Cub leads momma Bear across the creek

Fwd: More bears & eagles at Herring Cove (near Ketchikan)

ALL the captions re-asserted!

Date: July 11, 2015 at 10:30:20 PM AKDT

Subject: More bears & eagles at Herring Cove (near Ketchikan)

From 29-Jun, Fannie's camera...

The one that crossed the creek...

The one that doubled back...

The one that finished crossing (climbed the hill past us on the right).

Bald eagles watching for handouts...

... just like the rest of us!

Sent from my iPhone

1st week of travel, Calif. OR & WA, into Canada

Hello Canada (crossing at Sumas, WA -- into Abbottsford, BC):

Got thru Canadian customs in about 5 minutes;  then, about an hour later...

... saw our first trucker having a bad day (another good day for us, but not for everybody!).

Counted our blessings & said a prayer for this guy & others less fortunate!

-Don

More bears & eagles at Herring Cove (near Ketchikan)

From 29-Jun, Fannie's camera...

Why did the bear cross the creek...

near Ketchikan?

Halibut meets King salmon

Thanks, Grant (for doing all the hard work!)

Fwd: Fannie at work

Date: June 28, 2015 at 4:13:52 PM AKDT

Sent from my iPhone

Fwd: Happy Thursday from Ketchikan

Date: June 25, 2015 at 5:54:04 PM AKDT

Our newest BFF neighbor (Dwight from St. George Utah) & his visiting kids went out this morning, shared this (our dinner) with us about 2hrs ago -- a 2# chunk of King Salmon (goes for about $35/lb in Seattle)... Mmm, mm good at only 2hrs outta the water!  (Fannie inhaled hers while I'm still savoring 1/2 of my double-sized serving.)

The red piece is being made into sashimi... (should only be done after flash frozen to kill parasites & bacteria)

-Don

Sent from my iPhone

Fwd: Fannie getting her 1st intro-to-fishing lesson today

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Begin forwarded message:

From: Don France <donf888@att.net>
Date: June 28, 2015 at 9:29:49 PM AKDT
To: go@blogger.com
Subject: Fwd: Fannie getting her 1st intro-to-fishing lesson today

Date: June 28, 2015 at 8:21:21 PM AKDT

19.4# at about 32"

Sent from my iPhone

Finally under way... (added captions, 18-July)

08-Jun: Days 1-2, lay over at Sacramento (Rancho Cordova Elks, Sunday brunch before Monday launch), 93° day

08-Jun: Day 3 -- Our trip's first "real" campsite, in the forest near Mt Shasta

Abit of snow on Mt Shasta, as we leave Calif...

2015-06-06 -- North to Alaska, the gold rush is ON

On the ROAD again -- Willie is singing (in my head) again!

But, also, are you ready for basketball?!? Our GS Warriors are in the Finals! My sister in Cleveland is reminding me of my roots!

After dreaming about returning to Alaska WITH NO DEADLINES since '07, we're finally set to sail on the M/V Matanuska departing from Prince Rupert, BC next week! We left SJ Saturday (a 1-week delay for RV repairs, and avoiding Friday traffic by doing laundry, etc), short layover outside Sacramento for Saturday vigil mass & kiss-off visits for dinner & Sunday brunch with Fred & Nancy, Justin & Nicole)... Hoping it's our last shot of hot 90° days, tho the heat runs all up the I-5 to Seattle, abit cooler as we go (so far, it's 10° cooler here in Mt Shasta ,,, Sac area peaked at 103, got down to 93° here when we landed @ 3:45pm.

Ciao, for now (pics & more info, later),
Don

2013 follow-up

Well,,, it has been a little(!) while since I last posted.  Will be reviewing some of the highlights (from the old photo pool and Fannie's journals) once we return to AZ for the winter.  We plan to return in 2014 and spend at least four months, this time... kinda our bucket-list to get back and spend more time and some of our favorite places -- though, there are many, so we probably won't get to all of them.

Meanwhile, look for more recent action on my other blog, which I will start up shortly, sharing some of this year's cross-country adventures.

Cheers (from Croton Point Park, NY),
Don

More Denali -- yesterday, 7/19 (part 4)

First, yet another Carribou -- followed by the close-ups of...

... a Momma moose (cow in science terms), and her two babies -- on the side of the road.

Momma had to shoot us her moon shot (just for spite, I suppose!).

More at Denali -- yesterday, 7/19 (part 3)

One last shot of Fannie at PolyChrome -- or was this the Ranger Station at Toklat River?

WOW.... finally saw a bear at Denali --- in the river, crossing and sniffing the air (for food or strangers?).
Don tries on a set of Carribou horns -- just about fits.



This last shot is (yet, another?) Carribou -- off in the distance.

All told, we saw well over 30 snow-shoe hares, a couple dozen Ptarmagins (state bird), two sets of Dall sheep (group of 4, another group of 3), 2 grizzly bears (the local blonde bimbos who really do have more fun!), over 20 Carribou, and, just as we were returning from the last stop, we saw what follows...

More at Denali -- yesterday, 7/19

Here, Don poses at the first "rest stop" on the shuttle bus to Toklat River --- we wanted to see wild-life and check out the Teklanika River campground (nearly all 50 RV sites could accomodate our rig!)

If you look hard enough, there's another Carribou in the middle of the green stuff!

And, then, there's Fannie posing at the PolyChrome Overlook "2nd rest stop"... ultimately, got her "Toklat River" passport stamp --- something worth riding 3 hours to obtain(?).

Skipping ahead, abit... yesterday (7/19) at Denali

It's abit hard to see -- the Ptarmagin, the Alaska state bird... two pics, the 2nd one is easier to notice the family of 3 birds.


Followed by many instances of Carribou; different from the moose, both females AND males develop antlers...

Here you see just one of the two water falls from the glacier...

then, Fannie & Karen, on the trail...





The trail leads to a viewing platform, beyond which we walked on the rocks at the base of the falls.