Independence Mine

Jordan and I went to the Independence Mine. We walked around and looked at the different buildings. It was an entire community with a school, store, houses for families and dorms for the single men. They brought in movies from Wasilla and there were pool tables for entertainment. It was closed down during WWII and then reopened after.This mine used mercury and a very involved process to get the gold out of the rocks. They had very sophisticated equipment and the whole process was over my head. Panning would have been much easier!

Mat-Su with Jordan

Jordan and I spent a week in the Matanuska River park. We rode a zip line. We went back to the Anchorage Zoo, we went to the Friday Fling in Palmer, we went to Hatcher's pass, the Independence Mine, Jordan rode his new scooter, and we rested. At the park they have about 9 rhubarb plants. I asked if I could pick some and try cooking them. I got several people's advice and we tried it. We even set up several little bowls and tried with different flavors. The one we liked best had cinnamon and almond flavor.  It would be good on ice cream. I made a pie the next day and passed it out to our neighbors.

Rhubarb plants and Jordan's scooter.

Anchorage Zoo

Jordan and I had to make a trip to Anchorage so we decided to go to the zoo. The polar bear really performed for us. There was a program for kids in nature and we went to it. Jordan learned some games he can use at Boy Scouts. There were some cute ideas for a science center or outside science lesson.

Seward and Exit Glacier

Jordan and a horned puffin.

Does the blue ice show up on this blog? I hope so.

Tom, Karen, Jordan, and I drove to Seward for the day. We went to the Sealife Center and Exit Glacier. This time I got to go all the way out to it, in May there was too much snow on the trails.The Sealife center was fun. We ate at a place on the Seward boat dock. We had King Crab! Yummy!!

Climbing Flat Top Mt.

That is flat top in the distance

The white dot is Karen with Jordan and Tom close behind, on their way to the top!

Anchorage with Cook's Inlet beyond.

Several people had told me to go to visit Flat Top Mt. It is on the outskirts of Anchorage and you can see for miles around. My ears popped on the way up to it in the truck. My cousin Jessica that lives in Anchorage had just climbed it 2 days before. Jordan reminded us that she said that it was windy and extremely miserable that day. We had a cloudy but no wind day. We all started up, but I could tell it was too steep for me. Just going down that part hurt my knees. Karen said they were on all fours at the top. Tom took Advil for his knees, so I was glad I just went part way. When it is a clear day you can see all of Anchorage from here.

Back to Denali with cousins

It is hard to see in this picture, but Denali is in the back ground.

We went back to Denali July 10th. We got to see the mountain this time. I had, but Jordan had not. It is really amazing! We went on several hikes. Tom and Karen took Jordan further than I went each time, but we all had tons of fun. We saw two large caribou sitting by the Savage River and Jordan finished his Jr. Ranger badge.

Zip line near Matanuska Glacier

Well, Jordan and I decided to go on a zip line yesterday. It was great. I have pictures of the tower, but not of us doing it. They are only on the throw away camera I had gotten for Jordan. It was higher and longer than the one in Texas I had done with Leann.