Alaska trip Monday 6/29/15 anchorage

Starr Treks Monday 6/29/15 Anchorage

We drove back to Eagle River this morning, and took a couple of trails — walked about 4 1/2 miles with easy ups and downs.  The weather was more partly sunny than partly cloudy, so it was pleasant hiking.  It is part of Chugach National forest which is one big forest for sure.  Part of the trail was on boardwalks, with viewing platforms.  We saw a tame little squirrel on one platform who was munching on an orange peel that someone had left there (Hannah Keeler told me there were no animals that ate orange peels, so I always pack mine out!) We saw a lot of fireweed— a purple wild flower that comes out in late June.  The white board said a bear was sighted on the Albert Loop trail that we took 2 days ago.  So we jingled and clicked and talked as we hiked.  We got to enjoy a picnic with a lovely view near the visitor center.

We stopped and replenished groceries.  Tonight we’ll play bridge one more time.  Tomorrow we head to the Kenai Pensinula.  

squirrel eating orange peel

hiking Eagle River

Alaska trip Sunday 6/28/15 Anchorage

STARR TREKS Sunday 6/28/15 Anchorage

We went to the 8:30 service at First United Methodist church downtown.  Not much traffic that time of day.  We walked into the narthex and there were 6-8 people sitting on couches talking, and a few standing around— they greeted us briefly.  On the other side of the narthex there were 3 men who appeared to be street people, drinking coffee.  We walked to the sanctuary— there were just 4 ladies rehearsing some songs, and no one was in the pews, so we walked back into the narthex.  Then a large African American woman came out of the sanctuary and greeted us warmly — Carolyn is a lay leader in the church.  She said for the small 8:30 service, everyone just sat on the L side, so we sat down.  Finally, right at 8:30, the rest of the people came in— there were less than 25 total.  Both their services are traditional, and they have no screens at all.  Their new pastor starts next Sunday, so an administrative ass’t Jennifer gave the message— she shared with us that she just had an appendectomy done on Wednesday!  She spoke, or rather read, a message on the Beatitudes and our Attitudes — she almost never even looked up as she read her “sermon”  — Larry thought she may have downloaded the “sermon of the week” from some site!  There was another couple visiting who had driven from Maryland!  Everyone was nice during the greet time.  Two ladies sang a duet and the black lady sang a solo.  When we walked out to the narthex, the apparently homeless men were still there— one was laying on the couch.  The bulletin had a special section on Child Safety Rules for Church — kids were not allowed to go to the restroom by themselves or wander the halls— I can see why they have those rules.

We had worn our walking shoes, so decided to walk another section of the Tony Knowles Coastal trail.  We walked about 5 miles total.  It was overcast, but no rain.  The tide was out, so we could see the mudflats.  There was one small beach area with nice fine grayish-brown sand — I walked down to it, hoping to see a few seashells, but I saw none.  There were pieces of glass, but not sea glass yet.  There were lots of bikers and walkers.  They tell you to watch out for wildlife on this trail — like even moose and bears — but we only saw a lot of ducks.As one biker went by, he called out my name!!!  It was Don Huizinga!!  He and his wife Dorothy (nee Van Prooyen) were on an Alaska cruise, and he had opted to rent a bike this morning.  I had just seen them at my 50th high school reunion last September in Chicago for the first time since we finished college in 1968!  What a coincidence!

We then drove down to the arts and crafts fair they have every weekend.  They had lots of booths with artwork, crafts, gourmet food items, + entertainment,  We had salmon quesedillas for lunch — they were pretty good, tho not spicy.  They had one booth of “Santa Fe Jewelry” — I told the guy we were from NM, but he was Asian and really did not speak English much!!  We walked a few more blocks to the Public Lands Info Center to watch another short film about Alaskan animals— wonderful photography.  Once again, we had to show ID’s and go thru a metal detector.  

I picked up a fact sheet on Alaska-- it is derived from the Aleut word Alyeska.  It is twice the size of TX (5 times the size of NM), but ranks 47th in population (after ND, Vermont & Wyoming) -- half the inhabitants live in Anchorage.  It is the northern most, western most, and eastern most state-- the end of the Alteutian Chain are actually in the Eastern Hemisphere-- closer to Japan than Anchorage!!

coastal trail

baby ducks

weekend fair

Alaska trip Saturday 6/27/15alaskan

Starr Treks Saturday 6/27/15 Anchorage

Today was museum.  We drove about 5 miles to the Alaskan Heritage Museum at 9 am.  We saw a few exhibits, plus saw many artisans who had made lovely jewelry out of ivory, baleen, jade, and other semi-precious stones— each enjoyed talking about their items.  We had bought a combined ticket for this plus the Anchorage Museum, so decided to hop the shuttle bus at 9:45, and then return to finish the Heritage Museum.  It was about a 15 min drive to downtown— nice not to have to park down there.  Our bus driver worked just 3 day weekends doing this in the summer— during the rest of the year, she is a bus driver for 3-5 yr old special needs children.  She said they rarely had snow days here, but sometimes had ice days— if the snow melted, then froze, the streets were almost impassable.  Like most people we have talked to, she is from elsewhere— Nebraska/ Iowa.

I just figured we’d spend an hour or so at the museum, but it was really big, and very interesting.  They had a Smithsonian Arctic culture exhibit that had wonderful artifacts and historical info and dioramas about AK — early settlers, the Seward purchase in 1867, gold rush, statehood in 1959, the effect of the oil industry.  There was a gallery of gorgeous photos of wildlife and arctic glacial areas of the state.   They had a large Discovery area for children.  On the 3rd floor, there was a special exhibit on Captain Cook — how he explored the Pacific Ocean from Antarctica to the Arctic.  We spent about 2 1/2 hours there.  The 4th floor had a small exhibit on how baseball became quite a popular sport here starting in the 50’s.

We walked over to the Alaska Public Lands Information Center which is in the courthouse building— so even on a Saturday, we had to go thru a metal detector.  The lady in front of us had just bought an ulu knife as a souvenir— they would not let her in!! They had some nice displays, brochures, animals, and films— we watched one on how Jimmy Carter had signed the bill setting aside many square mile of AK as national parks/forests and wildlife refuges— it was quite controversial at the time, since some of the Native Americans were not happy about it, nor were the oil industry people.  

At 2:05, we caught the shuttle back to the Heritage Museum, which had really filled up since we were there this morning.  We walked thru the outside exhibits— they had recreations of native cultural homes— some log houses, some pit type houses built into a hill.  There were young Native american women who talked about artifacts in each house and answered questions.  They also had programs with dancers or game playing demonstrations. They had a sled dog area with about 20 doghouses, and one pen with a mom and 4 male puppies.  They offered rides on wagons pulled by about 9 dogs.  (We just watched.)  Just as we were leaving around 3:15, a tour bus arrived with many people from a cruse ship, so glad we were done doing museums for the day!

Even tho it was sprinkling this morning, it got nicer out— in the 60’s with patches of blue sky.  We have been very fortunate as far as weather on this trip.  We heard the sad news that a plane of cruise ship tourists crashed in Ketchikan yesterday— don’t think we are going to take any small plane trips.  

I got a call from Carol Galloway— they got back from Seward and invited us over for coffee tonight.  We grilled steaks, then headed to their house— about 12 miles away.  They have a nice airy home with lots of plants and trees in the yard — Carol showed me a photo of a mother moose and 2 babies that stayed in their yard several days recently— the yard is fenced, and there are people behind them, but she said the animals just jump the chain link fence.  We didn’t realize that she and Guy both grew up in AK— met at the university.  She has a sister in Dutch Harbor in the Aleutians.  The cobbler she served us was made from blueberries that she picked on Dutch Harbor, visiting her sister.   We had a nice visit, and they gave lots of ideas on where to go on the Kenai next week.  Tomorrow, we are going to find a Methodist church to attend.

alaskan Native Heritage museum

Anchorage museum

cross section of pipeline -- 48 in

Captain Cook exhibition

downtown log cabin visitor center

Alaskan native heritage museum

                                                                      the Galloways

Alaska trip friday 6/26/15 Anchorage

STARR TREKS Friday 6/26/15 Anchorage

We expected to wake to rain, but there was blue sky with some clouds.  We decided to go hike, so drove 25 miles northeast to another part of Chugach State Park to hike to Thunderbird Falls.  The first part was steep, but not bad.  It was all well marked.  There was a boardwalk about a half mile up where there was a good view of the falls.  We walked the creek path another 1/2 mile down — lots of green plants with huge leaves and feather ferns.  The creek had nice clear water, and a view of the bottom of the falls.  This only was 2 mi round trip, so decided to drive a few miles to Eagle River where there were more trails and a nature center.  It was about 12 miles off the highway, and after driving about 3 miles, it started raining.  We decided to forget about hiking and decided just to go “home”, clean up, and play bridge again at noon.  

The Bridge Center had 5 tables today (had 9 1/2 tables 2 nights ago), and there was a different group of people than at night — only one man, Rick, we recognized.  Our game did not seem great, but it was a lot better than Wed night.  Again, the people we played with were very nice, and it was fun to find out how they came to AK — only one lady was born here, and she lives winters in AZ and summers in Anchorage.  Happily we came in 1st in the C level and 3rd overall, so got .5 pts.

Tonight we will just eat in and veg out.  Tomorrow will be museum day for sure, since rain is expected again.

Thunderbird Falls

near Rendezvous peak (on the wrong trail!)

Alaska trip Thursday 6/25/15 Anchorage

STARR TREKS THURSDAY 6/25/15 Anchorage 

We slept a little later after our late bridge night.  It was pretty cloudy, with patches of blue, and around 70 degrees.  We drove to the west coast to walk on the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail.  It runs 11 miles along the coast.  We parked near Earthquake Park.  It had signs describing that Good Friday Earthquake in 1964, showing where the bluffs had fallen into the ocean. We walked about 2 miles to the south to Point Woronzof where we could have seen Mt McKinley had it been a clear day.  We did not realize that we would be walking thru forested areas, so had not brought our bug spray.  We talked to 3 security people on bikes, and I asked if they, by chance, had any bug spray— one guy did, so we sprayed good and felt a lot better about our walk!  The mosquitoes have not been as bad as we expected, but they make their presence known if you are in the woods.  It was pleasant and cool, and felt good to get some exercise in a different way than climbing straight up!  The big airport, Ted Stevens, was nearby, so got to see a lot of planes taking off while we walked— mostly UPS and FedEx.

We then drove a few miles to the Lake Hood Float plane Base.  They have up to 800 flights in or out per day, so we got to watch a lot of action.  We parked at a viewpoint and ate our picnic lunch in the car, since it was chilly.    It really was fun to see the planes take off and land on the little lake.  There were lots of little planes “parked” in their little harbor, with a little steep roofed storage shed at most sites.  Larry was a little nervous driving thru, since the planes all had the right of way on the road.  We drove a little further and found Spenard park where we could watch some more.  There was a lady there from the local TV station taking videos of flights.  She asked if she could put a mike on us and record our comments— but we declined— did not want to be on the evening news!!  

We drove over to the Alaska Aviation Museum, which was also nearby.  We have seen a lot of airplanes in museums ever since Seattle.  It was more interesting than I thought it would be.  We started with a 30-40 minute film about WW II — when the country was so fearful of Japanese attacks on the Aleution Islands.  It had old clips of the road building, the air bases built, the Dutch Harbor bombing.  It was very interesting.  The seats in the “theater” were 1st class airline seats!  They had exhibits on the first bush pilots and the first airplanes that came in 1922 — before that the only transportation was train, steamship, or dogsled.  There was another little film area showing pilots with air taxis who bring people up to a base camp so they can mountain climb.  They had lots of views of snow covered mtns and glaciers— I don’t think I could ride in one of those little planes.  In that little “theater” we had coach seats from an airplane.  They had some memorial exhibits — one was about Will Rogers who died in a small plane crash in Alaska.  They had a model of the Norge blimp — the first flight over the North Pole in 1926 by Amundsen.  We got to sit in the pilot seat of a few planes— so many knobs & dials — don’t know how pilots do that.  Outside, we could go inside a little control tower (not functioning), climb into a 737, and see some other old planes.  There was a shop where some gentlemen were working on restoring planes— they had some parts of a plane from Dutch Harbor, and were working on that.  The museum is on Lake Hood, so we could watch some more float planes take off and land.  

My neighbor DeeAnn told me about art exhibits — of all places —  in the Alaska Native Medical Center.  She and John had seen them when they were in Anchorage.  So we drove over there next - not real far from the RV park.  I was curious to see the place since my old roommate in medical school, Margie, had been an ENT doctor in the Indian Health Service for 24 years here (she has lived in NY the past 10-12 yrs).  It looked like a very nice, up to date hospital.  Other hospitals were nearby on the same campus.  We asked about the art at the front desk — the receptionist directed us to take the elevator to the 5th floor, and then walk down the stairs.  Each floor had a large exhibit of beautiful hand made crafts — baskets, dolls, masks, ivory carving.  There were more little exhibits on the wall along the stairs.  It was very enjoyable!  The gift shop had a lot of craftwork (which looked very expensive), but it had closed at 2 pm, so we just looked thru the window.  

We drove a little further to The “Alaska Wild Berry Products”.  It was just touristy— a lot of souvenirs, a chocolate factory (did not even care for the samples that much), jellies, and junk.  

We try to go out to eat about once a week, so tonight we ate at The Bridge — it literally is a bridge across Ship Creek.  After a pretty cloudy day, the sun came out and blue skies again— lovely!.  The window next to our table overlooked fisherman on the creek — still have not seen anyone catch anything!  This restaurant has a great salad bar— we had a beet salad, salmon potato salad, cold crab legs, green salad, sourdough rolls with a salmon spread— very good.  Larry had parmesan crusted rockfish and I had skewers— salmon, rockfish, and reindeer sausage + lots of peppers, zucchini, and potatoes.  It was a pleasant meal.  We walked a little more around Ship creek, then headed back “home”.   Tomorrow it may rain, so we will play it by ear — it may be a museum indoor day, but if the sun shines, we may do the other end of the Coastal Trail.

The Bridge restaurant

earthquake park

coastal trail

Alaska aviation museu

float plane on Lake Hood

Alaska Native Medical center

Ship Creek path