On the 11th we went to Potter’s Marsh, part of the Anchorage Coastal Wildlife Refuge. It is a birder’s paradise, and although I am not a birder, I enjoyed using my new zoom lens to see birds up close.

As you can see, it was another grey day, but it was fun regardless.

First, some general scenery:

Now, some birds:

Greater yellowlegs (?) Tringa melanoleuca

Arctic tern Sterna paradosea
Greater yellowlegs (?) Tringa melanoleuca

Common Redpoll Carduelis flammea

Gull of some sort.

We landed in Anchorage. Tania drove down from Fairbanks to meet us, and be our guide and chauffeur, a fact for which I will be eternally grateful. Alaska is a HUGE place and trying to figure out what to see was an overwhelming task. Tania helped us see an overview of the areas she thought we’d like, and that gave us an idea for places we’d like to see when we finally get to go back.

Anchorage in the summer is tourist land. In fact, most of the areas we visited catered to summer tourists and sportsmen and adventurers and tourists. Tania helped us to avoid the overtly touristy places, and I tried very hard to make sure stores we visited were Alaska owned and the loot I bought was Alaska made or designed.

This was a lot harder than you’d think, especially in the ports of call for the cruise ship.

But I think (and hope) I did okay. I certainly prefer that my money went to support someone who lives in Alaska year round, not just when the weather is good.

One of the first things we saw–and were warned about–were the mud flats.

Anchorage was surrounded not by beaches but by mudflats there are basically squishy quicksand. That, combined with the the tremendous difference between high and low tide make these ares extremely dangerous.

Anchorage is also, of course, surrounded by mountains.

It was usually cloudy, so I didn’t get many good pictures of the majesty of the surrounding mountains. However, I will say that I liked the various Alaska ranges better than the Rockies. Of course, the Appalachians remain my favorite mountains, and the mountains in Hawaii are also wonderful, but the mountains in Alaska were amazing and impressive.

One of the things we did in Alaska was eat. A lot. And Michael tried to sample as many local brews as possible. I think he did a pretty good job, thanks to Tania’s expert guidance.

While in Anchorage, Michael and I hiked Flattop Mountain. The views were spectacular, despite the grey weather.

We also managed not to be eaten by a bear, which I thought was important.

While in Anchorage, we visited Potter’s Marsh and the Alaska Botanical Garden. Potter’s Marsh will be the next post. The Botanical Garden will be some of the last pictures I go through, since it’s almost all flowers pr0n.

As some of you are aware, Michael and I took three weeks vacation and went to Alaska. We spent just over a week hanging out with our friend Tania from Fairbanks, and were joined by Neurondoc and her family.

Then Tania went home while the five of us went on a cruise down the Inside Passage, viewing glaciers and stopping at port cities.

Then we spent two days (one night) in Vancouver, where we met Jeri, and then spent several days in Seattle.

If you were wondering why I hadn’t been around much, that’s why.

The trip was amazing. I do not have superlatives enough to describe it.

I do, however, have several thousand pictures.

Never fear, I will not subject you to that many pictures. I’m planning on posting several of my favorite pictures every day, and if I feel so motivated, telling you a bit about that area we saw. You can also click through to Flickr to see more pictures there, but I am being aggressive in culling pictures, and putting up only ones that I think best represent wherever we were visiting.

Then I plan to go through I work through the shots I took for myself (things I found interesting/fascinating) and only then will I allow myself to go through all the flower pictures.

Because I took a LOT of plant pictures. The botany of Alaska is not just different from what I am used to here in West Virginia, but it differed from region to region, often significantly.

If you have any questions about where we went and what we did, please feel free to ask.

Alaska is definitely a place everyone should visit–and should do so while they are young enough to get out and hike and see places.

I have a good excuse for being late–I spent the entire day in airplanes or airports returning from a very long, but very awesome vacation (These are just a few photos from the first week. There are many many many more to come.)

So this week’s delayed challenge:

Playing in the grass
Vacation
Bridge
Sin

Four. That’s all you get, because Jeri gave you all extras the previous three weeks. :)

It’s summer, so you know what that means on the east coast? fireflies

Once again, my thanks to Jeri for this week’s list!

Summer sunlight
Something that sparkles
Something gold (not jewelry)
Ripeness
Curves
Something ridiculous
Laughter

Today’s word is: air conditioning (as in, thank goodness for)

And again, this week’s list comes from Jeri!

Angularity
A symbol (not a flag)
Tradition
Red form of transportation
Blue flower
White dwelling
(bonus if you can find all three above together!)
Respect

Please leave a link to your pictures in the comment section!

Today’s word is: Blues

Today’s list comes from Jeri. Actually, the next three weeks come from Jeri. I’m just hosting this game.

Please put your links in the comment section!

Flight
A blue food item
A blue reflection
Something else blue
Coolness
A blue mood
Hope

Thanks Jeri!

We’re well into summer now, so today’s word is: pool

It started pouring down rain on our way home–but as we were in the car at that point, I figure we did pretty well.

Got another camera yesterday so Michael would have his own camera. We may end up switching, but for now, he has is using a Nikon Cool Pics while I’m sticking with the PowerShot (when I’m not using my Canon Rebel XSi)

These are all take with the PowerShot. Not sure if Michael has processed his pictures or not.

Went to Ripley with my brother and sister-in-law, then went over to Marietta for dinner, and after dinner walked around the city (which is surprisingly pretty) to make room for ice cream.

Nobody seemed to understand why I hiked down to look at the stone used to build the levee. Well, I thought it was interesting anyway.

Michael thought it was for hitching horses. I suggested that more likely it was for boats. But that would seem to make sense only if the river was higher at one point.

Where the sidewalk ends.

Yeah. I’m a geek. And an easily amused one at that.