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Beautiful Alaska

I have been asked to share our Alaskan trip with my blogger friends. I feel privileged to do that, so I will try my hardest to help you feel and see some of the outstanding sights and experiences we saw. So set back and enjoy.

We rented a small basement apartment on the edge of Anchorage. It was above ground with large windows so it was bright and cheery. It had two bedrooms, a kitchen, living room, laundry, and bath so we came home every night to a very comfortable home away from home.

Not far from our little home was the shoreline biking/hiking trail. The lady of the home had two bikes in the garage and told us to use them anytime. Once Stan and I took them out on the trail and we weren't sorry. It was a bright, warm, sunny morning and we peddled down through a tree lined trail, across a wooden bridge and out into the open. The trees followed us to our left, but out to the right the ocean opened up into a glittering open beauty. The water was a dark blue, and it went on for ever and ever, until it met with the sky. As you peddled on, you would go through another group of trees and then up a hill and around a curve, and there protruding out into that dark blue water, was a low dark bluff.  We would stop here and just stand watching as the waves would gently splash up against the rocks, throwing a white mist up on them. It was one of the most breathtaking sights ever.

There was a UPS and FedEx airport terminal close by, so you would hear the sound of a plane engine and sure enough, a huge plane would fly overhead and start its climb into the sky over the ocean. You would see a lot of twin engine planes with little ski type things on the bottom. It seemed like they are the planes that take people north into the country where there are no roads. They land on water.

When we would travel north of Anchorage, the highway would take you into a more dense part of Alaska. There were more trees and taller mountains. But too, there were open areas with short grasses and flowers. Out this way you would see more glacier covered mountain tops. There was rushing rivers everywhere.

It was here that we had the experience of walking on ice. Walking on top of a glacier. It was on private property. The family has made a business out of it. We pulled into their driveway and went inside a gift shop. There you do what I call "sign your life away!" Ha. You either pay to have a guided tour or you can go at your own risk. Of course my bunch would never dream of having a guided tour, so we had to sign papers letting them know we were on our own!

After doing that business you drive back along a rock trail for about one half mile and park in a large parking lot that is high above the glacier. When you stand on the edge of the parking lot, you look out to the west and way down there, nestled between two dark mountains lays the glacier. The people who are walking down by the glacier look quite small up next to that huge piece of ice, and from your spot in the parking lot. We put on some more jackets and started our decent down. It is somewhere in the range of a quarter mile from the lot to the glacier. You walk on hard black ground for a while and then it slowly turns into a softer wetter gravel mixture. Sometimes you have to walk on boards that have been laid across patches of shallow water. The closer you get to the glacier, the colder it gets. Soon the gravel starts to get icy. A slimy ice. It sends up a crunching sound as you walk through it. Then it starts to get slick. You slow your pace and start picking out safer places to walk.

This is where I said good bye and the rest went on. The ice turned to mounds of ice. A mound with a rounded top. At first they are sparse, just one mound and then a space of gravel/ice then another mound. They get more and closer together until you are making your way very slowly to the top of one, sliding down and crawling up another. The further you go the taller they get.. I believe they said the glacier is four miles wide and 27 miles long. It doesn't appear to be that big from where I left them, but they said when you got out on it, you felt pretty small.

I was able to find enough gravel to make my way up and over some smaller mounds and past a little stream of running water, working its way through the ice and gravel. I followed it for a ways and found that it was falling into an 6 inch opening of a crevasse. I walked to the opening and looked down. Oh my!! I could look down for a long ways. It was white with a bright blue tint all the way down. That was my first look into a crevasse. I didn't realize the danger of those things until later. Thank goodness for that.

Meanwhile high on the glacier, my little bunch of mountain goats, were making their way up onto the glacier one mound at a time. They would stand on top, get their balance, then make their way carefully down, sometimes bending over to use their hand to steady them. Then up on another and another and another, slowly cautiously. and sometimes they were down to a crawl. Once or twice they climbed to the top of a mound and when they looked down they saw a crevasse laying in their way. The openings could range from 6 inches to 6 foot in width. They would carefully make their way around it as it was possible to fall in. Those were dangerous! They would go as deep as 100 feet! I am glad that I was not out there with them. They even admitted that it was a bit nerve racking.

We spent a whole afternoon on this magnificent glacier. It is something you don't see just anywhere. It just sets there, among two mountains, glistening in the sun and waiting for people to explore its beauty. And there are people. We met people from all over the world there.

Now lets travel south of Anchorage on a highway that we traveled often. This highway is one of the most beautiful highways I have ever traveled. As you travel south, the mountains loom to your left. There was some mountains green with pine trees, and some were a bare dark rock. Through your windshield you could see dark rocky mountains looming into the sky, patches of snow lay here and there on their tops. On your right lays the ocean inlet. When the tide is in that whole area is full of glistening water. It is about a half mile wide and ends at the base of some dark smooth mountains extending out into the water. When the tide is out, this inlet is sand.

 Every once in a while you will see a clump of  what appears to be black rock sticking up out of the water. The first morning we were there, we came to this area. There are stop offs along the way and we pulled over at one. We got out and climbed down the cliff to the water below. We followed its edge through some trees and down over rock to the inlet below. Just in front of us lay a cliff about a half mile high. Its dark black rock reaching out into the blue of the inlet. The boys and Carolyn climbed to the top and walked out among the boulders until they disappeared from view. Stan and I sat beside the water, in the shelter of a huge rock and waited. It felt good to be protected from the wind.

We would always look forward to our trip home on this highway. It was usually around 10:30 when we would find our way back. There was always a beauty. It never let us down! The tide was in so the inlet was full.  The sun was just low enough to throw its rays out over the water, sending a glistening path out to sea. As your eyes traveled to the south, tall dark mountains stood majestic against the clear blue sky. A picture to behold!

This is the road that lead us to the old gold mine. I will take you there and then that will be our last stop for this post.

Note from me.  I stand corrected. This mine is not south of Anchorage. It is north. It is the Independence mine. Thanks for the correction.

After turning off the main highway, we wound our way up the side of the mountain. At one point we got out and looked out across a beautiful green valley laying deep in the mountains. What met your eyes was breathtaking. You looked down and you could see a deep green valley running down through the dark black mountains. It went for miles, those mountains looming once again into the cloudy Alaskan sky. You will notice I call these mountains dark black. For some reason alot of them are that color, which makes them different than any mountain I have seen.

The day was cloudy and a mist was falling when we reached the parking lot of the old mine. That was good because it sat our visit in just the right mood.

Setting at the base of the mountain was three two story buildings. Two were at one end of the clearing, and they were where the miners slept. When you walked by the first one, you could see a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling. It was shining through those dirty windows, as if someone forgot to turn it off in their haste to get to work. The other two story building sat at the opposite side of the clearing. This was where the men ate. Their white and red paint was weathered and cracked.  The windows were dirty and stained.

 Your eyes could follow a narrow gravel path up the side of that dark black mountain to the remains of a collapsed mine shaft. That path wound its way back and forth, over a little wooden bridge, and on up past some low growing green shrubs and on up the mountain side.Setting on top of the lower mountain, way above the mine shaft, was a ole battered track and on it sat three beaten mining cars. A little further down the trail you came to a hole back in the mountain and close to it some large cables hang from a hook and fell down the mountain. After the tour of the dining hall, we were able to walk that old gravel path. As we did I imagined those miner, many years ago as they would walk up there every morning, a shovel or pick over one shoulder. Then every night as they came back down. Their faces black, with only their eye balls showing. Dirty, hot, and tired. They worked eight hours a day, seven days a week, during the working season. Some were married with families, but the wife's and children lived in a small village on down the mountain. Seventeen of these children attended school.

So now we will go inside the dining hall. It was old and dark and smelt musty. The first room we come to is the kitchen. It is an oblong room with board floors. At one end stood a huge bread mixer. It was a ugly silver. At the other end was eight or so warming ovens. Between the mixer and warming ovens sat four black cooking stoves, their backs running up the wall. The cook and his helpers made lots of bread plus other things. It was a hot job in the summer time. All that heat coming from those black stoves and warming ovens. But they worked hard from dawn to dusk.

Just a added bit of interest.The men had to shovel ten ton of ore a day and if they didn't meet that mark they became a "flunky"  The job of a flunky was to help in the kitchen. Not bad I'd say! A flunky was treated very well. I'll tell you more later.

The next room we came to was long, narrow and no windows. On both walls hung heavy hooks. This was the room where the meat carcasses hung before butchering. They would haul up beef and chicken from the little village by train, and hang them there in that room. Across the hall was another square room. On one wall was a row of windows, letting in light. In the middle of this room stood a square wooden butchering table. On one wall were some more of those heavy hooks. They would bring the carcass in and hang it there and start cutting it up.

Just off the kitchen and down the hall was another small room. In this room was the dishwasher. Yes he bought a dishwasher! It didn't look anything like ours today but it was a dishwasher! Running the length of this room, and right down the middle was a long table. In the middle of the table stood a large square like box. At both ends hung a old burlap sack of sorts. This was the dishwasher! The owner of the business believed on giving his men the best.

When you crossed the hall and walked through a big double door, you walked into the largest, brightest room in the building. There was wooden floors and a single light bulb hung from a cord at both ends of the room. Long wooden tables sat evenly spaced throughout the room. Long wooden benches sat on both sides of each table. A hundred men were fed there at those tables. Can't you just picture them eating there in silence after a long hard day. All you can hear is their fork hitting the plate. Their backs would be bent and underneath those wooden benches, you would see stocking feet, some flat on the floor, some crossed at the ankles, some with holes in the heel.

There was one more room on the bottom floor. This room was long like the dining room and about as wide. The guide told us that it was the most important room in the building as far as the miners were concerned. He wondered if we could guess what went on there? No one guessed right. This was their mud room. In this room the miners were able to wash all that dirt, grim, and chemical off before going in to eat. Some of the men who were the worst, were able to change into a clean shirt and pants. They would take off their boots and line them up on the floor.

Now we will climb the narrow wooden stairs and see what was up stairs. At one end was a large room with 10 or more single cots setting in a line. There was old wash basins setting on little wooden stands. Just outside the door was a tiny room with a pot. This was the bathroom. These beds were where the "flunky's" stayed the nights. See why I don't think it would be bad being a "flunky?"

At the other end of the floor was the apartment of the cook. He had his own bathroom, with a tub, his own small kitchen, and little living room and bedroom. He was a single man so didn't need much but it was very comfortable. This apartment would be made to match the need of the cook. If he happened to be married, then he would get more room.

This gold mine produced 34,400 ounces of gold worth  $1,204,560 which is worth 17,208,000 in our day and age. I believe the guide told us that the miners and "flunkies" made a whole dollar a day plus their room and food. The cook made $20.00 a day.

Well good night and I'll take you to the mountain top tomorrow! Smile!


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