"Now, let me see.....I think it's right here. No, maybe here"....click, click, click.
"Just hold on...., I know it's here somewhere. Maybe I put it in with winter 2016 or in this folder winter birds 2016. Hmmm,.....let me look on my other computer. It'll just take a minute for it to turn on."
"Oh, you need to leave? I'll try to find it for you." Followed by the slamming of the screen door.
Young folks, have little time to spend watching me fumble with technology. I need to be prepared to produce when the cherished question is asked, "Gigi, do you have any pictures of bears? I need one for my book report."
They need me! Now, don't lose them!
"Yes!!", I exclaim, in an overly excited voice.
"Right here, just give me a minute. Shoot, I was sure I put them in this folder. Hold on."
"That's OK Gigi, I can get one from Google". Slam goes the screen door. My precious audience lost.
It's not like I don't spend time reviewing my shots on a regular basis, then storing them in various cyberspace galaxies. What I don't have is the spacecraft needed, or the aeronautical training to find them floating among the stars! Today, as I reviewed photos of this trip to AK, I felt inclined to share, but I couldn't come up with a common theme, a commonality to bind them to a blog entry. What at first seemed to be a dilemma, became the solution.....there is no commonality! Instead, I now share with you some of my favorite shots. I hope you'll be understanding of my unorganized presentation. If not, please shut the door quietly when leaving.
Folder 1 The West
Heading North, Spring exploded around us. Birds called for mates and young animals both wild and domestic enjoyed new green shoots. Fresh new life was in abundance.
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| I just thought this was hysterical....there's .always time to scratch an itch. |
We saw hundreds of antelope, but the two below captured the essence of Spring in Wyoming.
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| legs still wobbly |
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| Cedar Waxwing displaying his dazzling tail feathers |
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| that eye |
Some favorite things that catch my eye are, cars traveling around curves in a road, freight trains, black cattle, old buildings and people at home or work. That being said, I'm presenting very few of those here, but you'll see some later.
Folder 2 New Mexico..... so funny, I just found these so they're out of order, imagine that!
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an American Avocet........pictures can be so misleading. It would appear that this lovely shorebird is fishing a pristine wild area. In fact, our RV was parked between semis at a Walmart in Gallup, NM. I hesitated walking the dog into a small flooded area just outside the camper door. We picked our way through fast food containers, cigarette packages and broken glass. Fisher kept her nose to the ground gobbling up cast aside French fries before I could stop her. Fortunately, my biggest fear.....the cast aside dirty diaper, did not materialize. I had just returned with the dog and was feeling good about having navigated around such a cesspool when I noticed an eloquent blue legged bird actively skimming the water with its beak. It appeared delighted to have found such a rich source of food. It showed no fear of me as I shot photos from the RV doorway and instead of leaving, it came even closer. Such a thing of beauty in dismal surroundings.
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| Shiprock, NM 7178 feet |
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| Carlisle, Bucky and Fisher overlooking the Rio Grande |
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| Another view of Shiprock with Navajo housing |
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| Carlisle and James standing where they were married two years ago (still smiling) |
The Rockies faded to the west as we left Calgary Alberta and entered the farmland outside Edmonton. Years ago, we were pleased when our farming friends from Saskatchewan visited us in Vermont. We were excited to show them Vermont farming and headed to the large dairy farms in the Champlain Valley. These farms milk 1000+ cows and plow hundreds of acres for crops. Towering John Deere tractors were seen parked next to exceptionally long barns. At the time, it surprised me that our guests didn't exclaim over the size of the dairy operation they were seeing. A trip through Canadian farm country gives meaning to the phrases "large farm equipment" and "acres of field". Farm equipment in western Canada is so large it has to be folded upon itself to move down the highway and at harvest time, combines appear to have been created for sci-fi movies. Farms are separated by miles and at night the glow of the neighbor's yard light is all that validates the existence of neighbors. I remember it seemed odd when our Canadian visitors asked how I liked having such close neighbors. I had always thought we lived a rural life in Ripton and I guess we do, just not Canadian rural!
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| Lavina, Montana |
Folder 4 the Alaska Highway
We drive around 1200 miles of the Alaska Highway beginning at mile 0 in Dawson Creek, BC and ending in Tok, AK. There we head off to our cabin in Talkeetna. Bucky and I look forward to this part of our drive. We leave the cities behind and head into areas of oil and gas exploration and the surrounding miles of wilderness and wildlife.
Folder 5 Bears
Spring is a great time to travel the Alaska Highway because spring means new green grass and new grass is irresistible to bears. We saw a bear about every hundred miles from Fort St. John British Columbia to Watson Lake, Yukon.
