Most military bases have monument planes (tanks, artillery pieces, etc.).

There are 2 eagles near the planes. They were injured and have been rehabilitated, but cannot be released.

Since we did not get to travel further on the peninsula than Anchorage, we didn't get to see many reminders of Russian heritage. Guess we'll just have to take a cruise!

Did we say there's always a lot of road construction?

A musk ox farm:

This area is known as "clean" (low sulfur emissions) and there are a lot of remnants of old mines>

The Matanuska Glacier Valley was part of a WPA experiment to bring farmers from Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota to Alaska to establish farms during the depression. Growing conditions are so ideal (including almost 24 hour sunshine in the summer) that this valley has produced some amazing vegetables including these Alaska record-holders: a 43 lb. beet, 3 foot bean, 138 lb. cabbage.

These bent poles are to guide the snowplows.

This helicopter is using a Bambi Bucket, used to scoop up water and drop it on fires.

We left Tok, AK, to head back into Canada on a rainy, overcast day, but we saw more wildlife this day than any other. Glad we have some metal around us.

We have been staying in the Fairbanks townhouse at Eielson Air Force Base. As always, The Air Force does it right:

 John and Romeo at the Alaskan Pipeline. Remember all the controversy when it was being planned and constructed? It still pays a dividend to every citizen of Alaska every year, but there's concern that climate change will cause the permafrost to thaw and some of the pipeline will become unstable.

 We went to the Fairbanks Ice Museum and learned how ice blocks are harvested and carved. Ice is shipped from here to Frankenmuth, Michigan, each year for the Frankenmuth winter festival. Romeo was the only one of us brave enough to try the ice slide. Three times!

 John fantasizes an Iditarod run:

 Cheers-but hurry and take the picture, it's only 20 degrees!

 Reluctantly, we left Glenn and family for Anchorage early Monday morning July 18. We stopped in Nenana to take a few pictures, including this tripod which is placed on the ice on the Nenana River to determine the exact moment of ice breakup so a lottery winner can be named.

 A fish wheel and drying fish.  Gina and Glenn spend time at a fish wheel each summer and we're looking forward to seeing a video of one in action.

 This little tugboat plied Alaskan waters from 1938 until 1978.

 An eskimo scout:

 Back on the road

 This isn't part of the job for highway workers in mid-Michigan.  They are working in a landslide area.

 There were signs posted all around this area stating it was closed because of bear activity. A juvenile grizzly had been getting too familiar with people-including 2 bite incidents. The rangers stationed here were frustrated with how hard it is to get people to follow instructions and to respect that the animals were here first and deserve to live without human interference.

 Mt. Denali is the highest peak in North America.

 The Alaskan Veterans Memorial in Denali State Park.

 On to joint base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage. We had a choice of Army or Air Force Lodging and chose Air Force. I'm sure you can understand why:

 We are in the Adak Chateau, named for the Aleutian island which became an operations and support center for the Aleutian campaign during WW2 and in honor of the men and women who fought in that campaign.
We had intended to travel down to Seward on Tuesday, but a wildfire broke out close to the Seward Highway late last week and is still spreading. About 110,000 lightning strikes per year cause many wildfires in Alaska. There is also one burning near mile 115 of the Tok Cutoff, the road we'll take tomorrow (under control enough that firefighters are being shifted to the fire near Anchorage), and one near the Salcha River by Fairbanks.
We went to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, mostly because we had free admission because of a reciprocity agreement with the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, which we visited in February. It's also listed as a "gem" in the AAA TourBook, turns out deservingly so. Very good Alaska history and representations of Alaskan natives and similarities and differences among and between the native cultures.

 We visited Earthquake Park, a reminder of the Good Friday, 1964, 9.2 magnitude earthquake that devastated south-central Alaska. It was the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in North America and the second most powerful in the world.
Downtown Anchorage from Earthquake Park:

This is a reconstruction of a cache, used to store food, furs, and other valuables out of the reach of animals.

 We took a short side trip to Fort Greely, just outside Delta Junction, to see what was there. When we asked the gate guard, he answered, "Lots of dirt and mooses." This is a US Army launch site for anti-ballistic missiles and is the home of the Cold Regions Test Center, as it is one of the coldest regions in Alaska. How cold, you ask? Cold enough that you have to put a jacket on your propane tank:

The gate guard was right! We finally did see a moose, who didn't care at all that she was in a restricted area but did seem a little concerned with us. Glad there was a fence.

 Ohhhh-no wonder she's so protective:

 John feels right at home, as we leave the base and continue toward Eielson Air Force Base, our home for the next few days.

 The Alaska pipeline:

 We check into our room then, without even unpacking, hurry to North Pole, AK, to see Mary's brother, Glenn and his family.

 We hadn't met Glenn and Gina's grandson, Sebastian, but he's glad to see us!

 Glenn and Gina's son, Scott, Scott's wife, Emily, and their Isaac

 The Lady of the Lake is a B-29 submerged in a small pond on Eielson Air Force Base.  When Mary, her parents, and Matthew and Benjamin visited in 1993, not much was known about her but divers and researchers have since discovered that she was submerged after an accident that made her no longer air-worthy and she was used for water rescue practice.  Her role during the cold war was as a weather aircraft and she was the first US aircraft to detect radiation from a nuclear test in Russia at a time when the US believed Russia was not nuclear capable. The day we visited, a team of environmental workers was preparing to drill a test hole to determine if contaminants such as fire retardant were used at this site.

 This "Burl"y mosquito was standing in the same spot 23 years ago, perhaps because lots of juicy tourists stop to pose.

 Mary, Glenn, and Glenn and Gina's granddaughters Julie and Anna at the University of Alaska Museum of the North.

 Otto's counting down the minutes to closing, when he can relax.

 Most creative outhouse ever:

 We drove to UA-Fairbanks animal farm, but only these 2 reindeer were accepting visitors:

 On to Pioneer Park, formerly Alaskaland, a Fairbanks park that was created for the 1967 Alaska Exposition and features the S.S. Nenana, one of the largest wooden sternwheelers ever constructed.

 Glenn and Gina-thank you for being such good hosts.

 Their daughter Julie with her daughter Anna:

 Their son John with his children Romeo, Sebastian, and Julie:

 Glenn taking a picture of John taking a picture of Glenn...... Actually, Glenn was taking a video of the 9 of us who were riding the little park train-what fun!

 A gold sluice:

 Glenn and Gina's daughter Tracy holding Makai and her husband Jon with Jayden. We didn't get to see Tracy's Cyris, as he was with his dad.

And, due to a mixup of phone numbers and then her work schedule, we missed seeing Gina and Glenn's youngest, Kayra, and her family. Darn!