each day an adventure in alaska: last of tutka

on to the next trip. soon summer will be over, but for now the plants are growing at an alarming rate as happens every summer. so little time before winter the plants go into overdrive. they take advantage of every minute of sun. went to jodphur loop in kincaid. did half on the back route and then took off over the dunes. much easier for rio today as the growth on the trails is dramatic and now the trail is demarkated by brush. saw quite a few flowers blooming out there, even a few wild roses.
above is the view from the outhouse at the kayak beach yurt.

elephant rock as we were heading out . the trunk shows up at lower tides. we didn't make the trek out there this time. ran out of time. i went for a photo walk in the morning as it didn't look like a paddle would be happening. at least that was the impression i'd gotten the night before. our water taxi was due at 11am. you don't want to be late and get a reputation for making water taxi's wait or have to go find you. when i got back from wandering about it had been decided we should try for a short paddle. by the time we got our stuff on the beach we could only paddle one way 45 minutes and then paddle back. which way to go? in the end jennifer put out there that it was my birthday so i was to decide.

we went to what looked like the closest island, circled it and then crossed back over. that pretty much took up all our time. the island looked like it would house loads of birds, but really not much was happening. heskeff island and elephant island are far more beautiful and i wish we'd had time to paddle out to those. we really just woke up too late to get out there comfortably. i could have just stayed on the beach and skipped the paddle again, we were packed and our stuff was on the beach so no biggie. did see that whale or whatever it was.

these are from that small island out there. pretty and small.

some magazine poll put alaskans and specifically anchorage residents as the worst dressed in the nation. we do have our own style here and it for sure doesn't meet lower 48 standards. don't think many people up here would have it any other way. our wardrobe is casual and geared towards the weather and various outdoor activities. i'm sure i've not my share to improve our rating in this poll over the years. the winter fashion up here is skhoops. those just haven't really become popular in the lower 48...perhaps we are just more fashion forward than they know and just can't recognize a hot trend when they see it!! summers we just keep the bugs off and try not to attract bears, winters we try to keep warm.

i'm not the only alaskan who wears silly dog ski hats. when your head requires a hat to keep warm you find you have many varieties. i'm sure some match the colour to the outfit. doubt many people just own one ski hat.

this little rabbit was munching outside our yurt as we packed up all our crap.

these are from my morning walk.

this big rock kinda looks like a penis with bad herpes lesions from certain angles. often a bald eagle is perched on the top.

below is the little island we paddled out to on our last day.

apparently the dude who was found eating the face of a homeless guy was high on bath salts. we've started seeing these. terrible drug, makes people have psychotic breakthroughs, sounds like lsd was. people think they have super powers...and can eat people's faces off. poor homeless dude, as if being homeless wasn't enough. the guy who was high wasn't reacting to the police officers and he was eventually shot at. killed i believe.

got my laps in this evening as i had dinner plans with amy and it's always great to combine a swim with a fun evening out. the dogs are already prepared for me to be out. got in 25 laps again. water feels great. love being underneath, so quiet under the water.

always enjoy the brightly coloured lichens. had fun snapping off a few photo's of them.

kept trying to get pics of the bird on the rock as well.

the lichens are easier, they don't move!

we went to dinner at pancho villa's...obviously mexican. food was good, company always better...thanks amy for dinner!! always great to just relax and enjoy a meal with a friend!

more of rock and bird...

these next two are of the "dramatic" runaway boat rescue. we were back by the fire to watch the action on the water.

got a few errands run today. my trundle with mattress are ordered and will be delivered and i will get another estimate on carpet for the hall and stairs. so far it looks pretty similar to what lowes quoted. they annoyed me though as they led me to believe one thing about installation costs and then in truth it wasn't the case at all.

cute little yellow bird.

augustine in the background.

thought this was a fitting name for a boat in tutka bay.

hard to see but on the boat are our friends bob, tanya and maddie...heading out to tutka yurt we had just left. hopefully we left them some wood for thier fires.

haven't had a chance to really chat with tanya post trip. maddie was put in her own port in the kayak for the first time. from texting i get the impression her paddle skills are still a bit weak.

birds...as my friend scott would say.

just more islands from just inside tutka before we got to kayak beach.

didn't get to the garden or the deck for sanding. rain started up. we got pretty lucky with just a few drops here and there on our walk. this place can be cloudy without rain, that just wasn't the case really in ketchikan, when it was cloudy...rain was coming down.

saw this boat with oars plying down the bay. had to wonder if it wasn't the author from that book about kayaking i had read. they didn't use ocean kayaks but instead rowed boats. can't remember the exact name, but the book was good. except that they did crazy things like paddle in rough seas and with polar bears. seems a bit nuts to me.

jsut a float out there...liked the reflections

an island on the aleutian chain has been renamed. rat island is now hawadax island...the rats are gone now. alaska is "rat free". meaning really that we fight hard to keep them out of here as they are not naturally found here. they sneak in with cargo/boats. the rats on rat island destroyed the rookeries in thier quest to eat every egg they could find. they were finally erradicated and it was decided that a name change was in order.

jennifer above and a pair of harlequin ducks below.

scenes from the new camp.

lots of dandilions...as i said, i'm chill with them out here, but not so much in my yard.

the other campers on kayak beach. luckily we had the yurt. would have sucked to be tent camping with this crew.

home sweet home!

jennifer seems to have a knack for finding the perfect places to relax.

i built a lovely fire that night...then let jennifer take over...she does like them big and smokey too we noticed!

heskeff and elephant in the background.

and again...but it's so pretty!!

a photo from the vietnam war of a girl running from her village naked after ripping off her burning clothing was discussed in an article in the paper today. the girl in the photo is now 40 years old, phan thi kim phuc. she eventually survived and overcame and apparently she lives in canada. interesting article. details i'd never heard about. always fascinating hearing stories of people who overcame and lived the lives they almost lost.