Gold Rush Fever

Today we said good-bye to our new friends, the Milligans. What a lovely week we had with them! Even though Gary was busy doing some drain line work for them, he wasn’t TOO busy – and it was a nice “down” week for us. It was very special to get to know this young couple and see how the Lord is using them in Moose Pass. When they originally moved to Alaska, they were living so far out in the bush that their only access was via airplane. In Moose Pass, Mark is the pastor of a small community church along with working at a hardware store down in Seward. So with the kids and goats and the chickens and homeschooling, and converting their basement into an apartment for a widow friend, they are a pretty busy family! Plus, they are working towards adopting a baby from Ethiopia. Wendy keeps up both a blog about their family -http://mountainmeanderings.blogspot.com and one about their adoption process -http://familywovenbyfaith.blogspot.com/ if you’d like to learn a little bit more about this sweet family!

Before we totally left the area we took the opportunity to visit one of their church families who have an active Gold Claim. Keith and Kristen work this claim all summer – it’s in a beautiful spot, but wow, is that hard work.
Getting there was the first experience –
Keith had to meet us right off the highway-

and then we followed him part of the way –

and then we hopped into the truck for the last little stretch –

Wheeeeeee!
Once there, Gary was getting a short course in panning for gold.

But before you can actually pan for the gold, you need to dig up the dirt –

Once you have your bucket of dirt, you need to get the sluice fixed in the creek –

and then the short lessons on scooping the dirt into the sluice.

Then, he was on his own.

“Steph – I think I struck gold!!!”

The expert checked it – and yes, he’d found gold. About the size of this “*”.
And we gladly donated it to their “stash”.
They were such good sports, teaching us about the process and explaining how their family had worked this claim through three generations. It’s a pretty rustic summer for them – totally living off the land (their refrigerator is a milk crate in the river!”), but they seem to really be enjoying the experience. Besides, this is the view they wake up to each morning –