Termination dust and other signs of fall

ALASKOLOGY WORD OF THE DAY

Termination Dust: (n) A term Anchorage residents use for the first snow on the mountains signaling the beginning of winter. On the first day of fall Tuesday, I saw my first termination dust icing the mountains along Anchorage. Above is a view of the eastern mountains from the Carr's parking lot. Carr's is Alaskan for Safeway.

Today, I had to scrape frost off my windows for the first time this fall.

Tundra of Denali National Park

I went to Denali National Park to write a story for the ADN's Alaska Visitor's Guide last week. It was the very tail end of the tourist season and the fall landscapes were breathtaking. Above is my first peek at the mountain since living here. This is probably about 80 miles from the peak.

Quite the adorable tourist trap of a town at the park entrance.

The lobby of McKinley Chalet Resort.

We boarded a bus around 6:30 a.m. to ride into the park. Only buses and service vehicles are allowed to pass the 15 mile marker on the solitary park road for most of the year. One weekend a year winners of a road lottery are allowed to drive the length of the park road in their own vehicles. We spent about 9.5 hours on the Turndra Wilderness Tour bus and traveled for hours into the national wildlife preserve. We saw grizzly bears, moose and dall sheep. And the occasional squirrel and magpie. 

The Teklanika River.

 Passengers lean to the side of the bus to get pictures, video and a good view from binoculars at a grizzly.

 

The grizzly walked right up to the road and crossed the street in front of our bus.

 Off he goes.

 

 View of the valley.

 

 Nap time.

 

A bus travels east on the park road back to the park entrance. Denali hovers in the distance.

I have an amazing job.

Anchorage Museum

Davin and I visited the Anchorage Museum on Sunday. It reopened in May after renovation and will continue to open newly renovated wings and new exhibits over the coming year. Mostly it contained Alaska artwork and an exhibit celebrating Alaska's 50th year of statehood, but it was definitely worth the visit. It's just blocks from my place, so I look forward to going back when a Star Wars traveling exhibit opens this winter featuring props from the original movies. The girl working the front counter said fans plan to attend the opening in costume like a midnight movie showing. One of her friend in particular has a Chewbacca costume ready for the event.

My balcony

 

Last night we saw a rainbow from our balcony. A silver lining to living in such a rainy city, if you will.

Little tomatoes are growing in my balcony planter. I hope they ripen before it freezes.

More of what I do

We published a contracted special section for Social Security and Medicare on Sunday and I designed it. Here's a link to an interactive PDF.

Blueberries and an aptly named hill

Blueberry Hill Trail is a branch off the Flattop trailhead in Southeast Anchorage. We took a walk up there Thursday evening and found wild blueberries really do grow up there.
Moose print.
The wind, rain and year after year of Alaskan snow and ice erodes the hillside. This granite is so soft you can break it with your bare hands as Josh did with the pieces above.
Davin chips away at the soft granite trying to find a piece for his rock collection.
I sometimes can't believe I live in such a beautiful place.

The location

We're going to have a wedding here in May: Alaska Heavenly Lodge in Cooper Landing. It's pretty and located on a very scenic portion of the Kenai Peninsula east of Anchorage. There's lots of event space and enough rooms in the various cabins to sleep the wedding party and immediate family.

We saw a black bear running down the hill the evening we stayed here. We visited for a day and a half to check it out and decide it's perfect.