Uploads from Travis S., tagged alaska

Atwood Plaza

nobody@flickr.com (Travis S.) — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 01:27:03 -0700

Travis S. posted a photo:

The plaza is in disarray and getting a facelift. They're starting to reform it now putting in the infrastructure for all of the square cement slabs that will be lining the area. It looks a lot different from when everything was cleared out.

Eagle Glacier

nobody@flickr.com (Travis S.) — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 02:08:11 -0700

Travis S. posted a photo:

There are two lobes of Eagle Glacier coming together. This forms a medial moraine which is expressed by the black line showing the convergence of ice. I'm guessing that's Eagle Lake at the terminus of the glacier.

Knik

nobody@flickr.com (Travis S.) — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 02:07:00 -0700

Travis S. posted a photo:

Palmer has a bit of an agrarian side, but in Knik, that might be all that's going on out there. The volcanic soils makes it a good location for growing crops that can stand intense sunlight in short periods.

Chugach Mountains

nobody@flickr.com (Travis S.) — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 02:07:52 -0700

Travis S. posted a photo:

The mountains are getting a good dusting which means it's a good thing I'm getting out of town. Winter is coming and there's no more holes for me to dig. The ground is just going to freeze up soon.

Eagle River

nobody@flickr.com (Travis S.) — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 02:07:40 -0700

Travis S. posted a photo:

This is the community of Eagle River. This is the first large valley up from the Anchorage bowl. A lot of people live here and commute into Anchorage for work. It's about a twenty-minute drive.

Chugach Mountains

nobody@flickr.com (Travis S.) — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 02:08:04 -0700

Travis S. posted a photo:

Deeper into the mountains the snow level looks like it is dropping although it's likely that the mountains are just taller. I like the shading it seems to leave.

Fire Island

nobody@flickr.com (Travis S.) — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 02:06:40 -0700

Travis S. posted a photo:

This island just offshore from Anchorage is going to be getting a wind farm fairly soon. I believe the ground-breaking work on it starts this summer.

Knik

nobody@flickr.com (Travis S.) — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 02:06:43 -0700

Travis S. posted a photo:

Across Knik Arm is the area known as Knik. Someday there may be a bridge that connects this area to Anchorage. The proposal has been in legislation for a decade or two.

Eagle River

nobody@flickr.com (Travis S.) — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 02:07:27 -0700

Travis S. posted a photo:

This entire Eagle River drainage area is military land on Fort Richardson. If the military were to leave, there would be so much room for Anchorage to expand.

Leaving Anchorage

nobody@flickr.com (Travis S.) — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 02:06:31 -0700

Travis S. posted a photo:

I'm headed back to my parents' place for a bit before going back to North Carolina. We have just taken off and that's the sewage treatment plant that's near Point Woronzoff. Fire Island is in the distance on the left.

Knik Marsh

nobody@flickr.com (Travis S.) — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 02:07:16 -0700

Travis S. posted a photo:

I think I may have been out here. This may be Settler's Bay. But if not, that's a cool looking marshy area. I bet it gets a lot of 4wheeler traffic.

Knik

nobody@flickr.com (Travis S.) — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 02:06:52 -0700

Travis S. posted a photo:

Even though Knik is just across the water, it can take over an hour and a half to drive there. Note here that there aren't really established roads. There is a line cutting through the area, but that's probably just for 4wheelers and is probably just following the path of some power lines.

Poison Oak

nobody@flickr.com (Travis S.) — Mon, 21 May 2012 02:54:10 -0700

Travis S. posted a photo:

I've been out of North Carolina for months, but obviously some of that urushiol on my clothes which transferred to my skin. I think when I have my Xtra Tuffs on, my lower legs get rather sweaty which is a perfect environment for spreading around the oils. You can see spots of dried pus. Earlier I didn't bother to take a shower before I went to work and I had dried streaks of pus all down my leg. It took me a while to kick this.

Castle Hill Interview

nobody@flickr.com (Travis S.) — Mon, 21 May 2012 02:54:47 -0700

Travis S. posted a photo:

I was over in the lab when Dave asked if I could help him corral some artifacts from Castle Hill, which in the late 18th century was the Russian American capital. He informed me KTVA CBS Channel 11 News was going to come and interview him. The artifacts had just come back from the museum in Juneau and were still tightly packaged for travel. So I got most of them out in time for the crew to show up.

Castle Hill Interview

nobody@flickr.com (Travis S.) — Mon, 21 May 2012 02:54:53 -0700

Travis S. posted a photo:

The interview went really well. Both the interviewer and the cameraman were really interested in not only the artifacts from Castle Hill, but also others from elsewhere around the state that were lying about the lab.

I have taken a few photos of artifacts from Castle Hill. My favorite is the ivory chess pawn, but there's also a great story involved with the ivory bear. The rest of the set can be seen here.

Beluga

nobody@flickr.com (Travis S.) — Fri, 18 May 2012 05:50:12 -0700

Travis S. posted a photo:

The questions raised by the close proximity of beluga whales' coastal habitats to those of humans are many. For Cook Inlet beluga whales, the answer is one word: Depleted.

Hunting the Bore

nobody@flickr.com (Travis S.) — Fri, 18 May 2012 05:50:04 -0700

Travis S. posted a photo:

Unfortunately I got this picture up a little too late for this chart to be effectively used, but the dates in blue show when the bore tide is best seen. One of the larger tides was probably on May 18, 2011.

Chugach Mountains

nobody@flickr.com (Travis S.) — Fri, 18 May 2012 05:46:46 -0700

Travis S. posted a photo:

Coming back to Anchorage there's a view of the mountains to the north. This is the valley near Girdwood. There's fresh snow up there.

Smokey the Bear

nobody@flickr.com (Travis S.) — Fri, 18 May 2012 05:46:39 -0700

Travis S. posted a photo:

This looks like a fairly old sign. In Alaska there are a lot of places that are covered in tundra, so today the statement now warns about "wildfires" instead of those just in the forest.

Historic Hope

nobody@flickr.com (Travis S.) — Fri, 18 May 2012 05:45:31 -0700

Travis S. posted a photo:

Back a bit from downtown is this open area with a few old buildings. Here you can do a self-guided tour and poke around into these areas that have tools and machinery from the gold rush period, which was from the early parts of the 20th century.