Intro

I found a couple of "mystery boxes" of old Kodachrome slides in my basement which I had never seen before. These photos span the period of time between 1974 and 1977.

Spoiler Alert: There aren't many photos here.

But I know what they mean to me and I figured they might mean something to others as well.

I set this up so that friends and family can access the photos and, if they so choose, post their own comments. Being in the spirit of things, I've added a few memories of my own as well as some other stuff.

- Michael Alden

3096 Cedar Street, Apt. Unit #1

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My sister Aimee wearing "bunny boots", with Ranger













"Kids! You'll damage your eyes! But let me take some photos first."














A room with....a view....














Ranger (bestest dog ever!)














My mom and the mysterious "wall key"













My sister Aimee (in red) at the airstrip on the northern side of the Army base.













This used to be my playground.

The Galloping Glacier: Sledding At Black Rapids

This is a day trip I remember taking the first winter we were in Alaska. Darren and Christopher Noble were there along with their father, John.

It was an afternoon of sledding with the Black Rapids glacier as a backdrop. Black Rapids was known as the "Galloping Glacier" after it gained national fame in 1937 for pushing its way out towards the Richardson Highway at 220 feet per day!

It's a different story now. I revisited the Black Rapids lookout area in the summer of 1997 - the same place we went sledding some twenty two years earlier - and I had a hard time seeing the glacier, even with binoculars. The glacier has receded far back into the mountain range as have so many other glaciers. The signpost and the faint remains of the old lodge were still there, however.

Anyway, in 1974, the sledding was a blast!


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Modeling my new snowsuit!















The "bunny hill" - not nearly as fun as the hill we chose on the other side of the ridge.














My Mom models her new parka. I think that's John Noble in the background. Darren Noble and I are looking at something. What is it? (Remember, you can click on these pics to enlarge them.)















So that's it! Darren and I were trying to roast marshmallows over a frying pan. That's pretty weak!














Another lookout view















Darren and I checking out this guy's snowmobile. Not sure who he was, but John Noble is standing next to us.














Moseying into a roadhouse somewhere along the way. Time for an apres sledding Hamms or two. We start at an early age in Alaska.














On the Richardson Highway


I remember when Christopher Noble went sledding down the steep hill overlooking the vast glacier. He was the first to go and and he simply vanished. My dad was watching as Christopher flew down on his sled and when Christopher disappeared over a rise and didn't reappear, my dad raised an eyebrow. After several more seconds, Christopher was nowhere on radar. My dad bolted upright with a look of concern on his face. Several MORE seconds passed (my dad must have been hyperventilating at this point) and what do you know - Christopher popped into view on the bottom of the hill - a small, distant dot which shot out onto a wide open snowfield. I remember my dad's nervous laughter as he said "Christ, I didn't realize this hill was so big."

Fishin'

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Fred McKellar and the one that didn't get away














Fred puts his prize catch on ice














My mother and kid sister. (Photo sponsored by Coors)

- That's the McKellar's camper and station wagon in the background, and I also remember that Grumman aluminium canoe! Look closely and you can also see the McKellar's cat, Cocoa. (Koko?)














John Noble's catch of the day

- John Noble loved to camp and fish in Alaska and he would often bring his sons Darren and Christopher along. If John showed up for a weekend trip without those two, I'd be bummed out!















Alaskan street gang

- Left to right: Unknown Kid (anyone know?), my sister Aimee, me (with the fish), Darren Noble, Christopher Noble. Seems like our favorite camping and fishing spots were Chatanika River, Salcha River and the Gulkana River. I'm not sure where this was taken.














I think Lee Payne is in this photo, in the striped shirt? Not sure who the other fellows are.















Salcha River - about 50 miles from Fairbanks















"Breakup" season on the Salcha River
















Not sure if this is the Salcha, Chatanika or Gulkana.

Susan McKellar: "Penga Tar!"

We (Aldens & McKellars) were on a camping trip. If there were other people along with us - which is likely - I can't recall who they were. I'm not even sure where we were, but I'm certain that we were camping.

It was in the morning, and Doug, Susan and I were sitting in the McKellar's "Prowler" camper. I remember thinking the Prowler was a bit nicer and roomier than our camper, the "Taurus".

Doug and I were comparing sleeping quarters. I remember we were fascinated by the way you could sit around a small dining table inside the camper, enjoying a snack, and presto! The dining table would fold down and collapse, transforming into a plank bed onto which you'd throw some cushions and maybe a Coleman sleeping bag. It was like something out of a James Bond movie.

That's when Susan began to annoy Doug.

"Penga Tar!" Susan shrieked.

Nobody said a word.

I mean, I heard Susan, but I didn't really know what she meant. The folding table continued to hold my interest.

"Penga Tar! Penga Tar!"

To put it delicately, Susan was exuberant.

Doug sighed, but he said nothing. He pretended not to notice.

Susan acknowledged Doug's eye-rolling indifference and kicked things up a notch in accordance with sibling bylaws.

"Penga Tar! Peng Tar!"

Doug snapped. "Susan, ENOUGH ALREADY!!"

Doug made a brushing motion towards his sister, as if to shoo away a pesky mosquito.

Susan paid him no mind. In fact, I think the shooing motion merely encouraged her.

"Penga Tar! Penga Tarrrrr!"

Doug lost it.

"AAARRGH!"

In a fit of hilarious insanity, Doug started chasing Susan around the inside of the Prowler. Susan screamed and ran for the door and they both ended up outside.

I couldn't make heads or tails out of any of this. So I stepped outside to see if I could figure out what the heck was going on.

"Um, what's she saying, Doug?"

"She's saying playing guitar, playing guitar... and it drives me nuts!"

Susan did a little dance in her pajamas while gesturing with her hands, strumming on invisible strings.

"Penga Tar....Penga Tar..."

I thought it was adorable.

Douglas was positively volcanic.

Campin'

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Left to right: Not sure who the two kids (partially seen on the far left) are. Followed by my Mom, Nora McKellar, Susan McKellar (roasting marshmallows) and Fred McKellar.














Same group, but it looks like Linda Payne has joined the party!















I'm not sure who some of these people are. I do recognize Lee Payne sitting in the chair, however - along with Susan, Nora, my Mom, Linda Payne and Ranger.














My Mom at camp. Not sure whose Red Dale rig that is. The tent was ours, before we got our camper.














A closer view and Ranger, too!














The beginning of a new adventure. Not our truck. Noble's, maybe?














Nora McKellar and my Mom (Penny)














Nora McKellar rubbing lotion on someone's foot. Mosquito dope, maybe? I think that's Linda Payne on the right (in profile)














A picnic at the Salcha River with Jim and Michelle Ozimkoski, I believe.













Another view.














Goofy exposure here, but that's our Dodge Ramcharger in front of our Taurus camper, with the McKellar's Prowler camper next to it. My Dad traded in for the Ramcharger after arriving in Alaska in 1974 with a Dodge Scamp, a small car which was deemed "unfit" for the wilds of Alaska. Note the "bay window" on the rear half of the Ramcharger. That was actually quite nice as you could take in a lot of scenery in the back seat!














Poor Ranger. Towards the end, he was up to five packs of Marlboros a day.

Greg McKellar & The Fungus Bucket Incident

There were some interesting "folk art" hobbies which were - and undoubtedly still are - popular among many Alaskan residents.

Painting goldpans, for example. (Some people took this a step further and added clock hands on the front of the pan and a small battery powered gearbox on the back). These creations adorned many a wall in Alaskan homes.












And then there was the Fungus Movement, in which the artist would collect the fungi which grew on birch trees in order to paint colorful scenes on them:











Not just any fungus would do, however. For painting and display, the ideal fungus needed to have a smooth, flat surface for the "face" which was to be painted, and the fungus also had to be shaped in such a way that it could stand upright on a desk, shelf or mantle. The perfect fungus didn't grow on trees, you know! Well, actually...it did. You know what I mean. The perfect "painting fungus" could be hard to find.

And that is why Mrs. McKellar (Nora) sent Greg off into the woods near the Chatanika River with a large bucket during one of our camping trips. Greg was to collect a bunch of fungi from the area birch trees and bring them back to his mother, who would choose the ideal "candidates".

Looking back, Doug and Greg might well have been the inspiration for Bart Simpson. Using a brand new Xerox machine in an office building near their home on the north end of Ft. Wainwright (without permission, naturally) the brothers Xeroxed their bare butts before anyone gave them the idea that one could use a photocopier for that purpose. That's ingenuity, man! And that's the mildest stunt they pulled in my presence. I won't even write about some of the others.

Back to Greg with his bucket in the birch trees around the Chatanika River. Greg also took along a .22 rifle, which he liked to shoulder when he went off into the woods. Being a few years older than Doug and I, Greg was allowed to do this. He picked off a squirrel with the .22 and placed its bloody corpse in the bottom of the bucket. A bunch of fungi were placed on top of that. Greg then took the bucket back to his mother, who was waiting in the camper.

Nora looked forward to sorting through the fungi that her son had so thoughtfully gathered for her.

45+ years later, I can still hear the scream that reverberated throughout the confines of that camper when Mrs. McKellar unknowingly uncovered the bloodied rodent corpse at the bottom of that bucket.

It was a scream followed by laughter.

Nora was a good sport and even though I was a child she always struck me as a gregarious fun-loving person.

With two boys like Greg and Doug, I imagine her naturally positive disposition helped her a great deal in coping with two such monsters.

Fishin' II: Homer, AK

NOTE: Unfortunately, this fishing trip didn't involve either the McKellars or the Nobles. Still a good time, though. It was a charter fishing trip to Homer, Alaska in 1977 with my dad, myself, and a couple of doctor friends, also from Bassett Army Hospital (Ft. Wainwright). We fished rivers and lakes (summer and winter) and now it was time to try out the open ocean!

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Homer harbor














The docs are demonstrating the medicinal benefits of Olympia Beer. It's the water, boys. And a lot more!














We're ready to give them fishies hell! But first, hot dogs.














Our backup plan in case we didn't catch any fish? Or a reflection of my mood at the time because I had to wear those pants?













Homer Spit. Yep, that's what the area is called.














Searching for messages in bottles and Skull Mountain. Turns out the docs played a little prank on me...there is no Skull Mountain.
Dammit.

Adult Parties

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My mom with some people I don't remember, although I think the couple in the middle were named Ashcroft. Tom Ashcroft sounds about right.














Fred McKellar playing footsie....or something...with Linda Payne! I love this photo. And there's that mysterious "wall key" again...














Nora McKellar sitting next to a couple I don't recognize. But I do remember that zig-zag sofa cover, as well as the bell-shaped candy jar that Nora is holding. My Mom is on the left.














I also remember this tabletop hockey game. Doug McKellar and I would play against each other (although not with champagne, beer and cookies on the side)














Not sure who these partygoers are, aside from my Mom.