Driving to Anchorage
We got home about a-quarter-to-midnight last night with a Suburban-load of cat food, kitty litter, and groceries. We got that all stowed, the wood stove fired up and the cats fed--then fell into bed and slept the sleep of the exhausted.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
We had left Homer about six in the morning. A light snow was falling, which got heavier at times as we drove north in the dark. We passed scattered settlements and solitary homes--some with their holiday lights glowing brightly in the predawn darkness.
We stopped in Soldotna to grab a quick breakfast about seven-thirty. The western half of the Kenai Peninsula is a rather flat plateau cut by small drainages but as we continued north, the highway climbed into the tangle of mountains that tie the Peninsula to the mainland of Alaska. The first light of dawn began to show through rifts in the overcast as we followed the twisting road along the Kenai River and then the lake before joining the Seward Highway to climb toward Turnagain Pass.
We stopped for a short break at Canyon Creek. While Denny hit the outhouse, I enjoyed the stillness of the winter morning breaking over the creek. The same pulse of moisture that brought us a couple of inches of snow on Monday apparently had dropped up to twenty inches in the mountains, and the freshly-fallen snow softened the contours of the terrain.
By the time the day had fully broke, we were through the mountains and back down to tide-water, following the highway along Turnagain Arm. I snapped this picture of the sunrise colors breaking through the clouds just a few miles south of Anchorage.
More photos are at Northern Life.
More of our trip to town tomorrow....
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
We had left Homer about six in the morning. A light snow was falling, which got heavier at times as we drove north in the dark. We passed scattered settlements and solitary homes--some with their holiday lights glowing brightly in the predawn darkness.
We stopped in Soldotna to grab a quick breakfast about seven-thirty. The western half of the Kenai Peninsula is a rather flat plateau cut by small drainages but as we continued north, the highway climbed into the tangle of mountains that tie the Peninsula to the mainland of Alaska. The first light of dawn began to show through rifts in the overcast as we followed the twisting road along the Kenai River and then the lake before joining the Seward Highway to climb toward Turnagain Pass.
We stopped for a short break at Canyon Creek. While Denny hit the outhouse, I enjoyed the stillness of the winter morning breaking over the creek. The same pulse of moisture that brought us a couple of inches of snow on Monday apparently had dropped up to twenty inches in the mountains, and the freshly-fallen snow softened the contours of the terrain.
By the time the day had fully broke, we were through the mountains and back down to tide-water, following the highway along Turnagain Arm. I snapped this picture of the sunrise colors breaking through the clouds just a few miles south of Anchorage.
More photos are at Northern Life.
More of our trip to town tomorrow....
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