ALASKA — It’s been sitting there for 4,000 years or so, since the last Ice Age. It doesn’t move, except for a jiggle here and there from the 800 or so earthquakes there are in Alaska every year. At 20,320 feet, it is the highest mountain in North America. Yet Mount McKinley is treated as… Continue reading McKinley: The Mountain Comes Out
Category: Stories
Moose Overboard in Alaska Waters
ON THE CORAL PRINCESS — Her name is Boujke Bijlsma and one morning at 6 a.m. she was sitting in her office on the Coral Princess. She looked out the window onto the waters of Alaska and there, swimming furiously, was a moose. She watched for a few seconds, then turned back to her deskwork.… Continue reading Moose Overboard in Alaska Waters
Going to the Dogs of the Iditarod
TALKEETNA, Alaska — Until now, Iditarod was a word that we always found difficult to spell and harder to say, but that was before we had a hand in training the dogs that run 1,049 miles in temperatures of minus 60 degrees. Yes, indeed, better them than us. So when the first Sunday in March… Continue reading Going to the Dogs of the Iditarod
Alaska's Memorable First Glacier
KENAI FJORDS, Alaska — It was our first time. Never before had we seen a glacier. All that you need to know about it is that we took 202 pictures. Okay, maybe they weren’t ALL of the glacier and, yes, there are other firsts in our lives that fortunately weren’t recorded by 202 photos. Or… Continue reading Alaska's Memorable First Glacier
Alaskan Wildlife Sanctuary a Hit
KENAI, Alaska — The three bears, said the young man from the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, are called Hugo, JB and Petrone. In a strange quirk of giving bears names, Hugo is female while JB and Petrone are male. Their names do indeed have something to do with alcoholic beverages. And why is a female… Continue reading Alaskan Wildlife Sanctuary a Hit