when i left for the monday walk there was a wee bit of snow coming down...it has changed to rain though so kinda a damp and dreary day. i got lazy, skipped my swim and worked on photography such. more cd's gotten through, more pictures loaded to shutterfly. went to costco with a few cd's to make an album of the dalton highway pictures. haven't really gotten a system down yet for my pictures since i have changed from film to digital. i do still enjoy an album of pictures, old fashioned i guess. unfortunately i took the card in last time and cd's in this time. i think cd's are the better way to go...i've already doctored the pictures a bit. usually for me that just means adding a wee bit of contrast and maybe changing the borders a bit.above is a seal, well a couple seals. that picture was taken on a kayaking trip out of dangerous passage. the seals were in nassau fjord. i've done that kayak twice. the first time it poured rain pretty much the entire trip, the second time we had beautiful weather.
these kayak pictures are back to harriman fjord and the huge waves i mentioned from the large calvings of the glaciers out there. this one is taken once we were safely on land and could enjoy them. usually this water is flat calm, the wave is totally created from glacial calvings. harriman fjord is north of whittier, nassau is south. 
the river above is running from under the glacier. water is very silty. we filter it, but that silt can clog up filters pretty rapidly. pretty though.
this is some of the group from that trip. deb, nancy, ted, tanya, kelly, stephanie. everyone hung out on this big rock and watched all the activity from the glaciers. hot sun in alaska makes for a grand show, it can still be dangerous, even on land.
there is the water between calvings. the ice has been tossed up on the beach from all the wave action. many beaches up here are black sand beaches. 
nothing like a camp fire with a view. we had a lovely night out there. 
getting to and from the land to water was a huge challenge this day and the next morning when the boat came to collect us. the calving continued and those huge boulders of ice created havoc. we had to try and move them to creat a path to haul stuff to the boat.
above is a wave coming off the glacier. 
these next few pictures take you out to st paul island. it's north of the aleutians and at least 300 miles off the western coast of alaska. we went to both st paul and st george islands, also called the pribilof islands. st george was more picturesque and we loved it there. the accomadations, the people..it was wonderful. we enjoyed st paul as well, but it just didn't have the charm of st george. we were also lucky on st george to have met up with all the local wildlife biologists and some folks from the world wildlife federation so we got a grand education from the lot of them. ( still watching those james herriots shows)
these pictures are all from st paul, we did some walks out there. we were the only non-birder visitors there. it was our first encounter with such serious birders. they asked us if we were birders the minute we got off the little plane, when we said we weren't, they just walked away. the one young guide was very nice and he took us for walks to see all sorts of stuff, wildflowers, scenery, fur seals and of course, birds. we don't hate birds, i just don't have a list i check off and all that.
there were several caribou carcass strewn about hte place. the caribou were not native to the islands, neither were the natives, but they are used as a food source. we never ran into the herd on st paul, but did find them on st george. 
the fur seals haul out on the islands and give birth in july. so we got to see lots of babies. the beach in these two pictures were called bachelor beaches. the baby above was an oddity to see there on the beach. the other babies and moms were congregated together in thier harems. these males were the unmated seals. 
more bears, because, who doesn't like seeing pictures of bears, right? this is another bear that we saw out at mcneil a great deal. can't remember what we called him, but he was recovering from a broken leg and doing pretty well. charley would hang with him, spar with him, but he was always gentle. the next three are a series of him fishing. 
off for the kill....
the dive.
the monday walk was a bit wet, but the dogs enjoyed themselves as always. just tanya, lena and i showed so we got a nice walk in. it wasn't too wet and we all stopped for coffee and what not after. i brought my pumpkin bread so everyone could have a slice. i stopped by the gas station and refilled my tire with air. still leaking. still staying close to home. scheduled my tire changeover for wednesday so that will be a relief. hopefully, the tire can be easily repaired. 
more of charley...
the folks who work at costco photo know me well. i'm not there as often now that i am digital. there was a total novice there trying to get photo's made. she was so annoying to the staff there. i was annoyed by her. some people are perpetually in a hurry.
tomorrow will be a busy day. got the guy coming to reglaze the tub, must swim(no excuses) and i have to pop in to work for a quick health screen. weight, blood pressure and cholesterol check. we get money off our insurance if we are healthier. course i just read that some companies are trying to find thier way around having to pay for employee's health care. apparently it may be cheaper for them to just pay the fines than to insure their employees so they may just opt for that. nice.
the world goes on, the bears are oblivious to all the politics and such and when you are out amongst them you are also completely isolated from what is going on in the world. no cell phones, no texting, no newspapers, news reports...it's quite nice to get disconnected from the strains of human life and just revel in the joys of animal life. 
nature has always been such a place of peace and rejuvination for me. i'm so grateful to live in this place that affords me so many opportunities. can't wait to get planning on next years adventure. we are off to kayak with the humpback whales at point adolphus. just gotta get started on the planning of it all. it's always my winter project, planning the big summer trek. 
looks like i may get to bed again at a reasonable hour. goodnight.
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