Posts in the “alaska” category

The postal code in Stewart, British Columbia, is “VOT 1WO,” which the locals tell me stands for Very Old Town, One Way Out.

While almost all of the other sled dogs are sleeping, this one doesn’t seem to want to sleep. Photo from this Twitter page.

The “Nome National Forest.” The Iditarod race ends in Nome, Alaska, somewhere near here.

If you didn’t realize it, this is actually a joke. What you’re seeing is a bunch of Christmas trees shoved into the snow on top of some sea ice.

The image comes from this Twitter page.

This photo of two black dogs comes from the Iditarod Trail Committee Facebook page.

A black dog on the couch in the bar of the Latitude 62, Talkeetna, Alaska.

An “I Voted” sticker in the Koyukon-Athabaskan (native Alaskan) language. (I don’t know the original source of this image.)

This is a summer view of the rivers in Talkeetna, Alaska from the railway bridge. The town of Talkeetna is to the left in this view, as is the Talkeetna beach area. The bridge is over the Talkeetna River, and the much larger Susitna River is crossing from right to left in front of me.

Keep right ... if you can. Deep snow on the drive to Seward, Alaska, March, 2010.

Meanwhile in Fairbanks, Alaska, it’s -26 degrees this morning with a heat index that’s also at -26. There will be lots of sunshine today, with a high of -6. The Sun rises at 8:04am, and sets at 6:03pm. This image is from the Fairbanks, Alaska Arctic Cam, a product of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner newspaper.

The solitude of hiking in Alaska. This photo was taken in the Kenai Peninsula, near Seward.

This is a photo of a day tour boat in Resurrection Bay, Seward, Alaska

Once upon a time I came across same killer whales (orcas) in Alaska, off the coast of Seward.

I’m not sure what the proper term is for this effect, but there is (was) a glacier on the other side of this mountain in Seward, Alaska, and the resulting “cloud” came pouring in over the mountaintop one day when I was there.

The sign pretty much says it all: Cheap beer, lousy food. This sign is from a restaurant in Seward, Alaska.

February 24, 2020: Per the Anchorage Daily News, Donald Trump, Jr. has a license to kill grizzly bears in northern Alaska.

The Flying Squirrel Bakery/Cafe in Talkeetna, Alaska opened right before I moved away from Talkeetna. I used to go there for a cup of coffee while I was writing, and they also served some excellent brick oven pizza. It’s one of the rare restaurants that isn’t in the downtown Talkeetna area. If you’re leaving town, it’s a few miles down the road on your left hand side.

Photos of mom and cub polar bears. I hoped O’Reilly would use these for the cover of the Scala Cookbook — because of the whole “scalable” thing, and to help raise awareness about climate change — but whoever puts images on their book covers had something else in mind.

Back in July, 2017, a bear walked into a liquor store in Juneau, Alaska. On the video it seems to be trying to decide which candy bar it wants.

Here’s another view of Denali from the rivers in Talkeetna in mid-September. As I always add, Denali is at least 60-70 miles away in this photo.

When I lived in Alaska I was told that you can only see Denali one day out of every eight, so visitors only have ~12.5% chance of seeing it. I was fortunate to live there and see it many times.

(Not to be doubly morbid this morning, but that’s the river I’d like my ashes thrown into.)

Never stayed in a roadhouse before, pretty interesting. You can walk in off the street and buy a shower for $4. Setup is communal, like a hostel.

(a diary note from my first stay at the Talkeetna Roadhouse, October 21, 2010)