A couple of pictures from the area.

Here is just a quick post to share a couple of pictures from just down the road from our house. We take it for granted sometimes of what a beautiful place we live in.

Snowmaching near Eureka Alaska

What wonderful day to go for a snowmachine ride. Yes I called it a snowmachine. That is what they are called up here in Alaska, if you say snowmobile you might hear a few snickers and people calling you a cheechako (new comer to Alaska).

We started off down in the heavy fog off the Glenn Highway, within minutes the fog created a heavy layer of frost on the goggles and made it almost impossible to see. It took about 4 miles hunkered down behind the windshield just peeking over, with no goggles to get out of the fog. My eyebrows had about a half an inch of frost when we finally stopped. We had decided to go into the Bellanger Pass area that we had explored this summer on the ATV's (see previous post). Wow what a difference a few months and 4-6 feet of snow make. Totally a different place! The best part is with a snowmachine you can go almost any place you want and maybe a few you shouldn't. I guess it depends on what you call safe.

We rode around 45 miles in about 6 hours, snow was a little bare for this time of year but enough to enjoy the ride. We even saw an igloo someone made.

After the photos is a short video before the camera battery died. The good snow was of course after the battery died on my camera.

 Igloo - Yes we do live in them :o)

Fog down in a valley

 Fog down in the valley we rode up from.

Brian doing a little showing off

 Brian doing a little more showing off.

Beautiful views

Love the views

A video of the day before the camera battery ran out.

Eklutna Trailrace

A short afternoon drive over to the Eklutna Trailrace gave us an opportunity for some nice pictures.

Here is a map of the location.

https://www.google.com/maps?ll=61.476361,-149.15855&spn=0.011845,0.042272&t=h&z=15

The Eklutna Hydroelectric Project tailrace is located approximately 34 miles northeast of Anchorage near Mile 3.5 of the Old Glenn Highway. The site provides a recreational fishery that was originally supported by coho, sockeye, and chum salmon returning to the Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association's (CIAA) hatchery located at the head of the tailrace. The private nonprofit hatchery was operational from 1981 through 1998. The sport fishery is confined to the approximately one-half mile long tailrace which extends from the Old Glenn Highway downstream to its confluence with the Knik River. Currently, the fishery is supported by hatchery coho and chinook salmon that are reared at the ADF&G Fort Richardson Hatchery and released into the tailrace. Coho salmon smolts have been stocked into the tailrace annually since 1998. Chinook salmon smolts were first stocked in May 2002, which has provided a chinook salmon fishery that began in the spring of 2004. Salmon originating from the drainages of the Knik and Matanuska rivers are also harvested at the confluence of the tailrace and the Knik River.

The first Eklutna hydroelectric power plant began servicing Anchorage in 1929. Today, the Eklutna
Power Plant provides approximately three percent of the area’s energy requirements.

Here are some pictures of the area.