Selling God to the Converted

Here's a list of church names which we've spotted around Alaska. You're welcome to vote for your favourite, or make any suggestions to add to the list. The criterion is:
Must use words relating to winning, or success, or an indominitable spirit
Must suggest the possibility of some kind of reward
Helpful if name provides an analogy for winning the war
If all else fails, a nice bit of aliteration will suffice

In a country at war, it makes sense that the church aligns itself with the military actions of its government. Who wants to be on the losing side? It's easy to feel absolved of guilt when leaders of all our institutions proclaim our own righteousness and the media fails to show the true human impact of our aggression.

Here's the list so far. I'll update it as we spot further beauties:

Church on the Rock, Living in Victory

New Harvest Fellowship

Victory Faith Church

Journey Church

Last Frontier Church

Lord of Life Lutheran

On the topic of wayward institutions, I've just read a "BookCrossing" book about the history of the U.S. government which I 'caught' at a cafe. "BookCrossing" is a web-based book-lovers organization in which people register books and release them into the wild, to be read and reviewed by others. It makes the books free to whomever catches them. It also means the book changes hands frequently and potentially travels around the world. If you have a book you'd love others to read, register now with BookCrossing.com

Alaska as we know it

Alaska is a place of wild beauty. Renting a car, staying at hotels with kitchenettes and preparing our own food is one way to get around cheaply and comfortably with two small kids, but sometimes I feel like we're seeing a very domesticated version of this beautiful place, and I wish we could do it a bit more on the wild side.

Originally we intended to camp around Alaska borrowing tents and stuff from Brian's family, but when we finally got ready to leave and realized how much luggage we had, without all the camping paraphenalia, we nixed the idea. We sometimes pass campsites with people happily doing the closer to nature thing and I feel a spark of envy.

Aside from the luggage situation, the truth is we do not camp well either, so it is more likely a mixture of envy and relief, that we are not doing it rough. Our camping experiences in the past have been annoyingly compromised at best, like the time two essential tent poles were left behind, and we had to settle for a cabin on the edge of a drain in Yamba Waters. Then there was the time we didn't have enough water in the Arizona desert, and I had the seizure and Brian had a fly caught in his ear and for a hellish 3 or 4 minutes ran wildly around in circles screaming "get it out, get it out". Then between Sophia waking every hour crying loudly, and me having horrific nightmares about a madman breaking into our van and driving us into the river, none of us slept a wink.

Then there was the time we camped the Westfalia on the muggy shore of the Sea of Cortez at Bahia Kino. That night we swapped meals in the Pupo Rojo because I didn't like the taste of mine, and the next morning Brian had the worst case of food poisoning I've ever seen. We had credit cards, but only had enough cash to pay the doctor for the IV drip Brian needed for an hour, and not enough for petrol to get us back home. We had to beg for gas along the way and send the manager some money in the mail when we got back to the U.S.

So two days ago as we drove along the highway going north to Fairbanks, I admitted that I felt sorry that we weren't closer to nature during this trip, that we hadn't even seen much wildlife, least of all a bear. No sooner had I uttered the words, as we crossed a bridge, Brian yelled out "bears" and there they were, fishing in the river for salmon.

There were three brown bears, looking quite scrawny and hungry. Brian ignored my request for a close up and stayed in the car to take photos, saying "My mamma didn't raise no dummy". One hundred metres away in the parking lot, were half a dozen RVs camped. I thought for a moment that we should go over and warn them, but then I realized that they were doing the next best domesticated version of seeing Alaska, and probably would never see the bears whilst safely ensconced in their massive truck-homes.

So what beautiful natural scenes have we enjoyed? The most breath-taking has been Exit Glacier, near Seward. There are many more glaciers around and many ways to see them, but for us, a quick hike through the woods, without the cost and sometimes hassle of getting on a boat or plane or joining a tour, was perfect. We may splurge on this trip at some time on a flight-seeing tour, but for now, we're happy to drive and walk around.

The most interesting place so far, has been Homer. It's a little town on the southern end of the Kenai Peninsula and has lots of character, with arty cafes that host open mike nights and shops supporting local artists. I could imagine settling there for a while. The locals are friendly and laid-back and there're plenty of delicious places to eat, for such a small town, like the Cosmic Cafe. I had the blackened halibut taco salad, mmmmmm!

We've met many friendly people and have enjoyed sharing the details of our trip with them. They are always genuinely interested in Australia and often express a desire to go there. I always suggest they go in the winter, because I think they would die of heat in our summer. I don't think they really understand the meaning of 'hot', just as I have no idea of what minus 30 degrees C feels like.

Standing in line in the post office in Wasilla, it being a lovely 23 degrees C outside, I had to supress laughter as a woman wandered in complaining about the heat, and how Alaska should adopt the siesta system, since the best thing to do in that temperature was take a nap!