May 20, 2015 -- Anchorage -- Coastal Trail, Ship Creek, and Government Hill

Anchorage skyline from Brown's Park on government Hill.

Flowers along the curb at a Government Hill house.

Near the Port of Anchorage, goods are piling up in lots that have been empty all winter. Monster tires, construction equipment, pipes, containers -- all are waiting to be shipped up north to the cities along the coast.

Along the Coastal Trail, all manner of transportation . . .

wheeled skis . . .

Segways and bicycles . . .

inline skates  . . .

A woman was out on the mudflats with a kite.

Other people were on the sandy beach by Fish Creek.

We saw mallards, and a few scaups (not sure if this is Greater Scaup or Lesser).

Buds are about to burst on the crabapples.

An odd ship, with Mt. Susitna in the background.

Green grasses gradually overtaking last year's golden brown.

On Government Hill . .. .

May 27, 2015

Searching for a theme for the day, and not finding anything incisive. Tulip in the midst of lupine leaves.

What to say about perfect weather? -- enough breeze to fly kites on the Park Strip,

and flags -- reflected in the windows of the Westward Hilton.

Pools of sun on brilliant green grass for the strutting magpies.

King salmon for the fisher people at Ship Creek.

A spot in the shade for the people who haven't caught theirs yet,

while they watch the people on the opposite bank (and the mountains in the background).

As a side note -- I tried to capture the muddiness of the fishing-at-Ship-Creek experience. Occasionally people get stuck in it. I plan to never go close enough to it for that to happen.

Trains today -- this freight along the Coastal Trail just east of Elderberry Park.

Another freight on the bridge over Ship Creek -- it had about a hundred box cars that appeared to be empty, headed south.

A pretty small flower (at one time I thought it was an orchid, but now doubt that) that springs up in the gravel roadside about this time -- in a month it will have gone to seed, dried up, and be overwhelmed by later-flowering plants.

Gulls and geese at the mouth of Ship Creek.

The Chugach Range with a cloudless sky.

Calla lilies, fresh-planted at the Westward Hilton.

Evening sun on the neighbor's mossy roof, and shrub.

Small pansies at Skinny Raven sporting goods.

Memorial Day -- May 25, 2015

Cruise ships and king salmon for the day, along with flags, and solemn memorials.

This gentleman announced that he had his fish, and was going home. Looks like it might make several meals.

This is the Holland America Statendam, due to head to Homer at about 11:00 p.m. on May 25, and then back to Seattle. From there, it will take on a new group of passengers (about 1,200 to 1,400?) and return to Anchorage, every two weeks for the rest of the summer.


Did you know that there is a website that lists the location of every cruise ship in the world, for every day? And that some cruise ships have web cams aboard that give you a view of what's going on where they are (this link is for the Pacific  Princess, which spent the day at Whittier (and some of the passengers came to Anchorage) and now is bound for Yakutat)? Here is the cruise ship schedule for Anchorage for the rest of the season -- the Holland Statendam arrives every other Monday through September 14. The Southeast Alaska cities average four or five ships each and every day -- quite a different experience for the residents of those towns.


We thought that downtown was fairly quiet, but friends at Cabin Fever assured us that they had plenty of business.

The half-dozen food carts were flourishing.

They seem to all serve reindeer sausage, and other types of hot dogs, but the owner of Mon Cherie at the corner of 5th and G Street by the PAC is grilling some zucchini for me.

A gentleman on Fourth Avenue stops to admire motorcycles.

Segway group takes to the streets, at Third and E Streets.

The afternoon was warm and sunny, with a little breeze. Mt. Susitna, in the distance,  has very little snow (the railroad building is in the foreground).

We started our walk  down to Ship Creek today after leaving the car near Elderberry Park. The dandelions are out in all of their glory -- this is a stretch of sidewalk along N Street where they are taking over to the extent that they can manage it.

A family along N Street has been putting out coffee, tea, and cookies to welcome people daily for the past several summers. There's a table with shade, chairs, sugar and creamer -- it's a remarkable small gift to the community, and nobody has so far seemed to disrespect it in any way.

A Gambel's White-Crown Sparrow sings from a high branch along the Coastal Trail.

A man in a small boat, and a small child head up into Ship Creek, while the gulls occupy the mud flats.

People young and old, of every ethnicity in Anchorage, with fancy gear and the simplest possible equipment share Ship Creek when the salmon are running.

Young people congregate in the shade at Town Square.

The city has done most of its plantings for the season. These are in the Town Square near the Performing Arts Center

Yellow poppies and red tulips in Bootlegger's Cove.

Sunday, May 24, 2015

Sitting at the edge of civilization, looking north to the Alaska Range -- granted all we saw today was clouds, not mountains. This is at the end of the park at the mouth of Ship Creek.

Also at the mouth of Ship Creek, people fishing for king salmon on the incoming tide;

.a woman with a dog watching them, and farther on, the North Star getting loaded with containers for its trip back to Seattle;

a flock of geese overhead;

a gray sky to the east over the city;

a tough little plant pushing up through the black-top path; and

the sight-seeing train from Fairbanks at the railroad station (tomorrow, the first cruise ship).


Elsewhere in town during the day:

Nets at Costco for bringing those king salmon that you catch at Ship Creek into shore, yours for $114.99;

a Steller's Jay in our neighborhood;

its magpie cousin at Lake Spenard where we were walking with Marla Greenstein;

an old car at Lake Spenard -- their owners bring these out from the garages where they spend most of their days, to show off on not-rainy days in the summer;

a family getting ready for a plane trip -- mom, dad, two kids, a black Lab;

a float plane taxiing from its slip to open water; and

an ice cream truck at Point Woronzof in the early evening -- even on a gray day it's a popular place to watch the planes low overhead landing and taking off, or walking on the sand beach;

Alaska hanging basket -- blue and gold flowers.