I decided that July would be a perfect time for me and about 300 (that’s all we could fit into the plane) of my closest personal friends to fly to Alaska.

Saturday, July 21, 2001

I decided that July would be a perfect time for me and about 300 (that’s all we could fit into the plane) of my closest personal friends to fly to Alaska.

This state is so far away that it is only 25 miles from Russia. Alaska became a state in 1959, was purchased from Russia for approximately 2 cents per acre and has four seasons. The four seasons are June, July, August and winter.

The flight was good, the movie bad and the food edible -&160;about all you could ask from an airline. The food didn’t bother me because I was destined to dine on halibut, salmon and cod. I landed, with a bit of help from the plane, in Anchorage. It is a railroad town and about half of Alaska’s population lives in the Anchorage area. The weather was cool. It was expected as this city only gets an average of seven days each summer of temperatures over 70 degrees. The average temperatures are about 58 degrees in July and 56 degrees in August.

I was taken with the city’s purple and gold hanging baskets featuring marigolds and lobelia.

There are airplanes everywhere in Alaska. I was told that one out of every 56 Alaskans has a pilot’s license.

I stopped in Talkeetna to board the Alaskan Railroad. This railroad was built in 1923 and taken over by the state in 1984. Talkeetna means the &uot;river of plenty.&uot; The town of Cicely that was featured in the popular TV series &uot;Northern Exposure&uot; was modeled after Talkeetna. Once firmly ensconced in the train, we took off on a peaceful, relaxing journey to Denali.

The ride was not without excitement. The fireweed and its delightful purple hues made wonderful company for my journey. Fireweed is so named because it is one of the first plants to come out after a fire. Some call it the calendar plant because it blooms from the bottom up. Others call it &uot;wild asparagus&uot; due to its edible shoots. The trip over Hurricane Gulch and its breathtaking views of the landscape below us was a highlight. I saw lots of huge cow parsnip plants with their white flowers. Contact with this plant causes some people’s skin to itch and a rash to form, as the infected area becomes sensitive to the sun. Why is it called the cow parsnip? It is believed that it got its moniker because of the dung-like smell of its flowers.

I headed north to Denali Park.

I wanted to see Mt. McKinley, a massive peak in the 600-mile Alaskan Range of mountains. Mt. McKinley is 20,320 feet high -&160;that’s nearly four miles! The winter temperatures on Mt. McKinley drop as low as 100 degrees below zero and winds have been recorded as high as 150 mph. McKinley was named after President McKinley, who never set foot in Alaska.

Denali Park was founded in order to protect the Dall sheep. It is home to 300 bear, 2000 sheep and 2000 moose. The Denali Park/ Wilderness/ Preserve area is about the size of the state of Massachusetts-about 6 million acres. Denali means &uot;The High One&uot; and as someone raised on the flatlands of southern Minnesota, the mountains were magnificent. The annual precipitation in Denali is about 30 inches with 180 inches of snow included in that amount.

I gazed long at the colorful pallet offered by the golden-green color of the birch trees and the darker green presented by the spruce trees. The black spruce (swamp spruce) grows in the swampy areas. The black spruce may be 100 years old and still be no taller than a man. This is due to the high water table and the harsh conditions where it grows. Many black spruce trees will be leaning due to frost boils. A 30-foot black spruce is tall for that species. It is a regular boreal bonsai. White spruce is a common and much taller tree. It grows up to 90 feet high and has an unattractive skunk smell. There are no pine trees in Denali. Much of Denali is taiga, a Russian word meaning, &uot;land of little sticks&uot; and describes well the scant tree growth in many areas.

Eskimo potato was growing profusely. It is a pea vine or vetch-like plant that the grizzlies love to eat. The grizzly bears depend on the blueberry harvest to put on enough ursine body fat to make it through the winter. And do they eat blueberries. A grizzly will eat as many as 100,000 blueberries a day and that’s not counting any pies they might devour. A grizzly bear can run up to 35 mph for a short time. The famous author, John Muir, said that if one should happen upon a bear, one should wave his arms over his head and shout, &uot;Be gone!&uot; I had a better plan. I informed all the people with me that the best thing to do if we should happen upon a bear would be for them all to form a circle around me. Do bears ever kill people? Yes. Since 1906, 30 people have been killed by bears in Alaska. You have a better chance of being struck by lightning.

I did a willow and alder tour, these trees providing prime habitat for moose; the bull of which can weigh up to 1,500 pounds and outrun a grizzly. Moose are very easy to see in Alaska. All you have to do is to plant a garden. Moose shouldn’t have many colds or headaches as the willow leaves provide vitamin C and the bark contains salicin-a prime ingredient in aspirin.

Snow fell in the mountains while I was in Denali. When it falls a little later in the summer, it is called &uot;termination dust&uot; and is taken as a sign of the beginning of winter. The Willow Ptarmigan, Alaska’s state bird, calls its &uot;come here, come here, come here&uot; and &uot;get out, get out, get out&uot; in this area. I admired a lot of arctic lupine, growing like a Texas bluebonnet. I spotted a number of Dall sheep on the mountains. It was easy to find them, as all I had to do was to look for snow with legs.

I watched Dark-eyed Juncos (our winter snowbirds) flit from spruce to spruce. I used my binoculars to see Common Redpolls, Mew Gulls (and their babies), Orange-crowned Warblers and a beautiful Harlequin Duck. Lots of bluebells, dwarf potentilla, pineapple weed, prickly rose, dwarf dogwood and saxifrages (rock breaker) were blooming. There are more than 430 species of flowering plants in Denali. Because of the severity of the weather, the lodges in Denali shut down on Sept. 25.

Did I see Mt. McKinley? Yes, it peeked out from between the clouds. It was something to see. It was a magical moment that touched something deep inside me.

To be continued next week.

July

If it rains on July 2, it will rain for 4 weeks.

As Dog Days commence (July 3), so they end.

If anthills are high in July, the coming winter will be hard and long.

If it rains on July 10, it will rain for 7 weeks.

On July 10, the rain ceases and the wind comes.

If it is clear on July 20, there will be plenty of fruit.

The roses are said to fade on July 22.

As July, so next January.

If the anthills are high in July, the winter will be snowy.

July is the hottest month.

The first half of July is the most humid part of the year.

Never trust a July sky.

I picked up a book by Larry McMurtry from the public library recently. It was called &uot;Roads.&uot; It was not as well done as his other books which include &uot;Lonesome Dove,&uot; &uot;Terms of Endearment,&uot; &uot;The Last Picture Show&uot; and &uot;The Evening Star.&uot; One of his other books was made into the movie &uot;Hud&uot; starring Paul Newman. What made this book &uot;Roads&uot; interesting was that it contained several mentions of Albert Lea in it.

My thanks to all who attended the Sommerfest in Choice, all the members of the Exchange Club of Albert Lea, the Ladies Aid of Emmons Lutheran, all those who attended the Sibilrud family reunion. and the group from the National Exchange Bank of Fond du Lac for being such wonderful audiences for my stories. Thanks to all those who traveled to Alaska with me and to all those who watched Albert Lea’s July 3rd Parade. Thanks, too, to all who have been watching &uot;Movies You Could Watch With Your Mother&uot; on QTV every Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

I wish good things for all those involved with Farmland.

Please join me on the Pelican Breeze on Aug. 26 and Sept. 2 for afternoon tours of beautiful Albert Lea Lake. Call 377-5076 to book a seat.

&uot;There is always music amongst the trees, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it.&uot;-M. Aumonier

DO GOOD.

Allen Batt of Hartland is a member of the Albert Lea Audubon Society.