Posts in the “alaska” category

The local parks people have created the best outdoor ice skating arena I’ve ever seen here on Wasilla Lake, night lights and all.

~ a note from December 11, 2010

Many moons ago, I took a very long vacation and spent a lot of time driving around Alaska and Canada. When I stopped at a restaurant in a small town in Canada, I learned this story about Robin Williams and the move, Insomnia. (See my website, One Man’s Alaska, for more stories.)

So a cat in the state of Washington walks into a shipping container ..... then 2,500 miles and a week later, it shows up at a Home Depot in Kenai, Alaska. And thanks to social media, the owners were found and the cat got a free flight home.

The story is here at adn.com.

“Fainting does feel as if I’m practicing dying. Already I know how abruptly the world withdraws even as people call out your name, how darkness and confusion shutter your vision and bewildering images crowd your brainpan, how you cannot simply will yourself to return once you’ve entered that shadowy place.”

From this story about Sherry Simpson, “brilliant writer, beloved friend and mentor to a whole generation of Alaska writers, passed away unexpectedly earlier this month after a brief illness.”

If you’re going to have an obituary, “She changed my life” is a darned good one.

Here’s what the 10 a.m. sunrise looks like in Anchorage, Alaska on October 27th.

(While that picture is too dark to tell exactly where I was, I was at one of the two main hospitals in Anchorage that day for a medical procedure.)

I have to agree, a drive-in movie theater is one of the last things I’d expect to find in Alaska.

This is a view of the Independence Mine area in Hatcher Pass, Alaska, from October, 2010.

Hatcher Pass, Alaska, October 20, 2010.

This may look like a bad roller coaster ride, but it’s part of the Independence Mine in Hatcher Pass, Alaska. It operated as early as 1897, but was used more in the early-to-mid 1900s.

Per this tweet, Anchorage, Alaska has had 110 thunderstorms in 105 years.

Enjoyed Cowboys and Aliens at Wasilla’s fancy new stadium seating movie theater. How strange to walk out of a theater and into a valley of fireweed surrounded by misty mountains.

(A Facebook post from Wasilla, Alaska, August 9, 2011.)

Every spring I think about moving back to Talkeetna, Alaska, and I just ran across this old photo of my car in front of the cabin I lived in.

What did the porcupine cross the road? I have no idea, but this photo is from the Anchorage Daily News Twitter feed.

I've lived in a lot of places in my life, some good, some bad. This is the rental unit I lived at in Palmer, Alaska, courtesy of Google Maps.

Generally this was a good place. My favorite part was that I could jump on my bicycle and go on a 20-mile bike ride without every having to be near a busy street.

When I lived in Palmer, Alaska I used to write my bicycle quite a bit, and I came across several different churches. This is a photo of the Missionary Baptist church in Palmer.

This is a simulated oil painting I created from a photo I took in Alaska. I don’t remember the exact location, but it’s on the road to Talkeetna, probably between Willow and Talkeetna.

If you ever watched the tv show Northern Exposure, you might find this funny. It’s from the episode where Chris faces an extradition trial, and Mike uses an “identity” defense (“This Chris Stevens is not the same Christ Stevens that left West Virginia ...”).

NX was the first show I can recall that got me interested in Alaska, and philosophy.

I always wondered if this ever happened: Three people were injured when a whale collided with a boat (or vice-versa) in the waters just north of Juneau, Alaska.

My favorite line from this “Bear Safety” sign in Alaska:

“Play dead unless it starts to eat you, then fight back.”

A favorite sign in Alaska. Anchorage to the right, Fairbanks to the left. Keep it simple.