Cold Feet, Warm Hearts: September 2012

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Alaska State Fair

Two years ago, Brent and Jacob went to the Alaska State Fair while I was visiting my dad in California. Since Elise and I had not experienced the Alaska State Fair, we decided to spend a Saturday at the fair during Elise's visit.

It was fun to see all of the vegetables and produce. There were some giant cabbages!

The flowers were beautiful.

We decided that some of the mums looked like flowers from a Dr. Seuss story.

There was lots of livestock.

Some baby goats were resting with their mother.

The baby chicks were a big hit with all of the children.

Even Jacob enjoyed the chicks.

The purple feathers on this duck looked like a hat!

I loved the silver feathers on this hen.

The lumber jack contest was probably our favorite event.

I'm not sure how they kept their balance on those rolling logs.

They didn't always stay balanced because they both ended up getting wet.

These lumberjacks could climb a pole in record time.

They had all kinds of contests and demonstrations.

These young men really put on an entertaining show.

We stopped by the handicraft area and watched some ladies spin yarn and make lace.

The handmade lace was just beautiful.

Alaskans love their Fair and talk about it all year.

I'm glad Elise and Caden were able to join us.

We all left with a big smile on our faces.

Friday, September 28, 2012

Alaska Native Heritage Center

Ever since we moved to Alaska, we have wanted to go to the Alaska Native Heritage Center, but we have never gone. While Elise was visiting, we finally decided to go.

This center has information about many of the native Alaskan tribes.

We enjoyed watching some of the natives perform traditional dances.

The tribes often had multi-generational families so the houses were a good size.

One of the houses had a tunnel that led to another entrance.

Jacob was brave enough to go through the tunnel.

Elise joined him in the tunnel.

There they are existing the tunnel.

Here is another living structure.

Caden liked touching the soft fur. Animals were used for food and also warm clothing.

Each of the dwellings had objects that were common to that tribe.

The natives made good use of the space they had. This dwelling had their canoe tied to the ceiling.

Some of the native tribes made totem poles.

Outside there was a meeting place for the tribe.

In school, Jacob has been learning about the history of Alaska and about the various native tribes. It was fun for him to see some of their artifacts and dwellings.

We also stopped at the Wells Fargo Bank downtown which has another small museum of Alaska native artifacts.

There were small bins with native toys, furs, and small items that Caden had fun playing with.

All of us had fun learning more about the native Alaskans and their culture.

Friday, September 21, 2012

More Fun with Elise

One of the first things you learn about summer in Alaska is when the weather is nice, you go outside and enjoy it. There are plenty of rainy summer days when you want to stay indoors.

On sunny days, Elise and I enjoyed driving to several spots along the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. This is a fun trail to hike or bike on. The trail is 11 miles long and goes through wooded areas and along rivers and marshes along the Cook Inlet coast. The trail is only for bikers and walkers, but you can drive to various parks which are along the trail.

One of the fun things on the Coastal Trail is the "Planet Walk" which is a scale model of the solar system. There are signs along the trail telling about each of the planets. The Planet Walk is scaled at light speed, which means that each step you take is equal to the distance light travels in one second. Just as it takes eight minutes for light to reach Earth from the Sun, it should take eight minutes for a Planet Walker to reach the model Earth from the model Sun.The model Jupiter was at one of the parks we stopped at along the trail.

At one of the parks, we went for a short walk along the trail.

Earthquake Park is along the Coastal Trail.

This park has information and pictures about the 1964 Alaska earthquake. This 9.2 earthquake (which lasted 4 minutes) is the largest recorded earthquake in North America.

It was informative to read about the earthquake, but I'm glad I didn't live here then.

We also drove to Goose Lake. People in Anchorage love to go to the "beach" at Goose Lake. It is only because they don't know what a REAL beach is.
(Goose Lake beach has lots of dirt mixed with some sand.)

One day while Jacob was in school, we took a drive down to Girdwood where the premier

Alyeska ski resort is located. The drive down along the Cook Inlet was beautiful!

Although we had lots of beautiful sunny days while Elise was here, there were also some rainy days. On those days we did indoor activities or went shopping. We went to the Dimond Mall. (Yes, Dimond is spelled correctly. It is named after someone with that last name.) In part of the mall there are Alaskan animals.

Caden was fascinated with the big bear and moose.

Elise and I also took the opportunity to go to the temple while Brent watched Caden.

Whether we were indoors or outdoors, we did lots of fun things together.