alaska

I missed this yesterday, but a "light" earthquake hit Southcentral Alaska, including Anchorage yesterday. Before my interest in Alaska was piqued several years ago I had no idea Alaska had this sort of seismic and volcanic activity.

As I read a story about Lance Armstrong working on his comeback in Italy this morning, I'm reminded of the bicycle riders I used to see in Alaska and Canada. Back in May of 2007 I'd be driving down some rural road, see a couple of bike riders, wave as I passed them by, and then anywhere between 1-5 minutes later I'd see a bear on the side of the road. I always wondered what became of those bike riders? Did they really become "Meals on wheels" for the bears, or did they just wave and ride on by?

I've been reading the news stories about Mount Redoubt the last few days, and it looks like it really is an active volcano, and may soon kick out some lava and ashes. One of the pictures I've attached below has the phrase "fire and ice", and all I can say is no kidding, an active volcano in the middle of winter -- how cool is that?

I don't know too much about Mt. Redoubt yet, but I'll share what I do know. I've been to Homer several times, and these pictures were taken from Highway 1 (the Sterling Highway), somewhere between Ninilchik and Anchor Point, Alaska, looking across the Cook Inlet at both Mt. Redoubt and Mt. Iliamma. Without any further ado, here are several pictures of Mt. Redoubt and Mt. Iliamma, along with pictures of two road signs that give nice descriptions and history of the mountains and wildlife in this area.

Lately I've been reading a wonderful book about small-town Alaska named If You Lived Here I'd Know Your Name, by Heather Lende. Ms. Lende has been a contributor to the Christian Science Monitor and NPR's Morning Edition, and she lives in Haines, Alaska. At the beginning of the book she writes about life and death in Alaska, and one of my favorite quotes comes from this section of the book, where a woman discusses the events following the death of her father:

"In the Lower 48, for thousands of dollars strangers will take over and do everything for you, in the mistaken assumption they are helping. It was so much easier for me to work through the grieving process when I had an active role in the preparations for the burial."

Here are a few pictures I took while on the mountain road around Hyder, Alaska. I took these pictures for some third-grade students in Kentucky after they sent me this stuffed animal they named "Brownie".

Brownie actually made the trip more fun. A lot of times I would think "Oh, I don't feel like stopping, I just want to keep driving", and then I would think about Brownie and the kids, so I'd pull over and take a few pictures. This always ended up being a good thing.

So, for the kids out there, here's Brownie with the scary mountain road behind him:

I think it's pretty darned funny, the first time I came to Stewart, British Columbia, and Hyder, Alaska, I was pretty badly freaked out, lost, and running out of gas. I was cruising down a mountain with my car in neutral, essentially praying there was going to be a town and a gas station at the bottom of the mountain. For all I knew I was about to be starring in the remake of Deliverance.

Here are two short videos from today's trip in Hyder, Alaska. This first one shows some of the snow from the road, and gives an idea of the steep cliff off the side of the road. Trust me, you want to stay on the road.

Steep cliff off the side of the road in Hyder