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Alaska Seas

8/23/2018

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​This year we took three trips on the Alaska Marine Ferry System and got a first-hand look at the waters where so many Alaskans make their livings on fishing ships.
 
From Bellingham, Washington, we spent three nights and four days in early May sailing past Vancouver than through the Inside Passage to Ketchican, Juneau and Haines.   
 
In July we sailed seven hours from Whittier, Alaska, across Prince William Sound to Cordova, which is not reachable by road.
 
Finally, on our departure from Alaska we took a short ferry ride from Haines to Skagway on the state’s eastern edge.
 
Below are some of the views we encountered in the waters off Alaska.

(Return to Alaska Love main page.)
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Morning on the Inside Passage from the deck of the Kennicott ferry.
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Ketchican, in southeast Alaska, is a busy port for cruise ships.
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A view across Cook Inlet from Ninilchik on the Kenai Peninsula. The Alaska range is in the distance.
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A hazy Prince William Sound from the Aurora ferry to Cordova.
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Prince William Sound, near Cordova.
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Coming into the port town of Cordova.
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Cordova marina at sunset.
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Sunrise over Resurrection Bay from the rocky beach leading to Caine's Head.
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Early morning as we walked five miles to Caine's Head.
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View from atop Caine's Head looking down to Resurrection Bay.
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The ferry arriving in Haines, Alaska.
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Fire Island Bakery

8/23/2018

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​My sister and brother-in-law, along with daughter Rachel, own the Fire Island Rustic Bakeshop, certainly the finest bakery and pastry shop in the state of Alaska. Our nephew Jason manages one of the bakeshop, too, making it a true family affair.

​When we arrived in May, they were overseeing the construction of their third bakery, this one with a giant oven to meet the demand for bread and cakes.
 
In August, Fire Island opened its newest shop on a beautiful, sun-struck day.
 
Take a tour of the construction site and meet some of the people behind the counter at the new bakery below.

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Janis gave us a tour of the bakery construction in May.
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Jerry helped install this extra large, state-of-art bakery oven.
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Carlyle, the bakery's executive chef, tested all the breads in the new oven.
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On opening day, managers Kelli (left) and Rachel (right) supervise operations.
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The bakery was hopping on the first day of business.
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Jerry and Janis outside their new bake shop.
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Cheers to Carlyle, Kelli, Janis, Rachel and Jason, the five bakery managers.
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Janis and a beautiful loaf of bread.
(Return to Alaska Love main page.)
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Alaska Pioneers and Artists

8/22/2018

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White settlers first came to Alaska 120 years ago in a mad stampede for gold and displaced many of the Native peoples who lived there. 
 
At a National Park Service display in Skagway, we learned about the thousands of people, largely men, who spent a year trying to get to the Klondike gold field only to find the gold gone by the time they got there. 

Twenty years later, the early Pioneers to Alaska celebrated their achievements and built community through a chain of Pioneer Clubs, each chapter called an Igloo. We visited Igloo #19 in Cordova.  

Throughout the 20th century Alaska teased the imaginations of people who wanted to get away from civilization in the lower 48  and take advantage of the isolation of the new frontier. We found signs as we traveled in Alaska of itinerant seekers who made their way north to Alaska through the 1940s, 50s, 60s and 70s.

In the Anchorage Museum,  we found  splendid new exhibits that tell the history of the state as well  new art that shows expresses new visions of Alaskan artists.  We end with a piece of mural art in downtown Anchorage.

(Return to Alaska Love main page.)
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This group of stampeders in the Klondike gold rush used dogs to help them carry their supplies over the mountains from Skagway.
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In the 1950s, Jim Edwards migrated to McCarthy where he built Rigor Mortis out spare parts.
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Old vehicles are often left to rust in place in Alaska. This one was turned into a garden in McCarthy.
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"Arkansas to Alaska" reads the painted words on this old school bus parked in McCarthy.
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Teenagers warming up before a square dance at the Pioneers of Alaska hall in Cordova.
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Dnace hall at Igloo #19 of the Pioneers of Alaska.
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Pioneers love their dogs.
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Thousands of seaplanes fly into the bush to carry goods and passengers who live off the grid.
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Carnivore Creek by David Mollett captures the beauty of northern Alaskan mountains.
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“Everything I Love is Here,” reflects on the lifeways of artist Alvin Amason’s family and Sugpiaq culture in Kodiak.
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A mural on a building in downtown Anchorage.
(Return to Alaska Love main page.)
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Alaska Gardens

8/22/2018

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​Farmers in the Matanuska Valley are the major vegetable producers for south central Alaska and we visited the gardens in Palmer where we met the lovely Cabbage Ladies seen below.  The town grows beds of vegetables that grow to outsized proportions and the region is emerging as a center of peony cultivation.
 
At home, our gardens are more modest. We had two green houses, six beds, many containers and a fruit orchard to tend to throughout the summer. Our niece runs a small urban farmer growing greens and flowers and I helped out by weeding when I could. 
 
Check out these photos to see what you can grow in a garden in Alaska.
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Ginny Lawton (center) started the Cabbage Fairies to liven up the Cabbage Weigh-off at the Alaska State Fair. We found them at the Palmer Garden Show.
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In Palmer, vegetables can grow large quickly.
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Peonies are emerging as a major crop in the Matanuska Valley and at the Palmer festival this woman posed for artists surrounded with the showy blooms.
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Our neice Greta planted seedlings at her small urban farm in early June.
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Flowers are the major crop in Greta's garden.
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This greenhouse and three raised beds were right outside our apartment window and clearly an attraction for local bears.
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Jerome started the tomato plants under grow lights then moved them to the temperature controlled greenhouse. Swiss chard, parslet and strawberries in the foreground.
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An abundance of greens.
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Onions and lettuce in the side orchard.
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Soft-shell peas.
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Cukes growing in the side greenhouse.
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Janis (in suit) and Jerry tend three bee hives in the orchard.
(Return to Alaska Love main page.)
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Alaska Mountains

8/22/2018

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We have driven by hundreds of mountains in Alaska, and can testify that each one has its own special charm. That’s why we keep taking photos of mountains.

The tallest mountains are for viewing only. People climb them, but we are not up to challenge. We hike instead up other peaks and ridges to see glaciers, lakes and tundra.

If you like mountains, too, look below to see some of the beauties that we found this year.

​(Return to Alaska Love main page.)
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You have to scramble over boulders on the Reed Lakes trail in Hatcher Pass.
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Just over this green mountain ridge, the Sheridan Glacier spreads out towards the Copper River outside Cordova.
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An old mining trail in Hatcher Pass led us to a receding glacier.
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Across from the Kenai Peninsula, a volcano rises up in the Alaska Range.
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Mount Blackburn in the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park is the fifth-tallest mountain in Alaska.
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A mountain icefield near Seward.
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The mountains of the Kenai Fjord National Park.
(Return to Alaska Love main page.)
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Alaska Nature

8/22/2018

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​We didn’t have to go far to see wildlife, they frequently visited us, grazing through the nearby woodlands.  When two black bear cubs were separated from their mamma, we listened to the babies cries and the mother calling them. 
 
The wildlife did not stop us from hiking in the outback where we found flowers, mushrooms, fungi and lichen.
 
Take a look at some sweet pockets of nature below.

​(Return to Alaska Love main page.)
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These two cubs got stuck on top of our chicken coop and their mother called to them from the other side of the electric fence. They eventually made their way back to her.
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These two teenage black bears strolled up on driveway later on the same day.
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A mother and two bear cubs cruise by the greenhouse one August morning.
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The mother moose and her two foals outside the greenhouse.
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A baby moose by the swing.
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The streams, grasses and flowers outside Anchorage.
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Summer flowers.
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These mushrooms look like they could be the scene of a Mad Hatter Tea Party.
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Bumble bees seek nectar in a yarrow flower.
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A bouquet of fungi.
(Return to Alaska Love main page.)
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Alaska Family

8/22/2018

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​When we stay in Alaska, we’ve been living in a small apartment attached to my brother- and sister-in-law’s house on the outskirts of Anchorage. Their house is perched on a hillside overlooking Turnagain Arm, part of the Cook Inlet.  Some of Janis and Jerry’s children live in the area and we often got together to share a meal. Their son Josh and his wife Tess came from NYC to celebrate an anniversary with us all.
 
Get a glimpse of how the family enjoys Alaska together below.
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We made pizzas in the pizza oven when Sam came to visit.
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Rachel's husband Mack and Sam enjoy the view of Turnagain Arm.
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Sam, Jason, Lewan and Mack at the pizza oven.
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Jerry cuts up a watermelon.
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Nephew Josh, who grew up in this house, and his wife Tess celebrated their fifth anniversary with friends and family.
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Josh's sister Marya made this photo quilt of their wedding as a surprise gift.
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Janis and Nellie at Rabbit Lake.
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Our athletic niece Rachel took part in a mini triathalon during our visit.
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Nancy made donuts one morning.
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Sam and Mark discuss the merits of the salmon caught by this German visitor.
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Alaska Glaciers

8/22/2018

3 Comments

 
​Yes, the glaciers are receding from coastal Alaska. Yes, scientists report that 75 billion tons of ice are lost every year from Alaska’s glaciers, resulting in “sustained mass loss.” Glaciers are melting at the fastest rate in 400 years.
 
The warming trend brought by climate change could be reversed in time to stop the ice fields from melting but, pessimistic about the future, we have seen as many of these sparkling frozen rivers as we could. Yo get a good look, you often have to hike into the foot of the glacier. It's worth the effort. Look what we've found.

(Return to Alaska Love main page.)
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You can see the granules of ice on top the Root Glacier in Kennicott.
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Bear Glacier is the widest glacier flowing into Resurrection Bay in Seward.
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Child Glacier flows into the Copper River outside Cordova.
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Godwin Glacier flows into Resurrection Bay.
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From the Homer Spit on the tip of the Kenai Peninsula you can see Grewingk Glacier across Kachemak Bay.
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Underneath the gravel you will find ice, part of the moraine that was left by the retreating Kennicott Glacier.
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Portage Glacier is an hour outside Anchorage and features a visitor center where you can learn about glaciers.
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The peacefulness of a glacier lake, this one flowing out of the Saddle Glacier and into the Copper River.
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The toe of the Sheridan Glacier is easily accessible outside Cordova.
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The small Valdez Glacier flows right outside of the port town it is named after.
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A rock fell and killed a child this summer at the foot of the Worthington Glacier outside Valdez.
(Return to Alaska Love main page.)
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Pioneer Life at the Granite County Museum

10/3/2015

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As part of my quest to learn about my great-great-uncle John Hickey, I visited the Granite County Museum in Philipsburg, Mt., a volunteer-based organization that has re-created numerous rooms similar to those found in Montana during the boom years from the late 1800s to the early 1900s.  They have also brought in old mining equipment so visitors can experience how it feels to be in a mine.

Take a tour below.
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The front parlor of a frontier home.
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Frontier women had plenty of gadgets in the kitchen...
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... and in the laundry.
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The Miners Union Hall was a central meeting place.
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A miner's cottage.
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The office of the assayer, who examined the extracted ores to determine their value.
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Colorful Geysers

9/15/2015

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We rested on a day trip to Yellowstone National Park where we joined the crowds to watch Old Faithful erupt on schedule, then took a walk to see some lesser-known but still spectacular bursts of hot, steamy water.

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Riverside Geyser erupted for 20 minutes, creating a beautiful rainbow.
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Chromatic Pool is part of the largest geyser field in the world.
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Grotto Geyser is a lesser-known steam engine.
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Old Faithful leaps high, but it's biggest asset may be its reliability, always showing up on time.
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