Alaska

Those who know me really well will know I have an obsession with clouds. I love clouds I could stare at the clouds all day. I really love looking down on the clouds when I am flying. I have a hard time sleeping on planes so I do a lot of watching the clouds when I can. I love being able to see a scene unravel beneath the clouds as I pass over them.

Doesn't it just look peaceful?

I love the distinction of the blue in the sky as it is lighter toward the bottom and gets darker further up it goes.

Grandma and Grandpa's neighbors Verna and Fred Henkel took me to Chenna Hot Springs.

The sprinkler is of cold water to cool you off from the hot water. It was quite refreshing.

The stream of water was hot and felt good on your back and shoulders. It would beat down on your muscles and felt like a massage.

A moose was just hanging out at the pond munching away on what he could find in the bottom of the pond.

Verna, Fred, Martha

Koi Pond inside the indoor hot spring pool.

The Ice Museum

They have 4 rooms in the Ice Museum and people actually pay $600 to stay a night here on an ice bed.

Everything including the floors and walls are made of ice.

The chandeliers change colors every six seconds to resemble the Aurora lights.

This room is the polar bear room. The poles on the bed are the polar bears feet.

This was the coldest kiss I have ever gotten.

The Coca-Cola Polar Bear.

The ice bar. As part of the experience in the ice museum you can get Apple Martinis and you are served them in ice glasses.

This is the ice chapel where the two people who have carved and built everything in the museum were married.

The detail in the ice balls are incredible.

The upper bar area.

Knights jousting.

One of the carvers at work.

All of the ice is brought in and stored from the ponds and streams in the winter time. The Martini glasses are made from man made ice.

All of the energy at the hot springs is run from geothermal energy. Which allows them to be able to keep everything frozen at such a low cost.

Martha and Verna

They provided heavy parkas to keep us warm.

Fred caught me cooling off on the rocks. After a while the water is just too hot.

The Friday before I left Grandma and Grandpa had a few people over for dinner.

Starting on the left: Grandpa Holloway, Grandma Holloway, Martha, Roger Anderson, Rose Anderson, Gail, Kurt, Cindy Merkling

Uncle Roger, Martha, Aunt Rose

Aunt Rose, Martha, Grandma

Aunt Cindy, Aunt Rose, Martha, Grandma

Martha and Grandma

Aunt Rose and Martha

Aunt Cindy and Martha

The Alaskan pipeline covers 800 miles and part of it is above ground because of the permafrost in the ground and it would turn to slush and wouldn't be able to hold up in that environment.

The pipeline is huge and when the pipeline is full the capacity is 9 million barrels.

This is tailing's from an old Gold Dredge.

I took Grandpa out to breakfast for Grandfather's day. We ate at this little diner at the Chatanika Lodge out by the Gold Dredge and they have $ bills all over the walls and ceiling. I asked the waitress what they were all from and she said one customer started it and then many customers followed. They have so many she doesn't have room to put them all up.

I thought this was a great sign!

After breakfast we walked over to see the dredge. We heard a loud clap of thunder and looked over and saw these crazy clouds and thought we would get dumped on before we got done. But we were lucky and didn't get a drop where we were.

The old equipment

These are the buckets that would dig up the dirt and run it through the machine.

I love this scene and how calm the lake is to where you can see a perfect reflection.

Grandpa and Grandma

Martha, Grandpa, Grandma

Martha and Grandpa

Aunt Rose, Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Roger

They all came to the airport and waited with me for a while till I went through security.

I had an amazing time with my family in Alaska. I love visiting with them. One of my favorite memories from this trip is how affectionate and loving Grandma and Grandpa were with each other. They were so cute in their display of affection with each other in front of me. It made me smile every time I saw them being lovey dovey with each other. Another grand memory is of her playing the piano. I got her to finally play for me my last night there and it was great to just sit there and listen to her play. I got a couple videos of her playing but I was having a problem with uploading them.