Summer 1954 and the West was calling – with a new baby my parents packed up the car and headed to Spokane, WA…
Read MoreChapter Four – Spokane
Archives for August 2016
Chapter Five – Alaska: Here We Come!
Spring of 1956 my parents drove up the ALCAN Highway, a 1,700 mile unpaved road in a 4 door sedan with two toddlers, cloth diapers, a coleman stove and a canvas army tent…
Read MoreChapter Six – Arrived!
John – “We arrived in Anchorage the first part of May 1956…we purchased “R” street with its diesel oil burning range in the kitchen, that also heated the water. The source of heat was this stove upstair and a diesel burning space heater in the basement. The hot water tank was in the closet in what became Melissa’s room and provided quite a bit of heat.”
Read MoreChapter Seven – Picnicking & Camping
In looking over the slides I was struck by how often my parents took us camping and picnicking. These weren’t short drives to a local park, often these were hours long treks over dirt roads to far flung parts of the state. They would pack us kids, the coleman stove and the tent for overnights and be off to explore new sights…
Read MoreChapter Eight – “R” Street Transformed
One of the things that struck me when I went through the slides the first time was how much our house changed over the years. Following is “time lapse” photography showing the house through the years, you can decide for yourself how much it has changed.
Read MoreChapter Nine – “R” Street Within
While the exterior of the house was being transformed so was the interior, to a lesser degree. There weren’t as many slides of the inside of the house, but there are some. Come on in…
Read MoreChapter Ten – Earthquake
The 1964 Alaskan earthquake, also known as the Great Alaskan earthquake and Good Friday earthquake, occurred at 5:36 P.M. AST on Good Friday, March 27. All five of us were in downtown Anchorage when the quake hit…
Read MoreChapter Eleven – The Cabin
When I was 9 years old my parents decided they wanted a getaway from the hustle and bustle of Anchorage, which at that time had a population of about 100,000. With a 99 year lease on a plot of land from the State on a small lake about 60 miles outside of Anchorage they built a cabin. No running water and no electricity it was heated by a wood burning stove and lighted with Coleman lanterns. I loved it…
Read MoreChapter Twelve – Europe
In the spring of 1969 my parents took off for a trip to Europe leaving us kids at home with a babysitter. They were so taken with Europe that the next year they rented out our house, packed up us kids and took off for a year in England…
Read MoreChapter Thirteen – Dad’s Work
Dad worked in the transportation industry while I was growing up. He worked for companies that operated tugboats, barges and trucks throughout the state. I had no idea, until I saw the next group of pictures, the adventures he had…
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