Alaska had new sights and adventures at every turn. The wildlife was among the most exciting. Even the mounted antlers of a moose brought excitement to us.
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| Juliann, Ryder, Tate, Shiloh, and Choice |
Next, the exploring. We spent time just getting lost among the natural beauty and searching for interesting local landmarks. This particular adventure led us to a small village. The pictures below were taken outside of their schoolhouse. This was the first school the kids have been around in quite sometime. :-/
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| Tate, Shiloh, Choice, and Ryder |
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| Tate, Shiloh, Choice, and Ryder |
The forest and terrain were so incredibly beautiful. Everywhere you turned there was beauty to behold in one form or another. It was nice to see the kids outside enjoying the fresh air and not with their eyes glued to a screen for awhile. (Balancing the use of technology has been one of the biggest battles on this trip).
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Ryder, Choice, Shiloh, and Tate
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| Shiloh and Morghen |
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| Morghen and Juliann |
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| Shiloh and Juliann |
We did a little unexpected off-roading. After one or two small scares of being stuck in the mud, we made it back to solid ground.
We wound up at this great little lodge. We were there on a Tuesday though, which just so happens to be the only day it is closed.
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| Ryder and Shiloh |
We snapped a few pictures of the outside before finding another spot we wanted to explore.
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| Shiloh, Choice, Tate, and Ryder |
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| Choice, Tate, Shiloh, and Ryder |
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| Tate, Ryder, Shiloh, Juliann, and Choice |
Right across the street from the lodge was an old gold mining dredge. (The original gold dredges were large, multi-story machines built in the first half of the 1900s.
A gold dredge is a mining machine that extracts gold from sand, gravel, and dirt using water and mechanical methods).
This dredge had been a functioning dredge in the early 1900's and since abandoned. Just a few years ago, a group of teenagers lit fire to it leaving the entire dredge charred. It was still quite the site to behold for us.
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| Tate, Choice, Juliann, Shiloh, and Ryder |
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| Juliann and Shiloh |
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| Juliann, Tate, and Choice |
I ended up succumbing to my curiosity and climbed aboard.
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| Juliann |
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| Juliann |
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| Juliann |
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| Juliann |
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| Juliann |
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| Juliann |
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| Juliann |
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| Juliann |
I found a place close to where someone had tagged "Jesus Saves" to place a Be Better Band.
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| Juliann placing Be Better Band |
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| Juliann |
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| Juliann placing Be Better Band |
Morghen and the kiddos watched me from a nearby hill.
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| Morghen, Choice, Shiloh, Ryder, and Tate |
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| Morghen, Choice, Ryder, Shiloh, and Tate |
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| Morghen, Choice, Ryder, Shiloh, and Tate |
After checking out the old dredge we drove out to the Chena River to play by the water. We had a great time taking in the beauty of the greenery.
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| Shiloh, Tate, Ryder, Morghen, and Choice |
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| Jason, Morghen, Tate, Choice, Juliann, and Ryder |
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| Tate, Ryder, Shiloh, Choice, and Juliann |
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| Ryder, Juliann, Tate, Shiloh, and Choice |
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| Ryder, Juliann, Tate, Shiloh, and Choice |
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| Juliann, Morghen, and Choice |
As beautiful as the Chena and surrounding areas were, all the kiddos could talk about and think about was GOLD. All of that talk about it at the old dredge made them want to pan for a little gold of their own. So, that's what we did.
We went to a local gold panning company, Gold Daughters, in Fairbanks. They are a couple of sisters who instruct you on gold panning and let you try it out yourself. The kids were fascinated by the instructions. They haven't sat that still at any point in the entire trip. I'm not sure if it's because they were so cold, or, if they were just that eager to learn, knowing that whatever gold they found they were allowed to keep.
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| Ms. Jordan, Juliann, Tate, Ryder, Shiloh, and Choice |
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| Ms. Jordan, Juliann, Tate, Ryder, Shiloh, and Choice |
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| Ms. Jordan, Choice, Shiloh, Ryder, Tate, and Juliann |
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| Ms. Jordan, Choice, Shiloh, Ryder, Tate, and Juliann |
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| Ms. Jordan, Choice, Shiloh, Ryder, Tate, and Juliann |
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| Ms. Jordan, Choice, Shiloh, Ryder, and Tate |
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| Ms. Jordan, Choice, Shiloh, Morghen, Ryder, Tate, and Juliann |
After receiving all the instructions, they were let loose to give it a try. First step was collecting the dirt to put inside the pan. Shiloh was the first one to run for a shovel.
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| Shiloh |
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| Shiloh and Choice |
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| Shiloh and Tate |
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| Shiloh, Choice, and Tate |
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| Tate |
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| Shiloh |
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| Shiloh |
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| Shiloh |
They each had their own unique way of panning for gold, largely based upon their level of finesse. Ryder was very methodical in the way he maneuvered and separated out the gold from the soil. Tate and Shiloh dropped their pan all the way to the bottom of the trough. And Choice shook the pan so hard to that most of the soil in his pan was flung out into the water.
AMAZINGLY, because gold is so heavy, some gold remained in each one of their pans and no one went home empty handed.
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| Ryder, Tate, Choice, and Juliann |
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| Ryder, Tate, Choice, and Juliann |
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| Ryder, Tate, Choice, and Juliann |
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| Shiloh, Ryder, Tate, Choice, and Juliann |
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| Shiloh, Ryder, and Tate |
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| Choice and Juliann |
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| Tate |
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| Tate |
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| Ryder |
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| Shiloh, Ryder, Juliann, Choice, and Tate |
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| Ryder and Shiloh |
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| Ryder and Shiloh |
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| Shiloh, Choice, Tate, Juliann, and Ryder |
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| Shiloh, Choice, Tate, Juliann, and Ryder |
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| Ryder and Juliann |
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| Ryder, Shiloh, Choice, and Tate |
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| Ryder |
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| Ryder, Tate, and Shiloh |
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| Tate and Shiloh |
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| Ms. Jordan, Ryder, Shiloh, Tate, Choice, and Juliann |
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| Ms. Jordan, Juliann, and Choice |
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| Ryder |
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| Choice, Ryder, and Ms Jordan |
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| Choice, Ryder, and Ms. Jordan |
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| Choice and Ms. Jordan |
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| Ryder, Shiloh, Choice, and Ms. Jordan |
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| Tate, Ryder, Shiloh, Choice, and Ms. Jordan |
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| Tate and Ryder |
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| Tate and Shiloh |
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| Juliann, Choice, and Ryder |
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| Juliann, Choice, and Ryder |
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| Juliann, Choice, and Ryder |
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| Choice, Shiloh, Tate, and Ryder |
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| Choice, Shiloh, and Tate |
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| Choice, Shiloh, and Tate |
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| Tate |
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| Shiloh and Choice |
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| Tate and Shiloh |
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| Tate |
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| Choice and Ryder |
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| Tate and Shiloh |
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| Tate |
At the end of the day, they each had their own vile of water and gold to serve as a reminder of their time panning for gold in Alaska.
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| Shiloh |
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| Choice |
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| Choice |
As well as rocks from the Chena River bank.
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| Shiloh, Choice, and Tate |
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| Shiloh, Choice, and Tate |
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| Shiloh |
And many selfies with Morghen. :-)
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| Shiloh, Morghen, and Tate |
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Morghen, Tate, and Choice
Another highlight of this trip has been Choice conquering potty-training. Even without ideal circumstances or convenient locations, he's become a big boy and joined the land of the underwear-wearing kids. Hallelujah!!!!
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Choice
THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR CONTIUED PRAYERS AND SUPPORT! |
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Right across the street from the lodge was an old gold mining dredge. (The original gold dredges were large, multi-story machines built in the first half of the 1900s. A gold dredge is a mining machine that extracts gold from sand, gravel, and dirt using water and mechanical methods). 
Yes!!! I remember doing something like this in Colorado when I was a kid!! I can only imagine the stories the kids are going to be telling for years to come. Can't wait to hear them!! Miss you guys!! Stay Curious :-)
ReplyDeleteSo love seeing this. That's where I caught the gold fever again while in Alaska. So a awesome! 💜
ReplyDelete