August 17, 2023 - Alaska
Anchorage Museum

Today we drove down to Anchorage and checked out the Anchorage Museum.  They have put a lot of money into this museum because it is very modern and state-of-the-art.
   
My favorite place in the museum was a special exhibit called "Alaska from Above" featuring the aerial photography of Alaska by Bradford Washburn during the 1930s.
   

Washburn (1911-2007) was an American mountaineer, cartographer, photographer, and student of Alaska's mountains and glaciers.  He also pioneered aerial photography, which is the only way to really see Alaska.

Here are just a few of his pictures.

   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
Denali towers above the other, lesser peaks.
   
Must have been pretty cool shooting with the door open up in Alaska up at 10,000 feet or so.
   
A painting of Mount Denali.  It was probably named Mount McKinley at the time of painting.
   
A painting named Carnivore Creek by artist David Mollett.
   
A painting of Muir Glacier in Alaska's Glacier Bay by Thomas Hill in 1889.
   
Some colorful Bears having a good time.
   
The museum even had a kids area which was a big hit with Parker and Zoey.
   

Up on the third floor was a special exhibit called "To Hear the Earth Before the End of the World".    It reminded me of a special exhibit in an art museum in Wichita, Kansas called "Raven and the Box of Daylight".  Both exhibits are "Way Out There".

First you walk through this room of hanging feathers.

   
Then you sit in this room and watch the patterns on the screen that conform to sounds.  OK!
   
The explanation in case you are is interested; and can understand it.  I could not.
   
We left the museum and headed over to Lake Hood Seaplane Base which is next to the International Airport.
   
Over 1,000 general aviation aircraft are based here.  In comparison, Essex Skypark has about 30.
   
Lake Hood has about 200 operations daily.  In comparison, Essex Skypark probably averages about 3 daily. We watched two planes takeoff in the short time we were here.  In the winter, they use skiis to take off the lake.  There is also a gravel strip for planes with landing gear.
   
 
   
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