Beautiful Places

 

These are some pretty pictures that didn't make it into the blog anywhere else.  Above: I camped one night beside the Turnagain Arm and the Alaskan railroad.  A shimmering evening walk.  

Below: the view from our back deck/kitchen/living room provides nightly entertainment in ever-changing combinations of sun, cloud, color, and mountains.

 Below top: Woods where a forest fire raged earlier in the summer.  Already re-growth.

Below bottom: A wide-open run in Soldotna.

Back in July, I took a wildlife cruise and a couple fellow travelers recently shared their pictures with me.  With their bigger camera, they were able to capture some wildlife that I could not:

A Horned Puffin tucked into the rock among the kittiwakes. Below: Sea Lions.

 

 One of two humpback whales that we saw.

And lastly, back in Soldotna, here's a crisp, misty morning at "work" and the beautiful sport that brought me to Alaska!:

My last day

As a parting gift, my boss, Nancy, got me a flight-seeing trip on a float plane! We watched these planes touch and go dozens of times every week on our lake, shuttling fishermen to faraway waters.  The day was warm and sunny as could be.  We had a group of anglers to drop off and, since I was just along for the ride, I got to sit co-pilot, headset and all so I could talk to the pilot.

  

With his expert eyes, the pilot was able to spot wildlife from the air: two sets of brown bear sows and cubs running through the streams, two moose including a mature bull, seals that urgently flopped toward the water as we zoomed overhead.  After we dropped off our fishermen and picked up another bunch to take home, we flew close over a glacier:

 

A glacial sinkhole!

A celebratory hike

More natural beauty!

 

Mountaintop refreshment

U-shaped
 valleys and water like glass:

I found a perfectly smooth, sturdy driftwood staff beside Lower Russian Lake. Much more than a walking stick, it's Gandalf quality:

We don't even have to hike for a beautiful view-- this is the view from our living room:

Rowing

 

Fletch learns to row!  On a serene morning on Mackey Lake, he got in the single for the first time and trucked all around the lake.  Very fast learner.  Only once close to home and trying something tricky did he end up in the water!  The water's not glacial, so he swam it to shore quite comfortably.

Meanwhile, the club was preparing for its first regatta of the season, which we traveled to for the weekend.  I had the privilege of stroking the women's quad (below).  In a very aggressive, fun race, we took the gold!

The regatta capped off Fletch's visit and, on the way to the airport, the sun, mountains and water sparkled along the Arm:

I loved his visit!

On the water

On a sunny day, Fletch and I headed for Homer, driving along the endless blue of Cook Inlet, stopping in Ninilchik (above) for a close-up view of bald eagles.  In Homer, most people take a water taxi across the bay to kayak among the coves and inlets, but, being short on cash and time, we decided to kayak ourselves across the bay. It was a little unorthodox.  But we portaged our kayaks down the beach at low tide then set out for the distant mountains.  

It took an hour and a half of waves and slight seasickness to reach the other side (and an hour and a half back) but the other side was a uninhabited beach with glacial run off braiding through the sand and rocks:

 

A workout for our arms, shoulders, and tenacity!

Fishing the Kenai

 

Thanks to Fletch I got to experience Soldotna's biggest draw: salmon fishing.  He researched the secrets and was soon casting like a local, right next to the locals, in fact.  We spent a handful of hours on the banks of the Kenai and it paid off with one sockeye!  We cooked it an hour later and gorged ourselves-- juicy and fresh!

 

Meanwhile, Alaskan residents took advantage of dip-netting, making a multiple day party of it, filling the beach with coolers, tents, and folding chairs as they stand at the river mouth with huge nets waiting for the salmon to swim into them..

Fletch comes to visit!

 

Finally! Someone with whom to share the scenery!  I picked Fletch up in Anchorage and we spent the weekend camping and hiking our way back to Soldotna.  Our first hike was out of Girdwood, a town with a Rocky-Mountain-ski-resort atmosphere nestled in a very lush, wooded nook between mountains.  But we got up above the treeline in no time:

 In between the long, green U-shaped valleys ran Crow Creek, which tumbled through a massive gorge of red rocks:

We crossed snow melt, passed an alpine lake, and arrived at Raven Glacier.  We camped on a "grassy" knoll of cushion-y tundra plants.

 

The caption to this photo is "Look, Mom, I can't feel my numb fingers."  It was very frigid when we were setting up the tent, trying to cook our mac 'n cheese dinner in the wind, and taking down camp the next day.  After we hiked out, we watch the World Cup in an apres-ski bar/restaurant with a group of German tourists.  That night we car camped (so easy!) beside a river that fed into Kenai Lake:

Our second hike: we started early and walked through mossy forest with only fog on the other side of the trees.  But the sun burned the fog away to reveal jagged peaks, low clouds, and rolling meadows with lakes, birds, and wildflowers:

 

 

God sure put on a show for us-- world full of wonders!