Tod Bolsinger

Leadership and Learning a Few Tricks

With the recent announcement of Sarah Palin to be John McCain's running mate, Alaska is in the news.  Since my family and I recently returned from a vacation in Alaska, we are following the story with even a bit more interest in this most interesting election cycle.  Last night as we were sharing our Alaska stories with some friends, somebody said, "At least half of what makes visiting Alaska so interesting is the people."   And we all heartily agreed. 

Amidst all the big animals, big mountains, big fish to catch and big vistas, there were a number of seemingly larger than life characters whom we met and who treated us with big, open-armed hospitality. Most of those we met were long-term transplants.  They lived in Alaska because they chose to live there, loved it, and were unafraid to share the secrets of this big wild place. 

Maybe it's because they know that practically none of us visiting would ever make it through an Alaskan winter, but unlike so many other places I have visited, Alaskans seem to have little resentment or irritation at the adventurers and travelers who are passing through.

Indeed, I experienced exactly the opposite. Our two hosts, Laura at Alaska Heavenly Lodge on the Kenai Peninsula, and Jon and Karen at Earthsong Lodge by Denali National Park, were perfect guides and mentors for being introduced to Alaska. 

Laura and her beautiful dog, Greta greeted us each morning.  Laura took my friend Charlie and me on an early morning hike and filled us in on all kinds of tips and tricks to making our visit the best it could be.  An experienced outdoors-woman and world traveler, Laura was a repository of experience generously shared.  She sent us on a great hike to Crescent Lake, shared with us her favorite fishing site on the lake (where we caught and released a dozen grayling), taught me about fishing for big trout with "beads" (again, with GREAT success) and tipped us off to one amazing hike and fishing spot after another.  It was generous--and most necessary--hospitality.  As we have told one story after another about Alaska, Laura has taken a starring role.

When we left the Kenai Peninsula to travel to Denali, we grieved leaving behind the comfortable lodge and Laura's Alaskan "mentoring".  But then we arrived at Earthsong Lodge and met Jon and Karen Nierenberg.  Jon is a dog musher, homesteader and former park ranger who has literally "written the book" on hiking in Denali National Park.

Two different mornings, Jon took us into his "kennel" and introduced us to his sled dogs.  Jon sent Brooks and me on a great hike to the top of a peak and ridge that was breathtaking, and one evening he showed beautiful photographs of his 25 years of guiding and mushing in the Alaskan Wilderness.  

Perhaps most touching was when Jon shared about marrying Karen and how she and her three teenagers all moved to Alaska from Ohio into Jon's homesteaded cabin without electricity, running water or indoor plumbings.  Sitting there with our brood of teenagers and pre-teens we couldn't imagine how this was even possible.  A 12, 14 and 16 year old moving to Alaska and learning how to walk two miles across the tundra to catch the bus to school?  No electricity? No cell phones?  Only a wood stove for heat? 

When we asked Jon how they did it he said, "If you have someone to show you a few tricks, you can adapt to anything."

That line has stayed with me these past weeks.  And I want to spend a bit more time in the next couple of posts reflecting on what it takes to be this kind of "adaptive" leader and "adaptive" learner. But today, I'll close with another word of gratitude for our Alaskan hosts and mentors.  And encourage anybody who wants to visit Alaska to take the time to meet and learn from such interesting, engaging people. 

Wisdom, Creation, Happiness

While I was on vacation soaking in the majesty of the Alaska wilderness, my congregation was learning together the wisdom of Proverbs.  This week I return to church and will speak next Sunday on Proverbs. In my early morning reflections while on vacation, I found myself reminded once again of the connection in the Scriptures between Wisdom, Creation and the happiness in life that we all want to enjoy and pass on to our families. So, I offer this pictorial representation of one section of the book of Proverbs, wisdom personified reminds us that she offers us a perspective on life that comes from the beginning of time, and offers us words to live by...

The Lord created me at the beginning of his work,
the first of his acts of long ago.
Ages ago I was set up,
at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
When there were no depths I was brought forth,
when there were no springs abounding with water.



Before the mountains had been shaped,
before the hills, I was brought forth—
when he had not yet made earth and fields,
or the world’s first bits of soil.



When he established the heavens, I was there,
when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
when he made firm the skies above,
when he established the fountains of the deep,

when he assigned to the sea its limit,
so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
then I was beside him, like a master worker
and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing before him always,



rejoicing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the human race….



“And now, my children, listen to me:
happy are those who keep my ways.
Hear instruction and be wise,
and do not neglect it.
Happy is the one who listens to me..."

(Proverbs 8:22-34)

Essentials for the Alaskan "Mommy and Me" Walking Club

(Do you see the rifle?  It is Grizzly bear country.)

A Final Gift

Everyone who comes to Alaska is told numerous times by the locals that most tourists "never" see Mt. McKinley (or Denali as the locals call it), the tallest mountain in North America.  The oft-quoted statistic is that the mountain is only "out" 20% of the time.  When we called up here before our trip we were warned that this had been the "worst summer" weather-wise in history.  So, we came prepared: Rain gear in tow, attitudes in check, ready to enjoy the "wild" of Alaska, if not all the beauty. 

Over and over again, we were delightfully, deliriously surprised.  The weather was way better than predicted.  The rain mostly held off and we made do with cloud filled days that were good for fishing, fine for hiking and as good as we could hope for sight seeing. 

The fishing turned out to be epic. The hiking was great.  And the sight-seeing? Awesome at every turn.  Abundant animals, beautiful scenes of mountains and skies filled with clouds that were interesting if not pristinely clear. We were thrilled, we even got glimpses of the base of Denali while in the park.  All in all, nothing to be disappointed in at all.

And then we got this...

In an earlier post I said that all I wanted was a safe encounter with a grizzly bear and glimpse of Denali.  Oh, the bliss when all expectations are exceeded. It is grace indeed.

Better than X Box...Revisited.

A couple of years back after one of our family adventures, I started a series of posts that I called "Better than X Box and Umbrella Drinks".  It became a small seminar that Beth and I taught at our church about how to use adventure vacationing to teach your kids your values and bond them to you.

We were inspired to do so after I returned to church following one vacation and threw in some pictures from Yellowstone National Park in my sermon to enhance an illustration.  A mom came up to Beth and said, "Your kids saw buffalo!? And to think that I took my kids to a hotel where they played video games and while I had umbrella drinks by the pool. Next year I am doing your kind of vacation."

This young mom had had the same "aha!" experience that I had one day, when in a small group, I asked a man with grown daughters some parenting advice.  I noticed that his two daughters and their husbands loved being with him and his wife.  That this family seemed to have an uncommon bond even as adults.  I asked him what he had done when raising his kids that had led to  these rare and so satisfying relationships with his now grown children.  He answered with one word, "Camping."  Then he explained, "When times were tough, we could take the camper down to the beach and make a fire and block out the world.  When times were good, we could load up the camper and head down the road and keep our focus on what really matters.  I think camping was the best thing we ever did." 

That next summer when Brooks was six and Ali was two we took our first RV vacation to Yellowstone.

Of all the things we have learned as parents, our "adventure vacations" have been the most satisfying lessons.  As another amazing two weeks "off the grid" (so to speak) hiking, fishing, seeing beautiful places and wild animals comes to an end, I can feel my soul being refreshed and the hearts of my wife and our kids being more closely knit together.

Our evening prayers are always filled with gratitude.  The sense of wonder at the immensity of God's creation and the artistry of the Creator have flooded our senses.  Bears, beluga whales, moose, caribou, bald eagles, rainbow trout, salmon, marmots, dall sheep, mountain goats.  Thick forests, calving glaciers, cold rivers, bright sunshine, thrusting mountains, ranging valleys.  Fishing, flying, boating, hiking, skiing, napping, reading, driving, singing, laughing. Eating pie.

As our kids enter the teen years we are more and more grateful for every minute we have with them. And the catalog of memories literally span the globe.  We have been blessed with the resources (and have made a priority) traveling to beautiful semi-wild and somewhat wild places.  But the distance traveled is not the issue, but the decision to unplug, unwind, and get outside into God's world together.  When the kids were younger we RV'd to national parks.  This time we rented a cabin with another family, we have found a few favorite places to which we are drawn to return and exploring may soon give way to a special spot. There is no right way to do these kinds of vacations, but the common themes are family, nature, adventure, laughter...and pie.

Recently, I talked to another older man about the sadness I feel that my kids are growing up so fast.  Frankly, I have more adventures in my mind than summers left on the calendar before Brooks goes off to college.  This man said to me, "Tod, if you do your job as parent well, you'll get twice as many years with your kids as adult friends. And that is when it is really fun."

So, with thanks to Scott McOwen and Jim Ritchie and all the others wise souls who have encouraged this pastor to unplug for his family's sake. And with gratitude to God the Great Creator who gives us this big beautiful world in which to "go outside and play", here are a few more pictures, a couple of book suggestions, and a gentle nudge to consider how some intentional decisions about vacations could be the most powerful investment in your kids lives and your family relationships for years to come. (Facebook friends can see the whole album over at my FB profile page.)

Tasting Grace...once again...

“People need wild places.  Whether or not we think we do, we do.  We need to be able to taste grace and know once again that we desire it.  We need to experience a landscape that is timeless, whose agenda moves at the pace of speciation and glaciers.  To be surrounded by a singing, mating, howling commotion of other species, all of which love their lives as much as we do, and none of which could possibly care less about our economic status or our running daily calendar.  Wilderness puts us in our place.  It reminds us that our plans are small and somewhat absurd.  It reminds us why, in those cases in which our plans might influence future generations we ought to choose carefully.  Looking out on a clean plank of planet earth, we can get shaken right down to the bone by the bronze-eyed possibility of lives that are not our own.” 

(Barbara Kingsolver, cited in Brady and Neuzil, A Spiritual Field Guide: Meditations for the Outdoors, 143.)

"My soul basks in wilderness, and I am grateful."

(More pictures of our Alaskan Adventure at my Facebook site.)

Consider this my excuse...

While a bunch of my colleagues are with the good people at the Presbyterian Global Fellowship Conference in Long Beach, I had to turn down the invitation to be part of the conference because I already had plans with my family to go to Alaska.

I am sorry to miss the good conference, but frankly, I wouldn't have missed this moment for anything.

Or the look on my son's face when he hooked into this next fish...

(With thanks to Stacy Corbin of Mystic Waters Fly Fishing Guides in Cooper Landing, Alaska)

This One is For Todd...

For my buddy on a ship in a really hot, god-forsaken place.  Here's a picture with a glimpse of where you could live come retirement...I heard the job market for Fish and Game guys is pretty good.

For the Next Couple of Weeks...

May not have internet service, may not want to post...may decide to brag about big trout...don't really know.  Except that I am heading to Alaska with my fly rod and family and can't wait to get there...