First full day in Anchorage--July 11

We slept a little later this morning. Marvin and Dee got up and went to breakfast and later to church. Bob and I were heathens today and did not go but went down to the Weekend Market downtown. Barry and Monique went down with us because they were also meeting someone down there. It started out as a farmers market originally and then when the area became more invaded by tourists it became a crafts fair type atmosphere. They had beautiful handmade native items made out of mammoth fossil ivory, caribou antler and other animals and their fur and hide. All kinds of things--very beautiful and cheaper than at other places. We also had All Alaska Quesidillas made with salmon and reindeer sausage. It was good. We left there and went right down the hill which we found out later became a hillside because during the 1964 Good Friday earthquake the land just slid down. The earth under much of the area there is a alluvial clay and when the earthquakes hit it turns to liquid and shifts so they now have pipes sticking out of the ground in places as vent pipes which lets in the air which hardens the clay so it won't do that. After the earthquake they had tsunamis that hit and wiped out many of the ports of Alaska and did a lot of damage especially in Seward. When we went down the hill we went to the Ulu factory store. An ulu is a native type cutting utensil that the Alaskans use. Look them up on the net and take a look at them. We went back to the park for a quick rest before catching a bus for a tour of the city.

The lady that drove us was Hawaiian. Her father brought the family here in 1973 to work on the pipeline-talk about an adjustment. She was very nice and wrote out specific directions to the area that our family lived in back in 1952 before Alaska was even a state. My Dad was a construction worker and he pulled our trailer up here for work. We lived in Anchorage and I began 1st grade here. I was six and Roger was 11. So tomorrow we will scope out the area. She thought that was so cool that we were going to do that so she was real helpful. She drove us all over town. The town limits go 50 north and 50 miles south of the city. She figured when this year's census comes out there will probably be 300,000 people in Anchorage and more than 42% do live in Anchorage. Cook Inlet's Turnagain Arm and and Knik Arm define the peninsula where Anchorage is located with the Chugach Mts. as a back drop. Until Russia's Far East was opened to air traffic it was considered the" Air Crossroads of the World". Today it is still the major air logistics and cargo carrier for Asia, Europe and North America. The only other time I was up here is when I had a stopover going to Vietnam. It also had the 3rd largest high tide in the world--about 36'. High tide is 6 hrs. long and the same for low tide. Just heard last night on the news of an individual's boat that had gotten grounded because the tide went out.

Lake Spinard and Lake Hood are connected and it is the largest float plane base in the world. On a summer day there may be as many 800-1000 take offs and landings there. 1 in 59 people have their flying license up here, of course they do have an airfield up here also. She told us more but I couldn't keep up with the writing.

We then went out to the Wildberry Farm for a very good movie about Alaska and had a supper there. Afterwards in their backyard they had a lady who took care of a rehabbed eagle as well as a couple of other birds and she showed him to us and told us about them and answered questions. It was magnificent. It had lost part of one wing due to flying into a power line and being shocked. They also had 3 reindeer in an enclosure which you could go into and feed them while the rest watched and one was a small baby. They are much smaller than wild caribou but their horns are velvety feeling. They also had lots of big stores like Nordstrom, J.C. Penny, Wal-Mart, Fred Meyer, etc., a beautiful new arts museum, big National Parks Service Office Bldg, an FBI Building, BP Oil and Conoco Oil buildings. She also took us down to a bridge in town where the salmon run and where the fisherman in town line up to fish. Only a few guys out that day and we saw 2-3 salmon as they came upstream. They are not running thick yet. We also stopped at the float plane base and saw several planes land and one take off. Some fly all year long. They exchange wheels for floats for skis. A truly multi season use tool. We stopped at Earthquake Park to view the inlet and the mountains in the background although it wasn't a very clear day.

Anchorage is in a transition zone between the moderating influence of the Pacific and the extreme temperatures of Interior Alaska. The average temperature in January (coldest month) is 14* F. and in July (warmest month) 58*. The annual precipitation is 15.9 in. with about 69 in. of snowfall on the ground between Oct. and Apr.

Sorry about jumping around on what I was telling you. If I knew how to move sections around I would but I don't so you just have to go with the flow as best you can. Another day down.