Anchorage

All right, enough teasing. We got to our B&B in Anchorage, Alaska, something after 1 AM local time (4 AM body time) on Thursday. Going from St. Louis to here via Los Angeles is like flying from London to Rome by way of Helsinki, but the flights are way, way longer. After an off-kilter night, we got up and poked around the town. The city has about 300,000 people, the metro area 400,000. The whole state, twice as big as Texas, has less than a  million people. St. Louis City and County have more than that.

Most of these pictures are around 4th Avenue, the main street downtown. The next to last is on the coastal trail, very near where we are staying.

We're doing a photography walking tour of the downtown area this morning. In the evening, there is a four hour van trip down Cook Inlet for the big lens crowd. Sunset isn't until 10:21 PM. 

Lots more stops after here.                            

En Route

The first leg of the trip is done. Obviously, we're heading west but about 90 degrees off course. 

Got some good pix of the Grand Canyon from the air, plus crop circles, I don't know what (space aliens tracings in the desert?), a big city and the next airline. A longer leg coming up.

These photos have lots of color distortion from the plane windows.                         

Black Helicopters

It's part of a wacko paranoid fantasy system in the United States: the federal government or the United nations or the Trilateral Commission or something will sweep the country, arrest freedom-loving citizens, confiscate their firearms and impose a new world order. It is well-known that they will arrive in black helicopters. This one, however, takes tourists for rides around the St. Louis riverfront.

Long travel day today, reaching our destination by an absurdly indirect route. I'll bend over backwards, though, for free frequent flyer air tickets, especially with an upgrade. Very late tonight we will lay down our heads in a city where ships may safely come to rest.

If A Tree Falls In A Forest . . .

. . . and there is no one around, can there be an image? A variation on an old philosophical teaser about the difference between an event and its perception. We have George Berkeley to thank for this.

Getting a little hard up for material. Tomorrow is a travel day. By late that night we will be in very different climes. Pix by Friday.                         

Art And Industry

As seen here before, there is a section of the Mississippi River flood wall where graffiti is encouraged. In fact, there is an annual Paint Louis event. There are a few gates in the wall to reach industrial sites.

I'm not sure what this structure is for. Cement, maybe, from sand coming off barges. The whole thing has kind of a Mad Max look to it.                       

Intimidation

           

Found in the old derelict industrial area south of the Arch park. My take is that it is meant to intimidate, the Mississippi River being close by.  

It reminded me of this 2012 photo, taken just a block or two away. I wonder if the same person or persons was involved.                      

Runner In The Daisies

Ain't got no bicycles so this will have to do. It is a running-cycling trail in Forest Park but no two-wheelers in sight. I like the lushness and color. Running through the daisies must be the next best thing to tiptoeing through the tulips. Anyone got a ukulele?