Addendum To Autumn

I came across this whole folder of pictures that I had taken during the fall, which I had totally forgotten about. These photos were mainly from a few of my favorite lakes.

Matanuska Lake - if it weren't 33 degrees outside, I would totally sit on that bench everyday for hours!

What I absolutely LOVE about these lakes is how clear the reflections are in the water!

Irene Lake

I was so absorbed in the beauty of it all that I did not pay attention to the dog doodoo under those fallen leaves...Canoe Lake

Believe it or not, this picture was taken while I was talking on the phone and at the same time trying to scrape the dog stuff off the bottom of my shoe... :-)Probably my favorite lake of all - Kepler-Bradley Lake!The reflection of the truck is just amazing!!

The colors... Daddy teaching his boys how to fish...it was precious!!!!This looks like one of those jigsaw puzzles!! Definitely one of my FAV pictures!!

Autumn In Retrospect...

Autumn has come and gone. But boy, was it gorgeous while it was here!! Now, I do have to say, the fall colors here consist mostly of yellow and orange, and hardly any red. Not to take anything away from the beauty here, but the colors themselves, in my opinion, are not as spectacular as those in the East Coast! But still...

I will start with the Butte…one of my faves...
The short bushes on the Butte actually turned red, and that's about all the red we got

I loved the small patches of red...

Mt. Baldy in Eagle River. On our drive into Eagle River, the fog was so thick that visibility was practically zero! But as we drove up the mountain to get to the trailhead, we actually drove above the massive span of fog that was hovering over the city, and it was so clear and sunny. It was pretty amazing to see…

the fog /cloud and the shadow of BaldyWhen we got to the top, the fog had partially dissipated. Notice the large building with the white top - yeah, Wal-Mart...

It was a frosty morning. I was really impressed with the kids that came with us

Kavi and I enjoying the view...while my fingers were so cold that they pretty much stopped moving...The view from top of BaldyLooks like some golfers have been teeing off

For a weekend in Wasilla, I was house sitting/dog sitting these dogs that looked like sheep...don't ask! So I decided to take an afternoon drive up to Hatcher Pass, where everyone had been telling me I MUST visit...

Little Susitna River

I had no idea what I was getting myself into, I just kept driving...I love this 'dichotomy' of color contrast - it looked like someone had painted it (well, I guess Someone did)

A pleasant surprise was waiting for me. When I got close to the top, I realized I was driving into the snowy part that I had been watching and admiring at the bottom of the mountain. All of a sudden, I was in this black and white world – everything was on a grayscale - my red Thumper seemed out of place. It was really cool!!

It was even snowing lightly at the top. Snow in September...awesome!!

Despite not being prepared with winter coats, I got out and played in the snow for a while anyway...I couldn't resist!Summit Lake at the summit :-)
Winter will be here soon...

Cruisin'

Before I came to Alaska, I met this lady in Pickens, SC (of all places) who grew up in Palmer, AK (again, of all places). One of the things she told me I MUST do is to take a glacier cruise to Prince William Sound from Whittier. So before they shut the tours down for the winter (like they do most things), I decided to go for it despite the rainy forecast!

I drove down to Anchorage one Sat morning and boarded the 2-hour train ride to Whittier. Once again, I spent most of the train ride in the vestibule, absorbing in all the beauty in complete awe.

Hanging out in the vestibule

According to the tour guide ranger person, Whittier is a tiny port known as ‘the strangest town in Alaska.’ Supposedly only four hundred people live in Whittier, and all of them live in ONE big apartment building...that is strange! Whittier also has a 2.5-mile (longest in North America), one-lane tunnel that is shared by 2 ways of car traffic plus train traffic.

The train going thru the tunnel... can't you tell? :-)Cars waiting to go through the tunnel

A Princess cruise ship was sitting next to my little cruise ship

The cruise was a five-hour tour in the Prince William Sound, stopping along the way at a few of the major glaciers.

I love waterfalls! And I love it when you can see multiple waterfalls at the same time! It's pretty amazing!The water is extra blue because of the siltAll you can eat salmon and prime rib...oh yeah!! I think this was the Ripon Glacier - we didn't stop for this one
Northland Glacier - love the waterfall running down from it
The park ranger happened to be from Ashville, NC, with a very thick southern accent, which made me miss SC! Ironically, his name was Don Burnett (the name of my pastor from SC).Blackstone Glacier - it was massive! We "floated" for about 45 minutes here
We were waiting for that protruding chunk to calve off, but it never did...More waterfalls!
The last glacier we saw was the Beloit GlacierThere's also a really cool waterfall next to the Beloit

Instant hypothermia waiting to happen... The crew members did some ice fishing - fishing for ice, that is. The ice was later used to make 'glacier drinks' that were really pricy I'm sure...

Sadly...it was time to head back...

More waterfalls...they were EVERYWHERE!!On the way back, there was a random old shipwreck

And after seeing that, I'm sure it was comforting to know that I was driving the boat... ;-)

The lady in Pickens was right – this was undoubtedly one of the highlights of my time in AK so far, and perhaps ever!