Mt. Susitna - The Sleeping Lady

April 30, 2009

In my recent homesick blog, when I listed some of the things I like about Alaska, I mentioned that I liked seeing our "Sleeping Lady" across the inlet. As the snow melts, it is more difficult to see her outline but I caught the best picture yet as sunset the other day with my new camera so now is a good time to share the legend with you.

Mt. Susitna, referred to as the Sleeping Lady lies directly across Cook Inlet from Anchorage and is readily visible for miles around. The outline of the mountain looks exactly like a lady lying on her back, covered by a blanket. Here is an abridged version of the story, which has been told by word of mouth since the 1930’s.
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Long ago in Alaska there lived a race of giant people along the shores of Cook Inlet. The land was warm then and fruit trees of every kind covered the land. Wooly mammoths and saber toothed tigers roamed the forests, but they did not hurt the gentle people who lived there, because peace ruled the land.

A young man named Nekatla and a fair maiden named Susitna were very happy as they were soon to be married. Their happiness was marred by news that a fearsome people from the north were ravaging villages and killing people. Nekatla and Susitna lived amongst a peaceful people who had no weapons of war. The village elders did not know how they would protect their people. After much discussion the people decided to follow Nekatla’s plan to meet the fearsome people with gifts, not weapons.

Nekatla and the other men were expected to return quickly so Susitna continued the wedding plans. She went away from the village to gather berries and make baskets for the wedding. As the days came and went there was no word from the men and Susitna grew weary and decided to lay down to rest.

Word soon came to the women of the village that all the men had been killed by the fearsome people. The women went out in search of Susitna and found her sleeping so peacefully they hated to wake her. “Let her rest in peace some more. Why break her heart sooner than we must”, they said. So they wove a blanket of soft grasses and wildflowers and gently laid it across the sleeping Susitna. “May Susitna always dream of her lover”, they said.

That night all warmth and joy left the village. It grew colder and colder. Susitna settled more deeply into sleep. The fruit trees froze and began dying like men in battle. The tears of the villagers gathered into clouds that rose into the air, falling back to earth as Alaska’s first snowfall.
Today, Susitna still sleeps peacefully. You can look across Cook Inlet from Anchorage and see her lying gracefully and peacefully asleep. In the winter she is covered by a lovely blanket of white snow. In the summer, her blanket is soft grasses and wildflowers.

It is said when people of war change their ways, peace will rule the earth. Then Nekatla will return and Susitna, the Sleeping Lady will awaken!

Breakup Is Messy

(In the customary sense and as it refers to Alaska!)

Talkeetna, Alaska April 17-19, 2009

Spring in Alaska is known as “breakup” and Anchorage is both dusty and muddy as a result. Dusty, from the residual sand and gravel that was spread on roads and parking lots all winter, and muddy from all the melting snow that has accumulated in the thousands of pot holes throughout the city.

Muddy water is also very present in the road ridges /channels that have been formed by years of use by cars with studded tires. Rutted Seattle freeways are nothing compared to all the main thoroughfares around here. In fact, the second weekend I was here I crossed a street in a 90 degree fashion and thought I had a flat tire because my car was limping and rolling across a 4-lane street deep with channels created by studded tires.

Okay, back to the subject line discussion… Last weekend, in Talkeetna, I got up close and personal with breakup when the driver side of my car ended up in a ditch (I wish now that I’d taken a picture). In order to reach the B&B I was scheduled to stay I had to drive on an unpaved road that had, I’d say, 4-5 inches of slush and crusty layers of snow on it. While attempting to read a road sign (yes, I had my glasses on!) I ended up with one wheel off the road and the more I tried to bring it back out the further the car kept slipping until the entire driver half of the car was off the road. It was tricky getting out of the seat and climbing uphill inside the car to get out and have a look-see. A very nice lady with a Suburban pulled the car out. I guess there are limitations to how well a rabbit gets around in the snow!

After the car got stuck again, this time on the lengthy unplowed driveway of the B&B, I had a peaceful evening of reading and listening to the neighbor’s sled dogs barking (he's an Iditarod contestant) and doing a little letter and journal writing.

The next morning, because I didn’t want to get stuck in the deep slush again, I checked into a different lodging establishment (I highly recommend it: http://www.susitna-river-lodging.com/) before driving out to Denali. The road that allows private vehicles into the park had opened the previous weekend and when I heard about it, planned this trip. Personal vehicles must turn around at the 13 miles mark and the only wildlife I was able to see inside the park was the Ptarmagin with it's winter white coat still on. I did, though, get some footage of two caribou eating along the side of the road, 50 feet or so from my car.

Other than that, it was a fairly uneventful day but nice. I spend close to seven hours driving but if you know me, you know that I love to drive. It is very relaxing, therapeutic and gives me time to think and plan. An added bonus is now that Bluetooth exists I can talk to myself and anyone seeing it will assume I’m talking on the phone and think nothing of it!


The picture to the left is of the Alaska Range and was taken from a lookout area just before descending into the Talkeetna area.

The other two were are taken from my room. the first is of the frozen Susitna River (see the person on the river? It is a Denali Park shuttle bus driver having a brewski and playing his guitar and singing) the second is, what else, another Alaska sunset.
I stayed up late reading and, because I wanted the chance to see the Northern Lights and didn’t want to hear the sound of an alarm clock, decided to sleep on the couch knowing I would be uncomfortable and after a couple hours would wake up.

It worked!! The Northern Lights were faint but definite. It presented as a right arching curtain of light moving from left to right, followed by a much thinner more dense band of light. Very cool!!

I drifted off and woke up a couple more times, saw the lights and fell back asleep. By the time I got really uncomfortable it was almost morning and so, instead of messing up the untouched bed, just rolled onto the floor and slept on my sweater. Ahhh, sleeping stretched out flat on my stomach was just the ticket!

I stayed as long as I could, checking out exactly at the last moment because my room was so comfortable and peaceful. I’d talked to my sister, Alena, earlier in the morning and got close to finishing my book, Hannah's Dream by Diane Hammond. Thanks for the recommendation, Candis.

I think I might come back here this time next year. Any earlier and I’d probably have to listen to snowmobiles riding on the frozen river and any later I’d be into the higher room rate season.

All in all, great weekend. I stopped in Wasilla (yeah, you’ve heard of Wasilla!) to get fresh eggs before heading into Anchorage.

My next adventure is to start working on my garden!

Missing Seattle Family, Friends and Other Stuff

Okay...I was vacillating about whether or not to write about my current state of homesickness and decided that because it is part of my Alaska experience, I will. I'll keep it brief but if you don't want to read about it, skip down until you see the next "Okay".

I miss people; my daughters, my friends. I miss streets clean as a result of the rain. I miss my motorcycle. I miss the familiarity of the Seattle area. I don't like my new license or license plate. I miss being able to find things that I think I need at the store (fresh organic produce and meats, red worms for a worm bin, healthy house plants, any house plants other than the boring "normal" variety that look like death warmed over...).

I cried at the grocery store today when I found Cascadian Farm organic granola! Cascadian Farm is the blueberry farm in the upper Skagit Valley along Hwy 20. I see it every time I take my favorite motorcycle ride which leads me to Winthrop. On the several hour trip to Winthrop, Cascadian Farm is a great place to stop for antioxidants and a bathroom. (BTW...the granola is good! The variety I chose has a slight, but definite, molasses taste).

There are a whole slew of things making me homesick. Some of them are minor, others are a bit more.
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Okay...I'm done.

Now it's time to tell you about what I like about Alaska. I guess for now "Alaska" means Anchorage because, except for a few weekend jaunts, that's where my experience has been so far.

I like looking out my apartment window and watching the activity at the port and the railroad yard. I like watching the ice as it floats at a good clip along Cook Inlet on the drastic tides that challenge tug boat captains and cause bore tides. I like seeing our "Sleeping Lady" across the inlet, clear to my view or over-shadowed with clouds. I like watching planes take off and land at Stevens International Airport (where you will fly in when you come to visit me). I like the 30+ minute sunsets I see most days from my apartment window. I like that my commute to work is less than 15 minutes. I like my job. I like that my boss so readily explains things, shares stories, and is glad to have me here. I like watching from my office window as the jets take off. I like snow, especially when it's falling and when it rests on the trees. I'm beginning to appreciate the "Island Time" people keep around here. I'm glad that there are Democrats in Alaska and I'm glad we have NPR. I like coming home every day.

I like that email and instant message exist and that there are cell phone plans that allow me to call my children and keep in touch with friends.

I look forward to learning about Lisa. Who am I outside of mother and employee? Will I find a passion or continue to dabble here and there? I expect that the time I spend crying and getting over missing people, working in my garden, learning more about the plants and animals of Alaska, seeing the beautiful sights that surround me and meeting new people will help me figure out who I am and what the next phase of my life will be.

As I share my life, I want to hear about yours... what you're doing, what helps you to be happy and brings you joy, what causes you to worry or be sad, what are your hopes and dreams.....

I send my love out to each of you...I wouldn't be missing you if you hadn't profoundly touched my life in a positive way.

I have a lot of vacation time...please come and visit! I promise to be over this homesickness in the very near future. Better to wallow in it and feel it for a short, intense time than to drag it out!

Lisa/Mama

Homer Alaska

March 21-23, 2009 (posted April 4, 2009)

I took my first trip to the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska this weekend. I left on the trip right after work on Friday, March 21 headed toward Cooper Landing for the night. I had a relaxing evening at a bed and breakfast then headed out the door at about 9:30 a.m. the next morning to make my way to Homer.

Within seconds of walking out the door a phenomenon occurred which has happened a few times since I moved here…the moisture in my nose froze! My first thought was to call Alena and tell her what had happened because she is always saying she’ll never go to Alaska during the winter because it’s too @$#% cold. As I made my way down three flights of stairs to my car with my much too heavy luggage (too many books and clothing layers) I thought "If it's cold enough to freeze inside my nose, I hope I don't have trouble starting my car". When the car started right up I knew it couldn't be as cold as I thought it must be. Well, I was wrong! The temperature was 4 degrees. I immediately got on the phone and left a message for Alena telling her that the inside of my nose had frozen in the 4 degree cold!

The drive to Homer on Saturday morning was beautiful. I stopped along the way to take pictures, even thought Mt Redoubt was erupting because I saw a plume of something coming off the top. Ended up it was just steam. The real eruption happened Sunday night around 10 p.m.

Earlier in the week when I’d told my boss that I was going to Homer he said I should be sure and go to the Salty Dog. I knew Julie Davis had been to Homer in the past for fishing so I called and told her my plans. She said “be sure to go to the Salty Dog”. With two recommendations, how could I go wrong? After arriving in Homer I drove along the spit of land, which is a major spot during tourist season, and found the Salty “Dawg”. I decided to stop in for lunch later in the day. Maybe some halibut and chips.

As I continued down the spit, with each turn of the tires I saw more and more and more bald eagles. They were as abundant as seagulls in a marina or port town. They were perched on rooftops, light poles, tree crags, etc. I got a few pictures, one that I knew Alena would love (flagpole). I also took some of what I love. Rocks, marina, beach, mountains. Wow!


After checking in at a bed and breakfast, and getting some great tips and pointers from my hostess, I headed back to the spit. I walked along the marina taking pictures and enjoying the sunshine. There wasn’t much to see because most of the area was still boarded up for the winter, plus it was cold and I was hungry so I ducked into the Salty Dawg to get a bite to eat.

Those of you who have been to the Salty Dawg are laughing just about now because at the Salty Dawg there is nothing to eat except minor pub fare. The place is very small with as much seating as the fire code will allow and one pool table that takes up an entire room. It was a sight to behold, with money and pictures of patrons from all over the world plastered all over the walls and ceiling. The first time I’d seen something like that was at the employee bar at Denali last year with Austin. I’ve added camping along the spit at Homer to my “must do” list for Alaska, maybe then I’ll go to the Salty Dawg and have a drink. If you want to join me, let me know! Sunset that night was beautiful and, as is normal for what I've seen so far, lasted a very long time. The first time I noticed an extended sunset I timed it once at over 1/2 hour.

The next morning I went XC skiing on my new waxless skis that I didn’t wax so they didn’t slide very well. That aided in keeping me upright and gave me a very good workout! It would have been quiet and pristine except for the noise my unwaxed waxless skis made on the snow so I had to settle for pristine.

As I got closer to Cooper Landing (the place I stayed Friday) I encountered snow fall. Once again I was glad that I’d purchased studded tires at the beginning of March to get me through what was remaining of the winter. As I got closer to Anchorage I saw quite the accumulation of snow that wasn't there when I left on Friday. It had snowed 4-7 inches within the area 50-60 miles around Anchorage and in town. Once again, I missed it! I know…I’ll get more than my fill next winter!

Before I left Homer on Sunday morning I got footage of bald eagles soaring along a cliff .

Julie: On the way back home I stopped in Soldatna to get a picture of the Kenai River which was so thick with ice it appeared to be frozen solid. Unfortunately, the picture didn't turn out...too much white!

Until next time...