Earthquake Park

We went to Earthquake Park, which commemorates the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake that hit Anchorage so hard.  Unfortunately there wasn't much to see.  I guess I expected to see remnants of houses or other debris, even after so long, but it's all long gone.  Now all that's left is a huge cliff where the ground dropped so many feet.

In 1964, Anchorage and South central Alaska were permanently changed by one of the largest quakes to shake North America.  The 9.2 earthquake shook for over 4 minutes.  The weekend following the quake was punctuated by 55 strong earthquakes, some over 5.0.

The earthquake damaged all major and most secondary roads. Of 204 bridges, 141 were destroyed or damaged.  In some areas, the land dropped as much as 13 feet and were flooded.

In the earthquake, coastal communities suffered complete ruin.  Besides the waves of the tsunami, there were submarine landslides which caused more waves during or immediately after the quake and were 30-50 eet in height, as high as a large tsunami wave.

 We walked about 1/4 mile to the park area.

 This picture illustrates how far the land dropped during the earthquake.  The park we were at is at the highest point on the left hand side, where now there is a cliff.

 You can't see it well, but through the trees, you can see the ground level where the land sank the lowest.

 Old pictures of the damage.

 City of Anchorage in the distance.

 The edge of the cliff where the ground fell.

Seward, Ak

We went to Seward which is a nice little town on a Bay.  You could see the ships on the water, and drive through the small neighborhoods.  I actually wouldn't mind living there at all.

Miners established winter trails from their drop off at the head of Resurrection Bay. This drop off became the town of Seward.  The trails were used to transport goods and people to mining camps.  This trail eventually stretched from Seward to Nome.  This sign marks the beginning of the original trail.

 This was a creek if you can believe it, coming down the mountain. The roar from the water was almost deafening.

Wasilla, Ak

We came to Anchorage for a week for vacation and possible knee surgery for Jeff.  Knee surgery isn't happening at this point, per the doctor, so we decided to do alot of sightseeing while we're here.  We went to Wasilla first, and randomly pulled out following a sign to a lake.  It was pretty secluded and very calm.  And we happened to be at the one that Sarah Palin's house is on.  The house below is hers.

We also checked out the Iditarod Headquarters which was pretty neat as well.

Leaving Bethel

We flew out of Bethel at 8:30PM on the Freedom Flight!  We were both so excited to get out for awhile.  With Bethel being so isolated, it's like living in a fishbowl.  You go to the same places every week...  Work, the store, church, the post office and home.  Almost going constantly in one circle.  When we get out, we really appreciate being able to drive for hours at a time, seeing different places and scenery.  Here's flight out of Bethel.

In this picture, you can see the Tundra in "fall".  Spring seemed to be from about the end of April to the end of may, and summer from June until the middle of August, and then we had fall colors everywhere from the middle of August until now.  People are already saying it'll probably snow at the end of the month, and if not, then definitely next month.  The change in the weather was very sudden.  One day the weather was warm enough to wear a T-shirt and within a day or two, the weather turned bitterly cold.  The precipitation was only misty, but the wind picked up a bit and we had to wear jackets outside because it was too cold.

This is the airport in Anchorage.  Walking down the hall, it's like seeing the Aurora Borealis.  It's a nice touch!

Native Eskimo art.