The first target of our tour on Tuesday started as many projects do, with a disaster. We went to a site adjacent to Juneau to tour the Mendenhall Gardens.
Where’s the disaster? Well, originally this location was the sight of a dairy farm. From the pics, it looked like it could be a dairy farm just about anywhere. Big round topped barn, muddy lots around it. The difference, though, is that being in Alaska it was very close to sea level, so when they had a disaster of some type (can’t remember what it was – earthquake, flood, avalanche – all are possibilities in Alaska) that destroyed the dairy farm the owner decided it was time to retire to Florida so he closed up shop and sold the land.
Being 1984 and a significant recession, though, it didn’t sell quickly. In 1994 a local nursery owner thought he could expand his difference with a greenhouse on the site so he bought 6 acres. Then, as with so many projects, he realized that he could, “… do so much more if only . . .” which led Steve (the owner) to come home and tell Cindy (his wife) that he’d bought another 44 acres that they just HAD to have.
No word on the impact to their marital bliss, but the propaganda indicates that they are still co-owners, and thus likely married.
The grounds are uniquely Alaskan. You tour the site on trams that wind up and down the mountain while the driver shares tidbits about the flora and fauna with you. Bears had been sighted on the grounds in the last few days, but we had no such excitement. They showed where they’d been, though, harvesting the last of the blueberries that grow there wild.
The biggest claim to fame for the Mendenhall Gardens are the upside-down trees.
Seems that Steve, who was very “do-it-yourselfish” had rented a large piece of earth moving equipment for a month when they first started the project. Cindy, being the more rational (and frequently overruled) voice in the project, asked, “Did you get the insurance?” to which Steve said, “Nah, I’m only going to have it for 30 days).”
Last day, a tree fell wrong and went through the piece of equipment, meaning they probably weren’t going to get their security deposit back. Steve, in a fit of pique, grabbed the offending tree and slammed it into the ground upside down, so the roots were 10 or 15 feet in the air. Once his blood pressure came down, his creative side looked up and thought, “I could plant flowers up there, it’d look really nice.”
Seeing how well that came out, he did it about 30 more times. They last, outdoors in the weather, between 10 and 15 years, when they have to be pushed over or removed.
You don’t wander through the grounds at this place. There are sticker plants that don’t turn loose if you brush against them, and it takes about a week before the thorns (that can’t be pulled out) fester up and leave on their own.
Exploring from the tram was just fine.
The next part of this excursion took us to one of Alaska’s most famous landmarks – the Mendenhall Glacier. We’d learned about the different types of glaciers from Celia, the naturalist on board. Don’t worry – I’m not going to go through her entire lecture. The important thing here is that the Mendenhall Glacier comes down into a lake, but does not go into the ocean. It’s landlocked and is slowly sliding down the mountain (or melting and receding, depending on your point of view) and Climate Change is having a significant impact as to how fast those events occur.
At the Mendenhall Glacier, we also saw (from a conveniently prepared lookout point) salmon who were trying to get upstream to do the nasty before they died. Remember that salmon venture far and wide, spawning in freshwater streams and rivers, then swimming down to the ocean for a few years before they go back to the VERY SAME creek they came from to start the cycle all over again.
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