Second Saturday in Anchorage

Today is the second Saturday that I have been in Anchorage and I wanted to list my accomplishments. I have a car (damn rental) and a place to stay ( Tom and Andee's guest room until apartment is empty). I can now get to work without my GPS. I can get to two different grocery stores without directions and I can even get home from them. I can get to one health food market with directions.

Today I tried going the 8 minute trip to the Farmers Market at 15th and Cordova. I had my directions on my iphone and was set. I wont say exactly what happened because I really don't know what I did wrong but 45 minutes later I was at the market. My hip hurt and I was frustrated. I walked around for a while and then left without getting a thing. I hate being directionally challenged and if you add anxiety to it, my challenge is even greater. I came home afterwards.

I came home and graded some students work which helped me get focused on what to do. I had wanted to go the Eagle River Nature Center but it was an hour's drive each way and I didn't know if I felt good enough to go that far. Apparently, I didn't because I decided to go to Earthquake Park which was close and then to the small plane airport.

Black spruce trees

Sign says: Warning. Dangerous Waters and Bog Flats

Earthquake Park: (stolen from Wikipedia)

The 1964 Alaskan earthquake, also known as the Great Alaskan Earthquake, the Portage Earthquake and the Good Friday Earthquake, was a megathrust earthquake that began at 5:36 P.M. AST on Good Friday, March 27, 1964.^[2] Across south-central Alaska, ground fissures, collapsing buildings, and tsunamis resulting from the earthquake caused about 143 deaths.

Lasting nearly four minutes, it was the most powerful recorded earthquake in U.S. and North American history, and the second most powerful ever measured by seismograph.^[3] It had a magnitude of 9.2, at the time making it the second largest earthquake in recorded history.^[2]^[4]

Most damage occurred in Anchorage, 75 mi (120 km) northwest of the epicenter. Nine people were killed, the only deaths directly attributed to the earthquake. Anchorage was not hit by tsunamis, but downtown Anchorage was heavily damaged, and parts of the city built on sandy bluffs overlying "Bootlegger Cove clay" near Cook Inlet, most notably the Turnagain neighborhood, suffered landslidedamage. The neighborhood lost 75 houses in the landslide, and the destroyed area has since been turned into Earthquake Park. The Government Hill school suffered from the Government Hill landslide leaving it in two jagged, broken pieces. Land overlooking the Ship Creek valley near the Alaska Railroad yards also slid, destroying many acres of buildings and city blocks in downtown Anchorage. Most other areas of the city were only moderately damaged. The 60-foot concrete control tower at Anchorage International Airport was not engineered to withstand earthquake activity and collapsed, killing one employee.^[7]

The house at 918 W. 10th Avenue suffered damage peripherally, but one block away the recently completed and still unoccupied Four Seasons Building on Ninth Avenue collapsed completely with one whole wing sticking up out of the rubble like a seesaw.

The hamlets of Girdwood and Portage, located 30 and 40 mi (60 km) southeast of central Anchorage on the Turnagain Arm, were destroyed by subsidence and subsequent tidal action. Girdwood was relocated inland and Portage was abandoned. About 20 miles (32 km) of the Seward Highway sank below the high-water mark of Turnagain Arm; the highway and its bridges were raised and rebuilt in 1964-66.

I am staying in the Turnagain Neighborhood, I think or at least off Turnagain St.

This picture is looking down at the bog: there was nothing blue in my eyes until I saw the picture. It's amazing!!!

There a squirrel in the tree. Squirrels are very small here compared to those bastards on my deck! lol

On the ride to Earthquake Park, I realized that we were close to the airport for small planes and floater planes, so I ventured a ride out there. I have an interest in the small planes for two reasons: one they are constantly overhead at my school and home here. I like watching them fly and secondly, I think I have to take a ride in one of the floater planes. I saw a sign $75 an hour ride. I might do that or take a small plane tourist sightseeing trip. I haven't figured it out yet.

As I was driving around the airport, I realized signs telling me that it was an active runway and to be cautious. When all of a sudden this came by: