Our Alaskan Adventure

Here we are in Alaska trying to figure out how to leave our home for the next few months and stay up here while my husband is working.  T and I are headed home tomorrow, but we'll be back soon.

Alaska is gorgeous.  We went north on the highway a bit and discovered that they have crazy-beautiful parks right along the highway.  Stranger still is that it seems as though everyone drives the speed limit!

We've seen moose on the side of the road and pet moose at a reindeer farm.  We learned that caribou and reindeer are basically the same creatures; one's just domesticated (like horse v. mustang, I guess).  Did you know that the males, females, and babies all grow antlers during the summer?  The only thing that grows faster is bamboo.  The antlers have a blood supply so it's a way for them to cool down in the summer.

We also went to a musk ox farm.  Musk ox are like prehistoric goats.  They comb them once a year to get their qiviut.  The wool/hair gets spun and then sent is to the Oomingmak Knitters Coop which knit these freakishly warm scarves, hats, smoke rings (nachaqs), and if you are really feeling wealthy, a blanket (it costs $10,000 to commission!).

We've been to Earthquake Park and Kincaid Park (where we saw the moose).  Earthquake Park is where the Good Friday earthquake of 1964 is commemorated.  Hello... a magnitude 9.2 earthquake!!!  Freaky stuff for someone like me who does not care one bit for the earth moving.

I'm certain I'd never tire of the scenery here.  T and I are plotting our return!!