It’s rather hard to top the story I posted last week, both literally and figuratively, so I guess the next best thing is some time traveling…. back to the Alaska trip of about a month ago. This final installment has been worth the wait – I guarantee it! I have three thrilling threads of subject matter for you: flora, fauna, and flu… and of course a few cache finds. I’ll start with those and work backwards.
FINDS
Here are the four caches I found on my last day in our 49th state:
Beaver View
Forget Meat? Not!
Inlet View
Anchorage TB Drop
That day, I took a rental car out for a spin up the gorgeous Turnagain Arm, just south of Anchorage, and finally got in to some serious scenery:
Fields and glaciers were all over the place:
I watched a gondola ascend from the nearby hotel, taking folks up for an even better view, I’m sure:
I didn’t have much time to look around, but I did see this bit of honesty:
FLU
Ah, yes, I got to experience the dreaded, all-to-common-on-tours-and-cruises Norovirus. Don’t ever get it. Since I did get it on a tour, though, they had me go to the hospital and everything. I wouldn’t do that again, either, even though I was well cared for. There are other adventures that are more worth having. I must say, I did get some nifty jewelry:
FAUNA
The only difference between caribou and reindeer is that the former are wild and the latter are captive. These would be the latter:
The only moose I saw was this stuffed specimen:
… and I thought the only real Alaskan wildlife I would see was this guy, one of our bus drivers:
… but I was so wrong! Heading back along Turnagain Arm, I glimpsed a bear crossing the road! He was foraging in the tall foliage by a bike path, and as I pulled over to see if I could get a better camera shot, here he came! I shot this with the windows up and engine running, but he was only interested in the weeds, and his mom was nowhere to be seen:
Now THIS made my whole trip, made up for wacko schedules, illness, smoky air, ALL of it. Wow.
FLORA
To close, here are some shots of some of the really beautiful things that grow around Alaska:
Until next week, happy caching, be they few or feverish!