APR 29, 12 .. ALASKA ACES ..

Here in the United States of America .. and I am overly simplifying this .. we have four (4) major professional sports .. American Football .. Baseball .. Basketball .. and lastly .. Ice Hockey .. and they are pretty much in this order ..

In Ice Hockey .. the Premier League is the National Hockey League (The NHL) .. going down one level we have the American Hockey League (The AHL) .. and going down one more level .. we have the ECHL (Formely named the East Coast Hockey League) ..

Here in the State of Alaska .. located in the City of Anchorage .. we have a professional ice hockey team named the ALASKA ACES .. and our ALASKA ACES are members of the ECHL ..

The ECHL has twenty (20) teams located across the United States and is divided into Eastern and Western Conferences .. with each conference having sub-groupings of teams called divisions .. GOOGLE ECHL for a detailed history and statistics of the league ..

Like the NHL and the AHL .. the ECHL plays a full season of games.. during this 2011-2012 season seventy two (72) games per team were played with additional games being played in the playoffs .. following the 72-game season .. the top teams enter the playoffs to determine the eventual champion of the ECHL and the winner is crowned the (Patrick J.) Kelly Cup Champions ..

Our Alaska Aces are in the Finals of the ECHL Western Conference Championship Playoffs .. the winner of the Western Conference Championship will then play the Eastern Conference Champions for the Kelly Cup ..

Today Patti and I attended the third game of the Western Conference Playoffs between our Alaska Aces and the Las Vegas Wranglers .. going into the game .. each team had won one game each in a best of 7 series ..

So here we go with some photos ..

The Alaska Aces play their games here in the City of Anchorage in Sullivan Arena .. it is a beautiful venue with stunning scenery in the near background ..

Now turning clockwise and to my right and looking down the side of the Sullivan Arena you see the below two views ..

I could NOT help but 'zoom in' on the mountains in the background .. I mean HEY .. is this a  beautiful city or what ? !

The Alaska Aces fans have turned out to see their team play tonight ! The parking lot is practically full ..

OK .. the time has come to go inside of the Sullivan Arena and see what the Ice Hockey Playing Surface looks like ..

GAME TIME !  Let's see some Ice Hockey and the Alaska Aces .. our Alaska Aces are wearing the light colored .. blue and white .. jerseys ..

An Ice Hockey Game has three periods .. twenty minutes each .. in between each period the ice is resurfaced by large machines .. named Zambonis after the man who invented them .. Frank Zamboni .. usually only one is used but two were used tonight !

More Ice Hockey ..

Las Vegas led the game 1-0 .. The Aces Tied the game 1-1 .. Las Vegas led 2-1 .. The Aces Tied It 2-2 .. and if you study the below photo very carefully .. you will see the number 4 at the bottom of the score board .. the game went into a fourth .. sudden death .. period called OVERTIME ..

And in sudden death overtime .. the Las Vegas Wranglers (fittingly wearing the BLACK uniforms !) .. broke the hearts of the home town Anchorage Fans with a 3-2 victory about five minutes into the overtime period ..

THANKFULLY .. today .. my 'well being' as a human being .. does NOT depend upon a sporting event's outcome !  .. Patti and I had a lot of fun enjoying the good game that it was .. we visited with six or seven friends who happened to see the two of us .. and all-in-all it was a GREAT EVENING of Ice Hockey ..

And ? .. we have tickets for the game next Tuesday .. May the 1st .. much joy from Patti and from Cap ..

APR 26, 12 .. TURNAGAIN ARM OF COOK INLET

HERE ARE MORE PHOTOS OF SCENERY WITHIN AND IMMEDATELY SOUTH OF THE CITY OF ANCHORAGE IN THE STATE OF ALASKA .. WHAT JOY IT IS TO POST THESE PHOTOS FOR YOU ALL TO  'OOGLE AT' AND TO  HOPEFULLY ENJOY .. SO HERE WE GO ..

WHAT ! .. HOW DID THE BELOW PHOTO SLIP IN HERE ?.. TEE-HEE .. ABOUT ONCE-EVERY-GREAT-SO-OFTEN .. I GET OUT OF MY INDIA AND ALASKA 'VERY CASUAL ATTIRE' AND 'DRESS-UP' A LITTLE .. PATTI SNAPPED THIS PHOTO AFTER WE  TWO HAD PAID A VISIT TO THE OFFICE OF OUR UNITED STATES SENATOR .. THE HONORABLE LISA MURKOWSKI HERE IN ANCHORGE .. LORDY I NEED A HAIRCUT BADLY .. AT 168.5 POUNDS I LOOK FAT .. I AM NOT STANDING UP STRAIGHT .. oh my mind .. will you just shut-up ! .. can any of you relate to THAT ?

OK .. ON TO SOME 'REAL' SCENERY ..

OH YES ! .. I CALL THEM THE LONG-HAUL-CANADAS (CANADIAN GEESE) .. THEY ARE BACK FOR THE SUMMER .. AND LET ME TELL YOU ALL .. THEY ARE JUST SO COCKY AND BRAZEN LETTING ME KNOW .. "DON'T YOU BOTHER US HERE CAPTAIN .. WE HAVE WORK TO DO SO YOU JUST SCOOT ALONG AND DO YOUR PICTURE THING AND LEAVE US ALONE !" .. I GET A LITTLE TEARY .. THEY ARE SUCH A PART OF THE LOCAL SCENE HERE .. WHEW .. MISS ALASKA HOW I DO LOVE YOU !

YOU HAVE TO KNOW .. THE BEAUTY IS IMMEDIATELY DOWNTOWN AS YOU DRIVE AROUND THE CITY OF ANCHORAGE ! .. THE BEAUTY IS NOT CONFINED TO THE 'OUTBACK' .. JUST LOOK AT IT ! .. IN THE CITY ! .. YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY SURROUNDED BY BEAUTY ..

OK .. BACK TO THE 'OUTBACK' SOUTH OF ANCHORAGE .. THE SCENERY DOWN 'TURNAGAIN ARM' OF COOK INLET ..

BELIEVE THIS .. THE SCENE FROM THE RAILWAY TRAINS TRAVELING ALONG 'TURNAGAIN ARM' IS AWESOME .. YOU CAN SEE THE RAILWAY TRACKS IN THE LOWER LEFT OF THE BELOW PHOTO ..

PUT THIS ON YOUR BUCKET LIST ..

'BUCKET LIST' CAPTAIN ? .. YES .. A 'BUCKET LIST' IS .. "THIS IS WHAT I WANT TO DO BEFORE I KICK-THE-BUCKET AND DIE !" ..

I WANT TO GO TO THE CITY OF ANCHORAGE IN THE STATE OF ALASKA .. AND THEN I WANT TO DRIVE SOUTH TOWARDS GIRDWOOD AND SEWARD ON THE SEWARD HIGHWAY DOWN 'TURNAGAIN ARM' OF COOK INLET .. MUCH MUCH LOVE .. cap ..

APR 23, 12 .. TURNAGAIN ARM OF COOK INLET

I WILL COMMENT AS I FEEL NECESSARY .. I HOPE THAT YOU WILL ALL ENJOY THE BEAUTY OF ALASKA .. SOUTH OF ANCHORAGE ..

THE FIRST THREE PHOTOS ARE WHAT YOU SEE AS YOU DRIVE OUT OF ANCHORAGE ..HEADING SOUTH DOWN THE SEWARD HIGHWAY TOWARDS 'TURNAGAIN AIM' OF COOK INLET .. DO THE SUBURBS OF YOUR CITY LOOK LIKE THIS ..

THE PHOTOS BELOW ARE OF THE SCENERY ALONG THE SEWARD HIGHWAY AS YOU DRIVE SOUTH FROM ANCHORAGE ALASKA DOWN 'TURNAGAIN ARM' OF THE COOK INLET ..

YOU WANT STUNNING BEAUTY .. YOU JUST SAW STUNNING BEAUTY ..

PLEASE CONTINUE TO VISIT MY DOXOLOGY FOR ADDITIONAL PHOTOS OF THE SCENERY SOUTH OF ANCHORAGE ALASKA DOWN 'TURNAGAIN ARM' OF COOK INLET ..

APR 21, 12 .. TURNAGAN ARM OF COOK INLET

I MYSELF AM SPEECHLESS .. ABOUT THE STUNNING BEAUTY .. FOUND MINUTES SOUTH OF THE CITY OF ANCHORAGE .. HERE IN THE STATE OF ALASKA ..

I HOPE YOU ENJOY THE BELOW PHOTOS ..

THE FIRST TWO PHOTOS BELOW .. WERE TAKEN AT THE SOUTHERN CITY LIMIT OF ANCHORAGE .. AS YOU ARE ABOUT TO HEAD SOUTH DOWN 'TURNAGAIN ARM OF COOK INLET' .. ON THE SEWARD HIGHWAY ..

AS WE HEAD SOUTH DOWN 'TURNAGAIN ARM' OF COOK INLET .. SOUTH OF ANCHORAGE .. IN SOME OF THE BELOW PHOTOS..  YOU WILL SEE THAT THE ALASKA RAILWAY RUNS BESIDE THE WATER FOR SPECTACULAR VIEWS FROM THE TRAINS ..

I DID NOT MENTION THIS ABOVE .. BUT THE SEWARD HIGHWAY .. THAT RUNS SOUTH FROM ANCHORAGE ALASKA ALONG THE 'TURNAGAIN ARM' OF COOK INLET .. IS CONSIDERED TO BE ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL HIGHWAYS IN ALL OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA .. AND I JUST 'HAPPENED' TO CATCH A TOUR BUS COMING TOWARDS ME HEADING TO ANCHORAGE ..

OH GOD .. OH CREATOR OF THIS UNIVERSE .. I COULD WEEP TEARS OF JOY AND TEARS OF WONDER ..  AT THE STUNNING BEAUTY YOU HAVE BLESSED US AND THIS EARTH WITH ..

IF THE ONLY PRAYER YOU EVER SAY IN YOUR ENTIRE LIFE IS THANK YOU .. IT WILL  BE ENOUGH .. Eckhart von Hochheim also known as Meister Eckhart ..

THANK YOU GOD .. FOR ALLOWING ME TO SHARE THIS  BEAUTY WITH THOSE WHO CHOOSE TO VISIT MY DOXOLOGY WEBSITE .. CAP ..

APR 17, 12 .. ANCHORAGE .. WINTER IN APRIL .. YES !

Patti standing in front of her condo in Anchorage ..

KEEP IN MIND that this is April 17th .. SPRING in Alaska .. 

And how is the SNOW where you live .. Ah Yes .. Spring in Alaska

OK .. I hope that you enjoy the below photos that I shot from my Alaska Airlines flight North to Alaska non-stop from Chicago .. it was an exceptional flight of six plus hours .. on time and smooth as silk .. and a few minutes EARLY into Anchorage ..  Patti was waiting with 'bells on' and a mile-wide smile ..

Well there you have some photos of Patti in front of her condo in the city of Anchorage in the state of Alaska .. and some photos I took from the flight up to Anchorage  from Chicago .. as you can see .. they are still having some winter here in Alaska .. BUT the snow IS melting quickly as the weather here warms up .. today the temperature was in the low 50s .. WHEN IT'S SPRINGTIME IN ALASKA it can be Forty Below .. oh so very good to be back in the state I live in .. Smiles .. Cap ..