Canned Competition

Last Friday night we visited the University Mall. We were there to see the canned food competition. It is amazing what you can make out of cans of food, wire, tape and a little imagination! The top picture you will have to use your imagination for.. or maybe you can see it already. This is Cancouver. It's Team USA on the Bobsled Track....

And here in the picture above we have the Great Canned Pyramids...
Here is the AlaskCan Boot....
and here we have the Giant AlaskCan King Crab.



This is a wonderful competition that benefits the local food bank. This is the third year of this type of competition. But it was the first year we have gone to see it. The sculptures are judged by the public. To vote for your favorite sculpture ....You drop the can of food that you are donating into a barrel next to the sculpture that you like. The wonderful thing about the competition was that most all of the barrels were half to three quarters full!

Playing Catch Up...

I took some time off from You Moose Be Kidding to regroup and recharge! I think I am now recharged as for regrouped.... One can only hope! Every year I look forward to the coming year with anticipation that this might be a year of great things. This year seems to hold so much promise. Then I turn on the T.V only to find that O'bama is calling a basketball game!! :o.... If he is calling the basketball game who is minding the shop so to speak!!!! I know, I know for someone who swore she was not political I sure am getting political..... ENOUGH!! Back to the blog.

Above is a wonderful sunset picture that I took from the parking lot at the Alaska Zoo. The pink tint to the picture is that Alpenglow I have been telling you about. When the sun is just about to set and it turns the sky a real pretty mauve pink color.

The bottom picture is of the Chugach Mountains that are behind us. The storm had just given way to blue skies and snow that was stuck to everything not to mention the cold. I was waiting for A to finish up helping the 6th graders at Trailside. She helps out on Mondays and Thursdays so that she can earn points for Orchestra.

Our 1/2 Hour Visitor

Just before Halloween the weather had turned really cold and it had rained. A was on her way home from school when she spotted this little fella running around our condo parking lot. He was cold, wet and scared. A brought him inside and we made him warm. Once we had him warm and dry he hung out with us in the living room.
He made no noise so we thought it would be okey to let him stay a while longer until he saw a dog being walked on the path behind us. It was then that we found out he could bark... Rather loudly in fact! You wouldn't think a dog that small would have such a big bark but he did!! And A and I looked at each other and knew that our visit was at and end. We live in a no pets allowed building. Being the Mom of a rebel means that some times you end up as the partner in crime. A bundled him up and took him back out side. And it is there we parted ways with our 1/2 hour visitor. We haven't seen him since.

Academic Letter

This is A receiving her Academic Letter from Principal Pondolfino. She was one of 319 students that received either a letter or a gold star or silver star pin. Before the ceremony the Service High School Concert Orchestra entertained us with wonderful music. After the ceremony we were treated to refreshments.
This is A's Academic Letter. A lot of hard work went into this letter. So many hours of homework are also wrapped up in this letter. We are so proud of you A. :)

Termination Dust

Termination Dust has got to be an Alaskan term. At least I think it is. I have never heard that term before. Not until this week that is. All the weather people were talking about it at the beginning of the week. My first thought was those pesky volcanoes!!! Believe me it has nothing to do with the volcanoes. I found out what it means. Termination dust means the first dusting of snow on the mountains that surround us or maybe it is in the mountains in general. It also means that summer has been terminated or ended and winter will soon be here. There is that wicked,wacky Alaskan sense of humor again!

See the picture with the huge diamond center sign in it? It's kinda hard to miss isn't it! Well look to the right. See the mountain with the flat top? Well that is Flat Top. That is the mountain that K and A can't wait to climb during the last weeks of summer. They climbed it about two weeks ago. Next week I will show you there pictures from two weeks ago. They brought me home a present. half a water bottle of wild Alaskan blueberries. I froze them and I am going to surprise them with blueberry pancakes tomorrow. Shhhhh.... Don't tell!!!

More Views of Seward

While we were in Seward for the day we happened to wander into the National Park Service. This is a real neat building. The building houses a few exhibits, a short film or slide show depending on when you arrive. And a very nice gentleman that stands behind the counter who will gladly answer any question you might have.

I found something that I knew I had to take a picture of. The Kenai Fjords National Park quilt. Isn't it gorgeous? I can tell you right now that I look at this and wonder how who ever made this did it... My Mom on the other hand is probably right now piecing it together in her head. She is very talented like that.

Behind A and K is Resurrection Bay. We haven't seen any whales here but we are told that they are out there... Somewhere! We saw a humpback whale on a cruise out of Valdez. And we haven't seen a whale since. We have decided that we want to do a Glacier Cruise sometime in the next couple of years.
Here is a picture of the harbor.

We haven't figured out which mountain is Marathon yet. But every 4th of July people gather from all over to run up Mt. Marathon to see who can be the first to reach the summit. In the Alaska Activities Guide this is billed as "America's second oldest footrace". The first time I saw this on the 10 o'clock news I thought these people were nuts. The wipe outs were unbelievable. Next time I am in Seward I will make it a point to ask where Mt. Marathon is. When I find out I will post pictures. Hmm... I am now curious as to what the "first oldest footrace" was!!!
This picture reminds me of the opening scene from Gilligan's Island.

Seward, Alaska

There are other photos I will show you of our day trip to Seward. And I will show them to you soon. But for now check out the impressive amount of salmon that a fisher woman caught. I took this photo over her shoulder. And take a look at the second row. See the middle salmon? That one was the fisher woman's entry in the Seward Salmon Derby.



A few minutes before I took this photo A and K saw an otter swimming around. The otter dove under the water and I was waiting for it to come back up. That's when we noticed the fish jumping out of the water.

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.

U.S. Ski Team at Alyeska

This is Alyeska. This is the ski resort where we went to see the U.S. Ski Team race the downhill championships. At another time I will show you what the hotel looks like.. It is an unbelievable place to come for the day. But I'll save that for another post.

Before this goes any farther I have something to admit... I know nothing about skiing!! This is not one of my hobbies. So if I get some one's name mixed up... SORRY!! Don't get me wrong I think it is an awesome sport. But I could never do it. There is just something about flying down a hill on two thin pieces of board with trees whizzing by that screams out of control to me.

The second picture is of one of the girls talking with the media after her run. My husband thinks it is Lindsey Vonn. He is probably right. You see he is this huge sports nut (That's putting it mildly! :)). He is fluent in all sports not just one!!!

Snowflakes

I just thought that I would pass on an observation that I made recently.

Snowflakes fall in random shapes. While that is not profound or even earth shaking news what is is that they really do fall in the 6 pointed star shape that is seen in the beginning of The Grinch!

They look beautiful. I was waiting for A's bus and I opened my cell phone to look at the time and I noticed one perfect snowflake on my black glove... Then I noticed that there were more of them. They were different sizes along with the fluff. I tried to remember the last time I had seen snow... Then I thought to my self when have I ever taken the time to really look at it.... I couldn't remember. So I watched my glove and stared with awe at the perfect snowflakes on my glove. I tried to get a picture of them. But it was not meant to be.

I've tried many times since to capture a single snowflake. This is the closest I have come. Not bad !!! One thing that you can be sure of is that next winter I will have lots of tries. and who knows...

A view of South Anchorage....

This is the view of South Anchorage from the hill side. If you click on the picture it will enlarge.

Some of the things that can be seen:

Service High School is just above center. It is surrounded by trees. Moose and bear have been spotted on campus from time to time.

above the school you will notice a white dome shaped structure. That is called The Dome. It is an indoor sport complex. It has an indoor batting cage, a running track, and indoor soccer fields. It also has a spectator area and a snack bar.

above the Dome is the Ted Stevens International Airport.

Up toward the top of the photo is the Cook Inlet. If you follow the land to the left you will see a bump of land sticking out. That is a bit of the Kenai Peninsula.

Our Buddy....

We would like to take a moment and introduce you to our friend Buddy. Buddy has an interesting story. It goes something like this:

We found out that you can not make a snowman no matter how hard you try out of freshly fallen snow. So we waited a couple of days. Then A went out and made an awesome snowman complete with a carrot nose. Being on the bottom floor has its advantages!

The next morning we discovered that the snowman's nose was gone... We kept sticking a carrot on there to make him complete. This went on for three days. On the third night we heard a sound out on the balcony and when I lifted the mini blinds we scared each other and that is how we met Buddy. He had been stealing the carrots. A started leaving carrots out on the balcony for Buddy until we found out that you could be fined $250.00 for feeding them. That put a stop to that!

That was almost 4 years ago. He still drops by from time to time. He is larger now and has antlers.(See A I know the differece between antlers and horns!!)

Bald Eagle

We drove over to Seward to check out the Alaska SeaLife Center. The SeaLife Center is a research, rehabilitation and education center. They have a behind the scene tour that is really fun and informative.

After checking out the SeaLife Center we went for an hour cruise on the Sea Quest. For me the highlight of the cruise was spotting the eagle in the tree.

Happy Birthday...

Stray off the path of life and start your own path. Chart your own corse through life. Ask friends or people you love to help you when you are in trouble. Don't be afraid to ask for help. Always remember, a strong man stands up for him self, but an even stronger man stands up for others! There is my wisdom saying for today! ^_^ From the infomus A! Fear meeeee! Mwahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! HA! =^.^=
Kevin, It's your turn to shine! Happy Birthday!!!! Love, K and J and A

Iditarod '09

Getting ready to take their place at the starting line.

Lance Mackey heading down 4th Avenue after leaving the starting line.

Jeff King and his team heading down 4th Avenue after leaving the starting line.

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Underneath this banner is the starting line. Anchorage is the ceremonial start. They restart tomorrow in Willow.

Portage, Alaska

A one hour cruise on the PTARMIGAN will give you an awesome view of Portage Glacier. And if you go on the last cruise of the day it is discounted.

Chilkoot Lake

This is Chilkoot Lake. It is just out side of Haines.