kodiak to dutch...2

thought i'd toss in a few pictures before i hit the shower this am. i realize it's 10:30 am...but i have already taken the dogs for a walk in the rain so i'm not a total slacker. rio is still on bedrest...but i'm a horrible owner and took her anyway. her limp is greatly improved and she doesn't want to be left behind.
above is shuyak island. i took this as i flew into kodiak. shuyak sits above afognak island which sits above kodiak island. it's a lovely place to get stuck for 5 days if you ever get trapped there yourself.
below is from my walk on near island after the rain had subsided a bit. i loved all the mosses growing on the trees.

berries in kodiak were looking mighty tasty. almost ready...not quite. i wandered the downtown docks a bit as well. won't bore with too many dock shots, but may put more in later, especially if this rain keeps up. we tried to get a picture of the communities name on a boat in each place we stopped....so kodiak...check!

above is pretty flowers that grew right in the rocks on the beaches. i thought they were quite pretty. below is a barn on the interior road i took across a section of the island. ranching has been attempted on kodiak for years with limited success. the bears tend to take some, the weather is rough. not many cows left there at present...may be some buffalo which did better. they were in the process of relocating and not sure where they are with that. if you look closely you can see the torents of rain falling on this and the other photo of the poor horses in the rain. i did see horses out there.

all were quite excited about some new wind power that just recently went up on the island. should have generated loads of power that tuesday i was there.

the horses were seen on pasagshak road. they looked very wet and miserable. the deer below was also seen on this road. no bears, but i did see birds, a bald eagle and seals playing in the surf. the greens of kodiak and of the aleutians were dramatic and spectacular. green is my favorite colour so i love all the variety and shades that are offered up in a rain forest. i always find the rain brings out tones not seen on sunny days so i'm happy i got to see this rain forest in both sun and rain.

above is a photo taken at white sands beach. that is at the end of the monaska bay road. on the rainy day i didn't go all the way to fossil beach on pasagshak road as it's pretty twisty, lots of mud and rocks. i'd only gotten a two wheel drive and the conditions hindered my desire to rough it. the silo's were in the fog...i guess the military still has silo's there on the island...not really sure if they are active, meaning i have no idea if there is any sort of warhead in there. security didn't seem insane so makes me doubt there is some nuclear warhead there...who knows though?

below is just a view from the road on monday. loved all the fireweed. it's near the top right now...the word around here is that when the fireweed reaches the top you have 6 or 8 weeks til winter. can't remember exactly. the bottom line is that summer is fleeting and winter cometh.

now i really must be off and shower....may post more exciting pictures since it's a rainy day here. just wish it all loaded faster. oh well. patience is a virtue (not my favorite one though). i enjoyed a nice long chat with my neice. she just returned from another neices wedding (her sister kacey). claire is 13 years younger than i. we always have fun chatting. also spoke to my sister, linda to let her know i was home and well.

still laughing about my dutch flight out. like being shot out of a cannon. the runway is very short and the ocean is at the end of the runway so you can't mess up. the pilot just revs her up as much as possible while holding her back and then just lets her rip. i think they are waiting til they have the guts to let her rip. kinda nuts.