Week 150 - Palmer, Alaska - 06-28-2009

Greetings from The Last Frontier,

Alaska bills itself as the The Last Frontier. And for the USA, it really is. Alaska is 17% of the land mass of the USA but has only 0.2% of the population. 42% of the 686,293 (07-2008) people live in Anchorage, the rest are scattered throughout the state. This week we reached the Anchorage area. It looks like any US city of 288,000 people: paved streets, curbs, the big chain stores and restaurants. It is also different. It is right on the ocean, surrounded by very high mountains with salmon fishing on Ship Creek and a private airport right in the middle of town.

But the other Alaskan towns are truly the frontier. Alaska has 6,640 miles of coastline but only 3,000 miles of paved roads. There are very few large cities. Many communities are tiny, some with only a single building, most built as "road houses" along the original roads. The remote areas are populated by rugged individuals who are willing to do without the modern conveniences that most of us enjoy. For example: Teenagers in Haines, Alaska drive 500 miles round trip to Whitehorse to see a first run movie! Many haul their own water and live off generators for power. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of communities that can only be reached by boat, bush plane or snow sleds. Winter temperatures in Chena Hot Springs get as low as 65 degrees below zero. We were told that when the temperature reaches 20 degrees above zero, some will don shorts since the weather is so nice!

The pace in rural Alaska is slower, more like what we enjoyed 50 years ago growing up. Speaking of a slower pace, we did not go that far this week, or see too much, as we are waiting in Anchorage for Pete's sister Donnalee to arrive. But we had a great time.

We left Denali, visited Talkeetna and boondocked at the Wasilla Airport. On Tuesday & Wednesday we stayed at the Palmer Elks. Of the 51 Elks Lodges we have stayed at across the nation, the view from the deck at the Palmer Elks is the most incredible.

Palmer Elks RV sites.

You can reach the lodge by vehicle, boat or float plane.

On Sunday the Elks sponsored a day for the Wounded Warriors Project. They raised funds and brought out boats and watercraft for the Vets to enjoy.

The majority of RV Parks in Alaska are lacking. But Homestead RV Park in Palmer is pretty nice.

Across the Glen Highway from the RV Park is the Kepler-Bradley Lakes State Recreation area. We took a walk around Matanuska Lake, one of three lakes in the park.

It was a real treat getting to know John and Rosie's daughters, Martha and Jennifer. Martha is from New York City and Jennifer from a small town near Lancaster, PA. They flew out for a week to be with Mom and Dad.

Ellen's got these photos on another walk near Homestead RV Park.

A view of some of the many mountains surrounding the Palmer-Wasilla area.

Another pleasant surprise for the week was the arrival of our long time friends, Dave and Sandy from San Luis Obispo, CA. Dave is a professional photographer and he and Sandy travel the world to get photos. We had a great day visiting with them in Anchorage and the surrounding area.

Dave and Sandy will fly to Brooks Falls in a few days. Brooks Falls is touted as the best place in the world to see bears. We hope they have a magnificent experience.

This week we will keep ourselves busy in the area until Donnalee arrives to get a taste of real Alaskan culture.

Enjoy your week, may God bless you. Love, Pete and Ellen

Photos from Jun 2009