YOLO in Palmer, July 2022

 We loved Palmer!  It is a cute little town that is all about growing stuff.  It's like the breadbasket of the area, growing those huge vegetables you've probably heard about in the record books.  Colorful place.  This is the front window of the visitor center in Palmer.  The milk maid was the symbol of the town for decades, in several different versions.

Flowers and vegetables were so in vogue in Palmer that they are also decorations.

The water tower, the local brewery and a historic grain silo.

Chocolate lilies in a planter.

The milk maid and garden window from inside.

The iconic water tower in Palmer.

Jason walking along the planters in Palmer.  The dozen or so planters had flowers and vegetables that are edible and were for anyone to harvest and eat, part of a program called Grow Palmer.  We had lots of lettuces, kale, and flowers in salads here.

Another pretty flower display in a hanging basket.

Palmer was founded and populated when the government wanted to move people into the area.  They paid to have families from Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota moved to live in Alaska and become a farming community here.  It was an experiment in socialist living. Every family was given 40 acres, a cabin, animals and some equipment, and were to farm it and share the results within the community.  A very interesting story if you want to look up how Palmer was settled.  This bell is from a ship that brought some of the families to Alaska.  

An old truck on the roof of a shed below the water tower.

An old truck outside the visitor center in Palmer.

At first we thought it was a real person in there.

Palmer grows record-sized cabbages, zucchinis, and root vegetables.  A statue honoring these massive veggies is next to the visitor center and its garden.

Not only are they healthy, they are pretty.

Wispy clouds above the mountains around Palmer.  We met a man from Palmer when we were camping on our way back from Florida and we'd hoped to meet up with him in his hometown.  He didn't make it back to AK this summer, so we enjoyed his Alaska for him.

We drove out to see the Matanuska Glacier one day.  The fog forming over the water as we neared the area was eerie.

The Matanuska River and a fog forming over one section of it.

The Matanuska Glacier.  Seen from afar, of course.

A tiny glacier patch on a mountain under more wispy clouds.

The ice of Matanuska Glacier from the overlook along the highway.

This massive dump truck needed extra space on the road.

The water was a silty grey and really moving along.  These look like grey rapids.

Elsewhere, the pretty aqua blue-green of glacial rivers is the norm.

Here, the aqua King River flows into the grey-brown Matanuska.  The delineation is clear where they meet.

Another view of the meeting waters.  I love the color of the melt waters.

Some of the lettuce and greens and rhubarb from the Grow Palmer planters.

Jason cooking ribs at a local park near Palmer.

The Palmer airport is a busy little place.  Planes were flying all around us all the time.  Lots of flightseeing for the mountains and glaciers near here.  They came in below tree top height at the park where we cooked the ribs.  You don't realize how massive the mountains back there are until you see a plane in flight in front of them.  Looks like a gnat.

A bush pilot refuels his plane next to us along the runway where we parked to watch for a while.  You can just drive out here, no worries.

A different kind of small plane.  He pulled up to the fuel tank and is waiting for the bush plane to finish.  This guy can land on the water, too.

Pink Pioneer Peak in the morning sun from our camp site across from the visitor center.  We parked next to the covered area and had access to water and power here.  It was a very convenient place in the center of town, but there were some crazies, druggies, and/or homeless that lived here and called the pavilion home at night as well.

On a local hike, we found this log covered with chewing gum.  I'd seen shoe trees but never a gum tree like this before.

Jason hiking up the West Butte trail.  It got steeper from here to the top.

Some of the stairs on the West Butte Trail.  There were over 500 of these steps, with 8 switchbacks to climb the mile or so up the side of this knob of bedrock. Got the lungs and heart working overtime.

View from the top of the trail.  Looking down onto the Knik River flowing into the Matanuska River.

The Chugach Mountains form part of a backdrop to the Knik River and some of the farmland near Palmer.

Pioneer Peak in the Chugach Mountain Range as seen from the top of West Butte.

View from trail up West Butte.

Looking up the Knik River towards the Matanuska and Knik Glaciers from West Butte.

Jason on top of West Butte.

Karen on top of West Butte with Pioneer Peak in the background.  Quite the climb.

The Talkeetna Mountains make a wonderful backdrop to the town of Palmer below.

Karen trying to take a selfie on top of West Butte, outside of Palmer.

Karen on top of West Butte.  The sweat has almost dried and I am almost breathing normally again after over 500 steps along the trail up.

We went to one of the veggie farms down there to get greens and pick raspberries.

The point of Pioneer Peak looms in view from everywhere around here.

Our view of the visitor center with the Chugach Mountains as a backdrop.  Pretty easy on the eyes around here.  We spent more time in Palmer than anywhere else in Alaska.

The farm we went to had a few cows, goats, and animals for kids to look at and pet.

This cow kept licking my hand with its very long tongue, but Jason's camera reflex wasn't quick enough to capture it.

Two goats in a headbutt at Pryah's Pioneer Farm, the largest U-Pick farm in the state.  It's been in operation since 1935.

Immense rows of cabbage, lettuces, kale, collard and other stuff we couldn't even identify were there for the harvesting.  You can wheel a cart out and collect your own vegetables or greens--whatever is in season at the time.

We didn't pick anything but a handful of raspberries, but saw lots of folks getting their greens here.  One lady told us how to make kale chips, so when I get access to an oven again, I'll try them.  She claims her kids love 'em and prefer them to potato chips.

I've never seen lettuce grow so tall into spires like these. 

Jason walking back along rows of veges and flowers.  We didn't know what most of the plants were and they didn't have signs.  Pretty though.

The farm had lots of things to keep kids entertained, too.  This colorful barrel train wasn't even moving and it attracted the children.

Pulling the ropes on either side of the holder in the middle drags a golf ball up the maze.  You need to maneuver it left and right with the ropes as you pull it up to keep the golf ball in the holder from falling through any opening on the board background.  Jason was a master at this and moved the ball all the way up the red board without it falling through any hole.

A view of the knob of West Butte from near the farm below.  It sure doesn't look as gnarly to climb as the trail and steps made it.

We drove down a side road to the Knik River by the old Knik River Bridge where it joins the mighty Matanuska River.  There was a dead carcass of some kind in the sandy mud along the edge here, but this rider on a horse caught my attention.  They rode to the edge of the rushing river before turning back.  He wanted a photo of him and his horse in the water so I sent him this.

Jason next to a big burl on a tree.  This would make a great bowl if it was cut off or the tree cut down.

Lots of trees and logs float down the rivers until they get snagged on a shallow sandy or rocky ridge.  Then the water changes direction and flows around them, creating the braided look so familiar in these rivers.

Jason reading next to YOLO parked at the pavilion across from the visitor center in Palmer. We spent several days here.  We moved from this spot to accommodate Eddie, The BBQ Man when he wanted to park his food truck operation here and when the 'Friday Fling' happened--a mini food/arts/crafts/music street fair.  We parked at the old train depot lot just down the street, too.

We finally had to drag ourselves away from Palmer and head towards the Kenai Peninsula.