o/` o/` "Big Jim Left Seattle in the year of '17, with Irene beside him because she is his queen" o/` o/`

Only a few of you old fuddy-duddies might almost recognize that title as a really twisted, highly stylized homage to Johnny Horton's "North to Alaska" released in 1960 shortly after Alaska became a state.  It was the theme song for a movie by the same name which starred John Wayne, Stuart Granger, Ernie Kovacs and Fabian (a bubble-gum singer from the late '50s).

Anyway,  we are in Alaska again this year.  We wanted to come up again to see my sister Franny who became a Christian last year after Irene studied with her while we were at Homer, Alaska.  Fran lives in Sterling Soldotna since she was baptized.  She's lived in Alaska for almost 30 years now.  9 or so in Skagway when she first moved up here, then 10-12 or so in Kodiak and now she lives on the Kenai peninsula.  Well, in all that time she had never been to Denali National Park.  So we took her there when we came up this year.

Here are some pictures:

The 2 pictures above are of my sister Fran and I.  We took the opportunity of being in a unique location and surrounded by God's beauty to "spread" some of our mom's ashes.  This is the bridge over the Seattle Creek on the Old Denali Hwy.

The 3 pictures above are of Ptarmigan.  This is the state bird.  

The top one is a female and the bottom 2 are males.  

They are "Alaskan 'chicken'" essentially.

Above - Ridge beyond ridge of beautiful mountains are commonplace in and around Denali.

Above - an small alpine lake surrounded by Cypress trees. 

Above - the Frozen Tundra.  Above the tree line wide expanses of flat 

terrain which in the spring explodes with beauty.

The above picture shows a "forest" in permafrost.  With the ground frozen beneath them, the trees just can't get enough nutrition to grow large.

Above - part of Polychrome Mountain about 25 miles into Denali from the main entrance.  

It is given much of its color by Rhyolite a volcanic rock.

Above - These 2 pictures are Caribou.  Caribou are the ONLY species in the deer family where both the male and females have antlers, but they drop them a different times of the year.  The females carry there's through the winter and drop them in June or July after they are done breast feeding their young.  The males drop them in November or December.

These are Dall Sheep.

Above - a Young Bull Moose (called "elk" in Europe).  Moose are the largest of the deer family.  Bulls can weigh up to 1500 pounds (about 700 Kg).

Above - A female moose (Europe - "elk").  Females are "cows."  This one had given birth less than 24 hours previously to twins.  She is UPSET that cars keep slowing and stopping to take pictures.  Her back hair (hackles) are straight up and she is ready to charge anything that gives her an excuse at this point.

Above - The less than 24 hour old moose calves.

Above - A picture of one of the moose calves.

Above - a Marmot.  Marmots are essentially large mountain squirrels.  

They live on grass, berries, flowers, moss and lichens.

Above - 2 pictures of a porcupine.  Porcupines are rodents.  Interestingly, porcupines climb trees a lot (I didn't know that).  They can have up to 30,000 quills. Porcupines CANNOT "throw" their quills.   People and dogs (especially) just get too close. They eat wood, bark, flowers and berries.

Above - 3 different grizzly bears we saw.  

Bear safety:

• Never approach a bear.  Leave 300 yards between you and any bear you see.  Make LOTS of noise to warn them you are coming if you are walking in the woods.
• Never leave out food of ANY kind in your campground.  It WILL attract any bear in the area.
• If the bear has NOT seen you yet: Back away FACING the bear. 
• If the bear HAS seen you and is looking at you: NEVER run from a bear (it is faster than you), and their instinct is to chase prey.  They much more likely to chase something showing running away.  Back away FACING the bear.  Make yourself as BIG as possible (wave your hands above your head) while you shout.  
• IF the bear charges you:  Make yourself as BIG as possible (wave your hands above your head) while you shout.  Wait to see if it stops, NEVER run from a bear.  Back away FACING the bear.  Many bears do mock charges.
• If a bear attacks you:
• If it is a black bear (dog like ears, smaller claws, NO hump on its back) - fight like the dickens:  Punch, grab a stick and to poke at the bear to keep it away, etc.
• If it is a grizzly bear (small round ears, distinct hump on its back at the shoulder, large claws) - drop to the ground on your stomach.  Protect your neck with your hands or, if you have a back pack pull it up to protect your neck.  If it starts biting - fight like your life depends on it because it does.

Following being at Denali, we had a sojourn at the Soldotna church of Christ.  It's the church that Fran is part of.  It's right about in the middle of the Kenai peninsula.  That's a peninsula just that's on the south side of the Cook Inlet.  [I'll wait while you get a map or look on your phone or computer]. OK, so now you know where the Kenai Peninsula, Cook Inlet, etc. are.

Irene and I were the only couple in the sojourn, so what we could accomplish was somewhat limited.  Still, over 10 days I installed 445 feet of baseboard trim in 7 classrooms, two large open areas, the kitchen and transitional hallway in the basement of the building.  Irene gave a deep cleaning to 2 ovens in the kitchen and 2 refrigerators in the kitchen.  She also deep cleaned bathrooms and applied a weather sealant to a large wooden swing set in the church's play area.

Following the sojourn we went down to Homer, Alaska to visit with the church at which we led a sojourn last year.  It was great to see our brothers and sisters there again.

Then, that evening after Sunday night services we drove to Seward were we are spending this week seeing the sights and MY, OH MY how many sights there are to see here.  More about that in our next post.