Fun Facts!

Here are some fun facts I found about Alaska the other day. Enjoy!

If you place Alaska, with all of its islands, on top of the “continental” United States, it spans from the Great Lakes to Texas, and from Florida to California.

At 591,000 square miles, Alaska is larger than Texas, California,and Montana combined.

The coastline of Alaska is longer than the coastline of the continental United States.

Of Alaska’s 3 million lakes, the largest (Lake Iliamna) is the size of Connecticut.

Alaska’s mainland is only 51 miles away from Russia.

Alaska has 17 of the 20 highest mountains in North America (Mt. McKinley is the highest at 20,320 feet).

Alaska was purchased from Russia in 1867 for under 2 cents per acre.

The name “Alaska” comes from an Aleut word meaning “The Great Land”

Astronauts say they can see the 800-mile Trans-Alaska Pipeline from outer space.

Due to long summer days in Alaska, giant vegetables are common, such as a 98-pound cabbage recorded in 1990.

Alaska has two of the three biggest islands in the U.S. - Kodiak and Prince of Wales.

First Snow!

Even in Alaska the first snow is exciting! It came last Wednesday while we were in school and the kids were so excited! We all went to the window and watched. In Meghan's class the older kids were excited too! So even in Alaska you get a rush when the first snow comes. After school and our Wednesday district class Meghan and I let our dogs out to play. They had so much fun running and wrestling in the snow. At that point it was dark and had started to rain so we didn't stay out too long but they had a blast. 

Andy took me out hunting for ptarmigan and looking for beavers. We didn't see any beavers but a beautiful golden eagle was sitting next to the river. It let us get very close. We saw a TON of ptarmigan that day. Andy got one and I missed the one I was supposed to get after he winged it. We searched and searched but they can run fast and hide! We didn't find him which stunk because he was hurt. I now realize how fast they are and to act fast! Andy took me out again last night but we only saw two ptarmigan and they were too far to shoot. Walking in the tundra is hard work! There are a lot of holes, it is squishy so you almost have to march, and it is deep. I'm sore everyday after but it is a lot of fun to go out and it is so pretty. I have also accepted pictures can never capture the beauty of sunrises/sunsets, stars, and mountains. I still try though! I even saw a shooting star the other morning. There have been a lot of bald eagles flying around the river. I wish I could get a picture of them but they are so high up and moving so fast. They are beautiful though. 

 The eagle we saw. 

The river floods sometimes and fills the whole marshy area outside my window. Here are a couple of pictures of it flooding. It is crazy how fast it happens! You look out the window and in 15 minutes you look out and it looks like this!

Last weekend Meghan and Andy moved into their new house! I helped them carry things the best I could. Then I spent all Sunday at their house and had a really great day. It was the best weekend I've had so far. Hopefully I'll be in my house soon. My birthday is on Friday and we are hoping to have me in for my birthday but we'll see. 

It snowed again all day today. I was excited to take Piper out to play as soon as I got done with our after school program Wolf Club. It had turned to rain in the late afternoon so the snow was wet and heavy. Everything was also covered in ice and very pretty. Piper got to go in the tundra which is one of her favorite places and play in the snow so she was very happy. We stayed out for about 20 minutes until we were both drenched from the rain and wet snow. 

Temperature has been unseasonably warm with a lot of rain. We've been in the high 30s/low 40s for the past couple of weeks. Last night it was 23 but the temperature is going back up. It gets light around 9:30am and dark a bit before 6. The getting dark earlier has really cut into our walk time so I'm trying to keep Piper busy by continuing to work on training. I bought a rally obedience book and was pleasantly surprised to see Sue Oakes' review on the back of the book! Made me think of Oakes K9 and her friends there. We miss them and are still working to be on our A game when we get back. I've also been going to church every Sunday. I missed this week because I was hanging out with Meghan and Andy which I feel guilty about but it was such a great day. Church makes me miss North Wales Baptist and the Runners. I miss all of my friends and especially my family at home so much but I'm just trying to focus on all of the positives here. 

Well that's all for now. If you wrote to me, thank you! I'm sorry I've been so bad at writing back but I'm working on it. You'll get a letter soon, promise. Hopefully my next post will be pictures of my new house!