Thank you so much for everything. I had the best time in Alaska hunting and fishing in Anchorage. In Anchorage we went to the Harley Davidson shop and to a huge mall and a lot of little shops. When we were flying into Koyuk from Nome we flew really low so we could see the ground well and it was really neat. When we got to the place that we were hunting at we fished. We were catching silver salmon out of the river. The first day alone I caught ten salmon. The next day we went out hunting. We went up river in flat bottom boats and the water was really low. Since the water was low the boats kept hitting the bottom of the river and we got holes in some of the boats. They fixed the holes up and it also rained so the water came up. Since the water came up we could go further upstream. My brother and his guides and my dad and Larry and a camera man went really far upstream. My two guides, my mom, a camera man and me went to a really steep hill right on the river. We sat on the top of that hill one day and the next day we went on top of that hill and went over on to another hill that was even bigger than the one we were on. The big hill we went up was covered in blueberries which we ate a lot of. When we got to the top we stayed there and our guides went off onto other hills to try and see if they could find a bear. They spotted one a little ways away. They signaled for us to come over and we started off toward the bear. It was at the bottom of a hill and we went over onto that hill. We could see it down there eating blueberries and there wasn't much between us and the bear. It was all tundra and a couple bushes. The camera guy set up on top of the hill and one guide and me started going down the hill slowly. We tried to keep the bushes between us and the bear. The last 300 yards we had to crawl on our stomachs down the hill. We got to about 125 yards away and the guide told me to rest my gun up on his shoulder and shot. I hit him a little low and broke his leg. Then my guide shot and I shot again. I shot three tiems and so did my guide. It ran about 250 yards and died. It was a 8.5 footer. Thank you again for setting up the hunt and paying for it and everything. This was and will probably be the best trip I ever went on.

Sincerely,

Aaron

Dear Hunt of a Lifetime Sponsors',

          My name is Nancy. I am the mother of the two boys that Hunt of a Lifetime sent to Alaska in August to hunt grizzly bear, moose, and wolf. My oldest son TJ was told he had a cancerous tumor in his chest in December of 2000. My youngest son Aaron was told he had Juvenile Diabetes in January of 2000. In 2001 TJ's tumor had disappeared with chemotherapy and Aaron received an insulin pump. This year in December TJ may be done with chemotherapy.

          I want to thank you for the most wonderful vacation of my life. Alaska is beautiful and it was a blessing to be able to go there with my boys. As a mother I enjoy seeing those special smiles on their faces that had not been there a whole lot in the last two years. In Alaska I was able to see those smiles a lot.

          We spent two days in Anchorage. One day we watched float planed land and take off Hood Lake next to our hotel. As we watched the clouds lifted and that is when we first seen the mountains that surrounded Anchorage. We also went to a tannery, "Alfa Furs". They showed us how the hides are tanned and different animals that were already done. It was very interesting. To show the boys the cost of fur coats I brought them to a fur salon, they were surprised.

          We flew from Anchorage, to Nome, to Koyuk an Eskimo village where our outfitter lives. We arrived about noon. From Koyuk we flew to the Ungalik River to our camp for the next ten days. We moved into our tents and went fishing. Just about every day someone went fishing and most of the time the fishing was good.

          We would sit for many hours everyday looking for bears. Sometimes we would sit on the tundra and the smell was wonderful and other times we would sit on the cliff tops and then float quietly down the river hunting back to camp. It was so peaceful and the sunsets colored the sky, along with a rainbow one night.

          After six days of hunting Aaron shot his bear. Three days later TJ shot his bear. Aaron's bear was about 10 years old and TJ's was about 20 yrs. old. Both were big bears. I really liked not having to cook or think about what to cook. The guides were great and took good care of us. It was a pleasure to meet the guides Palmer, Tommy, Steve, and Tom, Brad Jones from HOAL, Larry Csonka and his cameramen, and Bob Hannon "the outfitter" and his family.

Thank you. May God's grace and love be with you always.

Sincerely,

Nancy