After climbing mountains, tide-pooling, camping, and washing dishes together, all eighty of us got to know each other as more than friends: as a family; a family that lived together for 24 days in Alaska and had the best time of their lives. Some of us didn’t know each other and others had known each other for many years already, but by the end of the trip you couldn’t pick out which people were which. We had all grown close and we were always there when someone needed help and no one ever gave up. All eighty of us made it to the top of at least one mountain. We all made two goals on the trip and by the end we had a great feeling of accomplishment in each one of us. This trip had brought so many people close and we won’t ever lose those friendships made in Alaska.
      Today we all got up and realized we were leaving tonight to fly back to Chicago on the Alaskan Airlines. In less than 24 hours we would be back in Marshall, Michigan with our old lives again. We were all sad to leave our AGLP family and lifestyle in Alaska, but I think we were all getting ready to get back home again too. It really hit us once we got to the airport in Anchorage and we watched our vans that we had lived in for the past 24 days drive away with our luggage was surrounding us, ready to be flown back to Michigan. The question was, were we ready to fly back? Some of us might come back to Alaska again on future trips, but for others this was the last time they would be in the beautiful 49th state of Alaska.
      We got to Chicago safely and then we waited for the second flight to come in so we could get on the Indian Trails buses and drive home to Marshall Middle School. After the rest of our AGLP family came into the airport terminal we loaded the luggage in the buses and the driver started the engine and placed his foot on the gas pedal to drive away. Most of us slept on the bus ride back and then we stopped at a rest stop for Britta and Doctor Seifert to leave us to head out to Iowa with their family. That was when we realized the most that we wouldn’t be with our AGLP family much longer.
      We finally got to the MMS parking lot and as we walked off the buses our loving families greeted us with open arms. We were all happy to be back home in Marshall but it was emotional for all of us to say goodbye. None of us can wait to hang out in high school this fall and coming years. We won’t ever forget about this AGLP 2006 trip or the people we got to know along the way. What an amazing trip with many more to come!