1984: From AZ to AK

In 1984

(when I was 4 years old)

My family moved from Arizona to Alaska

A BIG change!

We went from this . . .

Parties in the backyard, swimming in the pool, wearing swimsuits all day, soaking up the sun.

Mari and Beth getting ready for a BIG party. My parents would throw parties in the evening, with lights, food, music, and even live performances! ;-)

Beth and Mari, cooling off inside.

To this . . .

Partying inside, swimming in snow, wearing moon-boots, and snow-jumping.

Mari building a snowman (nice hat!)

What a crazy move for my parents! To top it off -- they moved to Alaska without a job! They just made the move on Faith (and a little bit of crazy!) and onward to Alaska we went! I cannot imagine doing something so nuts! But I am glad they did what they did!

I recently came across an album of our journey from Arizona to Alaska (we drove two cars). We did not take too many pictures of the drive through Canada, but I do remember some of it. We stopped a lot, we sang a lot, told stories, and stayed in some fun places. I do remember this cabin and was glad to find a picture of it . . . somewhere along the journey? Where is it mom?? We were all so excited for the big move. It was a BIG move!

Here is our truck covered in Alcan Highway dirt. We also had rocks flying on our windshield, with one flying through the window! This was also back before seat-belt laws, so we would ride free-flying in the back of the truck! Wo-Hoo!

We arrived in Anchorage, Alaska at our rental home. We lived in the Bayshore neighborhood and attended Bayshore elementary until we moved into "THE HOUSE" of all houses on Loganberry.

All three of us young ones shared a room. We were known as "The Three Geeks" by our older siblings. (I still have a geek-complex -- thanks Kary!) I loved our rainbow-room filled with care-bares. ;-)

Beth, Mari , John

Notice the couches . . . my parents gave the couches to me and Charles and I have pictures of my kids sitting on them, too! (We do not have the couches anymore.)

Kary, Mari, John (My sister Kary is 12 years older than me, I just adored (and still adore) her.)

The Alaska Zoo -- for the first time of many, many times.

Seward, Alaska. A fishing town on the ocean.

Mari and Beth

Portage Glacier -- our first time. It became an almost weekly ritual to "drive to Portage". We would take many Saturday or Sunday drives to the Glacier, just an hour from home.

The girls. Beth, Kary, Mari.

Notice you can see the glacier coming down the mountain . . . not anymore, it has receded.

Kary ice-burg surfing

Chucking rocks at the icebergs became a favorite thing to do.

Mom, John, Mari, Kary, Beth, Aunt Cindy

(Notice where I am, attached to Kary)

Aunt Cindy also lived with us in Alaska. We had a full house!

We always had someone "extra" living with us!

So this is "THE HOUSE". It was the party-house. It was open to everyone, anytime. And everyone always came! My parents were so good to people -- they just sucked people into their world, and people never wanted to leave!

Here is a summer-time view of the Loganberry house -- I loved it because it had 4 levels and you could just run around, hide, and HAVE FUN!

Christmas time was a big deal in Alaska. We were so close to the North Pole . . . I can still remember lying under those pine trees in the front yard, just starring at the lights, and soaking in the magic moment.

We would go a little crazy . . . again LOTS of people living in our home, all the time!

(Notice the number of stockings!)

Snow, what beautiful snow! How I loved walking home in the snow . . . Brrrrr! I can remember I would come home and when Nan was staying with us -- she would have me put my frozen hands under her arm-pits -- worked every time!

Shoveling the driveway was a big event. One of my favorite memories is digging people out at the end of our road. On bad snow-days people always got stuck on our road and we would run down to help them (you could hear their tires spinning). We would come home and mom would have hot-chocolate or chicken-noodle soup waiting for us, and we would cozy-up by the fire. The feeling I had from helping people still stands out in my mind.

And last but not least . . . our Alaskan Moose-friends.

There were many days where we were late for school because,

"There was a moose sitting behind our car!"

Oh, Alaska . . . what fond memories.

Sometimes I wondered what my life would have been like had I grown up in a pool instead of in the snow. But reflecting back now -- I would not change a thing!

Thanks Mom and Dad for being a little bit CRAZY!