Adventuring Through Alaska 2024

In Memory of Steve 1962-2022

Contact:

Adventure Blog

Alaska

The story behind the adventure

What Our Alaska Adventure is All About

Grief is like a journey one must take on a winding mountainside, often seeing the same scenery many times, a road which eventually leads to somewhere we’ve never been before. -Gladys M. Hunt

Steve and I first visited Alaska on a cruise ship, round trip from Seattle up the Inside Passage.  To celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary my parents bought themselves and all of their children a cruise to Alaska. Some of the grandkids went too.

Like many people after they’ve visited Alaska, we were hooked and began planning when we could return to see more.

The next summer we both managed to take a month off from work at the same time. We loaded up our cab-over camper and in July of 2012 we drove to Alaska via the Alaska Highway. What a memorable trip it was! While we visited Alaska by air many times afterwards, we always talked about taking an entire summer to re-do our drive – at a much more leisurely pace. As retirement came into focus, we planned to take the entire summer of 2020 to drive to Alaska and back and visit all the places we didn’t have time to see. My brother John and sister-in-law Vicki were to join us with their cab-over camper.  We planned a little caravan. Then COVID hit, Canada closed it’s borders, Steve’s mom passed away, we were evacuated from our house in Happy Camp for a month as half the town burned, my mom experienced quickly worsening dementia and Steve started acting a bit differently.

In November 2020 we had moved to Coquille. By this time it was obvious something was not right with Steve’s health. After many, many frustrating and heartbreaking experiences with medical offices, doctors and specialists, Steve was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) in August of 2021. He was told he had one to two years.

Begin the bucket list. Number one on the list was fishing in Alaska.  We managed to book a fishing trip the last weekend they were available in September, caught a flight to Anchorage and headed to Seward. Son Christopher joined us for an amazing Alaska adventure filled with laughter, big smiles and pure joy. Although we didn’t get to go fishing because of bad weather, we still shared a very special time together enjoying our son and Steve’s favorite places on the Kenai Peninsula.

\

In the presence of death we become more aware of life… It can inspire us to decide what really matters in life – and then to seek it.

– Candy Lightner Giving Sorrow Words

Number two on the bucket list was seeing the Aurora Borealis.  Back to Alaska we went in February of 2022. By this time Steve could no longer speak and had difficulty walking. We stayed at the Aurora Borealis Lodge about 30 minutes North of Anchorage on Cleary Summit. The Lodge was built and owned by a man named Logan who passed away due to ALS. For three nights we marveled at the spectacular display of ever-changing lights in the night sky. We visited Chena Hot Springs during minus twenty-degree weather, visited the Alaska Pipeline wayside and took a scenic drive to Nenana. This would be Steve’s last visit to Alaska.

The love of my life passed away in October 2022. It was difficult for all of us who loved him to watch him deteriorate. It was an honor being his caregiver. While he couldn’t speak, swallow, walk or move his right arm he could smile. His last months were filled with huge smiles given freely to all he saw despite his prognosis. I am grateful to have been loved by him. I am grateful for my incredible family (on both sides), friends old and new, who were there offering help, love and support every step of the way. Steve and I couldn’t have gotten through it without you. Most of all I am grateful to God for all the blessings He has filled my life with.

For me this journey is part pilgrimage, part finishing the un-finished, part facing my place in grief and part revisiting old memories while making new ones. As John, Vicki and I are joined by family and friends at different times during our trip, this summer’s Alaska Adventure is dedicated to Steve and his love for all things Alaska.

I pray you experience the security of God’s presence even in utter chaos; that you are blessed with His divine protection and know God’s imposition of imperial peace. These things are sung in Psalm 46.

God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in distress.
Thus we do not fear, though earth be shaken and mountains quake to the depths of the sea,
Though its waters rage and foam and mountains totter at its surging.
Streams of the river gladden the city of God, the holy dwelling of the Most High.
God is in its midst; it shall not be shaken; God will help it at break of day.
Though nations rage and kingdoms totter, he utters his voice and the earth melts.
The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.
Come and see the works of the Lord, who has done fearsome deeds on earth;
Who stops wars to the ends of the earth, breaks the bow, splinters the spear, and burns the shields with fire;
Be still and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, exalted on the earth.
The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.