Monday, March 26, 2018

Afternoon Trip To Alaska

I picked up my car Friday from the repair place, but they hadn't quite figured out the problem, but it did need to be driven, so if I took it for the weekend and drove it, that would help them.  I'd taken it in Wednesday evening and they were supposed to fix it Thursday. The key issue was that the yellow trouble light was on.  But Thursday is when the truck hit the bridge near Eagle River and shut down the Glenn Highway.  And the mechanic assigned to my car was stuck in the giant traffic jam.  Or so they told me.  No problem, I don't use the car much anyway.

An old gag about Anchorage is that "it's alone about 20 minutes from Alaska."  So, since the car needed to be driven, I wanted to head down the Seward Highway, maybe even take a short hike if the snow and ice weren't too bad.

The trail turned out to be mostly ice at the steepest part - just past the bridge - and even though we had grippers and poles, we decided it wasn't worth it.  Our grippers work fine on flat ground, but not up a steep incline.  But here are some pictures.



Turnagain Arm from McHugh Creek.














Here's a closer picture of the ice floating on the tide.






Here's McHugh Creek from the bridge just before the icy incline.  



















And here are those icicles closer up.





















Another part of the creek.












And the moon was out too.



Oh yeah, the yellow trouble light went back on in the van.  Who knows when they're going to figure out what's setting it off.

8 comments:

  1. Service engine soon light is on in my Jeep and has been for a couple years. My elderly neighbor's 2002 Chevy truck has its SES light on for the past 5 or 6 years. Nice pics and,btw, we have more snow than you as of this very minute. Asparagus should be about ready to come up and it is nearly time to plant spuds and onions. Seed potatoes are yet to be delivered.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Mike. I do understand that the trouble the light indicates is that the trouble light is lighting inappropriately. But it could be more and the car needs a check up before summer.

      About the snow, I suspect that you'll get into the 60s or 70s shortly and it will all disappear. We've got at least a month before it's all gone.
      Do you have a big garden or an actual farm?

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  2. Beautiful shots!
    I love this time of year -- the break up, I call it, when the ground seems to rise up out of the snow. I am in Ottawa, Ontario and it's surprising how similar our winter weather effects are. Still snow here, too.

    My husband John Benn (who is an en plein air (oils) landscape painter -- out in all seasons and weather) calls it the "Pinto Pony" time and he is painting it daily.

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    1. Thanks, Barbara, the pics really don't do justice to the real thing though. I'm imagining John all wrapped up outside painting. When are you bringing him up here to paint?

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    2. He's happy with a few spots 1/2 hour from home (in Ottawa) -- he spent the first 2 years (of 10) in the woods 1/4 mile from our condo. He painted what he saw in a rich spot of only an acre. He can spend 2 weeks in one spot, moving his easel slightly. Every day is different.

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  3. Hi,Steve,
    Your pics are really beautiful,amazing!
    Actually, weather in Beijing today is very terrible. I can't take breath freely and smoothly all the day. It is so sore in my throat.
    Last week, I left comments to your blog about student walkout. But it seemed not work. So I try again this time.:)

    Best,

    Ben

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    Replies
    1. thanks Ben, good to hear from you. I don't know what happened to your earlier comment. There's nothing in the spam file. Sorry about the bad air. It sounds much worse than when we were there. It's clean here. Did you get to meet Kim Jung Un when he was in Beijing?

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  4. Actually, I cannot find time to meet Mr Kim this week.:) You know, I am always very busy in daily routine work, hustle and bustle.
    But it seems that things about east-Asia is going to change toward positive direction. I hope that will be much better when Trump and Kim hold meeting in May.

    ReplyDelete

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