Alaska Trip

by Rebecca Orton

detour, errands, ferry, freebie, interviewed, mainland,
pipeline, provides, remainder, stock, twirls, whack
I flew up to Alaska on June 20th, 2000. I missed my connecting flight in Chicago & had to to St. Paul to get on a free upgrade to a 1st class flight to Fairbanks! What a nice experience! It took me from 5 am to midnight DC time for me to finally arrive at my Aunt Sandi's farm in Delta Jct. The next day, Aunt Sandi & Mike had their wedding anniversary BBQ celebration. Lots of people came, but I was the only family member from the USA that came. Sandi, her friends Harold & Ilene from Wisc, & I drove down to Valdez for an overnight stay to tour the oil company on June 23-24. On June 26, we also went to see an archaeological dig of Alaskan Indian remains. Sandi also brought her two dogs, Trinity & Thor. Trinity almost fell off the cliff! One of the archeologists rescued the dog from her pending fate. On June 29th, I tried on Sandi's rollerblades & learned to rollerblade frontwards, backwards & in about an hour or two. Boy, my ankles hurt! On July 2nd, Sandi & Mike, my cousin Ben & his two friends, & I went to see the motorcycle & car races. I couldn't believe how only 11 years olds were racing motorcycles! The day after the fourth of July, Sandi & I went to Fairbanks a hundred miles away to run & we stopped by Deaf Community Services. We met Kathy MacLeod, the director there. On July 7th, Sandi & I went to the Delta Jct visitor's center & saw a picture of Mike's invention (the stick picker-upper machine) on display there. We then went to Rika's Roadhouse, where the used to be before bridges came into existence there. On July 9th, Mike & Sandi took me on a tour of their vast farm. I actually saw Mike's invention! The next day, Sandi & I went to Fairbanks again. I went to the Alaskan Native Museum at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks while Sandi ran her errands. After that, she dropped me off to stay with her cousin, Steve & Debra for the of my stay in Alaska. I went to the IDC (Intertribal Deaf Council) conference from July 11th-15th & met some wonderful people there. I also hung out at the Deaf Community Services for lunches everyday during the conference. Kathy often invited me to go out to eat with her family for an evening of fun. I loved it! On the 15th, Steve & Debra dropped me off at the IDC picnic at a nearby lake. I went swimming there! My clothes dried out by the time my new friend & I went to the golf range. My friend taught me how to a ball a long ways for the first time! July 18th was my last day in Alaska, but it was the most exciting! I volunteered at the clean up day at Deaf Community Services. I hammered the metal walls back in, scraped paint, painted door trim, & set up a computer system. As a result of my hard work, I was by Channel 11 Alaska news! Kathy was on the news video describing what Deaf Community Services for the deaf community, & then among other deaf people that were interviewed in sign language, you could see me talking!

detour, errands, ferry, freebie, interviewed, mainland,
pipeline, provides, remainder, stock, twirls, whack

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