Friday, June 12, 2009

A brief catch up

So I have returned to Juneau. I got back into Juneau on Thursday, May 9. We left Tok after I finished the dinner shift on Monday night. We got out of there at about 9:30 and drove the almost 3 hour drive back to Fairbanks and then hopped on a plane the next morning - we ate at Denny's before getting on the plane and just to let you know it is the northern most Denny's, yup, I feel special. Along our drive to Fairbanks we stopped and took pictures of the Alaskan Pipe Line, the Knotty Shop (it's a wood shop), and Santa Claus's House. It was a fun drive and it was very pretty. We only saw one little moose that was probably about a year old but the picture didn't turn out too good.
Alaskan Pipe Line

An elk that is made at the Knotty shop
The North Pole Marker - sidenote: this picture was taken after midnight in Anchorage

Santa's House

While we were in Tok, we also stopped at Mukluk Land, which we thought was some sort of small amusement park or something. Come to find out we were VERY wrong. It turned out that it's a museum of all of the crap some old guy and his wife have collected and they charge people to go in and look at all of their crap. It was interesting to see some of the old stuff but it's a good thing that I only paid 2 bucks to get in! We did get to play some skeeball and that was pretty fun! :) We also took a little drive on the Taylor Highway, which happens to be considered the most scenic highway in the northwest, to a very small community called Chicken. A whopping 6 people live there in the winter and 30 people in summer. Here's a picture of downtown Chicken and I'm dead serious... this is ALL that is in the this town. It was a fun, beautiful drive.


Mukluk Land Entrance

This a a room full of dolls that is on display at Mukluk land 0f kinda creepy!


Downtown Chicken - yes that's all folks!


When I got home Brett and I went for a walk out to the Glacier and the waterfall on Wednesday night. This waterfall is absolutely amazing and mesmerizing if you stare at it for a minute. Here are some pictures of the waterfall and a video to help you understand the sound and power behind this big guy.
Mendenhall Glacier (waterfall on right)

Waterfall with Glacier in the background

Brett mesmerized by the waterfall

We also went for a hike on Thursday night to the Treadwell Mine area (click on the link for more info on the mine)f. At one point in time the Treadwell was the biggest gold mines in the world. It used to cover a huge area of Douglass Island but when the mine closed down in 1922 they ripped everything down and there is hardly anything left. They cleared nearly the whole forest while the mine is in operation but since it closed and all of the buildings are gone the forest has regrown and it doesn't even look like the same place. It was a very neat hike, i'll be sure to go back and take pictures when I get my NEW CAMERA!!! (which I have purchased and it should be here sometime next week. YEAH!) For now, to see picture of what the mine looked like click here. Life is back to the normal Juneau lifestyle and the fish are slowly starting to come in so hopefully we'll be getting some fish posts soon!!

4 comments:

Emily M said...

Brooklyn wasn't with me when I looked at this- but I will have to have her see Santa's house. What a fun little adventure you were able to have. I love the town of Chicken- I think we all might want to think about relocating!

Kimberly Nan said...

Your pictures of the glacier and waterfall look great! I really miss Juneau...the glacier was one of my favorite places. And Glacier gardens.

Natalie said...

What an honor to have visited the Mukluk Museum AND to have eaten at the Northernmost Denny's! My mom says she'll only come to Alaska if she can go to Mukluk and see Santa's house.

Mama T said...

Cool stuff. I'm a wee bit jealous you got to go to Chicken. I think I would really enjoy it there. Mukluk looked pretty awesome too.