Light Up the Sky

The world famous Walnut Bottom fireworks display always plays out the week before Independence Day. Again, this year, they did not fail to impress. In these days of communities whining and holding these displays hostage for more money the boys and girls in the village of Walnut Bottom deliver the goods. I hope your extended weekend is glorious. And that your fireworks don't suck.

The Sunset in the Eastern Sky

Took a drive through the Game Lands Tuesday evening. It was later than I would have liked  and it wasn't looking good that I would be there for the sunset. Although it seemed like it may become something the western sunset turn into a dud. We rounded a corner headed east and this was there to greet us. Sometimes the sunset looks better in the eastern sky. That's odd.

Dall Sheep in Denali

Here are some of the Dall Sheep we saw in Denali. Notice that the rams were separate from the ewes and lambs. The bachelor group we ran into on the way out to see Mt McKinley. The ewes we saw on the way back out.

Dykeman Pond Flowers

It's more than just all about Alaska. These were taken since I've been back on a walk around the Dykeman Pond. There will be plenty of Alaska to come but there is also life at home. And I still have a bunch of vacation time to use.

Polychrome Pass and the Wolf

Polychrome Pass (mile 46) was the second stop along the Denali Highway. This was just a get out and stretch stop. A few people from the bus saw a grizzly from here. Not me. The top picture is what was visible of Mt McKinley. The rest are merely evidence pictures. Evidence that I did see a wolf. The first picture (the vertical one) is the shot I took through the moving bus window. I zoomed in on my camera screen and yelled for the driver to stop, I thought I saw a coyote. We stopped and he checked it out and confirmed that it was a wolf. These pictures are zoomed all I could with the camera then cropped even further. Nothing frame-able, just evidence.

Ketchikan

For a vacation that started so nice weatherwise it ended as we left Ketchikan late on Friday night. The overcast started on Tuesday while we headed out of Glacier Bay. The clouds hung low over Juneau. All aboard in Ketchikan was 9:30 pm, I think the rain stated about 8:30. We were at dinner on the ship. We had a day at sea left and the flight out of Vancouver then on Sunday. Alaska was awesome. I would recommend it to everyone. 

Mendenhall Glacier

Glaciers, glaciers and more glaciers. This one is the Mendenhall Glacier 12 miles outside of Juneau. Here you could walk right down to the water or hike down to a waterfall just out of sight to the right. Recently the U.S. Forest Service opened a visitors center. The glacier is 12 miles long and sits within the Mendenhall Glacier Recreation Area in the Tongass National Forest.