Well we had a very busy week. Rebekah started her new job last Monday, helping kids with problems. She likes it so far and it pays well so it seems like it will be a good summer job that she will enjoy.
On Tuesday after work we went ice skating. But it was still indoor, just like we would do back home. Once winter comes back along we can skate on some of the nearby lakes. Neither of us had skated for a long time, so it was a little rocky but after a while we were moving around pretty well. We had a little competition seeing who would fall the most times and it ended in a tie at 4 a piece (although most of the times Rebekah fell she was standing still).
Later in the week we went to the Ulu Factory (#7) and bought are very own Alaskan Ulu (#8). Ulu's are an old type of knife that has been used by natives in Alaska for thousands of years. They are supposed to be easy to use and very effective so we bought one to try out. As you can see the are a wide, curved blade that you rock back and forth to cut. And it comes with a matching rounded cutting board to help utilize the shape. If anyone is interested they do ship them all over the world.
On Saturday we went North into the Matsu Valley and drove out along the Glenn Highway.
The highway follows the Knik River for almost it's entire length and is a gorgeous drive.
There are plenty of places to pull off and take pictures...
...and I think we used just about every one of them.
It made the drive a little longer but it was definitely worth it.
After a couple of hours we finally began to see our destination in the distance: the Matanuska Glacier (new entry, #87) (pictured above) (and below too). It, according to the website, is the largest glacier accessible by car in Alaska.
The access to the glacier is commercially owned, so we paid $15 each and then we got to hike up close to the glacier. Since glaciers melt (glacial runoff which leads to most of the rivers in Alaska) and they push silt forward in front of them, the hike up to the beginning of the glacier was very, very muddy.
Luckily, it was nice once we got up there. And there were some other people up there so we were able to get them to take our picture on the glacier itself.
Glacial ice appears to be blue. This is because it is so compact and it absorbs every light in the spectrum except blue.
It was a lot of fun and we got to walk on our first glacier! Definitely worth the $15.
One the way back to Anchorage we stopped at Mirror Lake (#31), which is just North of Eagle River, which is just North of Anchorage. It was a nice park area with lawns and a couple of beach volleyball courts. You can see in the picture above where the lake gets it's name. It looks like a nice place to sit and relax on a sunny summer day so we will probably be going back soon.
Well this coming weekend I am headed back to Atlanta for my friend's wedding so there will be no new traveling, but the weekend after that is Memorial Day which gives us 3 full days for adventures.
And remember...we like comments!
Steven
The highway follows the Knik River for almost it's entire length and is a gorgeous drive.
There are plenty of places to pull off and take pictures...
...and I think we used just about every one of them.
It made the drive a little longer but it was definitely worth it.
After a couple of hours we finally began to see our destination in the distance: the Matanuska Glacier (new entry, #87) (pictured above) (and below too). It, according to the website, is the largest glacier accessible by car in Alaska.
The access to the glacier is commercially owned, so we paid $15 each and then we got to hike up close to the glacier. Since glaciers melt (glacial runoff which leads to most of the rivers in Alaska) and they push silt forward in front of them, the hike up to the beginning of the glacier was very, very muddy.
Luckily, it was nice once we got up there. And there were some other people up there so we were able to get them to take our picture on the glacier itself.
Glacial ice appears to be blue. This is because it is so compact and it absorbs every light in the spectrum except blue.
It was a lot of fun and we got to walk on our first glacier! Definitely worth the $15.
One the way back to Anchorage we stopped at Mirror Lake (#31), which is just North of Eagle River, which is just North of Anchorage. It was a nice park area with lawns and a couple of beach volleyball courts. You can see in the picture above where the lake gets it's name. It looks like a nice place to sit and relax on a sunny summer day so we will probably be going back soon.
Well this coming weekend I am headed back to Atlanta for my friend's wedding so there will be no new traveling, but the weekend after that is Memorial Day which gives us 3 full days for adventures.
And remember...we like comments!
Steven
