We went to the native museum today in Palmer. They had awesome native dances that we all enjoyed, and a lot of house exibits. We learned a lot of interesting facts, like how an inuit can paddle up to 55 MPH in a kayak, and how they used dead seals as buoys to track other seals they speared. The shops they had outside had tons of handcrafted items that native Alaskans made, necklaces, pictures, lots of carved things, and eskimo yo-yo’s.
      Next we went to Hatcher Pass. Hatcher Pass is fantastic and looks beautiful. The whole experience was great except for almost falling off the cliff in our van. Almost everyone went hiking up to the top of the hill to the cross. I personally didn’t hear Ishtar say where to go, so I went up a different mountain that I wasn’t supposed to. Oops. Although, we did see some gigantic footprints that we thought belonged to Bigfoot. Other people went panning for gold, like Roger and David, who kept their gold on thier tongues. Almost all the groups said that at least one person from each fell down the mountain. Hatcher's Pass has to be the most majestic place on the whole trip.
      While everyone was quietly eating dinner, Jim Maynard tried to take the propane tank off the water boiler for the spaghetti and it caught on fire. Everyone just kind of stood around and watched the propane tank that was on FIRE. I wonder if they thought what would happen if it exploded or something. Oh well, I was safe behind some trees. Luckily Jim blew out the fire and saved us all from our utter destruction. Go Jim! There was more chaos at dinner when someone who shall remain anonymous hit Brandon Jordan in the face with some spaghetti. He was very angry, the details of what he did are so gruesome and horrible they cannot be disclosed to you at this time (well, it wasn't THAT bad)!
      After dinner most of us went down to the lake to look at the beautiful scenery. Earlier Ann Fitzpatrick and I went out for a walk and thought we found something speical, we thought we found the lake first. Unfortunately almost everyone but us had already been there,we were wrong. It was very nice, except when we walked down to the lake and the mud got on everyone's shoes. It didn't come out, especially on white shoes. Kids tried everything to get the mud off; Liz Harrington used a comb to try and comb it off. The ones who got down to the lake found a whole bunch of really cool clay and felt like throwing at each other. Braden DeWeese got hit really bad because when he came back to the tent we made him take his shirt off before he came in. He had clay handprints all over his shirt. Hmmm, mud and clay, sounds very inviting! Tomorrow I think we'll make some pots

     Wow, between the race, the cool free time, and the POOL PARTY, we had a very interesting day! It was a very fun-filled day. We started our fun filled day by waking up around 5:30 a.m. Some people were waking up after that. While people were rolling out of their sleeping bags, some people were eating their breakfast. For breakfast some people ate oatmeal while some people choose to eat cereal. As soon as everyone was done eating and everything from breakfast was all cleaned up we headed out to the race in Anchorage.
      We got to the race in Anchorage about an hour before the race began. Most of the people from AGLP ran the five-miler. The people who didn’t run the five-miler ran the Youth Cup (two miles long). There was also Suzy Grant who was the only one from AGLP who ran the half marathon. While we were waiting for the race to start, we gathered around the vans and talked to friends. Some sat in vans and listened to music, while some people did a little stretching and warming up. Before the races started everyone from AGLP gathered around and we did a big cheer to get everyone pumped up. I noticed when I was running that I got to see some great scenery. Great job to everyone; you all did great!
      On to the FREE TIME! We had some free time today. Most of us went to a flea market in Anchorage, while some people went to gift shops and the mall. A lot of people went to get souvenirs for their family, friends, and themselves from gift shops. Some people got Alaska Grown sweatshirts, shirts, and hats. Some people bought moose hats.
      Finally, the POOL PARTY! We had a pool party today at Palmer Pool. Some people dove off the high dive. When people were diving off the diving boards there were some cool flips and big splashes. There were also some dives off the diving board that looked like they hurt. Many people swam in the shallow end, playing with the beach balls and throwing them at other people. Some others played volleyball with the beach balls. There was a water basketball game on one side of the pool. There was also a water ballet going on too, on the far side of the pool. After a couple of hours of swimming, most of the people got out of the pool and went into the locker rooms to take showers. Many people were happy to take the shower. We have done many things so far and have had lots of fun doing those things.