There is LOTS of living going on in our house this summer.  It’s one event after another with not much time to really think or try to be a writer.  My Alaska trip is a fond memory but I haven’t done a thing with my photo albums or scrapbooks.  I’ve hardly looked at my photos or brochures and papers from the trip.  So I am taking the time this morning to post some photos from our journey of 178 miles from Valdez to Kennicott/McCarthy.

We weren’t even out of Valdez before we pulled over on the side of the road to take photos of the falls.  As we opened the doors we were blasted by the loud roaring of the water.  You can’t help but feel happily overwhelmed, almost like a burst of energy from the sounds and sights.  Water poured down the mountains and fed the river below, which whisked it all away, down stream, as fast as it could flow.

We weren’t expecting to see men dangling from a helicopter.  They were replacing the yellow spheres on the power lines.  We had to stop for a few minutes and it was fun to watch them.

We stopped at a convenience store in the middle of nowhere and I saw that someone had planted a bed of flowers in the bed of this old old truck.  Whoever that “someone” is must  be a kindred spirit.

My beautiful friend on another one of our stops.   We took our time driving so we could soak in every sight and breathe in all the fresh air.

I remember the wind was whipping our hair around during this particular stop.

Our favorite Alaskan wildflowers with the suitably romantic name of “Languid Ladies”

Coming into McCarthy I felt as if it were all a dream………

With children and dogs running free without a care in the world.

With my fisheye lens I was able to capture almost the entire town.  😉

“Kennicott and McCarthy sit five miles apart at the end of the McCarthy Road, about 90 miles from the turnoff from the Richardson Highway. Today, Kennicott is a ghost town and McCarthy has a year-round population of just a couple of dozen people. After copper was discovered in the area in 1900, a group of wealthy investors formed the Kennecott Copper Corporation (named when a clerical worker misspelled Kennicott) to mine the incredibly rich veins in the jagged mountains above Root Glacier.” ~the internet

View from an observation deck.

Hannah and I explored the old Kennecott mining town and enjoyed both the big and small details of this amazing place— like the big heavy door in the butchers, and the old iron heaters.

beauty in the details

Post office where I thought of Mom— and my brother who would have certainly quoted the “registered mail” line from the Anne movies……..

The scent of so much wood, sound of our footsteps on the floors, photos, displays, and information on the walls to bring the town to life again in our imaginations.

THIS is a great post to read for more information about Kennecott Copper Mines

All of the buildings are painted in the same color red….truly a sight to behold.   Photos, as always, can’t tell the truth of the place, only give an idea of what it was like to visit.  I felt small and almost lost amongst the grand but now empty buildings.

You can go inside several of the buildings, but then there are several that are still empty and shut off from wandering visitors.

There were tours that you could go on to see more rooms and get access to other places, but Hannah and I much preferred going alone at our free pace.

wooden details

This series of buildings was built up the side of the mountain.

Mountains beyond

Looking from an observation platform; our imagination could see the  bustle and labor of so many men when it was truly a working town.

WOW

small family cottage (kitchen) We loved the creamy yellow paint.

We walked through and then turned around to go back again.

Same series of buildings built up and up the hill.

I stood on the bridge to take this photo of the water.  Probably my favorite of the day.

This is a photo of the tiny cabin Hannah and I spent one night in during our visit to McCarthy, Alaska.

Places we Experienced:

Kenny Lake Mercantile (where I saw the truck)
Chitina Hotel (stopped at along the way and ate dinner)
McCarthy Road (62 miles of gravel road we drove to get to our destination)
Wrangell -St.Elias National Park and Preserve (entered as we drove to McCarthy)
Kuskulana Bridge (525 feet long, height above the river, 238 feet) single lane bridge.  Hannah had white knuckles driving across.
Chokosna Trading Post (tiny stop for fresh coffee and where we stopped on our way back with a flat tire) Small but very impressive with excellent coffee!
Gilahina River (sight of an old wooden trestle bridge for the railroad, and gravesite of Sam the dog)
Kennicott*McCarthy (our final destination and one night stay)
Blackburn Cabins (our accommodations)
McCarthy*Kennicott Historical Museum (SO interesting)
EDGE OF ALASKA (show filmed in McCarthy.  We stayed at Mark’s cabins, Mark is one of the characters on the show.  We saw a few of the other men at dinner in town.)

 

 

MORE PHOTOS FROM THIS ADVENTURE to come (Sorry, not sorry)…..

PS, please pray for Rich, as tomorrow he has corrective surgery first thing in the morning, and will be having two badly herniated discs in his neck replaced!!!!!  THANK YOU

ALSO:  Happy 13th birthday to my darling son CALEB, who is at wrestling camp until Wednesday with his brothers David and Seth.