Greetings from a very wet & rainy Willow, Alaska. In spite of the inclement weather, we just enjoyed another of our weekly dinners with Lauren & Suzanne Yoder. Seems as if this wonderful little tradition may come to an end since we most certainly will be heading out of here next Tuesday. We will miss them. They have been fun to know.
Making an unscheduled run to Wasilla to look for a water pump for our little camper (it burned out), we stopped by Karen Lynn's home, to find them not there, but instead seeing this uninvited moose chomping on her flowers.
Monday we had to process the twelve sockeye salmon we brought home from Valdez on Sunday. We borrowed a pressure canner from Vic (State Park ranger), and he helped us set up a rig outside. I am sharing with Chris the responsibilities of babysitting the canner.
Some of the canned salmon. If we ever return to Valdez to fish, we will have a canner with us. Since we were only allowed to have 2 days fish in possession we had to leave; but if we processed what we had, we could have continued to fish. Oh, well....live and learn.
Making an unscheduled run to Wasilla to look for a water pump for our little camper (it burned out), we stopped by Karen Lynn's home, to find them not there, but instead seeing this uninvited moose chomping on her flowers.
Monday we had to process the twelve sockeye salmon we brought home from Valdez on Sunday. We borrowed a pressure canner from Vic (State Park ranger), and he helped us set up a rig outside. I am sharing with Chris the responsibilities of babysitting the canner.
Some of the canned salmon. If we ever return to Valdez to fish, we will have a canner with us. Since we were only allowed to have 2 days fish in possession we had to leave; but if we processed what we had, we could have continued to fish. Oh, well....live and learn.On Sunday we had a side trip to visit Chitina. This is the restored hotel in Chitina (pronounced Chit na.....that second "i" is not pronounced). It is 33 miles off of the Richardson Hwy, which runs from Fairbanks to Valdez. It grew up, 100 yrs ago, as a support town for the Kennicott copper mine, about 50 miles further east into the Wrangel Mountains. 
Last time we were here, I looked at the hotel rooms upstairs. They are so genuinely rustic and a real step back in time.
This time we had lunch here. We talked a lot with this gentleman from LA at the next table, so we decided to sit together. Stephen got divorced in June, 2009, and has been traveling around the country ever since. He is a college professor in kinetic sculpture and architecture. Had a most enjoyable luncheon conversation.
The lobby of the hotel.
The bar.
This is fox tail, a weed in Chitina. It is a fescue type. Like there are hundreds of different types. It's pretty.
This was the view across the street from the hotel. I do believe that those cars are 75 years or so old! Look close; they've got to be 1920's or 1930's cars. I'm sure somebody in Auburn, IN would love to restore one of them....
This is a butterfly that we saw at Nancy Lake. It's a swallow tail butterfly. Fancy I actually remembered that name.
Last time we were here, I looked at the hotel rooms upstairs. They are so genuinely rustic and a real step back in time.
This time we had lunch here. We talked a lot with this gentleman from LA at the next table, so we decided to sit together. Stephen got divorced in June, 2009, and has been traveling around the country ever since. He is a college professor in kinetic sculpture and architecture. Had a most enjoyable luncheon conversation.
The lobby of the hotel.
The bar.
This is fox tail, a weed in Chitina. It is a fescue type. Like there are hundreds of different types. It's pretty.
This was the view across the street from the hotel. I do believe that those cars are 75 years or so old! Look close; they've got to be 1920's or 1930's cars. I'm sure somebody in Auburn, IN would love to restore one of them....
This is a butterfly that we saw at Nancy Lake. It's a swallow tail butterfly. Fancy I actually remembered that name.Tomorrow we hope to go back to Willow Creek and Chris will do some fishing. Lets see how the liquid sunshine is, though
Until we "connect" again....
I have enjoyed reading your blog as my sons and I are camping in Alaska during Aug,/Sept. We are renting a RV in Anchorage and will be visiting quite a few of the places you have. I have made camping reservations in Denali but hopefully will be lucky the rest of the trip. Any suggestion for camping for the State Fair one night? Thanks for sharing your adventures.
ReplyDeleteJenny
love the butterfly picture, beautiful!
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