Nature Girl

 If you haven't noticed before I am definitely a girl that loves nature.

Each and every day I love noticing what is just outside my window.

Recently I had to step out in our parking lot in my robe just so I wouldn't miss this partial eclipse about 9:30PM on a clear night. I wasn't the only one out there. So often we have clouds, but this was a perfect night for viewing. Needless to say, I was thrilled.

And then because I knew dahlias were blooming, I had to go in search of dahlias.

I found a dahlia festival happening about a 1/2 hour from my home at Swan Island Dahlia Farm. Now with each one I saw I would say "this is my favorite". Really they were all my favorites.

Even the clouds were magnificent! I was a rainy week this past week and Saturday was the first non-rainy day. The clouds were out in all their glory, but the sun won and it was gorgeous.

It was hard to pick a favorite, but I did bring home a bouquet of magenta ones.

I also picked up a catalog because my daughter loves dahlias in her garden. I am thinking dahlia tubers might make a fun Christmas gift.

Then today my friend said "do you want to come with me to walk downtown and find crows?"

Well they aren't just any crows. Laika Studio (a local film studio) is coming out with a film from the Wildwood books that were popular a few years ago. The crows were promoting the film. A different artist in town was asked to decorate each crow. I don't know how many crows are out and about right now, but we found four of them today. I would guess there are about 25 of them; so there might be more searching if time allows.

There was a stop at Lan Su Chinese Gardens for some tea and goodies, then we spotted one more crow in front of the gardens. I am showing the lotus because the garden is full of lotus blossoms right now. Each is more beautiful then the other.

The final crow for today.

Do you love nature?

Do you searching for beauty and whimsy?

Sending love,

Marilyn

Views from the Train and Denali National Park

After leaving the ship my "live-in gardener" and I caught a train to Denali National Park. It was a 6 hour train adventure.

The view from the train window was a picture perfect treat.

We were disappointed not to see a bear or other wild life; but thoroughly enjoyed the sights of this beautiful country called Alaska.

The train paused for a few moments to pick up a few people from this area of Alaska.

 

The train stopped at Denali National Park long enough for most of the people to disembark and then it was off to Fairbanks, which we caught after enjoying a couple days in this National Park.

We stayed at the Denali Village Park, which was like a little oasis in the woods.

There were fires in the firepits around the area and they sold s'more kits in the local store.

After two days in this beautiful park, it was time to say goodbye.

More views from the train as we rode for 3 more hours to Fairbanks.

The trip was definitely planes, trains, car, taxis, bus, and by foot.

And then the night view as we landed in Portland, Oregon.

Alaska was now checked off the bucket list and gave me all but one state I have not visited.

Now why would I want to go to North Dakota? Ha!

Happy travels!

Sending love,

Marilyn

Glaciers!

The next couple days were all about glaciers!

Our ship stopped a Juneau (the capital of Alaska) and we hopped on a bus to visit Mendenhall Glacier. We didn't hike out to the glacier, but had a lovely view from the visitors center. If you look to the right of the glacier there was a waterfall too. We very much enjoyed this visit and learning more about glaciers.

Someone offered to take our picture with the glacier and falls in the background.

Fireweed was growing throughout the area.

Did you know that fireweed is often the first plant to return after devastation.

It was the first plant to start growing after Mt. St. Helens in Washington erupted in the 1980's.

 Back to the ship for more whale watching and a beautiful sunset.

The next day there was a stop in Skagway. We chose to take the shuttle into town, but oh my! A lot of tourists chose to do the same thing. Not many chose to stop by the historic museum and we thoroughly enjoyed it. There was even a pretty tea table set up in one of the displays.

The view from Skagway!

The front of the AB building was covered in driftwood.

Back to the ship for a evening cruise by many glaciers and floating ice.

And the sun goes down on glacier viewings.

It was a huge thrill to be able to watch the sun go down over such majestic country. How amazing is the sights throughout the USA that we can go from glaciers and floating ice to mountains and shorelines all with different personalities.

Sending love,

Marilyn

Alaska, Here We Come

For the next week we traveled by boat/ship and foot, even a shuttle bus too.

This was our first glimpse of this Grand Princess cruise ship.

I told my "live-in gardener" that if they served tea in the dining room, we would have tea one afternoon. And certainly there was a teatime while floating north along the Canadian shoreline.

 

At the center of the ship there was often games or live music. We thoroughly enjoyed having tea while watching the view. There were so many kids on the cruise, it was fun to watch them play and just be free to wander throughout this very large boat.

Another past time I thoroughly enjoyed was sitting out on the deck to watch for whales and sea life. From the deck we spotted a few whales, but also later on many glaciers.

This view was taken before we left Vancouver BC. It was a lovely sunny day and everyone we out on deck to watch the departure. I was amazed that even on a cloudy day the kids on the ship were enjoying one of the three swimming pools.

Another one of the pools.

After a day at sea we arrived in Alaska.

First stop was Ketchikan.

We took off on our own, by foot, to explore. The naturalist on the ship said make sure and view the Creek in town; so walking past totem pools we searched out the creek.

And here it is. It was a nature highlight for us and we were so happy we found it.

I wish you could see the salmon swimming up-stream to spawn or the otters and seal swimming in to fish. We were mesmerized.

 

There were several art studios and shops nearby with this one lovely salmon sculpture showing the way.

Oh those crows do love shiny objects. I loved this studio with their nature art.

I wish I could have snapped a whale picture here for you, but believe me when I say "there is a whale out there". It was probably a humpback whale. Just the evening light while sitting on the deck enchanted me.

And we said good night as we left Ketchikan, Alaska.

Sending love,

Marilyn