Back to normal....

So we are both back in nasty South Georgia! Heat index is 104!!! YUK! Everything is the same on Jekyll- as usual nothing really changes. Our yard was in good shape. My garden looks like a jungle. Killer is mad because she spent all summer outside. I have already put some time in at work. I get to teach physical science this year. BLAH! Good bye Alaska! Good bye Mattress Wharehouse man! Good bye bartender at Pioneer Bar! Good bye yummy potato skins at Rum Runners! Good bye baleen sellers! Good bye public intoxicants! Good bye high prices at the grocery store! Good bye Colbalt! Good bye animals! Good bye Pebble Mine! Good bye mountains! And good bye blog. This will be the last entry for alexanders in alaska. Until next summer.......

Muk Tuk Anyone?

My last day at work and got to experience something very few people ever have a chance too. I ATE A WHALE!! Well , A very small piece of one. There was a priest at the hospital and he had just been at the local native hospital. While there an Intuit family had given him some Muk Tuk. This is raw whale. he had both Beluga and Bow head. He told me the Bow head had been caught near Barrow earlier this spring. Of course I took the whale from Barrow. That means I probably ate Balee. I would have also taken some of the Beluga, but this stuff is really disgusting. Imagine grisly beef fat that tastes fishy. I almost got sick, but I`m still glad I got to do it. only native Alaskans are allowed to hunt whales, and then they are only allowed to take one or two per year. this was a really rare experience.
Well , I`m sitting in the Anchorage airport and my plane is delayed two hours, so I think I going to have a few drinks to make sure I sleep I the plane. I leave Anchorage at 10 PM and arrive in atlanta at 9 AM. I hope everone enjoyed the blog. We certainly enjoyed the trip. Nettie and I have not decieded if we are going to continue blogging, but I bet if we do it will not be as exciting. At least not untill next summer!
See you latter.

All Alone

Well , Nettie has left me here in Alaska to fend for myself. She took her cat and left. I went to the park by our apartment and got a picture of her plane leaving, and then I went out for a drink. When I got up the next day I realized that Nettie was not here and decieded to make the best of it. I drove to the one area we had been too that Aparently scared nettie so much she didn`t want to go back( narrow dirt roads with steep drop offs ), Hatcher Pass. I went to an old gold mining town and climbed up to an old gold mine.I then drove to the highest point I could get to via dirt roads in the cobalt, and climbed another mountain. Great view from 5000 feet, but I should have worn some warmer clothes and taken some rain gear. I spent well over an hour climbing straight up mostly on trail but sometimes scrambling over scree ( slippery broken pieces of rock ) to get to the next highest level. There was a beutifull valley about half way up that had a series of four stepped lakes feeding into each other before going over a cliff in a waterfall. It was incredible. There was nothing up there but me and some unidentifed animals about the size of a cat. when I got to the top I noticed some clouds moving in around me and that is when I started getting wet. The wind was blowing hard and apparently I had climbed higher than the lowest clouds and they were moving towards me. it was pretty cold because I was only wearing a tee shirt and windbreaker Thats what I get for climbing unprepared. I decieded to get down and get down fast! it took me less than half an hour to get back to the parkinglot. I could have gotten down much faster, but probably not in one piece. I then took some pictures of flowers and went home. What a fun day in Alaska.

The Putman's Take Over

We had a great time in Alaska visiting with Nettie and Walter. I am putting just a few of my favorite pictures up to go along with our week. Everyone knows Walter would do nothing wrong……I think the look on his face on the beach in Talkeetna will dispel that theory. Over our week we looked around every corner just hoping to see a bear in the wild. The only one we got a clear sighting on was this one wearing a Thrasher’s shirt. We did get a glimpse of the elusive brown bear on the trail near Bryan Glacier. But it just turned out to be Walter; we made that mistake a couple of times. It seems Walter is not a “follow the trial” kind of guy. On Monday we rode the train to Talkeetna, as you can see Brian thinks his safety training for Norfolk Southern allows him to pass the sign that clearly just applies to untrained tourists. Once we got to Talkeetna we took a jet boat up 3 of the rivers in the area. We were very lucky and got to see ¾ of Mt. McKinley. On the bus ride back Nettie was returning to her Jekyll Island senior status and took the last seat on the bus. There was a lot of giggling going on back there so the rest of us just faced forward for the ride back to town. After dinner we were heading back to our motel room and we got this great picture of Brian at 10:15 pm with daylight in the back ground. On Tuesday we had breakfast intown and then took a flight plane tour to see Mt. McKinley up close. It was a really small plane, just the 4 of us and the pilot. Because the winds were strong we got about 30 extra minutes on our ride. We got to land on a glacier and have snowball fight. Nettie won when she shoved a handful of snow down Walter’s back. We took the train back to Anchorage that night. Apparently the wild animals did not get the memo to be right beside the train tracks, we only saw a few eagles and Nettie saw a porcupine. On Wed, while poor Walter worked, Nettie drove Brian and me down to Seward where we went on a boat ride out into Resurrection Bay. We got to see sea lions, puffins, seals, eagles, lots of birds, an otter and 2 humpback whales. We tried to make it out around the end of the bay to see calving glaciers but the seas were angry and we had to turn around due to 10 to 12 foot waves. It was really great to ride the waves. There were 3 people that we saw did not enjoy the ride as much as we did. One lady raised her hand to be sick and we never saw her again until we docked. We went to the Seward Marine center and got to see the animals that we saw on the boat up close and personal. That is where they bring the injured animals; it was funded by Valdez after the “spill”. On the way back to Anchorage that night we stopped at Exit Glacier. It was really cool to see glaciers that close up. As most of you know Brian cannot be held back by a little rope, so he jumped the rope and got right beside the Glacier. On Thursday Walter was off work so we went to Whittier and got to ride thru the train tunnel. Whittier is everything Nettie and Walter said it would be……Yuk. It took all of 3 minutes to see the whole place. Back on the main side of the tunnel we stopped at the visitor center and walked up to Bryan Glacier. There is a picture of Walter’s contribution to global warming. You can walk on a piece of the glacier with a river running under it. Walter was walking along and stopped to look down a hole and heard a popping noise and then a chunk dropped about a foot with Walter in the middle of it. Lucky for him he was near the side and caught himself with a boulder. There was a terminal moraine just behind the part we were standing on so Walter and Brian decided to go exploring. Want to guess what was on the other side of the big pile of rock??? That’s right more rock!! We drove over to the Alyeska Resort and Brian and I rode the tram to the top. We got to see some parasailers jump off the side of the mountain. Inside the Alyeska resort we saw a polar bear drinking a Coke. It was amazing how it looked like he had human hands. Driving back to Anchorage we stopped at Bird Creek to watch the fisherman and look for salmon. We talked to the park volunteer and there had been 2 bears fishing in the creek but they did not come out while we were there. On Friday, Walter went to work and we continued to play. We went to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center to see the rescued animals. Nettie found a mold of a brown bear paw. As you can see it is as big as her head. As much as I would have liked to see a bear in the wild that paw print helped me get over it. We wrapped up the day panning for gold in a glacier stream. After an hour no one had found any gold, and we decided we would have not survived in the old days. The water was very cold and moving really fast. That night we ate dinner at a seafood place in downtown Anchorage. We had some great smoked salmon while we waited out the clock for the all you can eat snow crab legs to begin. Once we ordered dinner Brian decided against AYCE and went for a pound of snow crab legs and a pound of king crab legs. They were a lot of work for Brian to get the meat out but the bites I stole were worth it. On Saturday we stayed in town since our flight was that night. We walked down to the train station to do some souvenir shopping. They were having a street market near the station so we walked thru to find some gifts. It was really neat to see the handmade carvings, the clothing made out of muskox hair, things made with fur, and the Avon lady. That evening Nettie dropped us at the airport and we almost gave up our seats for $400 each but they only needed one more seat so we let the guy behind us do it. All and all we had a great time in Alaska. Nettie and Walter were great hosts driving us around all week and doing the sight seeing things that they had already done. Thank you for a great vacation.

They Came and Then They Left

Christina and Brian were here and we had a blast. Christina has the honors of being the guest blogger about her trip. Hopefully she will post soon!

I took Walter to work this morning for the last time. :( Can't believe the summer is almost over!

The Great Outdoors!

The other day we went hiking on Alyeska Mountain. It was great. There were local reports of a black bear and a moose on the pathways. The trail was well marked and was labeled "easy to moderate." Who decides its easy? Easy to an experienced mountain hiker is different than a South Georgia couch potato's easy! Hike wasn't that bad, but it is demeaning to be passed by three and four year olds hiking with their grandparents! We hiked down to a beautiful gorge. The water was so fast and a blue/gray color. The color is from the glacier. The gray color comes from glacier silt. We got to the hand tram that crosses Crow Creek. Walter and I thought that we would do it together. The sign said, "Weight limit 400 lbs." There blows the idea of Walter and I going together. The hand tram is very high in the air and if the cable were to break, you die! Walter got on the tram and realized that the door lock was broken. That cemented in my mind that I wasn't going! Walter got out in the middle and said the views were great. Two streams going into one creek. He also said you could see a hanging glacier from the tram. A hanging glacier is a glacier that hangs on the side of a mountain and doesn't go down to water. I was building up my confidence that I was going to go until a family of 15 came up and pushed me out of the way. They made it perfectly clear that they were next. How rude! Then the mother had to rub it in my face that she was 110 lbs. I could have crushed her with my foot! Walter came back and we went and sat for awhile overlooking the gorge. I decided to try out the hand tram. I was going to work past the door not locking and the tram tipping to one side. I went for it. I got about a quarter of the way out and couldn't handle it. Who monitors the cable? How do I know it will hold me up? I begged to come back in. We finished our hike without seeing any wildlife but did get to see amazing views. The ground is so weird up here! It is mossy and squishy to walk on. When you walk in the forest you king of bounce up and down!
Yesterday was beautiful in Anchorage. We went to the World Eskimo International Olympics. BORING! Not what I expected. Silly, silly white person.....I thought the contestants would be dressed up according to what tribe they were in. I thought it would be organized and very cultural. Nope. We were there during the arm pull competition. Four matches were going on at once. Two people sit in front of each other, lock there arms, and pull. The first person who has their arm straightened is the loser. The matches last about 1 minute. We stayed for maybe 10-15 minutes. Maybe it is different at night, but I was unimpressed at the day competition. And, some of the competitors didn't even look native. Turns out you only have to be 1/4 native to compete. Crazy! We went on our way. We went to Subway for lunch. I begged for a Bacon-a-tor. I love the commericals!!!!!!! Walter said no. What a punk! We went again to Alyeska Mountain and hopped on the tram to the top of the mountain. Walter was thinking of paragliding. The tram was very short, not long at all. A little bit of a steep climb. Another guy on the tram started talking about the tram in Albuquerque and how this one (Alyeska) was much longer and steeper. Uh, no!!!!!! The one in Albuquerque is the longest (or use to be the longest) in the world! The guy didn't know what he was talking about. Walter held me back. He didn't want a fight starting in the tram. Walter says I need to work on my rage issues. What? The top of the mountain was nice. We watched some paragliders taking off. There was a German film crew doing a reality show. So, anyone in Germany, watch for Walter and I in the background of the girl in white jumping off! We hung out at the top for a little while. We then went on to Portage Glacier. Portage Glacier is about 5 miles from Whitter (Yuk!) on the other side of the tunnel. We had coupons, so we went on the tour boat in the lake to go and see the glacier. The glacier grows and shrinks every year. It takes about 5-7 years for snow to turn into Portage Glacier. It takes 9 feet of snow for 1 foot of glacier. Pretty interesting! The glacier wasn't calving at all. No noise. No big pieces dropping off. The guide said that is because it is not over water right now, it is over bedrock. Active calving glaciers have water under them that undermines the structure. Didn't know that either! It was interesting to see where the glacier would grow to through out the years. There were little gravel deposits on the shore- a mini terminal moraine. A terminal moraine is at the end of a glacier and it is a build up of gravel. There were mini ice burgs in the lake from previous calves. The captain thought it would be cute to try and run them over. Made for a few nervous moments on the boat. Wonder if the Titanic captain was doing the same thing? While we were on the boat, we spotted a black bear wondering around on the mountain side. Too cute! We decided to take another hike to Bryan Glacier. Rumor had it that a brown bear sow visited the trail. Once again, no bear! Walter picked up some neat rocks along the glacier creek. We went on our way back to Anchorage and stopped by this amazing tree carving stop. This family carves wood on the side of the road. The dad is building a log cabin himself. The cabin looked awesome! The animal carvings were beautiful! Walter wanted to buy the big Shamu, until he found out it was $5000. The bear carvings were too cute and we will probably be back. We decided to stop by the Brown Bear Saloon. It was a biker bar. We had a healthy dinner of corn dogs! We decided to walk it off by going down to Bird Creek to see the sliver salmon running. We also have heard that a brown bear comes out to fish in the creek. We have been to bird creek several times and have yet to see a bear. We have seen bear tracks. Lots of silvers running. How frighting for them to swim up stream past all of those hooks! I have often wondered what would happen if there was a wreck on the Seward Highway. The highway is two lanes snuggled up beside the mountains and the water. People drive like crazy on the road! I had my question answered! We drove by another restaurant and a women was changing the marque to say, "Accident Ahead." Hmmm.......... sure enough, there was an accident. We never saw it. We were stopped about 2 1/2 miles behind. We didn't know whether to turn around, hang out, or what! We turned on the radio to find out more info. Nothing! You would think that if one of the two roads in and out of Anchorage was closed, the radio would say something! Walter got out and walked around. I finally got through to the highway patrol phone line after an hour of waiting. All it said was highway was closed at mile post 111 because of an accident. Duh! Walter walked on up about a mile and overheard people saying that the radio said it would be a couple of more hours. What do we do? Turn around? Go back to Brown Bear? Wait it out so we don't lose our spot? Where are the dall sheep to keep up entertained? After waiting 2 1/2 hrs, a line of cars from the other direction passed us. One of the cars was the medical examiner's truck. That doesn't look good! After about another 20 minutes we started to move. It took us a while to get up to the accident. Most of it was cleared. It involved motorcycles and a really big truck. We read in the online paper later that someone crossed the center line and a motorcyclists was killed. Hopefully it wasn't one from the Brown Bear Saloon that we just saw! We got back to Anchorage hours after when we thought we would. Do we go out? Do we go home? We decided to go home. On our way home we passed a moose. I turned around and pulled over. It was the biggest bull moose I have ever seen! It was Walter's first bull moose!!!!! It was huge! It was bigger than the Colbalt! It was probably 8 feet tall. It was eating, having dinner. Didn't care about anyone. Everyone was very respectful towards the moose. No one started shooting the moose or tried to pet it. There were probably about five or so cars pulled over. I think we were all afraid that the moose was going to walk out into the road so we turned on our flashers so people would slow down. The moose started walking towards us. He got into about five feet of us!!!! A car pulled up and had a dog in it. The moose did not like the dog barking. His eyes got really big and walked faster. That car was told it had to go! What a site! We got home and continued reading our books. I am reading a wonderful book about the Rwanda genocide- "Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust" by Immaculee Ilibagiza. If you believe in God, you have got to read this book! This girl, a Tutsi, lived through the slaughters by hiding in a very small bathroom with 6 other people for 3 months. They couldn't talk or move! For three months! All of her family except for one brother was killed. Sad book, but very powerful! Christina and Brian come in today! Wahoo! I have to start cleaning for them. I know, I know, I am a bad wife. Walter is gloating today because evidently he is a weather man. I wanted to go to Portage Glacier today because they are having a festival. He said it would rain today so we should go Saturday. He was right! What a man! Ok, seriously I must go! Later!
PS- you will see that one of the pictures is at sunset of a mountain top way in the distance. To the right of the mountain top is some trees. You may be able to see another mountain top behind the trees. That is Mt. McKinley. I know that there are some doubters out there. But, I have asked people who are from Anchorage and they have said that you can only see the top of Mt. McKinley from Anchorage. I also consulted with a diagram that shows mountains from Anchorage. Once in for all, the Princess bus driver was wrong about this one. :)

Another Beautiful Day

It is Saturday morning and it is great outside. We are getting ready to go to the World Eskimo Olympics. Walter wanted to go last night to see the seal skinning- I said no. One of the competitors in the stick tug of war was the guy who sold us Baleey. He was on the news. The event Walter wants to see today- white man vs. native woman tug of war. Last night we walked up to a small park downtown that shows what mountains you can see off in the distance. It was around sunset. It was clear enough to see the top of Mt. McKinley. Surprise, surprise, it wasn't the mountains that are in front of our apartment. We are getting excited to see Christina and Brian. We went down to Ship Creek the other night. The slivers are running, along with the last of the reds. It was neat to see both types of salmon swimming together. The reds didn't look too good. Some of them looked like they were starting to rot already. I will post later about the Olympics.