ALEUTIAN ISLANDS

My intention today was to provide the great Russia story.  However, Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky have already accomplished this feat, so was inspired at lunch to instead introduce you to the Aleutian Islands.  How was I so influenced?  Let me start by going back to yesterday when Adam Tanner lectured on Russia.

Nice talk, but nothing new.  So I thought anything I could add about this country would be prosaic.  Anyway, dinner was at the Polo Grill, a steakhouse.

Started with a Caesar Salad, and then into a ribeye steak with baked potato, cream of spinach, etc.

I'll skip the steak photo and go into the petit fours.  Saw the dessert menu.  But passed.  Some enticing delectables, but I'm eating too much.

Went on the the Riviera Lounge for a Broadway Show spectacle.

Then went dancing in Horizons and closed the place down.

Which leads to today, lunch and why my topic of the day will focus on the Aleutian Islands.

Started with soup and salad, but the view through the windows caught my attention,  An Aleutian Island.  I had never seen one before.  Also, very cold.  Barely above freezing.  I know nothing about the Aleutian Islands.  Maybe you, too,

The Aleutian Islands:

• Here is one fact that confuses some.  Who owns these islands?
• There are 14 main islands and 55 smaller ones, although this site says 300 total.
• 
  The 15 Commander Islands to the extreme west are part of Russia.
• The rest are are Alaskan, or U.S.
• The current American ownership came with the 1867 purchase of Alaska.

• 
  Were formed 55-60 million years ago.  After the dinosaurs went extinct.
• Are 1200 miles long with 6871 square miles.  The Big Island of Hawaii is 4028 square miles.
• 8200 people live there, with 4254 in Unalaska, the main settlement.  Rains 250 days/year, and said to be one of the rainiest places within the U.S.

• 
  It is estimated that from 1000 to 20,000 visitors come annually.  Who knows?  Who cares?
• There is one active military base, Eareckson Air Station, once known as Shemya Air Force Base.

• 
  President Franklin Roosevelt visited Adak in 1944, and there is a rumor that he accidentlly left his Scottish Terrier Fala there, sending a destroyer to retrieve the dog, costing taxpayers several million dollars in time of war.
• Underground nuclear tests were conducted from 1965 to 1971.
• In 1976 the Aleutian Islands were designated a UNESCO biosphere reserve.

• 
  There are 57 volcanoes, the top of the Pacific Ring of Fire, with 40 said to be active.  The tallest volcano is 6200 feet.
• Until 1867 was known as the Catherine Archipelago.

• 
  The native people refer to themselves as Unangan.  
• The only land crop is potato.
• Their diet is primarily seafood, with a few hunted animals.  Some berries.  Vegetables?  Fireweed, chocolate lily, wild geranium and yarrow.

• 
  Two serious tsunamis have struck Hawaii, caused by earthquakes from the Aleutian Islands.
• The worst occurred in 1946, killing 159 in Hilo and Maui.  Caused by an 8.6 magnitude earthquake.  Maximize crest to trough height was 55 feet.
• Another Aleutian earthquake happened in 1957 from an 8.7 magnitude earthquake, bringing waves up to 40 feet high to Hawaii.  But there were no deaths.
• The Aleutians have a lot of earthquakes.

• 
  They are the westernmost place in the USA, and because they cross the 180 parallel, are also the easternmost.
• The Japanese occupied Kiska and Attu, the two invasions of the USA in WW2.

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