Paybacks

Someone asked me today, what was my top Alaskan 5? I have to say...

*seeing a black AND brown bear (along with a few dozen moose) in my back yard rank pretty high
*Northern lights from the bathroom window...
*watching the (ceremonial)start of the Iditarod...
*driving deep into Denali National Park...
*sending my girls to ski on the only mountain where you can see the ocean as you swish down the slopes...
*ahhh-can't forget ice fishing!!!!
The list of what I did/experienced is diminished only by what I wanted to do during our extended Alaskan Cruise.

None the less, one of my greatest hopes has been to see whales...big beautiful whales-in their own enviroment. Well...

Tim went fishing with the next door neighbor on Saturday. Now don't get me wrong, I'm so happy for Tim...my only disappointment/regret is not sending my camera with him. None the less, in the exact same area we went on a "whale cruise" with my dad nearly 3 years ago, Tim went fishing and caught a few photos of some Orcas-along with some yummy halibut!

Tim won't be able to BEAR it!!!

As I write this, Tim (who has yet to see a bear) doesn't know that 3 hours ago SarahBeth, Jamison and I went to the Eagle River Nature Center and hung out with a young and very curious black bear. Have I mentioned how much I love my new lens?

Mama Moose

We were headed downtown to the Oceans Festival around noon today when we spotted a Mama Moose and her newly born calf running along side the Fort Richardson fence line and the Glenn Highway. We drove a hundred feet or so ahead of them to get some pics. As you see, ol' mama zoned in on Tim standing just outside of the car. By the time she and baby got nearly parallel to us, she stopped and stared Tim down. Being that he was looking thru the view finder, he was unaware how close she was...and that it was in fact HIM she was staring down.

Downtown Fishing

The whole lot of us made it out to Ship Creek to fish. Nobody caught a King Salmon-and Jamison said he doesn't like fishing because he's "always loses!". However, it was still a nice enough day and it was fun to just hang out for a couple of hours.