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Wednesday, June 24, 2009

The Great Land
















After about 2,500 miles of flying from San Diego-Seattle-Anchorage, I find myself in Anchorage, Alaska, this afternoon. We arrived at 1:30pm and depart at 00:50am (just after midnight) for Portland. It's a very short layover...or DAYover. I will be taking a little nap shortly (to ward off additional wrinkles) but wanted to pass along a few pics first. The sun will set tonight at 11:42pm and will only be down a few hours before it rises again at 04:21am....the sky will never actually get dark at this time of year. The flowers you see in the pics are dahlias and are in a park downtown. Everything up here grows quite large -- not because of the warmth or heat, but because of the length of the days...lots of light for growing. I just went on a little walk and happened to pass the Snow City Cafe.....if I'd had more time, I'd have stopped in. It looks very alternative-hippie-gay-etc....just my kind of place. Next trip, for sure. Anchorage is rough. Blue collar. Tough people who know how spend lots of time in the cold and snow. The oil conglomerates have made plenty of money off of this untamed wilderness. They sort of share it back each year in the form of the Alaska Permanent Fund -- a little payback to each eligible resident of the state for all of the money they are taking in here. The oil comes from the North Slope in places like Prudhoe Bay and flows through the Alaska pipeline down the port at Valdez where it is shipped away. Okay now, enough of me....enjoy the pics. And if you haven't been here, you owe it to yourself at least once in your life. Start your planning!

9 comments:

wcs said...

Beautiful!

Rick Bettencourt said...

Someday I will get to Alaska. Was planning a cruise last year but wound up post-poning. Maybe next year.

Steven said...

Love the floral photos. It's hard to believe that it was just last week that a judge ordered Exxon Mobil to pay over $500 million in punitive damages from the oil spill, which was over 20 years ago.

Birdie said...

I've been to AK twice, to visit my sister in Haines. My impression is that everyone in Alaska is smart and independent. But you have to be to survive there. I wore my most rugged outfits while there and felt like such a city girl. Then I flew down to LA, where I dressed in my finest and felt like a rube. I'm at home in FL.

Anonymous said...

Just to go back to Alaska I would
be so happy...It is one of the
most beautiful places around...
The week I stayed in Sitka was a
lifetime to short...If I could I
would pack my stuff and move my
butt there and just love it...

TACKLE YOU HUGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Laurie

Anonymous said...

Nice, glad you enjoyed!!!

Grego

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ur-spo said...

Alaska is one of my favorite places
I was recently offered a job there - 300K !
can you imagine?

Anonymous said...

Absolutely beautiful pics. and depictions! I can only hope to make that trip someday!