Alaska, June 19-20, 2025, North to Alaska, 2.0

 I'm finally getting around to posting more about what we did on our recent trip to Alaska with stops coming and going in the Seattle area. I am modifying a post I did on the trip on our first two days below, now that I have more time, so some of it may look familiar.

 Another morning of getting up at 0 dark thirty. The Seattle airport was huge and crazy busy, so it was a good thing we got there early. 

However, the flight was uneventful, and we were met by our friends in Anchorage. We haven't seen these friends, B and Bo, in over 30 years, so we had a good time catching up on the details of our lives.

B and Bo took us to the Alaska Zoo for a low-key activity on our travel day. We thought that was a great idea since we try to visit zoos when we travel. This zoo specializes in Alaskan animals and rehabilitates animals as well as displays them. The star of the day was the polar bear, who was quite active. 

Bears are featured heavily in all things Alaska. This bear was at the entrance to the zoo.

It was also fun to go downstairs and watch the polar bear swimming underwater.

This musk ox was seeing if the grass was really greener
 on the other side of the fence.

The next morning, we headed to Hatcher Pass, a scenic pass in the Talkeetna Mountains located between Willow and Palmer, Alaska. Specifically, we visited the abandoned Independence Gold Mine there. Gold is one of the key factors that drew the US and others to develop Alaska. Independence Mine was active from 1897 to 1950, with a break during WWII. There was more activity in the 1970s. At its peak, the mine had 16 families living there and 206 workers. The mine camp is now a state historic site.

Some of the buildings had been restored, and some were in ruins.

We took a tour of the mine camp, which was interesting. We were a bit surprised by the amount of snow still on the ground. In some places, it was a good 4" deep. The snow was slippery at times, and I was glad I had my boots on. However, B and Bo brought along their springer spaniel, who was living his best life playing in it. 

Bo was showing me the trails they like to hike. However, it was decided that they would be too snowy and muddy for a hike today. Charlie, their dog, was ready to go, however.

Ward loves a train, no matter what kind it is.

The drive home through the Talkeetnas was spectacular. In fact, just about any direction we turned on this trip, the scenery was breathtaking.

Each evening, B cooked a good meal, and we enjoyed relaxing after dinner, chatting about this and that during the endless light of the evening.

 Until next time…

Alaska

 Ward and I recently spent 10 days in Alaska exploring all we could in this magnificent state. We were hosted by friends I used to work with, whose graciousness made the trip better than we ever could have done on our own. Before I get down to the details of the sights we saw, let me tell you a little bit about Alaska (AK), in case, like me, you didn't know much about our 49th state.

Before visiting Alaska, I knew it mainly as a big state in the far north. I didn't realize how big the state was until I saw it superimposed on the lower 48 states. And over 80% of the communities in this vast state can't be reached by roads. In fact, Juneau, Alaska's capital, can't be reached by driving. You either have to take a boat or a plane to it.  BTW, Alaska has the highest percentage of people with pilot's licenses in the US. We stayed in the lower part of the state and drove to most places. 

AK is so far north that the northern third of the state lies within the Arctic Circle, where the sun doesn't rise on the winter solstice and doesn't set during the summer solstice. Thus, the nickname of the Land of the Midnight Sun. Our home base was in Anchorage, and while we didn't have 24 hours of daylight, we did have 20 hours of daylight with just 4 hours of dusk. 

That took some getting used to for us. The extra daylight was good at times, but confusing at others. Our internal clocks were unsure of what was happening. Added to the confusion was the four-hour time difference with Maryland. By the way, the entire state of Alaska is in one time zone, the Alaska Time Zone. However, despite being someone whose body clock is highly attuned to daylight and darkness, I managed to adapt. Ward is not as sensitive as I am in these matters, and he adapted readily.

Driving on the Parks Highway through the Alaska Range.

Decades ago, when I was in school, the people in Alaska were referred to as Eskimos. Today, that term is considered offensive by many, and the indigenous people prefer to be called by their tribal names. There are 229 federally recognized tribes in Alaska, each having its own unique identity. We saw evidence of these different cultures everywhere. 

Russian explorers were among the first non-indigenous people to arrive in the area. The US purchased AK from Russia in 1867, and there is still evidence of the Russian culture in some areas. In 1912, it became a US territory, and in 1959, it became our 49th state. Homesteading was still going on there as late as the 1980s, which surprised me.

The highways were lined with wildflowers.

Alaska is renowned for its vast landscapes, including towering mountains, active volcanoes, and frequent earthquakes. Many areas are still recovering from the 1964 9.2 magnitude earthquake and its subsequent tsunami. Mt. Spurr was rumbling and showing signs of a possible eruption while we were there, but luckily, that didn't happen.

So much more to tell, but I'll save it for future posts about the places we visited.

Note: I tried to be accurate with this overview of Alaska, but I may have gotten some things wrong because a 10-day visit did not make me an expert. In other words, kids don't use this post for a school report. 😀

Home again

 Ward and I arrived home last night after a wonderful trip to the far north. I'll soon be telling you more about what we did, but for now, I'll bring you up to speed on what happened at home while we were away.

None of these day lilies were blooming when we left.

Maryland was involved with the heat dome, which brought record-breaking temperatures and storms. Temperatures were around 100°F, with heat indexes even higher. The neighbors let us know that there had been a nearby lightning strike that had fried several things in their houses. My sister, Wally, and Theo gave our house a good look and said everything seemed to be in order. A few days later, when Theo checked in while watering some things, the house was 90°F and the AC wasn't running. He called a repair person who said an AC panel had been burned, and they had to order a part. 

When we got home last night, they were still waiting on the part, and the house was a "cool" 88F. We opened windows and got fans going, which helped a little. But the good news was that we were able to sleep in the basement, which was a good 10 degrees cooler.

This afternoon, the repairman came and found another part that had been fried, but was able to fix both problems. We now have AC! It's going to take a while to cool down the house, but we're making progress. I like my air conditioning. 

We're airing out all our bags before putting them away.

In the meantime, we've been unpacking, washing clothes, getting groceries, picking up the mail, and doing all the other things you do when coming home from a trip. 

But before I did any of that, I had to see how all of the plants did while we were gone. It was a mixed bag. Some definitely suffered from the extreme heat, and others thrived. And pretty much everything had been munched on by a critter, probably a deer, or maybe a rabbit.

The portulaca was in full bloom and spilling over the sides when we left. I guess it made a nice treat on a warm day.

Next to it, something ate all the tops off the sunflowers in this pot.

The dahlia was left alone, but didn't do well in the extreme heat.

But the basil doubled in size. It started blooming as well as the oregano beside it. I've got a lot of work to do here, as well as most of the other beds.

The beautyberry was spared from being munched on and grew like crazy.
When we left, it was not over the sidewalk.

In addition to the squash, the tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, and various other flowers had all been munched on.

Wally and Theo harvested things twice while we were gone, and this is what I found today. All of these probably would have been better if they were picked a little sooner, but we will use them.

I have a lot of work to do outside, but it can wait until the coolness of the morning. Today it was in the low nineties. 

I'll be back soon, as time permits, and tell you about a place that doesn't need air conditioners.

Until next time...

Until next time…Alaska.

 Ward and I are on vacation in Alaska. I had hoped to do a daily travel log, but long days and frustrating editing is preventing that. So, I won’t be doing much posting until I get home. Here are a few pictures with explanations to come later. 

Crossing the Country

Hello! I’m writing this on a tablet which I have very little experience doing, and I don’t have much time.

Ward and I left early yesterday and arrived in Seattle 6 hours later. The flight was uneventful, but I did learn something new. Our seat mate had VERY long yellow dreadlocks. We chatted a bit about them and she said they were performance hair. Turns out she is a back up singer and flips her hair around as part of the act. She was heading to San Francisco for a concert and then to a 14 day tour in Spain.

We are visiting with an old friend and are enjoying catching up. Last night we walked around the little town of Poulsbo where she lives. It is on the water and has many interesting shops. However, we didn’t buy anything but ice cream.

Today we took two different  hikes. After a stop at Sunny Farms to get sandwiches for lunch, We headed to Dungeness Spit on the Olympic Peninsula. It is longest natural sand spit in the US. Then we headed to Crescent Lake and Marymere Falls. In both ares, I was impressed by green lushness and large hemlocks.

Google hasn’t been cooperating with pictures, but let me try again to add some.

Until next time……