Matt and I started on our trip to visit some of the cities to the north of Alaska. These are the places we went this past two weeks: Eklutna, Palmer, Wasilla, Talkeetna, Fairbanks, Cheena Hot Springs, Denali National Park.
During the first part of our trip we drove from Anchorage to Eklutna, then to Palmer and over Hatcher Pass back to Wasilla.
Just about 25 miles north of Anchorage lies the oldest native village in the Anchorage area: Eklutna. The inhabitants of the Dena'ina Athabascan village settled in the area over 800 years ago and the Russian Orthodox missionaries didn't arrive until the 1840's. There is a Russian Orthodox church in the village and many of the customs reflect that influence. The graveyard is especially interesting as the families will create a wooden building to house the departed's soul. The Athabascans put their own spin on the tradition by including blankets to make the spirit comfortable and other subtle changes.
This is the inside of the new Russian Orthodox church which still holds a service for the people of the village.
We found it really interesting that the religious pictures contained images of the native people in their tradtional native clothing.
We ate our lunch at Eklutna Lake nearby.
We passed through Palmer in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley (Mat-su Valley). This area is known for its gigantic vegetables which they show off at the state fair in August. Palmer farmers holds the world record for a 42 lb beet, 39 lb broccoli, 64 lb cantaloupe, 19 lb carrot, 63 lb celery, 105 lb kale, and 25 lb mushroom just to name a few.
We went by a musk ox farm, and though we didn't pay to see the animals, we did go into the gift shop to look at the qiviut products. Qiviut is the wool of the musk ox, stronger and 8 times warmer than sheep's wool and softer and finer than cashmere. It is extremely expensive- around $300 a pound. But sorry mom, it doesn't felt.
After that we went up to Independence Mine- a once booming gold mine built in the early 1900's but now a deserted ghost town.
Just about 25 miles north of Anchorage lies the oldest native village in the Anchorage area: Eklutna. The inhabitants of the Dena'ina Athabascan village settled in the area over 800 years ago and the Russian Orthodox missionaries didn't arrive until the 1840's. There is a Russian Orthodox church in the village and many of the customs reflect that influence. The graveyard is especially interesting as the families will create a wooden building to house the departed's soul. The Athabascans put their own spin on the tradition by including blankets to make the spirit comfortable and other subtle changes.
We drove over Hatcher Pass from Palmer to the Parks Highway in Willow, which is about 49 miles and the views were amazing. The only thing is that about 20 miles of the road is composed of dirt covered in potholes. They call it washboarding when you drive over it because it is so bumpy. You end up driving 30 mph max.
We drove back down to Wasilla, ate at a Chili's, and stayed at a campground nearby. Here are a couple more cool mushrooms we saw at the campground.
Yes. We did dissect this fish. The egg sacs are huge! The gills are on the left, the heart below it. The esophagus is attached to the stomach, the small intestines are those strings, and the liver is next to the small intestines.
We've seen a bunch of moose, they're like deer up here, but huge! A mom and her baby walked through the backyard at the kenai house right next to the window. She was the size of a large horse.
This boat is parked on the beach behind the kenai house. Behind it you can see Mt. Redoubt- a volcano which erupted last year.
More pretty views driving home to Anchorage.
