So good they named it twice!

We went a day trip to New York during a visit to Heather and Glen's new house in Paramus, NJ. The new house is only 40 minutes away from downtown Manhattan so it is a great place to visit.


The picture above shows us with the Empire State Building in the background, having just arrived at Penn Station on a short train ride under the Hudson River.


We also went to the Dakota Building, where John Lennon lived with Yoko until his death. He would have been 70 this year. Yoko has bought a piece of Central Park across the road from the apartments and called it 'Strawberry Fields'. the local tourists think it is the original location and inspiration for the song and were lining up to take pictures next to the sign.

This is a better view of the Dakota Apts - they are still a very exclusive address.

Here is the entrance to Central Park, where they have a shrine to Lennon and a continuous flame in his memory.


Central Park, measuring 3 miles long and 1 mile wide, is a huge green swathe in the middle of New York. It was crammed with tourists and locals soaking up the October sunshine. It was a real experience to be there, although we only saw a small part of it.


The day out was a welcome relief from the throes of moving house. Glen is extremely busy with his new job and had no time to help with the unpacking so we were pleased to be there to assist and provide baby-sitting services. He has two major contracts he is going after, with household-name companies, so things are looking good.

Next day was 11 October and we celebrated her birthday with a lemon drizzle cake and 'Happy rthday' in candles. The 'B' and 'I' got lost in the move.


Alan & Sylvia

3-Day Road Trip

On Alan's birthday, Sep 24th, we set out on an 850 mile circular road trip to Fairbanks and back. We took the Glenn Highway out of Anchorage to Glennallen then the Richardson Highway to Delta Junction.

We left Anchorage in shirtsleeves and one hour into the journey, we were reaching into the suitcase for pullovers and thermals. This is me shivering near the Matanuska Glacier, one of the scenic stopping points on the Glenn Highway.

Coming into Glennallen, this is Mt St Elias in the Wrangell National Park. As you can see, Alaska is a great place if you hate traffic.There are not many roads in the interior of Alaska and this direction sign caught our eye, with a right turn for Valdez and left for Fairbanks or Canada.


Some spectacular stopping points on the way to our first stopover at Delta Junction.

This is Kelly's Motel, a bank of portakabins which served as a dormitory for tourists, hunters and contractors from the local miltary base. The picture of the sign is about the best shot we can offer. We breakfasted at the local diner, which offered local delicacies like burgers, eggs over easy, sausage patties, biscuits 'n' gravy, waffles, everything you could wish for to give you a coronary to start your day. Yum!

We also saw the famous trans-alaska oil pipeline which runs alongside the Richardson highway to Valdez, where tankers take the oil to refineries in the lower 48.


This is the pipeline crossing the River Tanana on its way through the Alaskan Interior.

We had beautiful cloudless weather most of the trip - a real treat after the rains of the summer. The first day was really windy and we had to contend with fallen trees in the road and huge dust clouds that reduced visibility to 100yds in places.

The temperature was below freezing for most of the morning - bit of a shock in September, but the chill factor is ably demonstrated here....
Next stop North Pole. Did you ever wonder where all the letters to Father Christmas went? Well here is his Post Office. It was not far from his house , a wonderful emporium of Christmas memorabilia, including toys, decorations, presents, etc.
We could not resist joining the tourists and getting some photos in his sleigh, which he had conveniently left outside his house.




We finally got to Fairbanks after 10 hours driving and went to the Museum of Northern Life, a display of life in Alaska and the North West. Quite a spectacular building as you can see in the picture we took on the way up to it.


A fascinating display of all things to do with life in these parts.

We stayed in Fairbanks, and woke up on a freezing cold but clear Sunday morning to have a quick look round the city centre.


The drive back to Anchorage down the Parks highway was again spectacular, and we had our first snow flurry of the approaching winter season. Ice floes were already accumulating in the Chena River, which was the one we went rafting on during our vacation in 2007.

We stopped for a late lunch in Talkeetna, at the famous Roadhouse. This is a bit of a spot for artists and hippies, full of tourist shops which were proper log cabins. This is the Susitna River, with Mt McKinley just visible in the background. It cuts off Talkeetna from the main North-South highway and it is only accessible via a spur road. Only the railway gets straight through on its way to Fairbanks.


We got back to Anchorage at 6pm on the Sunday evening, ready for a rest and recover and to prepare for work in the morning. A great trip and probably the last weekend we could do it before the winter sets in.

Alan & Sylvia

Alaska State Fair 2010

End of August every year is the Alaska State Fair held in Palmer in the Matsu Valley. A big part of the show was the Rodeo, complete with rodeo clown, who told some really corny jokes, and a bull-roping contest.Also featured was the bucking bronco contest, and this was one of the competitors about to pay a visit to the railings curtesy of his horse. He did not look too good when he got up from that one.


Another attraction was this group of traditional dancers. There are prizes for guessing what they have just taken off and are holding in their hands.

Next is the winner of the fastest disappearing funnel cake competition. The giant ice cream also went quickly.


We also watched a performance by a Blues Brothers Tribute live on stage. They were famous for their movie in the 80s about two brothers escaping from the law after being framed. They gave us quite a show.


We were also treated to a show by a Beatles tribute band, Beatlemania. They put on an excellent show, with authentic outfits and superb guitar work. Worth the admission fee on their own.

The show is also famous for the garden produce and here is Sylvia alongside the prize-winning cabbage.
This is another picture of a big vegetable and, yes, he is sitting next to a large pumpkin. Boom Boom!


We were lucky with the weather as lots of the days were wet, and overall, this has been the rainiest Alaska summer on record. In Alaska it is important to carry on enjoying yourself and just wear the right clothes.

There were so many other attractions, a funfair, artistic performances, art and craft show, animal shows we have not got space to fit it all in. The whole thing lasted 10 days and we went twice and still didn't see it all.

Yet another not-to-be-missed occasion in our year in Alaska.

Alan & Sylvia

We're Damming!

On a walk at the end of August 2010 we encountered a pair of beavers trying to make a home in our local lake. They were very busy, presumably because they have to get sorted before the cold weather comes. The plan seems to be to dam the outlet to our lake, let the level rise, then pick a spot in deep water to make their home for the winter.



We took a remarkable video of one of the pair bringing in a tree branch and planting it in the culvert. It is on You Tube, and hard luck on anyone searching for 'beaver' - this is the other sort! Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW3AAhg8jNM.

They never stopped all the time we were there. The local trail warden was concerned as they are damaging the woodland and if they succeed in flooding the lake, there could be damage to local houses. They have managed to fell a couple of trees, with 10" trunks. We think this is in the hope that the trees will float down to the outlet and help with their damming activities.

The warden is trying to get the authorities to move them to a site where they can do their stuff without threatening the local infrastructure.


Evenings are getting considerably darker now, and the sun is going down at 8.30. Very little time for the beavers to settle into their winter quarters so I hope the Alaska Dept of Wildlife comes to their rescue.

Alan & Sylvia

Anchorage Greek Festival

We never knew there was a Greek community in Alaska - couldn't be further away from the mother country. Every year, they hold a festival of Greek music, dance and food and this year we got to go and the sun shone as well. We had gyros and loukoumades for lunch. Gyros are flat breads with meat and yoghurt, and loukoumades are deep-fried honey puffs sprinkled with honey and nuts, with sugar and cinnamon. It was all high-quality.

Pictured are some of the dancers who put on an exellent show in traditional dress. The men wore the national costume, the 'fustenella'. The women's costumes were from the village of Ambelakia, in Northern Thrace. Also on show was the charming boy's costume from Corfu. The older dancers are wearing the Cretan costume from Anoghia.

At the end of the performance the audience were invited to come up on stage and have a go at one of the dances.
Pictured here is the current Alaska Senator, Lisa Murkowski in the yellow, strutting her stuff and targetting the Greek vote in the elections next week. About half the commercials on TV at the moment are for various candidates for the elections and we can't wait for it all to be over.

At the end of the afternoon, with warm breezes and bright sunshine, we had just got home when there was a violent thunderstorm, with torrential rain, hail, thunder and lightning. This is the view out the side of our house showing the floods that the rainstorm caused. We don't get many of these in Anchorage but this was a doozie. Then the sun came out again.

Alan & Sylvia

Anchorage Port Tour

Nice day last Sunday so we took the tour of Anchorage Port, where 90% of Alaska's imported goods come through. It was built in the 60s and now needs considerable refurbishment. They are adding another 65 acres to the site, nearly doubling the size. The tour took us all round the docks area, and they were loading a Pacific-going ship at the time, as you can see in the picture above. There is no such thing as a free lunch, but we did get a free hotdog in the viewing area.

We finished up with a free shuttle back to the town centre, curtesy of the Ulu Factory, who have a shop near the docks area. There we went round the Anchorage Market (bit touristy for us locals!) and had a coffee and giant cookie. A nice cheap way of spending a Sunday morning, which is how we like it.

Alan & Sylvia

Scenes of Oregon

On the way from Portland Airport to Sunriver Resort for a tennis tournament, we were lucky to see some of the sights of the state of Oregon, a small state which is on the US West Coast between Washington State and California.

On one side of the Cascade Mountains it is dry and desert-like. On the other side, it is wet. These were some of the landscapes we passed through.

There is a lot of farming in the area as the area was once under water, leaving a rich soil behind.
We were in the shadow of Mount Bachelor, which still had snow even in mid-Summer.
Lots of wildlife on the complex, with deer such as this one, and ground squirrels. These are not chipmunks, which have a stripe on their nose as well as down their back. Our dog Bentley would have a field day with these squirrels as they don't climb trees.


We also went to Lava Land, a National Monument to the volcanic nature of the terrain round there. These are the lands of solidified lava where you can walk around and go up to the top of Lava Butte, which is a cinder cone with a road up the side.


What we also didn't know is that Oregon is one of the best star-gazing areas in the USA. The combination of the altitude and the clear skies gives you a phenomenal view of the stars, and it was amazing to lay on the patio at midnight and look up at the sky. The Milky Way went right over the top of our house.

All-in-all a memorable trip.

Alan & Sylvia