Snow!!!

Well, we finally got some snow - not much yet, but it is white, and the roads are icy. Sorry about so much snow on the east coast, but we did deserve a little of it! The van has done fine today. It's height to wheel-base ratio is still tough for me...the Miata is so much easier to drive...but she did well, and I told her so.

Lesser Sandhill Cranes in Alaska

This is a female lesser sandhill crane who imprinted on humans and now doesn't act like a crane! Migrating lesser sandhills have come to her as though asking her to fly with them, and she has given them a strange look and gone back to her humans at the rehab center. She is about 2 years old. Her role now is as an "education bird", which means she needs to be part of 12 programs a year to educate the public. The Eagle River Nature Center, where I am a member again, puts on programs such as this regularly. It was fascinating to see a crane this close. While she is a bit smaller than the cranes which fly over my Atlanta home, the sounds she makes are VERY similar!!!

Earthquake

I just reported my first earthquake, online. Yesterday morning I was awakened by the bed shaking - a little different from the usual alarm! The lady in the next bedroom couldn't have caused the shaking, I realized, so it must have been an earthquake. Sure enough, others felt it, too! It's hard to get through a day here without something exciting happening!!

Hiking in the Dark

Well, last night was my second hike with Alaska Outdoors hiking group. They all begin at 6:30 pm and go for about 2 hours. Sunset last night was at 6:45. We got to watch it from several spots along the trail. Folks bring their dogs, who are allowed to run free - interesting! The first moose was standing behind us while we made our picture (Toshi takes one ever hike and puts them on the website, I think). The second 2 were on a little hill beside the trail, and Mom Moose decided to protect Baby Moose just about the time I was ready to pass by. She calmed down and we all went by. We think she thought we were aliens with our headlamps bouncing about! The last 2 were bedded down for the night in the middle of the trail, so we backed away and took an alternate route right through the grass where they were supposed to bed down. When we arrived at our cars, Toshi pulled out a thermos of hot cider and some cups - great guy, that Toshi!!! I like him. These folks hike 12 months a year - no snowshoes, just carefully chosen trails. I love it!

Above right are some ships coming out of Anchorage - it really is a harbor and an anchorage - Denali is to the left, just outside the picture, about 100 miles away.

The Chugach Mountains with some snow on top - this is near the house where I am staying.

Above right is one of the last salmon coming in to spawn, at Eagle River Nature Center where I was hiking with step-niece Megan last week.

This blog-posting is interesting and tricky - hope future posts are simpler to do!!!

Today in Anchorage there is a weather prediction for snow - what was I thinking???