This thing was positively *HUGE* and totally awesome. :) Some dude made this "ice tower" out on the Steese Highway (across from the viewing point for the pipeline). I tried to capture the sun silhouetting the top of the tower; I don't think I did all that good a job of it, though. I don't know if this picture really captures the almost astounding mass/size of this bugger---it was 55+ feet high if it was an inch.
Another pic of the ice tower:
And here was a picture of it melting. One can now see all the ?food coloring? that the guy added as he was "growing" it. :) This thing melted surprising quickly (gone in about a month); apparently, it was too tall--and just not wide enough. I heard tell, that he plans on building it on a slope across the road--during the winter of 2004-05. If he does, and suceeds in making something that survives the entire summer, succeeding winters may successfully produce a "synthetic glacier. That would be way cool. :) -We'll see. . . .
Azure blue skies, with green cottonwood trees:
White trunks, under green leaves--with a deep green mat of horsehair fern(s). -I think it's a good thing to look at these sorts of pics during an [Alaskan] Interior winter. It reminds one, that . . . it is warm and green--part of the year, at least. During the depths of a well-nigh perpetually dark--and *BRUTALLY* cold--Alaskan winter---this may well be a tad more difficult than one would like to imagine. . . .
On to more Alaska pics.