Questing Parson

Forgive Me, I Have Sinned, Again

I should have outgrown it. I thought I'd outgrown it. After seven decades you'd think I would have outgrown it. You'd have thought I would have learned to resist the impulse toward this unexplained behavior.

I can't remember when it started. Maybe it was with my little brother. I used to delight in pulling pranks on him. It was obviously that delight that led me to expand the activity beyond my brother. It was in my high school years my delight in this began to reach for new challenges. I think the statute of limitations has run out so I will fess up. It was I who talked the offensive line of my high school football team to carry Mr. Snyder's VW Bug up the steps and sit it outside his
classroom door on the third floor.

Maybe it was that VW Bug prank that led to my desire to top it with a better one. I did top it, you know. There's a new generation of park police watching over the Washington Monument so I'll reveal my secret. It was me. On our high school senior trip I was the one who figured out how to fly a five by eight foot Confederate flag out the observation window at the top of the monument and to get it down without getting caught. Everyone thought that cool. Unfortunately, it got back to my Dad. He didn't share their appreciation.

Now, as for the rumors about the cow being placed in the Dean's office at my college, I will neither confirm nor deny that. I have a grandchild considering that institution of learning.

You may wonder why I'm recalling all this. You may wonder why the words of my Dad, “When are you going to grow up?”, are suddenly again echoing in my mind. Well, as I said above, you'd think I would have outgrown it.

But … last week I took two grandchildren to Tybee Island. I thought they'd enjoy the surf before school started.

We spread out our towels, rubbed on some sunscreen and started to enjoy the day. That's when I noticed him. He was yelling at a couple about twenty yards from where he was sprawled under his umbrella. “Hey, can't you people control your noisy kids. You're not the only ones on this beach.” I ignored it although I thought it rude and plunged with my grandkids into the Atlantic.

A little later he was yelling about someone shaking out their towel and the sand blowing near him. And then he was lecturing some high school girls on how indecent was their swim attire. The man was an obnoxious pig.

Even later I noticed him dozing on his towel in his self-constructed shade. I told my grandchildren to sit where they were. I removed a large bag of potato chips from our carry bag. Walking thirty yards behind the reclining gentleman I reached into the bag and removed some chips. I held them in my hand over my head. The sea gulls arrived hovering about me waiting a chance to snatch them from my hand. I moved closer to the man. I crumbled the chips up. I scattered them about his area, and across his area. I told my grandkids we had to go. When I looked back I couldn't see the man but I could see the hundred gulls surrounding him.

When will I ever grow up?

A Summary of the Parson and Granddaughters in Alaska / with music

We Went Whale Hunting and Found Them and Some Other Critters

 

Ranger Jen Linkhart of the National Park Service engages
Faith in learning about the Kenai Fjord National Park.
Here Faith examines the skull of an Orca.

This will probably be the last post of photos on our Alaskan adventure. Thursday morning we'll spend some time at the Alaska Sea Life Center, and then we'll wander up the highway to Anchorage, where we catch a plane at midnight Alaska time.

It has truly been an adventure. The girls have been great. And every bone in my body is aching. :-)

Encountering Exit Glacier

We've been at Exit Glacier two days. The first day we hiked around the washout from the glacier at its base. We had planned to make a four and a half mile hike up to the Harding Ice Field that day, but halfway up the trail was blocked by snow up to Faith's chest. The second day we donned the proper shoes and climbed up to the top of the glacier, over the glacier itself.

Picture By the Waterfall

They wanted me to hurry, something about getting wet.

Granddaughters and Waterfall from Questing Parson on Vimeo.

Faith On Tundra and Global Warming

Faith On Tundra from Questing Parson on Vimeo.

Alaska Continues

Friday evening we arrived at Homer, Alaska, and got some sleep in preparation for a big day. Homer is the most westerly town you can drive to on the North American continent. On Saturday morning we first walked the beach and watched the Bald Eagles doing their thing on the beach.

After eagle watching we got on a boat and headed across the Kachemak Bay to explore the wilderness where there are no roads.

Trisha was our guide on our hike. She gave the girls an education about the wilderness, what plants are edible, which can harm, how to identify what animals have been near recently, and even teaching survival skills.

Our destination on the hike was Grewingk Glacier. The beauty of the glacier, the valley it had carved, and the lake at the base was worth the hike.

Ansley discovered that when you lay down on the beach, even if it's beside a glacier lake in Alaska, you can get sunburned.

Faith standing atop an Erratic, a boulder that has been moved and deposited by a glacier.

Peeping through the fallen tree.

The return hike took us up the Saddleback trail, where we headed to a beach to be picked up by the boat.

Climbing over the rocks at the water's edge to reach the pickup point.

On the beach with Trish, our guide, waiting for the boat to pick us up. If you're ever going to Alaska and need a guide, check with the parson; he'll put you in touch with Trish. 

Ansley and Faith on a sandbar jutting out into Kachemak Bay. Tomorrw we head toward Seward to explore another glacier and then to go hunting for whales.

 

Alaska Update - Into the Wilderness

Just before turning in last night, we stepped out on the deck of the Denali Lake View Inn just in time to greet a Mama and her twins.

 

It snowed today. Yep! It snowed in June. It made the trip all the more special. Below Ansley and Faith hiking through Polychrome Pass.

Below: Oops! Well excuse us, we'll just be on our way.

Below: Just past Polychrome this ram Dall Sheep seemed completely unfazed by our presence.

Below: This Artic Ground Squirrel to a special interest in faith. He slowly approached her and sniffed out her shoes.

Below: Our ultimate goal, to see Denali, "The High One", (Mount McKinley) seemed doomed because of the rain and snow clouds. But on our way out of the wilderness the mountain stuck its head through the clouds to give us a peak of its massive size.

Tomorrow it's down the Nenana River. Pray for the parson.

Beginng Day 3 in Alaska

The old man is hanging in there while trying to keep up with the granddaughters during our Alaska adventure.

A short trek up a trail off the Seward Highway brought us to the spot Ansley (older granddaughter and I stopped to rest nine years ago.

Faith taking a break beside Prince William Sound.

Ah, windblown, maybe. The wind she was a blowing.

No, wait this is windblown.

The girls' favorite bear.

And now we're heading to Denali for some even better adventures.

I'll Be A Little Irregular for a While

My postings will be a little irregular for a couple of weeks. The posting will depend on internet access.  Immediately following the benediction Sunday my granddaughters, ages fourteen and eleven, and I are hopping a plane for Alaska.

I've set up a webpage for them to keep their friends updated on the trip. I'll share that here when they post their first entry.

Pray for me!! They are so young and energetic and I'm an old man!