Swan Lake

As I have posted before we feel lucky to have been able to build and now live on the shores of historic Swan Lake. I say historic, because it is. When Russia still owned Alaska they hand dug and built the lake primarily for ice. Believe it or not some ice from the lake was transported by sailing ship as far south as San Francisco. As I understand the venture was never very profitable, and after a couple of warm winters the venture failed. However, one of the more interesting things about the lake was that the Russians used it as a bargaining tool with the US. As I recall the price the USA paid for Alaska was raised by $200,000.00 because of Swan Lake.


Sunday morning the 14th of October was so nice I had to step out on the deck and take this photo of the lake. I love the reflections on the still water.


We have been so busy building the house that Connie and I have not had time in almost 2 years to go for a walk. So after breafast we were delighted to enjoy a walk around the lake. The photo was taken by the public park that is on Lake Steet and the view is looking up the lake.


There is always a ton of ducks on the lake, and especially at the park because people frequentaly come to feed then bread at that location. I think they were disappointed we didn’t have anything for then to eat, but I was glad the sun was shining on them to bring out the green heads in a photo.


This view is looking across the lake from Halibut Point Road and looks up the Indian River Valley towards the peaks called the Sisters.


In the center of this shot you can see the bracing and railing for the deck on our house. The house is hidden in the trees and unless one knows where to look chances are one won’t see it. We like being hidden in the trees and because of the Costal Zone Management Plan trees are no longer allowed to be cut within 50 feet of the lake shore.


At the north end of the 22 acre lake there is a delightful little park. Connie and I detoured through the park to get this photo looking down the lake.