Moon Over the Mountains

Yesterday as I drove down the highway watching the beautiful sunset I caught a weird light in my rear view mirror. I turned around and headed back in the other direction to realize that the moon was rising up over the Chugach Mtns! So I had the sunset in on direction and this beautiful scene in the other(you can see the glow from the sunset on the road signs):

Fire in the Sky

As I left work at 11:30pm Friday night I was greeted with another beautiful sunset. The sky was on fire with orange and red and I pulled over to the side of the highway to take it all in, it was just so mesmerizing.

Winter Holds On

Here is a collage I put together showing what my yard looked like on May 20 last yr, and what it looks like today. As you can see we had a lot of green already at this time last yr but this yr the leaves havent popped yet and the lake across the street from us is still iced over.

May Snow

You never really know what Mother Nature has up her sleeve and in Alaska that's especially true. On Fri May 17 and Sat May 18th Alaska sent most of Alaska a bit of a curve ball when snow fell across the region. I had left early Friday morning with my daughter to head down to the Kenai Peninsula(pics of that to come in a few days) so I missed the snow event here at home but we did see a little snow where I was at also. Nothing compared to what the Anchorage area and Mat-Su Valley saw though. A record was actually broken...with this snowfall the 2012-2013 is the longest snow season since records began in 1917, with 232 days. Last yr we had the record for the highest snowfall and this yr its all about the snow sticking around, not the amount of snow that fell.

Here are some photos of my yard that my husband took on Saturday the 18th.

Taken at 5:21 am Saturday morning:

 Taken t 10:30am Saturday morning:

Alaskan Sunset

Just a quick post today....

Last night at work I happened to step outside for some fresh air and my breath was instantly taken away. The sky was on fire with orange, red and pink and the clouds seemed to be glowing. I ran inside and grabbed my camera and took these shots just after 11pm. We are currently at 19hrs and 40 min of visible light.

USS Anchorage Commissioning

This past Saturday, May 4th, we were up bright and early to attend the commissioning of the USS Anchorage LPD-23. This is the second vessel to be named after the city of Anchorage and to be able to see it welcomed to the fleet was an awesome thing. My husband and I met while we were both active duty Navy and while I got out of the service to raise our family he ended up spending 20 yrs in the Navy, retiring in 2008. Needless to say the Navy is very important to us and to be around the Navy again was really nice for our entire family!

The USS Anchorage LPD-23 is a transport dock, meaning it delivers troops into war zones by sea. It delivers landing craft but also has a flight deck for certain types of helicopters. It is part of the San Antonio class, the modern version of these types of ships.

We left the Mat-Su Valley at 6:30am to head into Anchorage and it was snowing pretty good. It may have been May 4th but the weather didn't seem to care about that and I cant lie, I quite enjoyed it! We arrived in Anchorage and it was snowing there also, and after we went through security we climbed aboard the large buses that were transporting everyone to the Port of Anchorage.

As soon as we got down to the docks we could see the ship and what an amazing site! She is definitely very modern looking and for a family that is used to aircraft carriers she seemed so small LOL Sailors, Marines, dignitaries and visitors all milled about, visiting booths set up and passing time until the ceremony began at 10am.

The snow fell during the entire ceremony and I am sure there were quite a few sailors and marines on board that did not appreciate our Alaska weather but it seemed fitting when commissioning a ship named after Alaska's largest city!

 

The American Flag being raised:

Sailors and Marines man the rails after being told to "man the ship and come aboard"

 Sailors and Marines salute during the ceremony:

 

 

 

Busy Busy

It's been a busy few weeks....the daughter had 2 proms to go too, the snow is melting, moose are making their way out of the lowlands, birds are migrating......It looks like spring has arrived in southcentral Alaska.

Buds appearing on the willow trees:

 A bull moose came to visit me one night at work:

 Watching migrating birds at the Matanuska Experimental Farm in Palmer: