Alaska

[Virtues]

Well... in one week my wife and I will be off to Alaska for a marriage enrichment seminar hosted by a bunch of retired military chaplains. We've never been to Alaska before, so we are both looking forward to this trip. While we're there we will be taking part in different marriage enrichment classes, but also recreational activities such as: fishing, hiking, kayaking, etc... Our marriage is pretty solid, but like any marriage I think, there is room for improvement. We have our occasional scrap where we have a go at each other and then don't talk for days; this is rare, but it happens. I think our communication could stand to improve as I have trouble expressing my feelings and needs, and my wife is very guarded and defensive because she is use to being attacked by me :( I hope we can get to the point where we can each start to express a difference in opinion w/o the other taking it as an attack and having to prove each other wrong, rather just see things from each other's point of view and agree to disagree. I also look at it as a chance to reconnect. I have been very distant and preoccupied with my issues and I hope that this time will afford us the opportunity to reconnect with one another. Well... not really looking for any feedback, just really excited about this trip so I thought I would share it here. I have done plenty of work on myself since being diagnosed but this will be one of our first steps as a couple. I hope this goes well and that there is more couples work ahead in our future. Anyways, that's all for now.

 

[Crow]

Alaska is a magical place. Connection to, well, everything, is so much easier up there. Enjoy!

 

[Deleted member 28403]

Alaska is nice, thats for sure :)

I hope you have a great time

 

[Virtues]

soooo.... I've been back for 2 days now, and I've been struggling to put into words just exactly what happened out in Alaska. First and far most, I reaffirmed my faith in God while I was there. This was probably the highlight of my trip. Yeah sure I didn't need to travel 4,000 miles to do that, but God had a plan for me, and Alaska was the way. I was baptized in the frigid Alaskan waters of Lake Clark which I included a picture of. So you're probably asking yourself (if you care) how can it get any better than that... well I'll tell you, my wife also accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior while we were there and we were actually baptized together. When my wife and I were married, we were married by her aunt (who was a justice of the peace) and while it was nice and exactly what we wanted at the time, the foundation of our marriage and our vows were not taken before the Lord. While in Alaska we also renewed our vows only this time in God's church.

So that was the spiritual side of my journey. There was a lot of healing going on there. This was the most important part of my journey but there was also adventure and spoils to be had. First the spoils. While we were there we had our own private Chef who cooked us 5 star meals for breakfast and dinner each day. He also made us delicious sandwiches to take with us on our daily adventures for lunch. We also had our own housekeeper who cleaned up after us and kept our cabin spic and span, even did our laundry and folded it, and left my wife and I love notes with chocolates by the bedside each night. We had an entire staff from grounds keepers to adventure guides who's sole purpose it was to make our stay exactly what we wanted it to be. To give you an idea how much they waited on us hand and foot, one girl, in the middle of the pouring rain, was walking around continually drying off all the chairs with a hand towel so we could sit down without getting out butts wet (not after the rain, during the rain).

As far as the adventures. We went kayaking and hiking up to a waterfall one day, got a tour of the local village the next day, went bear watching the day after that, went out on a boat sight seeing and collecting souvenirs the day after that, and we decided to stay in at camp on the last day (we spent some time by the water and some time by the fire just relaxing). We saw lots of wildlife, and finally disconnected from the modern world (internet, phone, etc...) there were no distractions just time to focus on one another and healing. It was truly a magical experience.

 

[EveHarrington]

:)

 

[TXbandit]

I think I smiled the entire time reading this. What an amazing adventure you both had! Congratulations on renewing your vows and reaffirming your faith in the Lord! So happy for you both!

 

[The Albatross]

Wow what a lovely experience on so many levels for you both. Thank you for sharing and Congratulations on renewing your vows, it meant so very much to my husband and I.

 

[Virtues]

I wanted to wrestle a bear while I was there but my therapist said she couldn't condone that type of "thrill seeking" behavior. Anyways, I didn't get to wrestle a bear but I did get up close and personal with a bear at Katmai National Park here is a pic... (he was fishing for sockeye salmon in the river)

 

[Powder]

How cool is that!!

I would love to have seen this as close as you were. How close were you?!

This is yet another example of why you're a role model. As good as I'm feeling like I'm doing, I would not be able to do what you did.

 

[Virtues]

He was probably 100 ft (30 meters) away. We were pretty close. He could have cared less we were there. The stream was chalk full of sockeye salmon swimming upstream to spawn. He had all the food in the world to eat. We were no threat to him or his food supply. He was actually out there with 2 other big males and none of them even fought over territory there was plenty for all. I guess you don't get to see them like that every day, but we went during the right time of the year to bear watch.