Scents and Sounds

July 22, 2018 thru July 26, 2018 Anchorage, AK

It's rained a lot while we've been here in Alaska and we had a steady downpour the past couple of days.  It made me realize how there's more to this trip than just the sights.  I'd though I'd make an inventory of some of the scents and sounds we've experienced. So close your eyes and imagine these.

Sounds

• the steady beat of the rain on the roof of the RV at night
• the dopplered train whistles around Anchorage and Fairbanks
• the ascending roar of jets flown over the military bases
• reveille wake up call and taps at dusk on base
• seagulls cawing and sea lions roaring at Allison Point near Valdez
• ice cracking and rocks tumbling in the crevasses of Kennicott glacier
• glacier water pouring over a hillside into a waterfall and down a river stream
• the foghorn of a cruise ship coming into port
• the slap of a salmon jumping out of the water
• boats rocking in the waves in the harbor in Homer
• the barking of huskies sled dogs practicing runs in the summer
• the wind rustling leaves of birch and aspen trees
• a bear growling from the tree top in JBER Famcamp
• an a capella group performing in the Farmers Market in Fairbanks
• the squeaks and squeals of rusting metal equipment in Chicken
• the honking call of geese in the marshes at Laird Hot Springs
• the creak of wooden planks on bridges spanning the rivers
• the buzz of a mosquito somewhere in the RV
• and most of all, the absence of any sound at all in so many places.

Then there are the smells, the scents of being in a different place.

• the musky loam of decaying leaves after the rain
• the metallic sulphuric smell of lava at Craters of the Moon
• the chilled still air of the Lehman caves
• the misty wet breeze off of Shoshone Falls in Idaho
• fresh asphalt being laid over potholes and frost heaves on the Alaskan highways
• pungent pine trees stretching for miles over mountains
• English tea scones and clotted cream at Lake Louise
• the cold dust in the moraine of a glacier
• the scent of musk ox on the farm in Fairbanks
• wet hot sulfur springs in Laird and Chena hot springs
• reindeer, buffalo and deer sausage in Delta Junction
• the silt glacier dust along Denali Highway
• the close, stuffy stacks of the used bookstores
• the exhaust of the train riding from Whittier to Anchorage
• the giant chocolate fountain at Wild Berry store
• barnacles soaked in seawater on the cruise boats
• a hot coffee while the captain navigates islands in Resurrection bay
• the seabird guano coating the rocks in a rookery
• the whiff of oil along the shore near a derrick
• mushrooms burrowed in tree stumps along a hiking trail
• seas of grass along the Homer Spit
• fresh haddock hung along the porch at the dock in Homer
• warm clean laundry to be folded from the dryers in the campground
• and everywhere along the highway, in gardens, hanging in baskets along the streets are flowers and ferns; indian paintbrush, yellow water-lilies, forget-met-nots, western columbine, monkey flower, lupine, bunchberry and fireweed.

It's more than pictures.

A New Highway

Saturday, July 20, 2018 Denali Highway to Denali North Overlook

We'd not been on the Denali Highway, the original road to Denali Park, during our last trip.   We were going to skip it this trip and then Mike said, let's give it a try and so we drove from Valdez to Paxson and took the Denali Highway about 150 miles west.  It's a different view of Alaska than what we've been seeing.  Surrounded by the Alaskan Range, which included the Denali Peak, are broad expanses of shrub and grasses, intertwined by glacier rivers and lakes. 

Denali highway

lake on Denali highway

To my chagrin, it was also the worst rode we've had the RV on the whole trip.  It was dusty, a fine silt that got everywhere inside the RV

  

Denali highway silt

We're glad to cross that road off, not to be visited again!

When we came out on the western side it was after 5:00 pm so we drove south toward Anchorage and stopped for the night at the Denali North Overlook.  From the parking lot, this was the view of Denali the next morning, about 40 miles away

5:00 AM Mike's pic of Denali from DNO

Denali from DNO about 8am

It's truly breathtaking.  Everywhere we go, the scenery is spectacular.  My eyes are full of the images.  We're hanging out in Anchorage the rest of the week until Friday when I'm taking the train to Denali and Mike is driving up. 

Valdez Redux

Thursday, July 19, 2018 through Friday, July 20, 2018

After McCarthy, we decided to return to Valdez to try fishing and enjoy a couple of sunny days there. This time we camped along the road on Allison Point.  As we were turning onto the road to the point, an 18 wheeler was turning onto the highway.  As we faced each other in opposite lanes, a moose bolted out of the trees on the left and ran across the highway between the two vehicles.  It was heart stopping that neither of us hit the moose.  That was a little bit too close to nature!

pink salmon returning to spawn

The pink salmon were returning and were swarming at the fish hatchery

sea lions

This brings out the sea lions - I saw five of them at once.

Mike declared Valdez the most scenic area we've visited.  It's surrounded by towering snow capped peaks with pine forests to the shore of the bay.  The water is silver blue grey from glacier runoff meeting the incoming ocean.

tide coming in on Valdez bay

It's relaxing to be here and enjoy a long walk along the edge of the bay.  We're headed north again on Saturday.

Here comes the sun!

Wednesday, July 18, 2018 McCarthy and Kennicott

First, a few pictures from our campsite at Blueberry Lake

the view out our front windown

Our RV at the edge of Blueberry Lake

The sun finally came out Tuesday night after a bit of rain, what a lift!  This Arizona girl needs her rays!  This was the view of one of the mountains from our campsite at about 9:30 at night

Mount Blackburn

We got up early and left by 7 am to head out McCarthy Road to the Wrangell-St Elias National Park.  Inside the park is the remains of the Kennicott Copper Mining Company's copper mine that operated from 1890's until the late 1920's about.  They took out over 500 million dollars in copper ore by rail.  the rail lines were taken up and McCarthy Road was build over the path.

It's 67 miles out from our campground at Kenney Lake and took us almost 2 hours to get there, with roller coaster ice heaves, potholes and gravel.  When you get to the Copper River, there's a pedestrian bridge that you park near and then walk across.  A shuttle van takes you the mile or so into McCarthy and an additional 4 miles into Kennicott.  As we crossed the bridge on our return, this iceberg was sitting in the river, the result of the previous day's jokuhlhaup (I'll let you look that up)

iceberg broken off in Copper River

Once in Kennicott, we took a 3 mile round trip hike to the edge of the Root Glacier.  There's a vast moraine or dump of rocks from the glacier receding in front of the glacier as it vanishes over the mountain.  We could hear the rocks and water falling from the crevasses.

 

Root Glacier moraine

Mike on glacier

Bonnie on glacier

We had lunch at a fancy hotel in the park and then took the shuttle back to our car and drove back to the RV, getting there at 7 pm - a full day!

Valdez and Blueberry Lake

Saturday and Sunday, July 13-14, 2018 Valdez through Monday, July 15, 2018 Blueberry Lake

The weather has an impact on how enjoyable a place can be.  The three nights we stayed in Valdez it rained most of the time, the sun only breaking through int he late afternoon for a short while to cast rays across the white-tipped mountains surrounding the bay.

On Sunday I went into town to explore.  My first top, pardon the genealogist here, was the Valdez Memorial Cemetery.

Bear carving as memorial

I enjoy trying to fulfill request for pictures of grave sites or memorials from Find A Grave, an online grave site registry.  I wasn't able to find the one request for this cemetery; however, the community had set a walking path with plaques explaining the evolution of Valdez through the citizens buried here.  It was a nice slice of history.  

The Russian Orthodox church has been established in Alaska for decades; their crosses are distinctive. The top cross bar symbolizes the plaque above Christ's head; the middle where Jesus's hands were nailed; the bottom where his feet rested, pointing up to the right to the penitent thief.

Russian Orthodox crosses

I moved on and took the Airport road to reach Valdez Glacier Park

A small lake is at the end of the glacier and unlike our last visit in 2016, the time it was full of icebergs and floating pieces.  It's wonderful to see the crystal clear ice up close.

Going on in to town, I had some lunch and then visited the Maxine and Jessie Whitney Museum.  Maxine had begun collecting items of Alaska when her husband started working in the state.  She eventually purchased a gift shop from a friend and stocked it with her treasurers.  She was a shrewd business woman.  Born in 1917, she never had children and at 91 is still living, spending summers in Fairbanks and winters in Arizona.

She traveled throughout Alaska getting to know the Native artists and peoples and collecting an promoting their works.  The museum has items from the gift shop she purchased as well as her own finds from kitschy to true art.

ivory figurines

a "giant mosquito" made of wire and plastic

There are over a dozen animals in the collection; two gigantic polar bears, grizzles, wolves, husky dogs, sea lion and numerous birds.  The largest is a moose that towers over 10 feet.

The taxidermy makes them seem to follow you with their eyes; the musk ox and wolf were threatening!

Musk ox

wolf

Numerous plaques explained in Maxine's own words how she acquired the items. 

On Monday we went 25 miles back up the Richardson Highway to Blueberry Lake Recreation Area, one of the most scenic campgrounds according to brochures.  It's surrounded by the high green peaks of the mountains.  A nice, quiet place for one night, our fifth in the row "off the grid".  Pictures later!

Valdez - the other port

Friday, July 13, 2018 thru ?

We traveled down the Glenn Highway and turned off South on the Richardson Highway to get to Valdez.  On the way we stopped at the Worthington Glacier that we had enjoyed hiking to in 2016.

It had receded quite a bit; where Mike is standing in the picture there was ice overhang last time.

We got into Valdez area about 2 o'clock and went out a side road toward the fish hatchery to a campground along the shore run by the city.  We've got a nice view but no showers or hookups so we don't know how long we'll be staying here

We passed through Keystone Canyon where there are many glacier waterfalls; Bridal Veil and Horseshoe thunder over the top of the cliffs

Horseshoe falls

Our rig in Keystone canyon

Bridal Veil falls

The weekend is predicted to be rainy so we may just hunker down before going off exploring.

We have reservations in Denali for July 27 through the 29th so we have two weeks to wander around places before we stay at the park.  

Onward from Anchorage

Tuesday, July 10, 2018 through Thursday, July 12, 2018 Anchorage to Wrangell Overlook

We spent a couple days hanging out in Anchorage at JBER FamCamp while Mike got new tires for the RV - yep, 6 new tires (ouch!)  It's a new ride and we feel safer since we hadn't replaced any of them since buying the RV almost two years ago.

We hit the road after finishing up the tires and landed in a spot outside of Glenallen that is an overlook for the Wrangell mountains.  Quiet and the view can't be beat.

We got a sunny day for the ride but rain is predicted for the next couple of days.  We hope to get sunshine again in down in Valdez. Good to be movin' again.

Anchorage Art Museum

Monday, July 9, 2018 - Anchorage, AK

We'd hoped to get the alignment on the RV worked on today so Mike took it over and I went to the art museum.  It's four floors in two wings.  They had several temporary exhibits that I worked through as well as the permanent display of the artifacts of the many Native American Tribes in Alaska.

The artifacts were exhibited by tribe, with an explanation of their region, language, customs and history.  There were also live videos running in a loop telling the stories of their current existence.  Very well done, kept my interest and I could see where there would be something new each visit.  It was not suitable for photographs as everything was in protective glass with low lighting.

There was an exhibit called the Inheritance Project that used donated and rescued linens, crochet, needlework to create pieces of art.  The donors were asked to record their memories of the maker of the pieces as well.  Amazing pieces.

I took in the Aurora Borealis film at the Planetarium and then did the coolest interactive art! The artist, John Grade, built a piece representing earth covered ice heaves, called pingos [isn't that a great scrabble word?] and shared holographic images of the landscape around one that could only be seen with special head mounted viewer.  I wandered around that for a good hour!

In 2017 the museum was greatly expanded and they have an exhibit entitled "Unsettled".  It references the multiple meanings of the word; unsettled territory and the unsettled native cultures in North America.  Fantastic pieces that delivered the message in a multitude of ways.  This double image compares the image of Princess Lea from Star Wars to the 1906 photograph of a Native American woman.

Things Are Looking Native - Nicholas Gallanin

And these totem poles were made from golf club bags - the totems of different "tribes"

I loved this artist's idea of preserving the story in a woven piece by weaving a QR code into it.  So Madame Defarge!

The last exhibit I got to see was a collaboration between an artist, Ken Johnson, and a geologist Ray Troll, who spent almost a year travelling the Pacific coast from the Arctic to the tip of North America to record the fossil history.  It's called "Cruisin' the Fossil Coastline".  The artist used cartoon style images to explain the findings - made me want to study geology!

North America Crustacean Period

pre-historic dinosaur emerging from fossil bed

Turns out The RV can't be worked on until Wednesday so I plan to go back to the museum and see the rest of their collection!

Back in Anchorage

Wednesday, July 4th thru Saturday, July 7th, 2018 Anchor Pt to Soldotna to Hope to Anchorage, AK

We went into Home for pizza at Fat Olives on the 4th and took in the outdoor market they had set up.  Some folks were shooting off fireworks down on the beach below the bluff at Anchor Point in the evening.  It's starting to almost be dark about midnight, though I admit I haven't been up that late on purpose.

9:30 pm from bluff

On the 5th we soaked up the quiet and got packed up to move on.  We went a short distance back to Soldotna where we stayed the night in the Fred Meyer parking lot and took a stroll along the Fish Walk - a boardwalk that parallels the river and has steps down to the water at intervals for folks to fish from.

We left this morning (Saturday) and explored the little town of Hope on the far side o the Turnagain Arm.  The historical museum was packed with artifacts and had several cabins depicting life in the early 1900's.  Mike said this stove reminded him of one in his house as a child that he had to fill with wood for heat in the morning

I had to snag pictures of the crazy quilt stitched by one of the two women who were there at first and of the recently completed memory quilt.  We drove on toward Anchorage and stopped at John's gold panning where Mike panned out a bucket and got some gold flakes.  The Resurrection River was running high and most of the snow is gone from the mountain tops as the weather has been in the 70's for about a week.  The local visitor center guide told us it was quite unusual for them to have such a stretch of sunshine.  The prediction is for cooler temperatures and windy conditions.

We're going to stay at Elmendorf Richardson base on the edge of Anchorage for the coming week and then head out for the other side of the Kenai Peninsula - Valdez - before our reservations the end of the month in Denali National Park.