Evangeline Visits Alaska

Here is little Evangeline, all excited about her recent fantastic trip to “The Last Frontier”, the beautiful state of Alaska!

The cities in red were places that she visited, from Seattle, Washington, all the way up to Fairbanks,  Alaska, nearly to the Arctic Circle.  Oh, what a lot of sights she saw!

Lets begin our trip memories in Seattle, Washington:

Here you see Evangeline posing with her hosts, Mike and Char Mumau, near the market in this busy city.

And here is a colorful close-up of her favorite seat among the dahlias.

She really liked her visit in Kirkland, Washington, visiting friends, enjoying the beautiful garden of Pastor Eric and Cheryl Malone.

Ketchikan, Alaska

Alaska is full of history, and the early people here often made tribute to historic events in these carved wooden monuments called totem poles.  I wonder what stories this one could tell?

A scary moment in Ketchikan, when Evangeline thought her travels were over.  A BEAR GOT HER!!

Juneau, Alaska

Juneau is Alaska’s capital city.  Not far away is the Mendanhall Glacier that is 12 miles long.

How special to find a mighty little glacier, your very own size.

Watch out for the bears, Evangeline!!!

Ah, but the eagles are so majestic and full of wisdom.

What a beautiful sunrise seen at Glacier Bay National Park.  So peaceful and inspiring.

It makes me think of Paul’s words in Ephesians chapter 3:

Denali National Park,  Alaska

Those log benches are pretty neat!

This Park is centered around the highest mountain in North America, Mount McKinley.  Evangeline and her friends saw this bull moose in the Denali Park.  The moose is officially Alaska’s State land mammal.

Fairbanks, Alaska

The largest city in Alaska’s interior. Its fascinating that the Northern Lights can be seen in the night sky more than 200 days per year in this area so far north.  The shortest winter day of the year here has less than three hours of sunlight, but the longest day (around June 21) never really ends, though officially it has over 21 hours.

In the cabbage patch at the Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Gardens:

“Hanging with the boys” in Pioneer Village, here they have created a replica gold-rush town, and an Native Alaskan village and museum, and lots more to see!

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Saying goodbye to Alaska, and heading south, back to the States, Evangeline enjoyed stopping to see the Victoria Province Capital Building.  How pretty it looks all decorated in these lights.

One more stop, at the world famous Empress Hotel.  Would you like to join Evangeline for tea this evening?

I’d like to include this fascinating story about how Alaska got its State Flag.

Alaska was purchased from Russia in 1867.  Alaska was still a territory in 1926 (before it became a state in 1959).  The governor decided to hold a contest for children to design an official Alaskan flag.  It was open to all children in Alaska grades 7-12.  A 13 year old boy, Benny Benson, from an orphanage in Seward entered the contest.  He was born in Chignik, a small fishing village, his father was a Swedish fisherman and his mother was an Aleut-Russian.  Out of hundreds of submissions, his design was chosen; on a blue background he arranged the constellation of the Big Dipper pointing to the North Star.

Benny said:  “The blue field is for the Alaska sky and the forget-me-not, an Alaska flower.  The North Star is for the future of the state of Alaska, the most northerly in the Union.  The dipper is for the Great Bear – symbolizing strength.”

I found this quote about when Benny Benson learned about his win in March 1927  http://fairbanks-alaska.com/benny-benson.htm . “One day our teacher’s  husband came in the room and he brought a telegram,” Benson recalled in 1971. “She just looked at it and her mouth dropped open. She was speechless.   … And I darned near fell out of my seat, I guess.”

Thank you to Mike and Char Mumau for the chance to be included on this very special trip!