Around Town

On the way home from an outing we all noticed this rainbow. Remember how I told you that I learned the lesson of always remembering to bring my camera? I was glad I had it with me. I passed it up to A and asked her if she wouldn't mind taking a few shots for me. This was one of the many that she took.

This is the corner of C Street and Dimond. Off and on during the day we had clouds pass by that threatened to rain on us. They held off until we drove home.

The Chugach Mountains in the back ground do not have all the snow that this picture shows. See the Canadian Geese? These guys are all over Anchorage. They hang out at all the little ponds that were created by the melted snow. It is not unusual to see them by the roadside.

Besides we could have it much worse! See that second picture? The one with the snow on the ground! We could still have all that to deal with. But I for one am glad we don't. :)

Our next post will be about what has become a tradition in our family.

Soccer in Four

This is A playing in the Junior Varsity game. She is number 45/17 you will see why when you click on the picture. A had an assist on the only goal of the game. If you didn't click on the picture her shorts have her c-team number of 17 and the varsity coach gave her a jersey with a varsity shirt number 45.












The second picture as you can see was taken on an absolutely gorgeous day. You are looking at Eagle River High School in the background. The game going on in the picture is a varsity game. By the way this game had Alaska's Soccer Player of the Year playing for Chugiak high school. I can't point her out but my all knowing sports nut of a husband shared that tidbit with me...







This third picture is of the end of A's game at A.J. Dimond High school.




This fourth picture is of Nicholas Joseph Begich Middle School. Have you heard of Senator Mark Begich? (He won Ted Steven's seat) This school is named for his father. This is where most of A's games were played. Pretty spiffy for a middle school!

Always Carry Your Camera!

There is a lesson that I have learned since moving to Alaska. Maybe it is the same lesson you have learned as well. The lesson I learned here is simple. It is this... Always and I mean

Always carry your camera!

The top shot to me is amazing! How A got this shot I will never know... But for my story this is why I put the picture up. Make sure that when you have your camera with you you remember to charge your batteries. Or at least have fresh batteries handy. my batteries died and I had nowhere to charge them. She took this just after mine quit.

this is why it is important to have that camera handy at all times. If you find yourself in Homer, Alaska make sure you visit the Cosmic Kitchen.

Here I'll wait ...

go to http:// http://www.cosmickitchenalaska.com/ And while you are looking around the web site try to find this picture.

Now that you are back did you find it??? I bet you didn't. That's OK! I'll tell you where you can find it. Its on the wall opposite the sink in the woman's bathroom... You didn't see that one coming did you? And no I didn't look to see what the men's restroom had on their wall....

Did you check out the menu? This is an awesome resturaunt. The food was wonderful and the service was great. We really enjoyed this place. Just do me one favor... Don't everyone rush the woman's restroom at once to see if this really was taken in the woman's restroom.

Alyeska... Part two

This is the tram my family was on. Four minutes and 2000 vertical feet later and they were taking in the views of the Turn again arm and the glaciers.

By the way there is a restaurant up there. Its called the 7 Glacier Restaurant. They are open for lunch and dinner.

Alyeska

This is where you go to catch the tram. This reminds me of the Sound of Music. We will be back here in a minute. But for now I have something else to show you....






Alyeska is located in Girdwood. Girdwood was originally called Glacier City. Because of the glaciers that rim the surrounding mountains. Girdwood began as a gold mining town in 1900 when a man by the name of James Girdwood hit pay dirt in Crow Creek.



The 1964 earthquake sunk the town into Turn again Arm. When the town was rebuilt they moved it 2 miles inland.




See this lake? This is the view out the back door. Well out the door and to the right.

The grand building in this picture is the backside of Hotel Alyeska. The front is impressive as well. But I was to busy playing tourist to break out my camera. Sorry! next time we go I will be sure to snap a picture so you will be able to see what I mean.

Remember when I told you to remember the first picture? Sure you do!!! I told you that was where you catch the tram. Well in my second post for today I am going to show you the tram. I stayed on the ground while my family went up there. Ok go ahead and call me chicken... I have vertigo and sometimes these tram rides get to me.. So on this day I was the ground crew.

Animal and Environmental class is now in session!

Today A is taking over! These pictures are hers. She took them so I am going to let her tell you about them. And let her add some animal facts.

Hilo everyone and welcome to A's animals 101 and environmental awareness class! First facts...
1. Polar Bears actually have black fur! The sun reflects off the snow and onto their fur making them white.
2. When the bear gets on its belly and starts to slide in the snow, it is actually is cleaning its fur.
3. A Polar Bear likes to stomp on the ice because it is looking for buried seal pups that are in their dens under the ice.
4. When baby Polar Bears are born they are only about the size of your hand.
5. When the Polar Bear is in hibernation it looses most of its body weight sleeping.
6. There aren't many polar bears left in the wild today because the sea ice is melting.
7. You can help these creatures!
How you ask? by turning your lights off when you leave a room, don't leave your water running when you brush your teeth, changing to eco friendly light bulbs, and recycle. Little things like those can help a whole lot!
Did you know that by changing only one light bulb to an eco friendly light bulb can take out one ton of emissions out of the air.
And did you know that if you recycle your cell phones and bottles it will be reused to make other useful things. But if you just throw your stuff away it takes many years to decompose in a landfill.
Well I hope you enjoyed these facts. If you knew these facts then good for you ^-^ ! If you learned something new then I hope you are inspired to help wildlife and the environment!
I want to be a vet when I get older! Please comment and tell me some facts of your own! I would love to hear your comments please! Thank you soooooooooooooooo much for reading and if you do commenting! And class is dismissed! =^.^=

Volcano Information

This is the web site to go to to find out about Mt. Redoubt and other volcanoes in the area. http://www.avo.alaska.edu The Alaska Volcano Observatory has a wonderful web site that will give updated information as well as some awesome pictures.

Volcano World at http://volcano.oregonstate.edu gives information about all kinds of volcanoes and they have named Mount Redoubt their volcano of the month!

This is the web site for the Alaska Science Center http://alaska.usgs.gov If you click on volcano web cam it will take you back to the Alaska Volcano Observatory web site.

This is one of my favorite web sites. It is for channel 2. http://www.ktuu.com They have great video and pictures.

I like http://www.gi.alaska.edu because of the cool pictures. This is the geophysical Institute of the University of Fairbanks. my favorite site of all time...

The reason for this being my favorite site is that when you bring it up you can click on the aurora forecast. The aurora can be hard to see up here in the summer due to that whole Land of the Midnight Sun thing. We have found the best time to see the aurora is winter. I don't have pictures of it. But I can only tell you that it is one of the most beautiful sites I have ever seen!