2012-10 Fall Colors, Alaska
Hello
All,
In this edition we’ll pick up on the rest of our stay in Alaska. It is a lovely part of our country with endless photo opportunities.
After about 30 days our daughter was discharged from the live-in physical therapy facility--not because she was walking again but because of an insurance company decision.
It was great having her home. We drove her to and from all her physical therapy sessions, assisting with her therapy when possible. She also went back to work on a part-time basis and we transported her to and from her job. Whenever the opportunity presented itself we took her on short trips to visit family and friends or to explore scenic areas. It seemed to help relieve some of the stress and emotional strain of the situation for all of us. Here are some of the photos we snapped during our travels.
This is a cache that is commonly used for winter food storage in the bush.
In this edition we’ll pick up on the rest of our stay in Alaska. It is a lovely part of our country with endless photo opportunities.
After about 30 days our daughter was discharged from the live-in physical therapy facility--not because she was walking again but because of an insurance company decision.
It was great having her home. We drove her to and from all her physical therapy sessions, assisting with her therapy when possible. She also went back to work on a part-time basis and we transported her to and from her job. Whenever the opportunity presented itself we took her on short trips to visit family and friends or to explore scenic areas. It seemed to help relieve some of the stress and emotional strain of the situation for all of us. Here are some of the photos we snapped during our travels.
This is a cache that is commonly used for winter food storage in the bush.
One
of our drives took us from Nikiski to the town of Seward on beautiful Resurrection
Bay. Enroute we stopped at Tern Lake to snap a few photos.
There
were sockeye salmon spawning in the creek feeding into Tern Lake. At times we
have seen so many in the creek that you would have thought you could walk
across the creek on their backs.
Barb’s
sister and husband along with her cousin and husband were camping at the Trail
River Campground in their motorhomes, so we pulled into the campground to say
howdy. Here is a shot taken from the bridge crossing over Trail River.
Here’s
cousin Don showing us his magic potion for lighting charcoal in the barbeque.
It certainly worked!
Continuing
on down the road toward Seward we stopped just to take in the wonder of it all.
The Seward Highway is such a scenic drive. Here is a shot of a little marsh
with the Kenai Mountains in the background.
Arriving
in Seward we stopped for a wonderful lunch of halibut and chips. Here is a
photo of one of the many charter vessels that take visitors to Kenai Fiords
National Park. It is a day cruise that we have made many times and that we
highly recommend. It is simply awesome.
Back
at our daughter’s place in Nikiski we were having lunch one day when this young
bull moose strolled into the backyard. He is what we used to call a “mulligan
bull.” That is one that is not legal to shoot due to his small antlers. Would
guess he is about three years old and a fine looking specimen.
As
time flew by suddenly we were into September and fall was definitely in the
air. Alaska’s trees don’t get the brilliant reds and oranges like we have seen
in other states. Birch tree leaves are predominantly yellow or yellow-orange
during the fall, but still quite lovely. However, fireweed leaves do turn a
rusty red color as shown in the following photos.
And
the grasses in the flatland marshes take on a variety of colors. These are
fields in the town of Kenai.
But
without a doubt the dominant fall color is yellow as shown in the following
photo.
Here
is a hillside of brilliant yellow trees with new snow at the higher elevations.
Alaskans call this fresh snow “termination dust” which means summer is about to
be terminated!
Here
is a shot of the Kenai River taken on a stormy fall day. Note the termination
dust on the mountains in the background.
Potter
Marsh located on the outskirts of Anchorage is a great place to shoot photos of
waterfowl. However, we liked the reflections on this day.
Mount
Susitna is in the background of this photo. It is more commonly known as “The
Sleeping Lady.”
Here
is a photo of The Sleeping Lady taken from Anchorage looking across Cook Inlet.
With
our daughter back to work and able to get to and from work and physical therapy
by wheel chair taxi, furnished by grants, it was time for us to return to
Idaho. We still had the task of hunting for a house to buy and retrieving our
household effects from storage.
Until next time,
Dave & Barb
The Traveling Browns
Until next time,
Dave & Barb
The Traveling Browns