A Day in the Sun

On my drive into Anchorage yesterday, I pulled off the highway next to this sheer rock wall, a wall made by men drilling deep holes into the mountain side, powder monkeys inserting dynamite, and front end loaders clearing the resulting debris.

I stepped out of my truck, the highway and rock wall on one side, Turnagain Arm on the other.  The tide was going out, and the mass of floating ice so large in relation to me and the truck, my internal gyroscope was thrown off balance.

I haven't had much luck uploading videos to this blog, but let's try this one.  These tides move up to 15 mph, and at more than 30 feet, are some of the largest in the world.  You might want to put a seat belt on your chair before you watch this.

But, this was my destination, a piece of two inch ABS plastic sticking out of the mountain.

And I filled a water bottle with clear, cold, pure mountain water.  I frequently see people stopped here, loading five gallon jugs with this delicious water.

Several hours later on the drive home, I was treated to scenes like this, at ebb tide.

At Alaska's largest ski area, Mt. Alyeska, the spring skiing must have been phenomenal.   While it doesn't have the large area of Rocky Mountain resorts, it does have 1500 acres of skiable terrain, most of which is above tree line.  It has has nine lifts, (one is a tram) an average of 650 inches of snowfall that lasts into May, and 73 named trails, one of which is a mile long.

   The resort is at 250 feet above sea level, which is Turnagain Arm, and has 2500 of vertical drop from the highest point of skiable terrain.  Imagine skiing in a place where you have views of more than seven glaciers and the salt water of Turnagain Arm.

If you click on the photo, and then click again to enlarge it to full screen, you will see the buildings  at the top of the tram, various lifts, and some skiers.  Notice the uncrowded slopes.  This is what skiers from around the world rave about. 

Once I got into the mountains, at 1000 ft. elevation and climbing, I had views like this one in the side mirror.

When I reached home, Bob the Roto Rooter guy and his son had just finished thawing out my septic line again.

 

  Then, as I worked in my loft this morning, the sun climbed high enough to clear the mountain ridge in the south, through another slot, and the sun blasted into my loft.   Pablo Parrot promptly began stretching his wings and preening.

What that means is that the sun is now starting to hit the area where my septic leach field is, and that old sun has some warmth in it.  Someday, someday, someday that underground line to the leach field will thaw out and I won't have to go out and pump the tank contents up into the leach field.

Like I must do right now....

Sunshine in the loft.

And now I must go outside and play in   pump out the septic tank before it gets dark.  If you want some entertainment, my Zen-ing Out is posed at the Elder Storytelling Place today.  There's a link over there on the right in that list of blogs.