Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Welcome to Alaska, Cheechako


Week of 23rd of July 2012

Magpie
When we arrived Adam and I hit the ground running looking at houses the day we got there as we had already narrowed down our search to a top six list.  I've learned a few things in the week that I've been here.  I've been called a Cheechako, an Alaskan term for newcomer, just so you know.  I'll take it as a badge of pride because I know live in the ultimate land of the outdoors, the last frontier. In Alaska, they don't have sno-cone stands.  Instead, they have espresso stands and apparently they are very popular.  I had my first experience and was bewildered because they not only didn't have sno-cones they seemed to mock me as they had every flavor that belongs in a sno cone stand, but were flavors for coffee instead!  The horror! We saw several moose, but sadly I didn't catch a picture of them. The weather in Anchorage so far has been amazing with temperatures in the 60's up to (rarely) the low 70's. Most of the time it is cloudy but I will take it in exchange for the amazing weather! When we arrived it seemed like everyone was out dip-netting.  Dip-netting is the act of taking a huge oversized net and standing up to your waist in water or in a boat and "dipping" for the passing by salmon.  This can lead to quite a haul i'm told with sometimes over 100 fish being caught by two people.  One hundred fish caught also means several hours over a few days of cleaning, processing, vacuum sealing, and freezing the take. It isn't the question of if you hunt in Alaska, it's what do you hunt. I'll let you know how dip-netting turns out for me next summer when season starts again. Our timing arriving at Elmendorf Air Force Base couldn't have been more perfect.  We arrived just in time to attend the Arctic Thunder Air Show.  This air show happens to be the largest gathering of Alaskan's in one place.  This year, on one day of the two day air show there were over 100,000 people in attendance (they even ran out of parking)! The air show takes place on base with the air strip and several hangars opening up full of vendors and children activities.  One of the demonstrations was a joint Army/Air Force routine in which a gun fight was staged with two helicopters dropping a big gun and a jeep to fight the "opposing forces".
B-25 Bomber 

Air support for the troops





Big gun and big ammo
Big gun being dropped in

Air Force Pilots

Air Force Pilots



Thunderbird delta formation
Close-up Thunderbird

Upside down Thunderbirds
It was crowded, this Canadian pilot is getting a better view

Almost to Alaska

16th of July 2012

My first glacier, a view from the ferry
            A little behind on posts here so some details may have been forgotten, without the aid of pictures from my camera I would surely leave out important parts! We couldn't have been happier to get off the ferry although it was an amazing ride and I recommend everyone to try it at least once. The mountain and glacier pictures below are from the last two days on the ferry which I believe were near the Wrangells. I could put in every adjective to describe the mountains and still not be able to accurately describe them, and perhaps, that just shows you the extent of my descriptive capabilities. Some adjectives to describe the last two days worth of views include: breathtaking, beautiful, amazing, harsh, calm, humbling, and etc... Hopefully the pictures will do them a little justice.  I saw my first glacier and I was glad that I wasn't the only one running (ok, briskly walking) to the side of the ferry to take a picture of these awesome pieces of ice. It's hard to imagine the temperature difference, and looking close on the pictures you'll see the vegetation line run out as it becomes inhospitable for even the toughest plants and trees. I made them large size so it could fill your entire screen, giving you the ability to drink it in through cyberspace. I've never been this far north and as such, almost every bird and wildlife species I see is completely new to me, except prairie dogs, everybody from Oklahoma knows what a prairie dog looks like. After getting off the ferry at Haines, AK we decided to make the drive to The Yukon, in Canada. Driving through Canada on the way to the Yukon we constantly stopped so I could snap pictures of the mountains. Coming from Oklahoma we don't have an abundance of flowing rivers but here, within the mountains, we got to see the products of snow and glacial runoff. It is the clearest, bluest water i've seen. The dog liked it also. Now, as some of you may know that have visited Alaska, lived in Alaska, or know an Alaskan, the mosquitos are no joke. We decided to take a leisurely walk near the park we were camping at. Five minutes into the walk we were surrounded by mosquitos. They weren't particularly large mosquitos but they were like the Decepticons in Transformers reining down to eat us. Did I mention that we had insect repellant on?  Needless to say our walk turned more brisk until eventually, we were in a jog, suddenly wishing we had never left camp.  So, this explains why I don't have many avian pictures from the area.
Adam and I on the ferry
Mountains from the ferry

Mountains from the ferry, island house

Mountains from the ferry, approaching another ferry

Mountains in Canada

Black-tailed Prairie Dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) in Canada 
Roads winding through mountains, again
Snowmelt rapids
Welcome to the Yukon!
Mountains again


Swallows in Canada (species?)
Funniest sign in Canada

Squirrel in Canada



Wow... green, black, and white all in one shot

What a shame, more mountains