September in Anchorage

Hello Everyone. It has been busy and fun having family visiting.  I haven't had a moment to post my blog with family visiting.  It was fabulous having my sister and brother in law and then my Aunt Sharon.  It was such a beautifuly time in Anchorage for a visit.   I forgot to edit my HTML so the pictures are stacked again.  Oh well.  My brilliance lasted only a week!!!  So let's start on the bottom.  Here is the Russian Cemetary in Eklutna, AK.  Go ahead and practice your Russian.  This dialect is very gutteral and it takes a lot of practice.  You will notice that the burial areas are very colorful.  The colors represent the family linage, village, and hobbies.  The church was recently renovated and it looks fabulous.  They have services there during the Holy days.Then Nancy, Bob and I hiked to Thunderbird Falls.  It is a nice easy mile hike in to the falls and then a nice easy mile back to the car.  We saw wonderful fauna on our trip into the fall.  Bob was so kind to stand by the wonderful signs.  Don't you love the "DANGER  STEEP CLIFF". Bob thought he would demonstrate what happens when you leave the trail.  "Oh no, don't fall Bob."  The sunsets are from my porch.  We have spectacular sunsets.  Can you see the rolling clouds in the sky.  They were so close we could almost touch them.  Sunsets are the one thing I greatly appreciate up here.  My visitors often remark how beautiful the sunsets are.  One photographer says AK sunsets are prettier than Hawaii or any Southern country.  I agree.  About twice a week we hike up another mountain trail.  We usually work with our trainers and then go hiking since our sun sets about 8:45 pm.  This is a photo of me on Mile High Trail.  It is one mile straight up.  I mean straight up a hill side using tree roots and branches to get footing.  That is our shopping area of Eagle River in the back ground.  We were careful and brought our bear spray since there are daily bear sightings in our trails.  One night Nancy, Bob and I went downtown to meet up with David's niece, Laura.  Laura is a lawyer and has many great trail tales to keep us entertained.  So we walked down to Elderberry Park to view another sunset.  That is Sheryl and Whale.  Isn't that a cute metal whale?  The whale looks out over Cook's Inlet.  Speaking of Cook, yes it is named after Captain Cook.  He is a very important part of AK history.  So of course you see the magnificant statue of Captain Cook as he keeps watch on Cook's Inlet.  We discovered the AK Victims Memorial while we were walking around the park.  In case I haven't told you, Alaska ranks #1 in the US in the following categories:  domestic violence, assults on Natives, sexual abuse, alcoholism and just recently passed Mississippi for the most obese state in the country. Alaska has a lot to offer if you are willing to get out an enjoy AK.While we were at the Elderberry Park the Alaska Train was pulling tinto Anchorage for the evening.  It was about 20 feet from us. The mountain range is the Illiama mountains and that is Susitna mountains. The ledgend is Susitna's fiance went to fight off a waring tribe that was coming to attach his village. All the other village men returned but not Susitna's fiance.  So she layed down to rest until he returned.  After many  If you look closely at the range, you can see her laying on her side with her hair flowing into the ocean.  Then the Alaska Trainwas making it's last stop for the evening in AK train terminal. The train was about 20 feet from us so you could everyone inside. So I thought I would be a bit artisic so I took a picture of Susitna through the train window.  It came through but you have to know what you are looking at for it make any sense.  So that is a bit of some of my "family" adventures.  I have set time aside this weekend to share more pictures.  I hope you are all doing well in your hot and humid weather.  I have vowed not to wear long pants until October 1.  My shorts were a bit cold this morning but by noon it had warmed up and very sunny. More to come about my glacier trips, sea life cruise, moose rutting adventure, bear viewing and many other fun things to do in AK. 

Sheryl the Nanuq of the North.

Visit with Nancy and Bob - early September 2010

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Hello Everyone.  I hope you had a wonderful Labor Day Weekend.  I have had a very busy opening of school and wonderful visits from family.  Nancy and Bob-o and I went to Eagle River Nature Center for a morning stroll.  They were on their last 5 days of their 21 days sea and land cruise.  Nancy retired from teaching in May and this was her gift from Bob.  I get to benefit from her retirement as well.   You may notice that my photos are placed on the page side by side.  Haven't you noticed???  I am now using HTML code with my blog.  I am sure many of you think, "That is no big deal" but to a computer neophyte like myself, that is huge!  I hope to master a few more tools as I work on the blog this year.  Thanks to Kenny for all his patience getting me to this level.  I will definitely become more savvy as the year goes on.  I want to learn how to put photos on the blog in correct order. So much to learn and so little time!!!! So enough about me, back to the photos.  The Nature center is about 10 miles from my house in the beautiful Chugach Mountain Range.  It is the largest National Forest in the US.  My friends and I go hike these trails at least once a week. Last week, after working out in the gym, it was so beautiful we went to Eagle River Nature Center (ERNC) and about 7 feet from us was several BIG Bull moose grazing, and as we were exiting a Grizzly bear was about 50 feet from us pouncing in the water eating salmon.  Of course, I didn't take a camera nor phone because Shawnee did.  She fumbled with her camera and by the time she got it on and focused the bear took his meal to the weeds to eat the fish.  They don't eat their meals in the rivers.  Aren't they polite not to eat in front of us.  So Nan and Bob and I thought we could see some more bear.  Nope, nada, none.  We did find some fresh Bear Scat (aka Poop).  I should  have placed a quarter next to it so you can see how Huge it really is.  If you look closely you can see the berries and sticks. The yellow leaf in the  bottom left side was just a tad under a quarter in size.   We hiked out to the cabin and it had such a serene feeling to be the only ones on the trails.  Nan and I had to sit on the large rock while Bob took our picture and watched for the Poopy Bear.  Bob was such a good guy he climbed in the hollowed out log where the baby bear sleep at night. That picture is Bob laying sideways into the log and smiling the whole time.  We brushed off the log chips and berry juice from his coat as our way of thanking him for being such a good sport.  The bear signs are plentiful at the ERNC but we kept our mantra, "lions and tigers and bears Oh My."  to let the bears know we were around and to go away.  It worked! We never saw a bear. Bob had to help Nancy untangle her camera strap, her purse strap, and her hood straps.  Sometime we get ourselves tied into knots!!!! Thank goodness for our friends to help us when ever and where ever we are.  Lastly, is a photo of me in my fishing apparel.  I love wearing this stuff but forgot to put on my Alaska Tuff boots.  Beth and I wait all week to wear our "fishing" clothes because we love to look the part of a fisherman!  I will be putting more photos of my visit with Nancy and Bob and then photos of my visit with my Aunt Sharon.  (by the way, on Sharon's and my canyon trip the bear was chasing the fisherman).  Stay tuned.  It will be another week before I get back to my blog.  David is having a wonderful time on his Harley motorcycle trips.  He  is at Pickwick Lake this weekend on a Poker Run.  Judy, my golf buddy in Memphis, is David's Motorcycle Mama for this motorcycle ride on Saturday.  He is staying on Ron and Cathy Poe's boat and listening to Darryl Worley.  He is having his own wonderful adventures.  It is fun to hear about his adventures as well.
Enjoy your week.  I just watched Sunday Football, Bears beat Cowboys!!! Ye Ha!  Did I mention that I watch Sunday football from 8 am - 1 pm.  It makes it hard to eat chips and drink beer while watching Sunday Football.  Monday night football is 3 pm start so a lot of working people take an early exit from work so they can get to a bar to watch the Monday night game.  See some of the differences in our TV vs yours.  I will be running a 5K next Sunday for a charity so hopefully when I return home to recover, I will be putting up my next blog.

Sept 3, 2010 Labor Day Weekend

August 2010. Did you know that August 2010 had 5 Sundays, 5 Mondays and 5 Tuesdays? This happens only once every 823 years. Now that you have learned something today let's look at the pictures.

Friday, Sept 3, my day at school started with my good luck moose. The big mama moose (about 7 - 7 1/2 feet high) and her calf (about 4 months old) decided to peak into my class room window. The principal and several male teachers tried to get the moose to move along so I could have class. It took about one and half hours so I didn't get to teach my first period classes. Awh shucks! Here is my moose visitors.The chain link fence is 10 feet high so you can see how big Mama Moose is. Then my co worker, Scott, told me about his son shooting his first moose on the homestead. When they dressed the moose, they left the internal organs in a pile outside, and within an hour a BIG brown bear showed up. His son also shot his first bear. Scott's son is 6 foot 3 inches. So check out how big the bear was by comparing their hands. Amazing. AK residence can kill one moose and one bear per season. Scott said he would gladly share some meat with me so I can make some more delicious meals. After school on Friday, I picked up my sister-in-law and husband ,Nan and Bob, who were on a cruise and had a free evening. We returned my rental car, my car has been in the shop for over a week, so we took a small detour to the Alaska Wildberry Candy Shoppe and Chocolate Factory. It is a delicious place to visit. I can't believe I hadn't been there sooner. When you walk in the store, you are greeted by huge stuffed moose and bear, and then your eyes see the most wonderful chocolate delight. A 20 foot tall CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN! It is amazing. It was build in 1994, it flows over 3,400 pounds of liquid chocolate and it smells wonderful!!!The crate in the front right hand side of the chocolate fall is full of solid chocolate chunks that are waiting to be melted. The best part is they serve freebie samples. The Wildberry Store provides most of the AK chocolate around the state. They happen to have other items such as delicious syrup, coffees, teas, t-shirts and other souvenir items. The hat is a moose hat. I love moose!!!! The chocolate candy bar is the largest in the state - 4 foot by 2 feet solid chocolate. It smells so good in this shop.

On Saturday, Beth and I left at 4 am to drive to the Kenai Peninsula for a fishing trip. The Kenai is the fishing heaven of the world according to the AK fisherman. The rivers, Kenai and Russian, are the most turquoise color. It has very little dirt in it and the water comes from the snow on the mountains and glaciers. The Drifter Lodge is a pretty well-known hunting/fishing lodge right on the Kenai. We saw dozens of Eagles. This big boy was across the river from his. Several times he flew to where we stopped to fish for silver salmon. It was almost like he was waiting for us to hook a fish for him. I am Hooked on fishing - it was a blast. The Rainbow trouts, Dolly Varden trouts and Sockey (red) salmon were everywhere. We went to catch silver salmon so we could have a fish fry at our house. (we bought a small gas grill last week). Beth and I had these grandiose ideas of catching a lot of fish for this upcoming fish fry. We are so glad we didn't invite anyone yet. We brought home two small fish. The Fishing law states, you can catch two rainbow (if they are not over 16 inches), two dolly (also can't be over 16 inches) and two silver salmon. We brought home our two fish to eat this weekend. I caught the first fish a 16 inch dolly. She is so pretty silver with pink polka dots.The fish gets her name from a Dickens story where Dolly Varden wore very colorful outfits. Beth caught the trophy fish, a 26 pound Rainbow. She has silvery skin and a rainbow of pink and yellow on her sides. It took her 25 mins. to bring that big boy into the boat. The guide, Jason, loved the size of her Buc Bow. That means, a male rainbow. I am almost a pro fisherman which you can see by the pictures. I caught all my rainbows with my fly reel. I really like fly fishing. We used dry bait b/c that is all that is allowed in the Kenai. I used a spin reel to catch the Sockeye. My Sockeye, the big red salmon, was about 28 inches and about 30 pounds. It had big biting teeth so we were careful getting it out of the net. The sockeye are on their way upstream to lay eggs. It was fun battling this big fish and what a smile I had on my face when it was held. Beth was a bit jealous because she always had to work so hard to catch her fish. Mine just seemed to come along with a small battle. I love fishing. I like the spin reel because it is fun to see if I can cast to the spot I have selected. I get close but not on the spot. Whereas fly fishing is a lot more action. Cast, adjust, watch the indicator (aka bobber), recast, etc. I caught most of my fish (5) with a fly rod. I caught 2 with the spin rod. I love the waders - they kept me so dry and warm. My fun picture is 1/2 way through the day we stopped for a "pit stop". Yep, that is the famous Alaskan Amber beer coming aboard the float boat. The guide told us beer and fishing are a wonderful combination. So we pulled into a getty about 4 hours into our fishing trip and we walked across the highway to a small snack shack and liquor store. We fit right in with the other customers - waders, life vests and big fish tales!!! After 8 hours of fishing, we were ready to eat some food and get a good nights sleep. Remember, we left Anchorage at 4 am and now it was 6:30 pm. We stopped in the town, Hope, AK to eat. I haven't been there and it was cute and quaint. This is the restaurant we had the best seafood chowder and Reuben sandwich. We chatted with two locals. They had plenty of "fish tales" to share. We laughed a lot. They couldn't believe we were driving back to Eagle River, about 3 hour drive. They finally decided it was because we were "young and dumb" to drive on a holiday weekend. Beth and I nicknamed them "The Grumpy Old Men". The one on the right was very grumpy but I think it was his style b/c he made a lot of fun of his friend and any other person that walked by. Then I have to end with another beautiful sunset from my deck. I have the most wonderful view and the reds, pinks and yellows make it spectacular to end the night. We have about 15 hours of daylight. It is difficult to get to bed early because it doesn't even get dark until 9:30 pm. So I bid you good night. Enjoy your weekend. I will post again next weekend. I will have more pictures since my sister and brother in law are here. Then my Aunt Sharon arrives for a week. Lots of fun to be had!

Enjoy, Sheryl the Nanuq of the north.

Year 2 Begins

Hello Everyone. I hope you are ready for YEAR 2!!! I sure am. I had a late start but I love being back in Alaska. I was pleasantly surprised how many of you followed my adventures last year. I feel I did a lot last year and I have a lot more in store for this year. I promise to put in a lot of pictures and perhaps less information. You have to understand, a teacher always wants to learn and share what has been learned. I hope we learn more together this year. So let's get started!!!!!! This summer David and I did a motorcycle trip to southern Illinois. This rock formation (Daffy Duck) can be found in the IL State Park. We had a wonderful time visiting Poli and Bruce at their "floating house". We spent time kayaking, boating, riding on the jet skis, and playing Wii sports at night on the deck. It was a blast of adult fun!!! So upon returning to Alaska, I was glad to leave the 100 degree weather behind. AK was 70's and rainy. I did not experience a week of rain at all last week. I feel it was an omen for me to get my class room ready rather than playing. So I did. The first day of school the sun came out and it was upper 70s and gorgeous. As the children left that day, I said, "Have a great summer. See you in a few months." They all looked at me like I was weird. I found out that AK had nothing but rain all summer. The sun was such a welcomed sight. It has been beautiful ever since. The AK State Fair starts my year again. Isn't that pink tractor just adorable. Perhaps some little girl will sing a song, "he loves my sexy pink tractor."!! The little tyke has such a cute tiger hat I had to share. The Sealife Center had a very educational booth where I learned how much milk the animals of AK need to survive. The polar bear needs a minimum of 1 gallon a day to grow healthy. Have you had your milk today?? The little girl is wearing a Rain suit. It is like a snowsuit but waterproof. Many people up here call them "human condoms" but these kids stay so dry and warm. I want one for the rain days! I couldn't go in the flower show without showing one picture. This flower is dark black and yellow. I think it looks neat. AK Fair had a horseback show that was really cool. This gentleman did a back flip off the horse and landed on horse while moving forward. We, a group of teachers, wooed and ahhhhed with the rest of the spectators. The rodeo was a small version of what the Lower 48 offers in TN and Texas. The young boy flying off the horse was only 12 years old. He was cute but perhaps a few more pounds on him would even out the odds against the 1500 pound horse. The Dall sheep carving was carved in about 2 hours from a huge log. I am impressed with the wood workers in AK. The pumpkin is the Blue Ribbon winner - 609 pounds!!! Can you imagine the scene you could carve on that pumpkin? You would have to light the pumpkin with a lantern because a small candle would be dwarfed inside that pumpkin. I fell in love with the sheep underarmor!!! There was a damp feeling, b/c of the misting rain, and all the small livestock were dressed in their underarmor. I wonder how many yards of material it would take to make a bull underarmor? I have visited the Eagle River Nature Center. I attend a lot of courses there, such as how to identify animal droppings, eagle habitats, bore tides, etc. This is the Nature center - very quaint and cozy with a fireplace and learning center. The red salmon, sockeye, are in such abundance because they are all back in AK to lay their eyes. They are everywhere. They range from 5 - 15 pounds but they travel in very large groups so the turquoise water looks red in many spots. The beautiful colored mushrooms are something new to me. The Nature Center guide said it was such a wet summer that I will see them everywhere. They are very poisonous. They are called something but the "common name" according to the Nature Center guide was "man-eater massacre." He told me any pretty colored mushroom usually is poisonous. I will definitely heed his advice and get my mushrooms from Safeway!. I am glad to be back. My school is going well. We had a rough start with computers, electrical stuff and new students. With three weeks under my grade book, all is well in AK. I will add another blog soon.

Hugs. Sheryl the Nanuq of the North.