I am back from 'The Rock' as they call Kodiak Island. Spent a lot of quality time with my son, dil and grandbaby, plus got see quite a bit of the island. Since my son lives on the base it was a little different being awakened by the sound of a C-130 taking off! Or the shooting of a type of gun to shoo the birds off the runway. But different isn't always bad! It is a beautiful Coast Guard Base much nicer then the one in Clearwater, Florida where my son was before.
I have lost a bunch of photos in my computer somewhere, at least I hope they are still in there, so when I find them (fingers crossed) you will be able to see the base from up on Old Woman, the harbor of Kodiak and the very small airport I flew into. Alaska is probably the most dramatic landscape I have ever flown over! I can hardly wait until next year when we are planning a trip not just to Kodiak but also the interior of Alaska.
The bear was the topping on the cake as they say. He was a fair size Kodiak bear fishing in the American river not that far from the base. Was I to close, yes I was as I heard all about it when Mr. Poppy received the e-mailed pics! But in my defense, the truck we came in was right behind me, plus the river was deep where the bear was. And the bear knew we were there. They are very used to fisherman at these rivers and as long as you don't disturb them or get near a sow with her cubs you are fairly safe and if they want the fish you just caught, well don't argue!!! I could have stayed there all day with the bear but grandbaby Brody had different ideas and he of course rules as babies should.
I was disappointed in a lot of my landscape pics, the overcast sky and the flat light was something I was not prepared to face. I should have had filters to compensate for that but next year I'll know what I need. The island is green all spring and summer, but after a couple of frosts turns a drab brown. Still beautiful coastlines and dramatic mountains are everywhere.
We had recently caught salmon and halibut, which are two of my favorite fish to eat. We actually cut the halibut in chunks and deep fried it with a spicy dipping sauce it was delicious. All along the rivers were dead and dying salmon, quite a smell! But it certainly gave the bears and other predators a good fat layer for them to make it through the winter.
Bald eagles are everywhere even in a tree right outside the Commissary. Having an eagle take off fairly close to me was a sight I won't forget!
The flight back was a bit trying as you fly from Kodiak to Anchorage and Anchorage to Portland, there I was stopped as they cancelled my flight home. So on to a small commuter plane to Seattle, wait 2 1/2 hours and back on a plane to Ontario, Ca. About half way on the last plane I wanted to get off and walk the rest of the way!!
In Llano, the weather is just great. Blue skies and cool temps are perfect for fall clean up in the garden. So here are the pics, I hope you all enjoy them as much as I did taking them!!!!
Lots of eagles at this time of year. With the salmon dying, they are having a feast.
Lots of eagles at this time of year. With the salmon dying, they are having a feast.
We spotted this big guy on the American river on Kodiak Island. A dream come true for me to see a Kodiak bear. He was eating the dead salmon that have already spawned.
We spotted this big guy on the American river on Kodiak Island. A dream come true for me to see a Kodiak bear. He was eating the dead salmon that have already spawned.
The bear was looking up after eating another salmon
The main harbor of Kodiak
I just liked the name of this boat
Coming down for more salmon.
My adorable, chubby cheeked grandbaby, 2 months old
Here I am on top of Old Women, with Barometer mountain behind me. Chilly on the top!
These wind mills were really neat to see up close
A beautiful day and low tide.
this is a view of the city and harbors of Kodiak from on top of Old Women. Near Island is to the right of the picture and the main harbor and town of Kodiak to the left.
This is the Kodiak airport.
The Coast Guard base by Old Woman's Bay. Taken from Old Womens Mountain ( lots of old women here, LOL)
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Wow, nice pics! Which one is the grand baby? ;-)
Hope those are not the ones lost.
Na' bad grandchild either.
I walked a creek with a fisheries wardon to count salmon some years ago. Did not see any Grizzly but there were many wallows. There were salmon carcasses all along the creek and salmon still pushing up the shallow water. Many of the still swimming salmon had lost eyes - the eagles seem to prefer the eyeball. The carcasses generally had one bite through the brain so I guessed the grizzly prefer the brain.
Oh Yeah -
The smell!
Is Fecund the correct word?
Hi ycd! Glad you stopped by. I think that would have been really interesting to count the salmon. They sure are easy to spot when they are so red! The salmon's jaws seem to change when they go to spawn also. My son has a friend who caught a beautiful king salmon, he put the salmon a little ways behind him while he went about fishing again. Not a good idea, since his beautiful king salmon became a bear's dinner. The bear that I photographed was actually in a pretty deep part of the river, not sure if that part was a good catch basin for dead or dying salmon.
Your grandson is just adorable! Did you hold him most the time you were there? That is what I would have done!
It's nice to see a picture of you too! Nice to put a face with the name.
Thanks for sharing your photos - the eagle, the bear, the wind mills. Loved it all! The landscapes...everything!
Alaska is on my bucket list!
Oh, Brody's cute, too.
LOL Had to play the game but he really does look about perfect - and wearing a shirt granny poppy must have brought him :)
Love all the rest of the pics, too, but I already said that in a previous blog. I think.
I saw a book yesterday that had me thinking of you, since I saw your more recent pics, too. The book is called The Coyote Diary (and there's a website of the same name) by Shreve Stockton. It is her story of raising an orphaned coyote in Wyoming. I read a bit and my impression is that she very much needed a profressional editor. However, the story is compelling, and the pictures are beautiful.
Perhaps you've read it?
Hope you found the rest of your pics! If not, search just for the file extension, then look to see if those are in a weird place. Or, check the default download location of your camera's software, in case it changed when you weren't looking. Well, that's the kind of thing that happens to me, lol
Enjoy another perfect weather day :)
Brody is a handsome young fellow, isn't he? (Silly question, lol!)
Glad you are back!
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adders fork, and blind-worms sting,
Lizards leg, and owlets wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
William Shakespeare
Happy Halloween Pictures Comments - Photobucket
I will get back to you to talk Alaska. We too have seen the big Alaskan brown bears. Loved your pictures.
From Me -n- The Corgi
Very interesting to see the eagle close-ups. I had no idea their feathers were edged in tan. Many hundreds winter over in the Skagit River valley in northern Washington. I went to see them (in the rain in the dark days of February), but they were perched on islands where there was no getting close to them.
Even considering you zoomed your camera in on that bear, he was clearly making eye contact with you. And they can run at 30-35 mph. Had he wanted, he could have had you before you could get into the truck. Good thing he wasn't hungry.
I never will forget the thrill I felt upon seeing my first moose up close in the Yukon Territory years ago. I couldn't wait to jump out of the car to snap a picture. Looking back, that was a dumb thing to do, but wow! And if that was thrilling, I can't even imagine being that close to a bear in the wild. That's a memory that will forever be vivid in your mind. One of those "take your breath away" moments.
Hi SP! Yes, I do have the book 'The Daily Coyote'. Shreve made a living off of a web site 'The Daily Coyote' where she would post a pic of Charley the coyote every day. Her boyfriend is the one who gave her the coyote pup. He was and probably still is an employee of Wyoming, his job to kill coyotes. He had killed the alpha pair and then searched for the den with the pups. One pup came out of the den, he for some reason put the pup in his pocket then released poison gas to kill the rest of the pups. Charley is still alive living in an area which the people hate coyotes. Shreve had to hide him for a good portion of his life. She is a very good photographer, not a super writer. But the book is enjoyable, except that I hate her boyfriend. LOL!!!
Hi Ylee! I know it was all brown up there, the emerald island was no longer emerald!!! My jacket was green! :)))
Thank you Pros!! A Happy Halloween to you!!!
OGal, please do come back and talk Alaska! You saw more then I did, and since we want to go back I have lots of questions for you.:) Thanks for Halloween wishes!
Shore, Thanks for a great rendition of 'The Raven', when I was playing it I had 20 ravens outside flying about. I wonder what that means, maybe they are getting ready for Halloween!
Hi GG! Some how Roxie doesn't look scary. She does look really cute in that hat, so she gets all my candy!
Hi Briar! There was a river between us, and it was fairly deep which I think would have slowed that big guy down, at least that is what I am telling my self.LOL!!!! Actually my DIL was going to photoshop me next to the bear and send it to Mr. Poppy but we decided maybe not a good idea. :) It is amazing to see the eagle as close as I was. He was about 25 feet from me and acted like he could care less that I was there.
'
Mornin Cal, you are so right about the tourist even though I was one. Hubby and I got up early and into the park as soon as we could. The state of Calif decided to visit while we were there. The weather, not a cloud in the sky and temps perfect. The only form of cloud we saw was from con trails. We stayed in a motel at the West gate so it did take a while to actually enter the park. We were close to Groveland and used that grocery store and ate a couple of meals there too. We lived in San Fran so that was fun to have two days on the front of our trip there. We had never been to Point Reyes so that is where we headed. What gorgeous beaches and I am a Florida girl.
Your pics are wonderful, as everyone's said, especially that grandbaby. I took some time to look at them all this morning, and enjoyed them tremendously. I was especially taken with the one of the windmills - I was surprised to see so many of them in Iowa and Kansas while I was traveling. In northern Iowa, I saw quite a few blades being transported. I've heard that the Maytag company plant in Hampton was repurposed for their production after Whirlpool took over Maytag and closed the plants. I suspect that's where they were coming from. Those old assembly line spaces were perfectly suited for making such long, narrow pieces, apparently.
I had a lot of trouble getting good landscape pics, too. My problem was that the humidity was pretty high, and the sky tended to wash out. I don't have a clue how to correct for that, so I just clicked along. Of course, part of the truth is that is pretty much how things really looked! Not such great photos, but decent representations of humidity!
My engineer cousin's in Wisconsin right now, doing something with those windmills. His report: they're even bigger than you'd think, once you're up next to the base. ;)
Hi OGal! I guess I want to be the ONLY tourist there, LOL! I used to like to go to Zion National park, but now you are only allowed in certain areas of the park. If you want to go to the really neat parts you have to take a special park bus. Except in October when I believe the park is open to all vehicle traffic.
Hi shore! I did find my pics! SP had mentioned that about having an update, then having her information transferred somewhere else. And that is what happened, I had an update right after I downloaded my pics, and into the trash they went! Which is easily recovered!
I really like my windmill pics too. I like the way the light was, and well everything about the landscape just fit them. They were HUGE and so quiet, unlike the smaller home versions that spin so fast.
I need to get use to my new work schedule, split days off are not the best. It seems that I don't get half done what I should. Probably a matter of getting use to it.
Now that I found my pics, this Sunday I will put some of them on my blog. They aren't the greatest but they show some views of Kodiak which are pretty cool. They actually were taken on the only totally sunny day there.
Hope work is treating you well!
CAL I was in Zion early this spring. Loved it. Actually liked it better than Bryce. We also went to Snow Canyon in St. George. Just really like the area. We did tons of hiking off Route 9. Ya we did the shuttle thing. Too much water to wade back into the narrows.
I have been in Anchorage several times. What did you think of the Ted Steven's Airport. I love the marble floors. So beautiful. The last time we were in Homer we flew from Home to Swikshak to see the Alaskan Brown Bears. Bald Mountain flew us and we spent eight hours with the bears. A once in a lifetime trip. We had flown out in Juneau to see the Pack Creek bears but did not get as close as in Swikshak. Both bear trips were great.
In case I didn't tell you your grandson is precious. I am sorry he is so far away. Hopefully your kids can come home at some point.
Cal go to my photos and you can see my pics of Zion, Bryce, and Snow Canyon and also my Alaskan Brown bears.
FYI
The Weather Channel will air "Coast Guard Alaska" on Nov 9th at 9 EST.
Hope your son is featured.
As I look at your grandson's picture, I'm starting to think his nickname will be "Bear". Perhaps that is why you got to get close to the Kodiaks.
Thanks for posting the photos and story. Enjoyed them. Beautifuls and Wows all around!
Sweet baby boy.
:)
For your future trips to the Great Land, if you have not already done so, you might want to check out the Alaska Marine Highway - an enjoyable and relaxing way to travel to and within Alaska.
Hi BF! Taking a blogging break I see. We have checked out the ferries for travel either up or down from alaska. When we decide to drive up there we may not want to do it both ways, so the ferry would be an option. Would see a lot of marine life, which would be terrific.
Here is hoping for an early snow!
I just had a thought! Maybe while the film crew was out you could've "slipped off board a boat and have your son rescue you! Wouldn't that be neat, and you'd be on TV too!
Well, at least it looks good in print, lol!
Hi PSP! You are so right on the cruises, NOT for us. But some of the ferry travel would be fun. Still a majority of driving but a nice break with the ferry.
Rain now snow later. Snow in Wrightwood!
Was just talking to a guy that I have known for a few years from the gym we both work out at. Never knew that he was a fisherman and a cannery worker on Kodiak back in the 70's. So funny to hear him talk about how they lived then on the island. They would get drunk in one of the bunkers at Ft. Abercrombie ( now one of the bunkers is a museum) and live in quonset sp huts for free. He said at the time he was cold and miserable never knowing until now that it was the time of his life!
When I was a young girl growing up outside Seattle I wanted to be a cannery worker in Alaska. It was my way to get there and actually earn a fair living. Never did I even think about what a hard job it was or what I would do in the winter. But Alaska was always the goal back then and still is.
Snowing off and on here, not sticking but sure pretty to look at. A good day to bake bread!
He was behind that old metal culvert in the river.
Hi Cal, just wondering if you saw any of the little Russian Orthodox churches on Kodiak. They happen to be my favorites. I got some great pictures on the mainland. We have a big Russian Orthodox church here in Orlando and i really want to go see it. Hope you are having a terrific weekend.
I have looked into traveling on the ferries. We could travel up ourselves, I wouldn't mind the drive, even though it would be long - because there would be so much to see along the way.
Really, at this time in our lives, the thing that holds us back from being away from home for so long is the animals. Hard to leave them behind - don't want to kennel for so long - and a couple of our animals are getting high up there in age. A cat that is 18 and a dog that is 17. I would hate to be gone and have anything happen while someone else was responsible. We have a younger dog and cat as well. So finding someone to stay with 4 animals can be a stretch!
We will make it up there someday, just not sure how. I do have a friend that likes to travel the way we do - very outdoorsy. They did do an Alaskan cruise and truly enjoyed it. A lot different than most other cruises and a good introduction. But we'll see.
Weird weather huh? 80º on Wednesday, mid 50s on Friday with downpours! Had a couple more today! I heard Mountain High in Wrightwood opened up for skiing this weekend, first time in their history to open up this early with natural snow!
Hi PSP! We have another storm coming in on Fri. Sat. a little warmer storm by the looks of it. But we could use all the rain we can get.
Hi Karen! We have the same situation here with old dogs, which is a big reason that Mr. Poppy did not go with me. These old girls need meds for both pain and other problems. And as with you we would feel terrible to have a caretaker have to make a life or death decision with one of our pups! We are thinking that these girls won't be with us next summer, and if they are we will just make a short trip up to see Brody (the grandbaby) and put off the big trip for another year. The pups are our friends and they come first at this stage of their lives!!
I don't think I could handle a cruise, to many people for me all in a smallish area. My rural living has given me an aversion to crowded places!
Hope you are doing well!
If you had a dusting of snow, I'm guessing your wood stove is seeing a lot of action lately. Don't you love the feel of wood heat?
Hi Briar! Wood stove is on just about 24/7 now until sometime when spring decides to make an appearance. I love watching the fire. When we decided to get a new wood stove a few years ago we had to make sure we didn't get anything to big, as it would cook us out of this little cabin!
When my kids were young and we were living in the mountains, I would sometimes get the wood stove a little to warm and my kids would strip down to their undies and go running out into the snow to cool off, it was pretty funny!
Speaking of Coast Guard Alaska. My son was doing a medivac to a small village outside of Homer, Ak last week. The film crew of Coast Guard Alaska always goes with them. On this flight it was snowing hard and the wind was blowing around 45 mph. They landed in about 5 inches of snow. The guy filming thought it was great stuff to put on the show. The rescue swimmer a medical guy and the guy filming went in a truck to pick up the heart attack victim, while my son was rearranging the cabin of the helicopter to fit everyone in plus the gurney. They got the man on board then transported him to an awaiting airplane to take him to Anchorage. My son told me 'this is why I signed up, to help people'.
A proud Mom, you betcha ya!
I wasn't crazy about the campground we stayed in when we went to Yosemite this year - we literally were camping on top of each other, but we went with family and it was tolerable because there were so many of us. I have to admit that the people at the campground were very respectful about space and noise, etc., but not my first choice for sure.
You should be a proud mama - you have raised an excellent son! Apple don't fall too far from the tree sometimes...ya know ;0)
Enjoy the cold! Somebody should, LOL
I know Karen would give me the business for this, but Disney (or any theme parks) and cruise ships seem like jail. LOL Just my personal weirdness, I suppose. The only thing that's ever made me pause are those photos of the food on cruise ships - but then I think.... maybe it's better I don't do that.
When I still was going up to the cabin in the hill country, I had a couple of years of learning how to fine-tune that stove. It could get so hot I'd be opening windows in the middle of the night. Eventually I got it my technique down and would wake up in the morning with just enough coals to stir up a fire and warm things up. I do miss that!
I really do understand about the animals, too. It was tough on Dixie to have me gone for ten days, even though she's in fine health. If she were ill/aged, I'm not sure I could enjoy a trip knowing that she wasn't well. Strange, how that happens to us with these critters!
Wonderful show last night...I kept looking for a name tag saying " Poppy's Kid"
I'm glad it was good it looked like it would be from the previews on the computer.
Back later, got to get to work!
Hi shore! I think I want to experience an adventure my way not a cruise directors way. Lol! I didn't think you were a cruise type person. You seem to like to experience the feel of the land , the people and the past.
No golden age stuff for me either!
Hi SP! Let us know what mixer you decided on, I am curious as to what you would get. Never make red velvet cake with an unknown hand mixer, dangerous!
You said that a neighbor found a couple of pups along the road. Have they found the third one yet? Are you considering adoption?
Hope you have a good weekend!
P.S. Shore, you're not weird. :)
Sounds like he did great :-)
Nobody has found the black and white pup, there is a lot of empty land out here and lots of brush that makes it hard to find a critter that may not want to be found now. They get scared. No pup adoption of the others for us, the guy who found them is going to keep the little guys.
Hi GG! They are getting snow now more then rain up in Kodiak, so winter is setting in.
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