I Survived an Earthquake in Alaska

Yes, back in 1964 many people survived one of the worst earthquakes in American history. It killed over 100,000 people and I survived it. Whew. Good thing I was living in Chicago at the time. But Kelly did inform me there averages 100 earthquakes a day in AK.

http://www.aeic.alaska.edu/quakes/Alaska_1964_earthquake.html

A.M. DOG TIME

Let's see...what did we do? I took the wild beast out for a walk. I'm kind of getting attached to him. Partly because he has his nose in my butt for extended lengths of time to sniff. He loves to play fetch. I throw the ball...he runs around like an epileptic moose, then...drops the ball far enough away that I am supposed to go get it. This game doesn't last very long.

KELLY'S OFFICE TRIP

Kelly took me and Jesikah to his office area. I was not allowed to take any pictures because it is a guarded facility and the "control center" for emergency planning. It looked like a basement at the YMCA until we got into the actual command center. The technology and amount of people that are in there is pretty impressive. I can't say too much of what is in there. Kelly is a planner. He looks at the event and calculates, then reports that to his higher authority.

TO MARKET TO MARKET:

The kids took me to a local market the other day...(I feel like I've been here a week already, because it never gets dark. You go to bed at 11 p.m and it's still light out. The sun never really sets. When it is down, it is on it's way back up again. So, there really isn't a night experience.) and that was fun.

There were wares from artists, cooks, and locals which they call natives. Photographs of nature, teas, spices, knick knacks (many from the Providence of China), and furs. Lots of furs. More tails than...well, I can't say what I'm thinking on that one. But lots of tails, hats, scarves, and more made of fur. Even fur underwear. Makes me think also of all the animals that are slaughtered for useless purposes.

There was even a ride that brought back memories. I really wanted to get on, but was over the height limit.

We then took a walk to the downtown area. There are three parts of town. The downtown (touristy), mid town (normal), and I'm not sure what they call the last part. It didn't get a name.

Here we sighted two bears. Of course I was fortunate enough to get pictures with them.

From left to right: David, Bear, Kelly

From left to right: Bear, Kelly, Jesikah, people walking

We went to the Alaska tourism building which was very nice. They had a very interesting exhibit showing the wildlife from that area. I made my first purchase.

Since I was a bit tired still from my trip, and not being used to the continual sunlight, we headed back home. There I took my old man nap while Jesikah made a nice dinner. Well, a golden dinner. I didn't realize food was so expensive here. A pineapple goes for $8 regularly and on sale for $5. Lemons are .89 a piece. Chicken...forget it....it was almost double what we pay back home. The food looked better than I have seen in a restaurant. She is a very good culinary chef. (Part of her training)

Chicken breast, avocado, mango, tomato's on a bed of spinach. All covered in a light, tangy - fruity tasty juice. This is real food!