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Our second to last vacation day - Jeff is feeling a bit better. Up at 7:30 for 8:30 breakfast - yes, really. The only other couple were from San Francisco - the kind of people you'd like to know better.
It's hard to explain about our host - he was in the military police training dogs. According to him, he was/is the definitive dog trainer and 'wrote' the book about dog obedience although I couldn't find him as a trainer on Google - Steve & Juxia Scarpitta. Below we're watching a wonderful dvd about the Wrangell/St. Elias National Park. Steve insisted, and we're so glad he did.
Jalad
The breakfast table
Juxia, Steve in the plaid shirt, and their 17 year-old nephew at the stove.
OK, I took a lot of photos of Jalad!
Steve explaining about artists in Homer. This photo says a thousand words about Steve.
Juxia was born in China. She came to the US in her teens. Sadly I don't remember where she went to college - in California somewhere. English major and then worked for Johnson & Johnson translating for their Chinese clients. Her English is beyond impeccable. I asked her how she learned all the nuances of the language - she said it was by reading. Can't help but love that woman. She met Steve on the internet about 15 years ago - they've been married for 11 years. Alone she was very interesting to talk with.
Blueberry egg casserole, regular and reindeer sausage.
Breakfast fruit pizza - sweet, tart, sweet, tart and the blueberries are dessert.
He likes my shoes!
Juxia - (Ju-shia)
Packed up, sadly said good bye to Juxia, and headed to 'downtown' Homer again
for a few hours. The Spit is one neat place - hard to explain. Imagine hundreds of funky shops, bars, restaurants, campers, tents, boats, fishing poles in a fairly small area (about 1/4 - 1/2 mile).
We heard the Pratt Museum was wonderful, so we stopped to 'check it out'. Wonderful does not begin to describe this place. I am not sure how they packed so much information in such an artistic way in such a small space.
Here are a lot of photos - there are a hundred more not included! It's hard to explain this museum - part nature, part native, part conservation, part documenting the history of Alaska.
There are many tapestries, quilts, etc by local artists throughout the museum.
The man at the front desk - originally from New York - was very interesting. Somehow we started talking about moose. He said that at last week's Farmer's Market a mother moose and calf came wandering into the area. At some point she and her calf became separated, and she 'went crazy' trying to find the baby. She knocked over stalls, kicked a little girl in the head (the child is ok), ran around wildly, was bellowing, etc. until she located the calf and left. He said it was a wild few minutes. Luckily a happy ending for all and a good story to tell.
Here's a short video of ocean sounds - one of the interactive exhibits at the museum.
Another of the beautiful quilted pieces
This is a very poignant area - the museum even supplies tissues - sorry about the glare.
They have an excellent area devoted to the 1964 earthquake
Note Valdez's proximity to the epicenter of the earthquake
Many of the displays were dedicated to fishing though the ages in Alaska.
Gull Island and its inhabitants
There is a webcam on Gull Island that you can control from the museum
Zoomed in!
The art gallery features Alaskan artists and many of them local to Homer
The section on the oil spill was informative and so sad. They show a 50 minute film about the disaster - the lack of timely response by Exxon and the ineffectualness when it finally happened, the lack of preparedness by Alyeska for such a disaster and the immenseness of the ecological devastation. The number of fish and animals killed was staggering.
"What surprised me most was the silence."
-- Dan Lawn, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, April 9, 1989
One fact I learned from the film was that Captain Hazelwood had previously been put on leave by Exxon for alcoholism, was 'treated', and at the time of the collision had his driver's license revoked for a DUI.
An area dedicated to those who helped with the clean-up
The size of the spill in relation to NC
Says it all -
as if oil spills and climate change isn't enough, along come the Spruce Bark Beetles ..
One beneficiary of the Spruce Bark Beetle may be the diminishing moose populations. Because more and more people are moving into Alaska, controlled burns of the forests have decreased. That means the smaller trees that moose need to survive are killed by the faster growing spruce. Moose don't eat spruce, and the result is a disaster for the moose.
OK, I digress. Starting our visit to AK in 2011, I have become enamored of bears. This museum has a wonderful video of bears at McNeil River State Game Sanctuary. This sanctuary has bear viewing by lottery - only 10 people per day. Here are a lot of bear sites if you're interested -
Brown Bear cams starting in July
http://peninsulaclarion.com/outdoors/2012-08-03/valuable-lessons-from-“bear-viewing”-at-mcneil-river
and a long, wonderful video with Charlie Russell, a Canadian who has a lifetime of fascination with, living with, and rescuing Grizzlies -
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and we're finally off to Whittier, just driving along, probably singing a song. We were going through areas with lots of fishing, thus lots of traffic. All of a sudden I saw something moving to my right - a moose! In traffic! We turned around and .....
driving along ....
By the time I U-turned, she safely crossed the highway and was munching on grass in the ditch.
What was so surprising to me was people were just driving by - not stopping. Oh, well, I held up traffic for a bit and, so what!!
This was one good-looking moose.
The moose was definitely the high point of the trip. Around 6:30 we arrived at The Inn in Whittier.
Their photo, not mine.
Our room
The view from our dining room table
Sweet centerpiece - chives in rocks and dirt.
Accidental photo, but I love the fork tines.
I forgot to take "before" photos, so here are the "after"
New England Clam Chowder with a lot of clams
Ceasar Salad with Blueberry Ceasar dressing. We didn't like it, but we ate it anyway!
Sunday Sushi Special - on the left was Grilled Scallop and, on the right, Spicy Smoked Salmon
Even the wasabi was decorated!
Views of the port -
Norwegian Cruise ship, Norwegian Sun
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One account of the building -
"This was the first of the major Whittier buildings. It is six stories high with two basement levels. It has over 270,000 square feet and, when first built, had housing for 1,000, as well as a cafeteria, theater, classrooms, radio station, jail, hospital, library, PX, and more -- it was rightly called "a city under one roof." However, after being damaged in the 1964 earthquake, it was totally abandoned when the Army left.
It has been abandoned for over 40 years and time has taken it's toll. The building itself is quite sturdy, the interior is another matter. In October there was still water everywhere, you can hear it dripping throughout the building. The ceilings are falling down as well as the light fixtures. Unfortunately, people have tagged the building and although some of the art work is nice, there are swear words, signs of the devil and witches, marijuana and various other sayings and symbols.
Vandals have broken anything the could get their hands on. There were broken pieces of the sinks and toilets throughout the living quarters. It was a sad sight that a once impressive building is now in shambles. I have to say though, whomever did the tiling in the building, did a very good job because it is still on the walls and most of it is still on the floors."
More about the building-
http://sometimes-interesting.com/2013/02/18/the-city-under-one-roof/
Here's our ferry -
Backing in ..
This is a sign in the area for vehicles waiting to board the ferry. No one is allowed in the area unless they twice show their tickets and photo ID, and once in, you are not allowed out. So explain this sign - we have had a lot of fun trying to figure it out. Our best explanation is that you can only read this and avoid being screened or inspected if you are not there.
Boarding
On the ferry to Valdez
Lots of icebergs
The "Afternoon Mountain" report - one time only. The neighbor's house is being painted.
Off to bed - only one more day, and I'm back on track - hooray.
Sounds like a great time. Hope Sniffles is feeling better. Love the picture of the harbor, at The Inn in Whittier with the flower in the foreground.
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