Blogs from Palmer, Alaska, United States, North America

Bonjour à tous, Ça y est la séparation à eu lieu, sans douleur ni larme. Mais avant, nous avions une matinée à tuée. Sur le guide d'Anchorage Pier trouve le musée de l'aviation. Même si j'ai déjà vu à mon idée, un des plus beaux, à Pensacola, en Floride. Pourquoi pas. A 9h30, nous sommes devant de vieux avions, qui pour beaucoup, ont été, des anciens avions d'Air Alaska. Des avions qui desservaient, les petits aéroports de l'état, d'autres du début 20ème, qui ont ralliés la Russie, un Boeing 737, un ancien F15, et ce qui est rare il y a un accès pour le public à l'atelier de rénovation. Intéressant. Vers 11h30 retour en ville pour prendre le dernier lunch, fini les piqueniques dans la verdure. Ni l'un ni l'autre avons envie d'un resto, repas ... read more

This morning's weather was a pleasant surprise. Although it rained most of the night, we woke to a brisk, clear day, with some clouds obscuring the mountains. We've been very fortunate on this trip. Although we've had our share of weather, for the most part it hasn't adversely affected our plans. We departed our site at 8 am. The Bayside RV park was one of the prettiest parks we've stayed at. It certainly was the best run and the cleanest we've ever seen. The place was immaculate. We began by backtracking up the Richardson Highway, making our first stop just outside of town at the base of the Valdez Glacier. The scenery there was pretty impressive, and the visual of all the gold seekers hauling 1000 lbs of equipment and supplies up this glacier was mind ... read more

Our next stop was Palmer, 226 miles from Valdez. We got here on Monday afternoon, and after setting up (and we have gotten very good at moving this motorhome by now), we had another travel meeting followed by our first campfire, complete with smores. I also found it a great time to do laundry, as the laundry room was next to the fire pit. However, by the time I finished, many of the group members were calling it a night .... I don't think they stay up quite as long as we do. We have not quite adjusted to daylight still at 11:30pm. Tuesday we joined the group as we toured the city of Palmer. Back in 1935 the US government offered 204 families from northern Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan an opportunity to receive 40 acres ... read more

I didn't have a blog yesterday. Was a cool, rainy day so most of us just rested. Carroll and Barbara and Larry and Becky went to Anchorage to the Air Force base. They were stationed here in the 70's. Carroll and Larry both retired from the Air Force. We had a potluck dinner at Jerry and Carolyn's rv as it was raining. We had a very good meal including moose brats. My first moose! Today was a beautiful sunny day - around 68. We drove north of Palmer on the Glenn Highway. Our first stop was the Musk Ox Farm. I am attaching a picture of a musk ox. Musk oxes lived in Alaska 600,000 years ago. They lived in the artic and subartic regions. By 1865 there were none remaining in Alaska. This was due ... read more

Palmer is the home of world record cabbages, carrots and other vegetables grown in the Matanuska Valley's deep loamy silt. The combination of glaciers, wind, water and lots of summer sunlight give Palmer unique qualities to grow giant vegetables. Cabbage is one of Alaska's most reliable crops, because it thrives even under cold, rainy conditions. Other vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kale, collards, radishes, rutabagas, turnips, potatoes, and beets are also big growers in Alaska. Spinach and lettuce mature uncommonly fast in Alaska. All of these vegetables are well adapted to cool temperatures, so they keep growing even if it gets near freeezing. Lettuce is a spring or fall crop in warmer parts of the U.S., but in the Matanuska Valley it seldom gets hot enough even in midsummer to cause unsightly tip-burn. I took ... read more