A day after we got home, here's the smoke scene in Alaska. Homer, at the bottom of the picture, is completely in the clear -- I can't begin to imagine what it was like around Fairbanks then!
There are fire pictures available at GINA, the Alaska Fire Service website, and also at http://geomac.usgs.gov/.
The fires in Alaska were generally started by lightening strikes, which I never did figure out. There wasn't a single thunderstorm while we were there, nor was there even a threat of one. Lightening just wasn't on our radar screen, which was great since we were camping in a lot of open areas!
Other "lack of" things that made Alaska seem heavenly:
no poison ivy!
no ticks!
no crown-of-thorns briars!
and frankly, there were far fewer mosquitoes than in my own yard (though I hear it was a "light" year for Alaska).
Since we'd just recovered from the six-week, $500 ehrlichiosis exhaustion right before leaving for Alaska, the lack of ticks was especially lovely.
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