Friday Meme Trifecta: A Journey to Standard Creek

Sit back and enjoy a Meme Trifecta!

I will share some beautiful Alaskan skies in July. Crazy Working Mom hosts Looking at the sky on Friday where you can go to see sky shots from around the world.

My photos will tell a story of our trip tonight through Standard Creek. If you want to see more Photo Story Friday you can visit My Chaos My Bliss.

My story will take a Haiku form (as it did yesterday!). You can read more Haiku's from people with actual talent at A Mommy Story.






Phew! Now that all the Meme etiquette is out-of-the-way I can get down to telling you about what we.....Homer, Olivia, Lucas and myself....did tonight.



When Dad first got home we took a look at chickens and talked about plant stakes. We cruised through the connex to see how much was left to move. We hemmed and hawed about where to start working. Then it hit us....how about we don't work and enjoy the evening. Sounded great.



We (gently) tossed the little ones in the truck and headed towards Standard Creek in search of flat rocks for stepping stones between the garden beds.



To get to the wood cutting roads you travel 13 miles down the Parks Highway to the Old Nenana Highway. For us it was a bit closer to our back door. Two miles down the Old Nenana you take a left here:

An old logging road

through Alaska's wilderness;

breath-taking journey.

Standard Creek is land owned by the State of Alaska that is used for firewood sales. This dirt road which was one lane most of the time is about 32 miles to the end.

Our first stop was at the Standard Creek bridge which I think was mile 8 (or maybe 11? I wasn't paying attention). Olivia and I spotted this dainty Bog Star.



Olivia was very excited to walk across a bridge. I do believe this was the first time for her! Lucas feel asleep so he was in the truck missing it all.

With eyes of wonder

a princess looks for a fish

with her prince charming.

There's Standard Creek. Not so big and very murky water.

The worn bridge of old

gone for a path of safety

for the wood cutter.

The Foxtails captured my eye flowing in the breeze.

Around the corner

the railroad runs through the land

hauling coal to town.

These tracks connect Fairbanks and Anchorage hauling coal, fuel, people....

We reached our destination just past mile 17. While we were picking through the pile (and yes, we could have found the same rocks on the road in front of our house, but it wouldn't have been the same) a State Forestry truck stopped to let us know there was another one coming behind him. Remember it's a one-lane. He said they were fighting a 100-acre fire at the end of the road. I suppose the lightening storm from last night started it. I can hear a helicopter going over my house as I type this.

At three and four years

their tiny legs scramble

up the big rock hill.

Across the valley

gentle clouds form in the sky;

a perfect evening.

The rolling hills were full of blooming Fireweed.



We stopped to dig up some Tundra Roses for the garden. Okay, my hubby dug, I photographed. My mom had these in her garden so I have always wanted them, too. Unfortunately, we only had a square-nosed shovel which was about impossible for the large, thick roots. He managed to get one bush up and we'll go for more another night.

This is a quickly-taken blurry through-the-window shot of a rabbit. We saw three on the way back.

Isn't this the cutest little duck? I have no clue what it is, but it wasn't too afraid of me.

She? was hanging out all alone in a bit of a mud hole along the road.

Alaska Cotton was plentiful in the boggy areas along the road.

Swamps filled with Black Spruce.

Here's what we hauled home. Had we been without the Wee People we'd have gotten a lot more, but the breeze was dying down and the no-see-ums were coming on strong. I think we got out of there just in time! I'll be digging down and placing these in the gravel between the garden beds. They are shiny gold and silver and will clean up nicely. I'll share that project another day.

I hope you enjoyed our journey through Standard Creek. We got a bit of a late start or I would have taken a lot more photos. I guess we'll just have to go back for another load of rocks!