Anchorage Update
 

 

Dan
September 08

9/1/2008

We got up, a had breakfast and did some more outdoor stuff.  Rhonda was not feeling well, so we packed up early and left around 1:00.  We were looking at the river every chance we got just in case there was another bear out there.  Well, we did not have to look very hard because there was quite a traffic jam at one point.  When we got up to the area where the traffic was, we saw a grizzly on the side of the river eating salmon.

 

Of course, we pulled over right away and got out to take pictures.  This was a little more exciting than the black bear we saw yesterday because the grizzly was on the same side of the river where we were standing.  He started out a couple hundred yards away.  However, he decided to go into the river for a quick swim.  He ended up getting out of the river right below us at the bottom of the bank.  The bank was probably about 30 feet high and the bottom of the bank was probably about 20 or 30 feet straight out from us.  So, on a straight line, the bear was probably only about 40 feet away from us.

 

I did not think much of it until Andrew started to walk down the bank to get a closer look.  It was a really steep bank (30 feet high and 20 or 30 feet out - which means more than a 45 degree slope).  As soon as I saw him walking down the bank, all I could think of was him losing his footing and ending up right in the bear's lap.  I immediately grabbed him and brought him back to the top of the bank.

 

At this point, the bear started to move down the river again parallel to the bank.  As soon as we lost sight of him in the trees on the bank, I thought that it would be best to get in the car and get out of there.  You don't always think about the Lord's protective hand being around you.  But it is!  We put ourselves in a vulnerable position.  You know what they say, the Lord has mercy on drunks and stupid people.  Well, we weren't drinking.

9/8/2008

The Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend or PFD (http://www.pfd.state.ak.us/) checks starting to arrive in the hands of Alaska State residents this week.  Basically, the state sold its rights to the oil and gas deposits to oil companies and part of that sale included the formation of a fund that provides annual payouts to state residents.  We do not qualify yet.  We need to be here for 12 months before we can apply.

 

This year's payout is the largest in state history. The PFD check itself is around $2,000 per person this year which, again, is higher than any previous payout.  In addition, the governor authorized a one-time distribution of excess funds from energy taxes to state residents with the intent of offsetting increasing energy costs.  Sort of a circular statement there .... anyway .... The energy rebate equaled about $1,200 per person and was added to the PFD checks.  So, each state resident will be receiving a check for around $3,200.  So, a family of four, gets around $12,800!

 

Not bad .... Come to Alaska ... they pay you to live here.

 

There are all kinds of "PFD sales" going on everywhere.  Print ads, and radio and tv ads beg you to use your PFD checks for cars, vacations, houses, clothes, etc ..

9/9/2008

I believe that I felt my first earthquake today.  First, you have to realize that Alaska experiences over 4000 earthquakes per year ... which means like 100 per day.  So, obviously, after 8 months, I have already experienced over 2000 earthquakes. However, there are very few that you actually feel since most register less than 3 on the Richter scale.  I have not felt one before today.  And ... I am not 100% sure that what I felt today was an earthquake.

 

I was on the 19th floor of a hotel inside of a meeting room with another Bentley employee.  We were both sitting at a table working when the other person said, "Do you feel that?"  I had felt some vibration in the floor, but it felt like he was bouncing his foot on the floor, or something like that.  I said, "Yeah, I feel it.  You mean, you are not bouncing your foot on the floor?"  He said, "No."  The vibration lasted for about 30 seconds.

 

I checked the Alaska Earthquake Information Center website (http://www.aeic.alaska.edu/).  This is a University of Alaska website that provides a ton of info about Alaska earthquakes.  It also has a page showing info on recent earthquakes (http://www.aeic.alaska.edu/recent/sub/index.html).

 

The list of recent earthquakes gives you time, magnitude, and location info on all recent earthquakes.  It turns out that there was an earthquake around the time that we felt the vibration, but that is no surprise.  With over 100 earthquakes per day, there are earthquakes every 14 minutes or so (on average).  The one that happened around the time that we felt the vibration was a magnitude of 2.0 and occurred a little south of Denali National Park.  I guess it was around 125 or so miles north of us.  I am not sure if a 2.0 earthquake is strong enough to travel 125 miles.

 

Anyway ... it was an interesting moment.

9/11/2008

Obviously an important day for the whole country.  For us too ... Today is Rhonda's birthday!

 

I heard some interesting news today about why 9/11 was a little different for Alaska than anyone else.  It is fairly popular to fly into a remote hunting or fishing camp and to spend a few days isolated from the world while you hunt or fish.  Obviously, when you are out there in the "bush", there are no radios, or newspapers, or cell phones, or TVs.  On your scheduled pick-up day, you are told to have all your stuff ready to go at the designated pick-up spot.

 

From what I have heard, 9/11 was a beautiful day here in Alaska.  So those that were scheduled to be picked up on 9/11 had all of their stuff together and were ready to be picked up.  However, since nothing except for military planes were allowed to fly, they did not get picked up.  As a matter of fact, the air taxi services and guide services were not allowed to fly for four days!

 

These people were stuck out in the bush for four days with no communication whatsoever, waiting to be picked up.  It is not so uncommon to have aircraft problems that would delay your pickup by one day, or even two, but four days is pretty extreme.  The owner of the guide service that was interviewed on the radio this morning said that those people that were picked up four days late actually started to think that they were forgotten out there.

 

Another interesting thing is that there were some people out there hunting, or fishing with their own plane.  When it was time for them to come, they got in their plane and flew home ... no big deal right?  Well for those four days, it was a big deal.  As a matter of fact, each one of them that flew home during those four days, were immediately intercepted by a fighter jet and escorted to their destination.

 

I am telling you ... EVERYTHING is different in Alaska.

9/12/2008

Today Andrew turned 9!  He got some really cool stuff including a skateboard that can be customized (you paint it and decorate it).  He got Cars from the movie Cars.  He also got the Lego Indiana Jones video game for the Wii.

 

To cap it all off ... Andrew wanted to go to Golden Corral for dinner.  We were introduced to this place when Rhonda's father and Joan were here.  Golden Corral is a chain restaurant that is one of those buffet style places.  We went there because Rhonda's father goes to the local one in Florida where they live and he wanted to try this one.

 

The kids LOVED it.  I think every kid does.  They can go up and get whatever type of food they want as much as they want whenever they want.  Paradise for a kid, right?  So, Andrew has been talking about going to Golden Corral on his birthday since we went there in July with Ron and Joan.

9/14/2008

We had a little party for Andrew today at the roller skating rink.  He invited a few of his friends and they all had a great time.  He got some more really cool presents at the party too including ... a model rocket, a toy Hummer and an Indiana Jones Lego set.

9/20/2008

I was at a conference today at a local church that was focused on educating people who serve in children's ministries.  Last school year, I began volunteering as an Awana leader.  I continued doing that at the beginning of this school year, so I thought it would be good to go to the conference.

 

It was good conference.  The interesting thing, though is that people from all over the state of Alaska were invited.  And, people from all over the state came.  The people who came from furthest away were from Fairbanks which is about 400 miles away.  There were people from Kodiak island.  There were people from Healy which is one of the towns near the entrance to Denali National Park.  There were people from Delta Junction which is a pretty remote town about 300 miles (by road - much less on a straight line) northeast of Anchorage.  I am sorry to say that I was just as interested in hearing from these people about what life is like in these areas of Alaska as I was interested in the conference presentations.

 

It's funny ... if you go to a conference like this in PA, you might meet people from Quakertown, or Perkasie, or Sellersville, or even as far away as Harleysville or Bethlehem ... oooh!  Can you imagine someone coming from North Carolina to Faith Baptist in Sellersville or from Maine to Sellersville for a conference on children's ministries?

9/24/2008

I went up to the North Slope today.  This trip was way different than the trip I took up there in March.  Back in March, the North Slope was noting but a frozen wasteland completely devoid of any visible life (except for one caribou that I snapped a picture of).  It was well below zero for the entire trip in March getting down as low as 40 below at one point.

 

During this trip, the North Slope was nothing but a melted, muddy wasteland.  This time, I saw no life at all.  All of the vehicles were the same color ... mud.  I am not exaggerating, every truck was completely covered in a thick coating of mud.  There are very few paved surfaces up there.  Most of the roads are gravel, or just dirt.  This time of year, when all of the snow is gone and the top foot or two of the ground are thawed, it is a total mess up there.  The low temps were high 20s and the high temps were high 30s.