Muskox and Gold in Nome

I wish I could have stayed another day in Nome. I couldn't get a room. There were several events going on. Summer Sun Festival, a reunion, and lots of gold seekers or dredgers. On the sightseeing tour we saw a small version of a modern day gold rush tent town. The price of gold added to the reality TV show has people flocking to Nome again. We saw some old dredges that are no longer working and we saw some new ones that men are working all day in good weather. They go down under water with 2 hoses. One has their air and the other has warm water that goes through their diving suit to keep them warm in those frigid waters. They are dredging the bottom for gold. We also saw 3 different groups of Muskox. It was so neat to get to see these in the wild. I had seen them in the Anchorage zoo.

More Nome

I have internet tonight, so I'll go ahead and talk about subsistant living. Many of the Native Alaskan people are still living or trying to live as they have for hundreds, even thousands of years. They teach their children how to hunt, fish , gather berries, etc. I heard on the news that because of the very cold winter this year that some of the salmon are slow in returning to spawn. This means that the people haven't been able to catch their limits or enough to feed their families this next winter. One lady said that maybe they will all need food stamps this year, but that's not what they want. They want to be able to fish this certain kind of salmon for longer this year. I didn't know they were so many different kinds of salmon and they all come different times and places. I hope to be down on the Kenai when some of them are coming. I saw a net at Costco that was 4 1/2 feet across the diameter and had a 17 ft handle. I asked a couple what it was for and she told me :Catching salmon".

Hopefully, I will get to see some wild muskox tomorrow. Even though you can not drive to Nome there are 3 roads that lead out of here going to villages, toward the Bering land bridge(you still can't get all the way there), and I can't remember where else, but  should know after the tour I'm taking.

Nome

You do see cars here, but there are more 4 wheelers. You have to bring these all here on boats or planes. You can not drive to Nome.

The Nugget Inn

Well, it has been cloudy and very cool all day(low 40s). I walked up and down Front Street. It has most of the things to do on it. There is a grocery store over on the next block, but I haven't been there yet. I visited the museum, visitor center, and the ranger station. The info about the Seward Peninsula and the Bering Land Bridge are fascinating. I also saw a presentation about a certain kind of loon that travels from above here all the way to the Yellow sea in China. There are several hotels and restaurants here. I had lunch at the Husky and may have soup at the Vietnamese diner for supper.There are many interesting things about the Iditarod race that ends here each year. It started sprinkling harder so I came back to the hotel.

Well, I visited with quite a few people around town today. Everyone says they love living here and that it was warmer last week. I hope to see some mining or at least panning for gold tomorrow. The boats did not go out yesterday or today because of the weather. Nome is one if the few places in the Alaskan "bush" where you can buy alcohol. The guide books said I would probably see some "drunks staggering down the street", and I did, but most everyone is very friendly and interesting to talk to. The drop out rate is very high here. More than half of the kids that start kinder do not graduate.

Flying to Nome

Well, I decided to check out Nome, Ak. I barely got 2 nights in a hotel. I couldn't get any in Barrow (top of the world) until next week. It is the summer solstice which is big stuff around here! I had to park my camper in an airport lot next to the float plane field aka Lake Hood. Our flight was delayed for an hour, but I visited with a Native Alaskan family. Mom seemed older than me, but her daughter was about 35. They live in Kotzebue, which we stopped at on the way to Nome. If Jordan and I fly back up there in a month she said she will take us berry picking. We flew over ice floes in the Bering Sea. It was awesome looking! I'm staying at the Nugget Inn on the Bering Sea. From my window it looks like it could be a Texas beach! I know that it is very cold though. The gold hunters have returned to Nome. They are having to stay in today because the water is too rough. I saw some of their boats and things last night. Well I'm going to a Ranger led thing at 2, so got to go.

Anchorage

Well, I've been exploring Anchorage for several days now. I can not believe how warm it  is getting. It was 62 yesterday and I was able to wear a short sleeve shirt for the first time. Yesterday was a really sunny, the first in more than a week. I went to several farmers markets with my cousin Jessica. She is my daughters age and lives here. She eats very healthy and was looking for fresh produce. It amazes me how many flowers there are here. It seems that everyone has hanging baskets and beautiful flowering trees and shrubs. Wendy and my dad would probably know their names, but they are just beautiful to me. Even though it snowed on the mountains around Anchorage the other day, I can tell that lots of the snow up there has melted since I got here a month ago. I'm having lots of trouble getting on line so maybe I'll have to wait to post pictures.

Fishing on the Glen Hwy

Bear hunters

Shar

As I was on my way to the Matanuska Glacier, I saw some cars stopped by a lake so I stopped to see what was going on. I met a couple from Denmark that had rented a motor home and were here for 3 wks. They were trying to catch rainbow trout. There was one man fly fishing but he put up before I could get his picture. Also met a man and nephew that were catching Char(sp) They looked like trout to me but he showed me the spots on these. Said they were good eating. While I was watching a small boat pulled up and they were loaded with some odd things. A power saw, big box, and a rifle. I had to go ask them what they had been "fishing" for . They had been bear hunting! Said they didn't see anything, so they unloaded all that stuff and then went fishing.

Glen Hwy

Matanuska River

Pictures along the Glen Hwy. Look at the name of the town(Chickaloon). It made me think of Ivie, don't know why. I'm leaving the Ma-Su Valley tonight and going back to Anchorage. I need to have a door repaired on the camper. I was going to a baseball game ,but it has been raining for 3 days, so I'll have to skip it.

Matanuska Glacier .

A rock glacier

Matanuska Glacier(See the jagged edges)

Well, thank goodness I took a snack with me this morning! I thought I was going a few miles out of town and it was 55 miles. Hoa would be proud. I hiked in to see the glacier better. It was a little more than a mile rd. trip, but it was up and down. I had a water bottle and stopped to read all the signs. I saw lots of moose signs(poop), but no moose. The glacier is so much better looking in person than on film. When I first came around the corner and saw it from the road, you could see the blue ice. It's the way the sun reflects through all that compacted ice, but it looks so cool. Across the hwy there is a rock glacier. It looks like a rock slide but it is a rock glacier, formed when water get in between the rocks , freezes, expands, and breaks the rocks.

Matanuska River Park

This is the view across from the entrance of the park.

These are pictures of the park I'm staying in. I don't have a picture of the campground, but I'll take one and add it later. When I got here Thur., I was the only one except the host, but now there are plenty of others. I'm going to go to the Mat-Su glacier tomorrow. Hoa and I didn't know that it was even here. We went on some wild goose chase trying to find the Knik glacier, but you can't drive to it.

Palmer Colony Days

Check out the scenery behind the booths and the parade.

These guys were hilarious, they danced and acted like they really were on their hands. (Look close at the face looking out of the leg on the left one.)

Well, I went to Wasilla yesterday, didn't see Sarah P, but I heard that she shops in Walmart and at the Fred Meyer's store all the time. I met a lady that works in the city offices here but use to work city offices in Wasilla when Sarah P was Mayor. She couldn't say enough good things about her. I was glad to hear it, since some people in Alaska don't like her. I would love to run into her somewhere and get her pict or autograph. Sandy, gave me her # so I could get in touch with her if I need to, or when Jordan and I come back here.
Palmer started after the "New Deal". Several thousand families were brought in and given land. The celebration today was all about this, but there was a parade and fair with food, fun, and animals. I had the very best fried raspberry pie I've ever eaten. There was a tamale booth, but I didn't try them.

Ma-Su Valley

Well, Hoa left on Sunday and I've been just chilling for a couple of days. I had to go to the dentist yesterday so stayed close to Anchorage. The lady we met in Whitehorse that lives here gave me the name of her dentist. He had to smooth down my crown and put me on antibiotics for inflammation. He grew up in San Saba, went to UT, and Baylor. Didn't charge me a penny. Told me to be careful and agreed with my boys that I should have brought a gun with me.
Well, I'm staying at a park called the Mat-Su River Park in Palmer. This is close to Wasilla. My brother Mike told me if I see Sarah P, I should ask her for fishing advice. Maybe not. Well, I seem to be having trouble posting this. Yea!!

Anchorage Zoo and Float Planes

Well, before Hoa had to go home we went to the zoo. It is not big, but they have most of the animals that are found in Alaska. Most of the animals have been hurt or orphaned. It was a nice day and the warmest we've had so far. (62) All the owls and eagles had broken or damaged wings before they came here. We watched a snowy owl get dinner. He is spoiled and only wants quail. He swooped on to it just like he would have in the wild. The picture of the black bears make them look like cubs, but they were full grown, just playing like cubs.
We also sat and watched several float planes land and take off. They have a lake and strip of water right next to the airport. We counted about 40 or so float planes.