We weren’t really sure what to do with ourselves when we got here. Friday we slept in since we got to our hotel at 2:00 am (4:00 am Idaho time). We had breakfast at about noon and then drove around downtown Anchorage just to see what was there. Tim showed me where he used to live and the route he would take on his bike to work. We spent some time shopping for winter clothes for Tim, but came away with a watch and a pair of socks . . . unfortunately Tim is going to be very cold this winter.
Saturday morning we went to the Anchorage Temple. It was fun to go to “our new temple”. Oh boy is it tiny. Afterward, we headed back to the mall to give another shot at buying winter clothes (however, it was still fruitless). We didn’t want to shop in our Sunday best, so we drove to the very top of the JC Penny parking garage where no one else was parked and changed our clothes there. We had a beautiful view of the mountains and the city, but I’m not sure what the workers in the nearby office buildings thought about their view. ;)
Saturday evening was spent in Sam’s club. When I say Saturday evening, I mean the entire evening (5:00 pm to 8:30 pm). We got our membership and then started on the large task of buying supplies for 9 months, trying to not get too much or too little, trying to get things we wanted to eat that wouldn’t go bad, trying to get things that are light weight and wouldn’t break the bank to mail. We had two very full carts. We still have another trip to make for frozen items and also for items we didn’t want in bulk, but we’re making headway on our food purchases. Maybe we can just eat more to keep ourselves warm since we can’t seem to decide on any winter clothes.
This morning we attending the Anchorage Bush Branch for the first time. Church over the telephone is not as weird as you might think. We actually went to a church house in Anchorage and met in the branch president’s office, where he facilitated the conference call. There were 67 people in attendance. The president read in our memberships, so I guess it’s official. There were a total of 8 people in attendance from the branch president’s office, including the 2 speakers. The other 59 people came from about 10 various locations. There were something like 15 people in attendance from Galena (Dad you wouldn’t have been the bishop after all!), and even one from Boise, Idaho. I feel totally comfortable with church over the phone. We’ll see how it goes when we’re actually isolated!
The members of the branch seem really nice. The clerk, Brother Peterson, invited us to dinner. I love is family. They were so friendly and kind to us and fed us a lot! It’s a pretty small world. Their son’s girlfriend who was there is from Yakima and is Tim’s age. Tim used to hang out with her best friend.
Tim and I spent some time today driving around Palmer (where he was born), Wasilla (where his Grandfather used to live), and Willow (where his cousins, the Wadman’s, used to live). It was fun to see those places that I’ve heard so much about.
Tomorrow we will finish our shopping spree (hopefully), and then spend a fortune at the post office. We fly out to Togiak on Wednesday! We’re excited to actually see this place we’ve been talking about for months.