Alaska to Washington - Day 2

Our second day on the road took us from Tok, Alaska across the Canadian border and all the way to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory.

Sights along the way included flowers, a border crossing, bears, a lynx and 2 babies, more mountains, Kluane lake, and remnants of a forest fire from the 1950s.

Moving from Alaska to Washington. Day 1

We got a very late start since we were actually packing up, cleaning, and leaving our house in Alaska.

We left at 6:00pm and arrived in Tok, Alaska at midnight.

Sights along the way, Matanuska glacier, a moose crossing the road, trumpeter swans, crooked black spruce trees and lots of scenery.

Scenery Sunday

Yesterday my mom and I went to an open house celebration for a 100 year old homestead just outside of Palmer. I know to East Coasters 100 year old homes are common, but for Alaska they are pretty rare. Anchorage was just beginning to be settled 100 years ago as a "tent city" and Palmer wasn't settled until 1935. The farm property is beautiful with amazing views, but can you imagine living here, homesteading this land 100 years ago?!  More photos than I usually share at once, but I couldn't leave any of them out!

peony, iris, lupine & trolius

Himalayan Blue Poppy

part of the milking barn

peony. These are about 8-10" across!

A belated happy 4th of July!

July flowers

Enjoy a couple of photos of my Delphinium!  Beautiful!

Photo Friday

Since I have not posted in so long - and only once this year - this will be an extra long Photo Friday post. Lots of photos. Enjoy!

My Valentine's "bouquet."

Blueberries were on sale this week and they were GIANT!

My sweet doggies just love playing in the new snow.

Neptune & Panda

Snowing again today. Usually in the distance you would see mountains.

More wrestling.

Kind of artsy. Melted snow (water droplets) on the car window - my mom's house in the background.

Another one of the water with a large birch tree in the background.

My mom's cat Willow. I've been visiting her while my mom is on vacation.

Photo Friday

 

Two photos for this chilly Alaskan Friday. 

My dog Panda LOVES the cold weather! Any time it is below 20° she begs to go outside and hang out. She doesn't even mind when it is below zero. Crazy husky girl.

It was -3° at one point today. This morning the sky was bright but there was a big cloud bank moving in. The mountain you see here is nearly 6,400 feet tall.

Photo Friday

Last Friday, November 23, 2012, about 9:00 am on our way to Anchorage for a little non-combat Black Friday shopping, hanging out, and lunch. It was our annual "Saturday after Thanksgiving" shopping day, a day early due to conflicting work schedules. More photos from that day soon.

Photo Friday

My poor neglected blog. I know it's not Friday but I had to go ahead and post this. It has been almost a month since Halloween and I'm just now getting around to sharing these photos. They have actually been in my drafts folder for almost that long and I just completely forgot they were there.

Our vet's office and local newspaper had Halloween pet photo contests, so I entered a couple of photos. I thought this one turned out cute. That is Neptune in the front (a grape) and Panda in the back (a pumpkin but she had already ditched the hat). They are pretty good sports about it all.

Sometime in the last couple of years Neptune started barking and attacking the vacuum, and broom, and mop. He's not picky. Here he is waiting for the vacuum to make its move.

This last one is a little hard to make out, but there is thick heavy frost on all the trees. This was a few weeks back as well. We've had a cold winter so far, but no real snow.

Flowers on Friday

Things are blooming here! Especially everyone's allergies. The rhubarb has started going to seed and the dandelions are taking over. The choke cherry tree has lost all of it's petals and the crab apple isn't far behind. We've had a couple of weeks of cool weather, rain, and lots of dreary days so the lawn is out of control. We have dandelions that are over a foot tall and are blooming like crazy. I've even seen cotton floating through the air (from the cottonwood trees). So much for getting a break from the allergens.

Chokecherry petals - or is it snow?!

A few years ago I planted a row of 12" tall lilacs that I hoped would one day be a hedge. Most of them have survived but are still going kind of slow. I think last year I had one blossom on one plant. This year I have three on one! I also have a larger bush up next to the house that is over 5' tall and has about ten blossoms this year! I went out today and cut a few to enjoy inside. Nothin' like fresh flowers.

Panda LOVES smelling the flowers and usually tries to sneak a taste.

Signs of Spring!

The last 2 1/2-3 weeks have been beautiful. Sunny and warm (warm for this time of year is mid-50s!) and almost all of our record snowfall has melted. There are a few stray piles around town where it was mounded up into giant piles 30' or taller but they are melting quickly.

Here's what I found on a quick walk around my yard yesterday.

My choke-cherry tree (aka "May tree") is budding! And see in the background there isn't any snow!! In about 2 weeks this tree will be covered with clusters of tiny white flowers and then a few days later the wind will blow a little and it will look like it is snowing because all of the tiny petals will be everywhere.

This is some columbine coming up. Can't remember what color the flowers are when it blooms, and that will be a ways off, but it is nice to see it up!

Rhubarb makes an appearance! I love how the leaves start out red and wrinkly. By the time they are gown they are nearly 3' across!

And I have a tulip almost ready to bloom! I have some other things up and about but they are still sort of covered with last year's leaves and I didn't want to disturb them yet. We're not out of the woods with potential for a freeze at night until almost Memorial Day so best to keep them covered for a bit longer.

And there you have it! Spring has sprung in my part of Alaska!