a few more from the Harriman paddle

 change it up a  bit. 

 this was paddling into the area where our pick up would be the next afternoon.

 we got some blue skies.  not tons but enough to bring a smile to all.

 today the pups and i meandered over to Seward.  just got back after 10pm. 

 we stopped at our little swimming hole in Portage Valley then did the short walk to Byron.  that was a packed trail.  loads of tourists.  i only got snarled at once for the dogs being off leash.  i was working on off leash training while i had all those people to deal with.  i put them back on leash for the return trip to the car for some on leash training.

 i actually opted to pretend i didn't hear the guy bitching to me about the dogs being off leash.  I had already grabbed both dogs, as i do when there are other dogs about.  there just happened to be a group of tourists that were clearly deaf so i figured I'd just play like i was in that group.  he could bitch all he wanted...i guess that was terrible of me. often those confrontations do not go well.  the law allows for off leash training, as long as they are under your control.  best to not argue details with anyone these days.

 the pups actually impressed everyone else that passed as they stopped and stayed while the walked past them.  later in Seward they really impressed some folks...i even heard the word "incredible" since their dog was off leash and crazy and my dogs both stayed put as commanded while the group walked past us and their dog jumped around mine.

 saw lots of jellies on the beach in Seward.  quite a few folks out there at Lowell point.  felt bad for a few active looking doodles. the lady sat there holding them on leash...they just wanted to play.  we were far away, but looked like they wanted to take the beach by storm.  mine swam a lot.  the waves were decent sized for fun ball chasing.

 always love those campfires.

 these actually look like the last from the day before

 I'm still learning about this keto diet.  felt pretty bad yesterday.  i read that it's called the keto flu, adjusting.  today was better. not as hungry, but as i post what I'm eating in a keto app i suspect these last 5 days my total calorie consumption was pretty low for normal. yesterday i just felt drained.

 i think it is just going basically with out those processed foods and  breads no doubt.  i have no desire to never eat many of these things again. it's just that after a certain age you will pay more for the food choices you make.  weight doesn't slip off as easily as it did when i was younger. would like to see some weight drop off and then find a place where i can eat more healthy but also have a taste of some old favorites.

 food is psychological as well.  many memories are stored in our food choices.  happy memories.  food is a form of comfort, just as long as that comfort isn't constant and makes you greatly overweight.  just have to find a balance.

 these are from that last full day paddle.

 before we left Seward today, i headed back to the bottom of the airstrip. ended up running into some locals. there is a trail from there that heads out to the beach. next time.  leave earlier and plan to hike it during a low tide.  the low tide wasn't that low today, but low enough. the dogs always enjoy their beach time.

 the glaciers in front of you ...Bryan, Cascade and Cox.  not sure the order.

 they are mostly no longer tide water.  dang warming.  so many glaciers are receding at alarming rates.

 we stopped for lunch before paddling closer in.

 always great to get out of the boats and explore on land a bit.

 you get feeling a bit cooped up inside the little boats so great to stretch. 

 the critters have been busy eating muscles it looks like

 relax and eat...no keto here. won't be doing keto camping.  you have to make sure you have enough energy to paddle and walk.  it was actually a bit tough yesterday. i was thinking of heading to Talkeetna yesterday.  i really did feel crappy.  i headed there anyway.

 ended up hitting traffic at the Knik bridge.  stand still.  so i turned around and headed home.  we'd already walked the dog park. 

 i think i curled up with a movie and went to bed early. i put this cairn on the back of my boat...all but that top one lasted until i landed at our camp

 the water was pretty calm, but still was surprised to see it still up

 quite a bit of beach ice

 always cool rocks.

 more cairn building while we all chilled on our break from paddling.

 have had some lapses in the diet plan...i do love my chocolate.  a few days i ate 3 of those small cadbury eggs.  last night i ate one  peanut butter cup...man did that taste good!! today my cheat was the biscoff, 3 cookies.  they were in my stash bag and were melting anyway...they had a little chocolate on the base. 

 true keto diet is for just over 20 grams carbs...since I'm learning what I'm doing I'm chill with 50 carbs...that is still a crap ton less than i was eating last week i dare say. hell an apple is 19 carbs.  the silly app gives you an F for what they say is a bad choice.  mean app.  i understand that fruit is the devil in this diet but I'm picky and i would rather have a diet with healthy foods than freak out about an apple.

 i got an F for milk as well.  not wasting good milk though.

 headed to Portage again tomorrow.  the pass will be hiked.  always on a hot day....so the water at the top will feel great. 

 cairns and ice

 outstanding views as well.

 nature is amazing.  too bad the current administration is so hell bent on destroying it all.  opening up our spaces for drilling and mining.  putting corporate greed ahead of clean air and water...destroying the EPA....what a mess.

 hope there are always  places that remain safe and protected. 

 always love how the limbs get carpeted by moss.

 dead fish on the beach.  i best head to bed.  gotta set the alarm. 

grateful for: A.  those who fight to protect the beautiful places on the earth  B. that i have been blessed to be able to spend so much time in these amazing spaces.  C.  that bad people don't live forever.  we all have an expiration date....

back from Homer

 one less friend.  it seems to happen more these days.  that is how it goes with facebook some times.  i posted about the children being taken from their parents at the border.  he gave all the usual gop talking lines, posted memes in support of his views.  it was actually funny as i was on this road trip so i didn't check in much and suddenly there were all these comments.  other friends were having a discussion with him.  i chimed in from time to time. at one point there were 42 comments and then the other night it was down to 17.  he'd unfriended me. so 25 of those comments had all been him.  that seems a bit excessive. 

 the back of the car is totally set up for comfort for the dogs.  big beds, food/water..and yet, they still try to both sleep in the front seat next to me.  usually Ivy is sitting on Tusker as he lays down.  in this case Ivy had gained access to the front seat and so he just lay down on top of her.  siblings.

 these are iphone photo's.  the first shot is of the harbor...the lupine was in fine form while i was there.  love the lupine.  above Ivy enjoys a super low tide.  it was a -4. all of this beach from where we are below to those buildings in the background will be covered in the high tide. crazy wild tide swings.

 we took advantage of the low tides and the dogs ran and ran and ran.  Tusker was a wee bit sore on his front left.  tough to hold him back though.

 will see how he feels tomorrow.  we stopped at Deep Creek for a walk on the beach.  to the left i saw what i thought was lots of folks out clamming or something.  it ended up not being humans but instead hundreds of bald eagles.  there were more on the cliffs. they were everywhere. 

 Tusker loves to chase birds.  seagulls i don't really care about...but those baldies are big and they can totally do some damage with those talons.  those talons are dirty too.  i know they are the National Bird, but they eat some pretty disgusting stuff. 

 there were too many birds and i did end up giving up trying to keep the dogs under control.  the fishermen, as it turns out, leave their leftover fish guts on the beach at this end after a day of fishing. the birds were really more interested in that so the dogs were just annoying.  i suppose there was some federal law that i have broken...harassing wildlife perhaps.

 there are these old wooden boats on the spit, the lupine grow in nice around them, always makes for some cool photos.

 we got in Homer in time to play on the beach at a lower tide, then we woke and returned to Bishops beach, where we were staying.  then we hit the spit.  after lunch i figured we'd take a drive.

 i believe i made it down to the Russian Old Believer village at the end of the road. there really were no signs and the road went up and another down.  i had no idea where the heart of the village was.  that is probably by design.  i'll ask around and perhaps next time i will get all the way into that village.  anyone know?  sounds like there is beach access for the end of the bay as well, though i thought i read don't drive your car down as it's totally not a maintained road.

 it's always a lot of driving.  i will sleep good tonight i suspect.  i do have a cat that is quite affectionate this evening.

 we returned to Bishops beach in the evening for some play time before attempting sleep....gotta make sure the pups are beat before we sleep.  the noises around us weren't too bad or the dogs were beat as both nights they slept great without any barking.

 wandered over to check to see if there were any cranes in the wetlands near the beach.  there were some families.  last night there was a family fairly close with 2 babies.  the babies were tough to spot as they were hidden in the tall grass.  no idea if i got lucky with any of those pictures.

 the rest of these are from the last time i was down in Homer for a paddle.

 impromptu Birthday cake!

 goofing around at lunch.

 MO does her best walrus impression.

 not sure what impression SH was making here.  haha.

 then back in our kayaks.

 off to check out another island.  so many to explore.

 nice to escape the news and facebook for the most part.  i checked in on both but it's a bit secondary to life when you are out doing other stuff.

 posting 25 x seems a bit excessive.  i mean if everyone else is not of your thinking do you really believe you will change their views.  it's usually best to bow out.  dude seems to be believing all the lies being told him.  frankly, this is turning into a PR nightmare for the Republicans...follow an idiot you will eventually end up in disaster. ripping kids from parents just will not play well out there. 

 they are blaming the Dems even though this is their new method created by them to dissuade folks from attempting to cross borders.  this is mostly people looking for assylum who have already suffered and now their kids have been taken away.  they have already deported some of them back without returning their kids.  records of kids/parents seem to not have been handled well as there was no big plan for all this.  just the iitoo and his band of idiots winging running our nation.  huge fail...

 will see how the next few days go, but it's looking bad for them on this one, thankfully for them they have enough members of the cult of Don that will listen without questioning, will blame without proof...

 some try to compare this to people getting arrested here.  yes, they do not take their kids to prison with them. there is, however, a system set up. they will know where their kids are and can have communication with those kids.  their kids won't be lost and not found.  they do not risk being deported and never seeing their kids again.  they are also granted legal assistance if they can't afford it...these kids usually have none. their parents also have little aid in the legal department. it's just not comparable.  they are now taking in nearly 70 kids a day with no plan in place. no details...this is how these numnuts do everything.  they fly by the seat of their pants.  here's an idea, make it happen...oh that isn't working, it's the dems fault. 

 here is an idea, accept some personal responsibility.  for how often they say Dems are "elitist" these GOP sort seem to believe that their way is the only way.  that they have God on their side so there are no other right ways other than theirs.  after whining for years of feeling they are some how cast offs, the truth is revealed.  they aren't cast off's they are simply afraid.  afraid of change, afraid of people who are different than they are.  life is constant adaptation...there are always those who just find that more difficult. in this case of taking kids from their parents at the border. they are wrong, cruel, inhumane.  their party in power is doing more damage to our nation in the world standings than has ever been done. 

 in their quest to "Make America Great Again" they have managed to make America weak, unwelcoming, cruel and hateful.  the damage will be long lasting.  my Mom worked with a woman from Germany, she truly believed the Holocaust was all a lie.  she refused to believe that her nation could have ever done such a thing.  it can be easier to believe the lie than to hear the truth.

 love the water, the ripples.  looks so cool.

 more paddlers on the water. it was so pretty out and a weekend to boot.

 none of us seemed to be in any sort of hurry.  that is generally how most of us roll.  just enjoy being on the water. 

 it is nice having a cabin to return to.  traveling on kayak is fun to, but it is more complex.  loading and unloading the kayaks over and over.

 we stopped a few times coming home today but the dogs mostly slept.  after the eagles, both of them lay down...i knew i had hit the sweet spot for wearing them out. 

 it looked a bit rainy over in Seward, i had debating heading there before returning home. i think i was ready to be home though.

 a lone bald eagle on the island.

 looks all clean and regal.  the birds today were pretty dirty and they were in a feeding frenzy.  trying to beat out all the seagulls

 lots of flowers peaking out, more already.  amazing how rapidly they show up.  i hear Round Island is getting coated with flowers as well. 

 peaceful!

 i was about to split off and just head for the beach.  nothing wrong with chilling on the beach in the sunshine.

 turned out some friends were out there.  kept me entertained while my other friends were still out paddling.

 forgot my pill cache for this trip so i had to stop and buy some Ibuprofen.  tried to just take 1-2x/day. woke with a headache the first morning so i then needed to buy some Excedrin.  so trade off between them.  funny once you know a pain will be a bit of a chronic pain for awhile, mentally, you try to just switch gears and ignore it more.

 well, i better go check on laundry and crash for the night.  the dogs will love having a dog door, but i think they wish we lived in Seward or Homer.  they would have liked Ketchikan i guess.

thankful for: A.  another fun weekend trek B.  several cool wildlife sightings C.  new stuff, old stuff D. a father who took his role seriously.  we had all we needed.