Dazzling! A word used to describe being in God’s presence as well. On the glacier the brightness and the glare was so strong the rangers would not let you on the lice without sunglasses. it will of course pale in comparison with God’s presence, any analogy must be always less that what God is but it was a good lesson on the idea of dazzling presence and power.
Food - Restaurant - Kennecott - Alaska /
At the Wrangle St Elias National Park you have two choices for food (plus a small enclave by the bridge that I did not visit that have some bars and food. Turns out both of the options were very good and fairly priced. They bring in a food truck. It was very popular, chef run and the food was really good. We also ate lunch on the porch of our hotel on the Fourth of July and had not only great food, fine service but spectacular views. Actually both places had nice views the food truck had a covered patio where you could eat.
National Park Theme Week .4 Wrangle St. Elias -- The Plant /
The town of Kennecott derived from the copper mining company is now a part of the National Park. The railroad was built to here to haul the copper ore to the shipping areas on the coast. That RR is the base for the road into the park today. There were several mines but they all fed to this 17 story plant that dominated the town and the only way in or out was the railroad. The small structure in the foreground of the first photo was the station.
assayers office and lab
Ore from several mines was conveyed to the top of the processing plant
Entering the plant at the 17th floor
Looking south along the road that was the railroad line
End product loaded onto the railroad cars
National Park Theme Week .3 On the Road to Wrangle St Elias NP /
This is now a three part section on W-St Elias NP. The shots today are from the 59 mile dirt and gravel road that leads to the park. It is occasionally one lane wide often 1.5 and sometimes two. The scenery is amazing and yet you are not really prepared for the beauty of the park which exceeds or at least exceeded my expectation. Tomorrow more from the park itself.
National Park Theme Week .2 - Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve /
Yesterday’s park was huge this one is massive, at 13 200,000 acres it is America’s largest National Park and often when I say it is my favorite in Alaska people respond with “What, I never heard of that park.” It is glorious. You can walk on the ocean shore, walk on a glacier, walk along wild rivers, walk to the top or a 17 story ore processing plant or on top of an 18,000 foot mountain. Well, you can do the latter. There are two roads one in the extreme North that meanders in a few miles - we turned around at a deep river crossing and one that requires a harrowing at times, 59 mile drive on an often single track (two way) road. You park at the end of the road and walk across a bridge where you can shuttle to the only hotel, an historic inn run by the park service. It was so much fun. We walked on a glacier, where the guide made us hot chocolate on the glacier, toured the remnant town, traversed all 17 stories of the decrepit ore processing plant and so much more. What a place and it is bordered in Canada by three more huge wilderness parks making the total the largest wilderness tract ln the world. Wow.
This will be a two part post - too many photos I have never processed so several more tomorrow.
National Park Theme Week: .Sitka National Historical Park /
Sitka is located in the lower portion of Alaska, an island off the southern coast, and is often a tour stop for the cruise lines. We flew to Sitka from Haines to Juneau on a tiny, tiny plane with plywood floors and fold up up seats and then on Alaska Air to Sitka. We had a rental of a tiny apartment and stayed three days. It was a very neat place and a great experience. The Russian Bishop’s house was just down the street and was built in the 1820’s. It is part of the NP and still houses an active Russian Orthodox Church in a room upstairs. The heart of the park here is a walk through a woodland with many totems - some quite old, others more recent. We actually were staying next door to the official park carver and he was working on a totem outside next to our temporary home. One of the park rangers and I got into a long discussion about the home and she suggested that since she was off work the next day that she would take us on a tour of the island. We drove from the extreme ends of the pavement up to the highest peak on the island accessible by car, to small villages and native settlements, and to a lake. We picked berries by the buckets mostly for her. We then took her to dinner to thank her for the day. On our last day we toured the town, the remains of a fort and the docks plus dinner at a wonderful outside fish restaurant that was on one of the docks.
We flew back to Juneau and then took a water taxi for the 40 mile trip back to Haines and along the way saw whales, seals, and lots of seabirds as well as two old lighthouses. Super trip and well worth the time and effort to see it.
The mountain on the left is the one we drove to the top of with the ranger.
It was about a two mile hike to this lake and time for a picnic.
Lots of eagles
A part of Sitka harbor
The natural settings added a lot to the 30 plus totems on the park grounds.
Eye surgery went well and there will be a post up by noon. /
Details were hard to see yesterday but a bit better this morning.
Sunday Scripture: Photo of a church serving their community for more than 100 years. /
This church is found in the mountains near Elizabethton, TN.
Just a note, I had eye surgery Friday, if it went well there will be posts tomorrow if not, well, not. The plan is for four National Park units beginning with the largest park in the system, bigger than five states.
Food - Restaurant - Elizabethton - Tennessee /
Good food comes in a variety of places, food trucks, white table linen fine dinning, tiny places in strip malls and some of the chains have great food - if they have great management. In fact, that is a major factor in choosing a place with great food. This small, nondescript BBQ had great food and you could tell it was well run. It was efficient, it was well staffed and they were friendly and the place was well kept. The fact the owner was sitting in a booth may have contributed to the nice meal but I think it would be more the regular than the exception. We all had pork BBQ in one form or another and it was well done, tasty. They had at least four sauces and good sides, fired okra was good. The portions were generous and prices fairly. I hope to try the burnt ends next trip.
More about Big Dans: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063483045774
No Theme Week .4 /
This is in Elizabethton, TN. About 150 yards downstream is a modern bridge that survived the flood along with this 137 foot long bridge dating from 1882, so a mere 142 years old. It survived an early 20th century flood when a barn crashed into it as the barn floated down the Doe River. Another couple hundred yards further downstream is the most modern of the three. It did not survive and traffic is re-routed on the city bridge and into downtown while the bypass bridge remains closed for repairs. Seems to me the safest place for the next flood is on the bridge!
The debris in the last photo along with washed out foot bridges in beside the city bridge.
More on the old bridge: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabethton_Covered_Bridge
No Theme Week .3 /
It is definitely a theme!
I was asked to photograph a small house and delighted to do so for a friend who is a realtor. It was interesting and a challenge to get as much of the lines inside straight as possible. Also poor lighting and very small rooms did nothing to help. Here are a couple of the 35 photos. But I learned a bit and enjoyed being of some limited help to a friend.
PS, if you need a good deal on a small house in Johnson CIty let me know!
No Theme Week .2 /
Is “No Theme Week” a theme? Dilemma!
This was so interesting. Friends Bob and Marsha who live in Elizabethton, TN, took us to see an old dam that originally was built in 1912 to provide electricity for Johnson City and the area. It is one of the countries first hydro-electric dams. I am sure it has been rebuilt and it is now called Wilbur Dam and following the hurricane and the resulting torrential downpours every bit of space behind that dam and a much larger one further upstream are very full. So they are releasing all the water they can. Just as I took this photo the sirens went off and that means get out of the area as they are going to release much more water. We wasted no time and headed for higher ground.
No Theme Week. /
Life has been busy, no, actually hectic, and I will catch up this week. Write more tomorrow as we got in from four days of mostly working in Johnson City and area. Nearly dry water fall - days before the hurricanes, photographed along with Dave Jenkins (http://alifeinphotography.blogspot.com) on a day’s outing.
Sunday Scripture: Photo from /
Eatin' Good in the Neighborhood /
Home Cooking is fine!
Pairs Week .4 /
Two umbrellas at the end of day, they seem melancholy.
Pairs Week .3 /
Go watch the sun come up with someone you love!
Pairs Week .2 /
This photo for the “pairs” series is actually quite remarkable. Here we see a child’s pair of shoes on the beach with no footprints leading to nor fro. Clearly we have evidence of an alien abduction there is no other explanation for this phenomenon.
Pairs Week /
Looking at the duality in life. More on this tomorrow.
