mostly packed...

 these are in Denali National Park.  today Blossom and i headed to the beach in Anchorage.

 left Rio behind which i think she was a bit upset about.  now i'll be leaving her for a few days...poor Rio.  maybe a loop in the hood before we go is in order...we shall see. i'm mostly packed but still have to load the car and get the extra full spare on the roof.  i have the wagon in there.  will toss the tent in there but may opt to just sleep in the car the first night and then i'll be in the cabin the next few nights.  do need to get booking earlier than later though as it's a long drive to Tangle Lakes.

 Blossom has dried mud all over but that also means she is a happy pup.  i probably have dried mud on me as well.  i've always hoped that one day they'd improve the route down to the beach at Kincaid and they just did...it was great!!  i can actually take Rio down there now. i've had a few rough go's going up and down the steeper hills with Rio. we did 4.7 miles though too which can be a bit much for Rio.

 hopefully, it's not too cold on our adventure north!!  looks like i'll chill with TO and her family in Tangle Lakes and then TO and i will head for the cabin after crossing the Denali Highway.  a few friends may meet us up there Tuesday night at least.  will be nice to do the walk around the lake though...always pretty.  maybe there will even be a few blue berries left out there for us.

 most of the free stuff i put out has found a new home.  always good. i had put out my old weed whacker. it had these battery packs which were a bother.  the battery seemed to die super fast.  i hit sears today and bought a gas powered one.  i didn't want to deal with a cord or a mix of gas and oil.  so i'll hit the yard the next sunny day and test it out.  i'll be due for a good mow anyway.  not too many weeks left of mowing for sure.

 crowds in Denali mean animal sightings.

 there were Chinese Naval ships pretty close to Alaskan Soil while the POTUS was here. not sure how usual that is.  don't recall them reporting that but maybe they just reported it because the POTUS was here.  my brother, Jeff had heard about it and mentioned it to me when we spoke.  he's like me though and tends to look at a variety of news sources so perhaps that is why he ran across it.

 so far i am happy with my selection for Mayor and Governor.  our Governor took the time to reach out to the POTUS and even arranged to fly to DC and then fly back to AK with President Obama.  this gave him an opportunity to have a good conversation about Alaska with him.  our Governor and our Lt Governor changed their parties so that they could run together and beat out Parnell...who i did not like at all...apparently many others were not too keen on him either and Walker won.  our Lt Governor was the Democratic candidate and was slated to run against Parnell, but he and walker were friends and knew he wouldn't win.  Walker was already out as he was a Republican at the time...so they both became independents and ran together.

 our Mayor Berkowitz just rejected this land swap deal that would have meant we would have lost our access to Point Woronzof.  (boy have i been spelling that wrong all these years ).  Thank you Mayor Berkowitz.  Mostly, it's tough for anyone who is Democrat to win any election here, but the Anchorage Mayor role has been a few times.

 there was some talk on NPR today that was interesting.  this Iran deal that is looking like it may get pushed through, several experts were discussing the merits of it.  nothing is perfect but we live in an imperfect world.  it was an interesting discussion.

 another interesting topic was on the refugees from the middle east and the influx of these refugees into Europe.  of note was that nations like Saudi Arabia in the middle east itself have not taken in refugees.  many have perished in their attempts to get to safer grounds, others were walking miles and miles and miles in hopes of safety for themselves and their families.  thousands of refugees have been stuck in Hungary and i guess now they are being allowed to cross through to Austria and Germany.

 the colors are changing fast in Anchorage, not sure what we will find on the way up north.  just need to be aware of my times as i drive so i don't take too long.  i generally leave much later than i plan and end up in the dark and tired.  gotta make it to Tangle though.

 that to do list is ever present....i mostly ignore it and head off to the trails or the roads.  the snow will soon come along with the cold and then i will be home more.  i'll still hit the trails.  the Monday walks will start up soon....maybe next Monday on the 14th?  we should start a wee bit earlier i guess. 11 am?  thoughts walkers?

 that would put us at the coffee shop by 1pm.

 saw a bull moose and a few females in Kincaid today.  they tend to collect there during the rut just as these bulls and cows were doing in Denali.

 Aylan Kurdi perished along with his brother and mother when the smugglers they paid to get them from Turkey to Greece took them in an inflatable raft rather than the promised motor boat.  the father is the only survivor in the family.  they were from Syria and were hoping to get to Canada.  not sure what the father is to do with the bodies of his family...so much pain and disruption in the middle east.

 i post some of my pics to Nat Geo's MyShot. it's fun to exchange pictures globally and get a glimpse into the lives of others through photography.  i get picture likes from all over.  this last time i looked there was one from Syria.  we are all just people, living our lives and trying to find the beauty that exists around us. for some of us that is a much easier thing to do than for others.  people do manage though to find some level of peace and happiness in some of the most horrible situations

 i better get to bed...long day tomorrow.  probably should pre-medicate with ibuprofen before i drive.  haha.

 hoping for safe travels and beautiful scenery...and no close bear encounters.

grateful for: a relatively safe existence.  to not live in a nation that is in constant disarray and battle state....and for the kindness of humans. there are so horrible people out there, but it's good to remember that most people across the planet we share are good and kind people just trying to live their lives and raise families and enjoy their days.  it's easy to lose site of that.  peace out...