, everything in the (two small) grocery stores is 2 or 3 times as much as I pay here in Anchorage.


As I mentioned, the narrative will be a bit in reverse as I become more familiar with the formatting process. We have some friends in our ward, who are very cool, who lived here for a few years when their children were very tiny. His parents still live here. The following is a picture of an old graveyard the same friend camped with his brothers as a young boy. Nice! I was told by the parents than they loved to put their sleeping bags in the indentations of the graves.
And this was our sweet ride during the weekend. I can't remember the year but it is old.
The old school has been converted to offices. Very pretty building. I love the bell on top. New modern schools have been built along with a public library but I didn't get a picture of it. I am impressed in all our travels that every town no matter how small always has a library. Nice. We are a country of readers.
Our newly adopted Oma and Opa in front of one of their two homes. This is kind of an interesting story. Oma cared for the sweet lady who lived here until she died and the sweet lady left Oma the home. So now it's used for a special place for visitors, lady friends, or for when Oma is miffed at Opa. How could she be miffed at such a cute man!
The view of Dillingham from the air. The view on the incoming flight was much better but Cooldad had the window seat! Actually it was supposed to be mine. As you can see, it's a small town on a huge river. I was told by the young man working at our hotel that some years almost 5 million fish swim up this river. Only 2500 people live here year round.
Our plane. I told Cooldad this plane would be a perfect size for our family. It would hold all the kids, spouses and future grandkids so I think he should get his pilots license and get going on that!
Another cool thing about PenAir. No security. I couldn't believe it. I actually felt a little bad getting on the plane without showing someone my spare underwear but no one wanted to see it. You could literally take ANYTHING on this flight. But all went well. The terminal in Dillingham was about the size of our house and I think they had just as many employees as Alaska Airlines. And they were all very friendly and nice. And the service was great. We got the same snacks they usually reserve for first class on most flights. All for free. Of course I could've almost flown to Utah for the same price. I look forward to visiting more of these bush towns!









2 comments:

Spitfire said...

Your pictures are lovely! That's lame that food costs so much though. Aren't you glad you don't live there?

deerhollow said...

Wow! This made my day to find your link on Jenny's blog - WAHOO! (I visit her blog to brighten my day and she never disappoints me!!)
Great blogging! What a great trip. I am envious of your travels. You can check out our crazy blogspot if you want. I'm still learning, too.