Day 2 Alaska

I am very very just blown away on this trip already.... I am sitting here trying to still absorb everything we saw and heard yesterday. There is so much to learn about this great state and even more to learn about the people here. I was never into history that much, but this place fascinates me to no end. These people are the true modern day pioneers. The Indian tribes, the mushers they have such amazing stories. We got to go to Susan Butcher's Dog Kennels, and hear her husband talk about what Susan loved. I got all teary eyed when I was leaving, she was such an amazing woman, someone I would have loved to meet. Alaska seems very full of great woman. We also got to meet Jesse and she is following in Susan's footsteps. We plan on following her on the Internet as she does the Iditarod this time. We got to meet her team of dogs and she is another amazing woman! The stories they have of being out there on the trail just them and their dogs, they are just unbelievable.

We also met Betsy and she is a native to Alaska, her family has been here many generations, they have fishing camps and use a fishing wheel to fish for salmon, they smoke it too. This lady also has some of her work in the Smithsonian Institute, her sewing and beading is just WOW! It takes over 6 months to make a Parka, and they are valued at over 16,000 dollars. The men kill the game, but after that the woman do all the dressing and cleaning and then use all parts of the animal. There is so much more about these people, I am still trying to absorb it all, it was so educational and just beautiful yesterday. We also went to a working gold mine and met too HOOTS!! This lady has gold running thru her veins, she just LOVES what she does, she has been prospecting with her husband for over 40 years and now they educate others about what they love. They are still working their claim too. I never knew they only would dig in the winter for the gold, then all summer they would do the panning. It is very interesting how they do all this.

So I am going to leave you with a few favorite shots of the day, we are about to leave Fairbanks for Denali today. I know I just wrote alot of words, but I also know I can't even express everything I want to say about the trip so far. I get choked up just thinking about it quite a few times during the day. Amazing! Amazing! Amazing! If I was going to sum up Alaska so far in one word, I would have to say GENUINE! The people, the land, just so pure. Ok off to an another adventure...enjoy the pictures!

Bush Pilot landing in the river.
The mountain range in the back is just amazing.
Susan Butcher's Kennels
The wedding of the Rivers, that is all rock particles that the water breaks up.
This woman can fillet a salmon in about 30 seconds! And Bead that beautiful coat too! This is just amazing art work!
Josh compared to a Caribou Skin
The Alaskan Pipeline, WOW is this an amazing thing to see only if a piece of it.
The Prospector...what a great guy!
We got to hold this, they just let you pick it up and hold it, they figure there aren't a whole lot of ways out, so they really don't worry about anyone stealing it. It was kind of cool that it wasn't just in a glass case.