Semiserious Chefs

Every year our family volunteers for the Lost Lake Run in Seward. It is a very popular 16 mile race over a mountain and the funds raised go to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. It’s huge. Absolutely huge. This year alone contributions equaled $260,000.

Though limited to 750 official racers the volunteer team needed has reached as high as 65 people, including the obvious jobs of bib handout and hydration stations, but also grill, beer, and, extremely important for this race, the emergency personnel, and the boy scout group that provides fresh pumped water a the mountain’s climax. The help is so critical that accommodations are even provided for volunteers who come down. That certainly helps us.

This year we split-up and Andrew did grill and BBQ duties while I (with help from Nathan) handed out water at the race’s finish. Just participating in this endeavor is a feat of it’s own. In fact by the time we are all done it feels as though we, ourselves, have hiked the 16 miles over the mountain. Because of this it was decided last year to make this a reoccurring family vacation weekend. We close down the daycare and take 3 official days off work. (This is a big deal for us). Thursday we camp-out and Friday we visit the Sealife Center and other attractions before we check into our hotel/B&B and make ready for our volunteering tasks starting Friday evening at dinner. From there it is just a whirl-wind of activity pretty much never ending until after brunch on Sunday.

Because there is so much to this fantastic and slammed full weekend we decided to divide it between two blog posts. Andrew has already shared about the race and volunteering details, so this post will be about camping, the Sealife Center, and some of the more personal aspects of getting all of this done while also attending to Nathan’s CF needs.

Long story short, there is a reason we also take the Monday off after the weekend.

So here we go: Lost Lake Run 2016 – Family Fun and Camping:

Just getting packed for a camping trip is a huge task. As simple as you may want it to be there are still cooler foods, dry foods, tent and sleeping gear, cooking gear, emergency gear, recreational items and clothing, it goes on and on… then for our family there is the medicine list. This includes medicine and equipment that need to be gathered from about 5 different areas of our home: the oral meds, the CPT meds and equipment, and the nebulizer meds and equipment… there is a basket here, a pill box there, sterilized equipment over here, the compressor behind the couch, and of course the pulmozyme in the fridge, and don’t forget a power source… And after this trip I have definitely added a few items that will be needed when we go on our next extended trip.

Becucase of all this ‘stuff,’ Nathan has his own rollie bag just for medicine. Whenever we go through the last gear check before rolling out the most important item is that bag and it’s contents. Everything else can be replaced or bought if need be.

So we decided to sleep in a little and pack everything on Thursday morning before leaving. I can do most of it while Andrew does CPT. And we did a good job. As far as I know nothing was forgotten. I was even able to pack 3 separate PARI Neb kits so that we would not need to worry about sterilizing any while we were gone. I was very proud of this idea. ‘How clever of me to avoid all those problems that might arise.’

We hit the store on our way out of town, (where I will note that macaroni salad was not on the list, nor where was the type of chip to be purchased specified <– see Andrew’s version of this trip,) and believe it or not we where out of the city by a whopping 2pm.

It worked out okay that we left a little later than expected because we really didn’t need to make any stops on the way. We did, however, stop for one restroom break and got to check out the damage left from the McHugh Creek bluff fire. Otherwise, there were no wild sheep, belugas, or crazy water spouts this year. Just a safe and beautiful, rather uneventful trip to Seward.

We decided that we wanted to camp closer to the ocean this year (without the noisy trains!) and [having learned to read the little registration tickets better than last year] we had no problem finding a nice campsite. Thursday night was nice. We walked on the beach, collected a few shells, poked at a dead jellyfish, and watched a sea otter float by. I did have a little hick-up with the nebulizer though. We had the power supply, and then the compressor, and finally the PARI neb, but for some reason it wouldn’t dispense the medicine after the first few seconds. No big deal. I just pulled out another PARI set, transferred the liquid, and we carried on. Nathan was very accommodating and even arranged the camp chairs for me before we started CPT.
There are definitely worse places to have to do Pulmozyme and CPT. Just beautiful.

Like I said, we had a wonderful night and I made the most fantastic pork chops! (If I say so myself.)

Friday morning was much different.
The wind was blowing.
Not the kind where there are gusts and lulls, and it wasn’t a blow you over type of wind, but this constant, constant, constant solid wall of wind coming off of Exit Glacier blew over our chairs and the food off our plates. These were easy enough to deal with, but, with the addition of other set backs, the morning treatment became nearly impossible to complete.

Here was the plan:

• We’ll do Pulmozyme with the AM CPT in the morning since we will be busy with the spaghetti feed in the evening so:
  • Move the power pack, compressor, third PARI neb set, and CPT stuff into the tent.
  • Play cards and do treatment out of the wind.

That sound easy enough, right?
The wind was blowing so hard I had to put every heavy thing we had brought in the corner just to keep the tent off our faces, nevertheless from blowing over completely.The wind was even sneaking under the tent and fluffing the floor so our cards wouldn’t lay flat.And then the nebulizer stopped.

The power pack had run too low on juice to give the compressor enough power to aerosol the medicine.

“That’s okay! It has an adapter so it can charged using the DC plug in the car. We’ll just move into there. It will be easier than in this windy tent anyway!”

The car started (<—-amazingly) and after getting everything cleared out for us, and the equipment moved over, it became quickly apparent that there would still not be enough power to run the compressor.

With no other options we scrap the pulmozyme and head back into the slightly less cluttered tent for classic ‘face-to-face CPT’ (The kind with no screen to entertain one’s self.)

We manage to be successful [enough] but the whole process not only wasted a huge amount of my time, but also my patience. But, alas, we got it done. It isn’t the first CPT like that. It won’t be the last. And it certainly isn’t the worst we’ve had.

LEARNED: PUT AN AC/DC ADAPTER IN OUR MEDICINE BAG

We packed up camp and headed off to the Alaska Sealife Center.

Andrew was content having gone to the sealife center last year and didn’t feel the need to spend the funds on himself this year. (It is rather expensive.) He was also convinced that the only reason I wanted to take Nathan was because I really want to go myself.  But in all honesty Nathan really loves everything about the ocean. He likes all kinds of animals, fish, crustations, and mammals, and is very interested in the many curiosities the sea possesses. Andrew can convince himself of whatever he wants, but I know that Nathan had a blast and the cost seems well worth it to me.

It’s funny that the play boat near the entrance was well remembered by Nathan from last year, and though I find it rather boring he really enjoyed it again for a second year.Now the Sealife Center isn’t particularly big. I mean that it isn’t going to compare to the activities of Sea World, or the overhead tunnel aquariums of other large cities, but their tanks are absolutely beautiful, and there are great digital displays by each tank to help pick out the many, many, many fish and life each includes. It was really fun to introduce Nathan to various critters that we found lurking in the corners and then have him name them and point them out for the next child [or adult] who came by, “Whoa!” they’d say. “I didn’t see that before!”

I was surprised that he spent so much time watching the tanks with the ‘smaller’ animals, as the large seals and sealions are quite amazing. However we did spend a lot of time with the birds again this year. And this year there were several who were right on the rocks next to us. They were beautiful and so full of character!

Without a doubt, however, the touch tank was Nathan’s happy place. Of the two and a half hours we spent at the center, more than half was at the touch tank. He’d go from one tank to the next and then back around. We’d slip off to see the birds and inevitable end up back at the tanks. With every reentry there was a new fact to learn, and new critter that hadn’t been seen the time before. We touched: purple and green sea urchins; a big rough textured crab; a bunch of big busy shrimp (and some shed shell); crimson, christmas and frilled sea anemones; rose star, ochre and other kinds of star fish; cute cute little flounders hiding in the sand; bright orange hermit crabs; sea cucumbers/slugs; barnacles; limpets; big snails and their eggs that feel like corn; and skate egg cases… I’m sure I’m missing some things. We also got to watch tiny jellyfish and other zoo plankton.

We of course watched the birds dive. Their bird aviary is world class. With above ground nesting and shore areas as well as an entire second level below water with a completely unobscured view to their ‘flying’ underwater techniques.

It was also our great luck to be there as the new sealion pup, Perl, explored her mom’s enclosure for the first time! She was born July 1st, 2016. As you will see in the video, she was not yet ready to go into the water with Mama.

The very last thing to see on the way out the door are the jellyfish. Once again, just a beautiful tank.

In the end we had a fantastic time! I’m going to ‘budget’ at least three hours for our visit next year. I don’t know if Andrew will want to join us, but I definitely want to go again. I’m not going to lie that it’s nice to have homeschool money to reimburse the cost, because it isn’t cheap, but that being said, if Nathan is still really into the ocean next year I will look into having a sea otter or octopus experience with him…using homeschool money.

Now speaking of Andrew, how did he fair during all of this? He spent the whole 2 hours running around repeatedly looking for people to help him jump the Jimmy and buying jumper cables, since, as you may recall from earlier, our jumper/power pack was too low to do it. When I mentioned that it was amazing that the car started in the morning, I wasn’t joking. How we ever made it home, I don’t know. We realized right after we got home that the starter had gone bad. So when I said ‘we take the following Monday off to recuperate’? Yeah. I’m glad we had it off just so we could fix our car!

Anyway, back to Seward. We took the last bit of free time we had to check out the beach at Lowell Point. It’s beautiful, yes, but I was a little bummed that the tide wasn’t lower. I guess it wouldn’t matter really, since we’d touched every kind of living thing we could imagine to find in a low tide pool already at the Sealife Center. We did however find a little wiggly shrimp out of water and a small dead crab. But the best part was, no doubt, getting this photo. I think it’s the best we’ve ever seen of Nathan.

From here we check into our B&B, to get treatment done before volunteer work begins. At this point all three of the PARI nebs have been used. Good thing I’d been so prepared, right? Go figure that this B&B was more hotel style and there were none of the required items needed to sterilize even one set. The very confused keeper was obliging enough to help us get one bowl of ‘officially’ boiled water (cycling water though a coffee pot does not count in my book), and there were paper napkins for letting it dry.

LEARNED: BRING A SMALL PLASTIC ELECTRIC TEA KETTLE TO BOIL WATER FOR STERILIZING.

LEARNED: BRING YOUR OWN PAPER TOWELS TO HAVE SOMETHING CLEAN TO LAY THE BOILED PARI NEB PARTS ON.

When we got home I figured out why the first cup ‘seized up’ also when we got home. It was clogged with the TINIEST little speck. Since you should be poking at the whole with anything I simply tossed it and started a new kit.

As for the volunteer work you can read all about our experience with the Lost Lake Run this year on Andrew’s post, but before I leave I will share some pictures and a video of our last little excursion to the harbor before heading out.

So, in closing, it was a great trip. Nathan got a lot of ocean related experiences and learned a lot, and we had fun camping and cooking together. As always the Lost Lake Run was a huge success and if there is anyone out there who would like to volunteer it is greatly appreciated. Just contact Pat at patrick.k.simpson@gmail.com to get yourself on the list for next August. Otherwise be sure to check out some of the other adventures we have as a family or pick out a new recipe for dinner this evening. Much love! -Vanessa