A Mixed Bag

I'm back! We found it very interesting that we had better weather in Alaska then we had when we returned to Portland. It has pretty much rained ever since until tonight. But I have new colors in my house, my plants survived for the most part and I remained in a pretty good mood until the drive home from work tonight.

OK, I know you are supposed to yield for the damn bus and I do when it makes sense. But why would I slam my brakes on when there is a huge gap right behind me and I'm right behind the car in front of me? Well I didn't stop so the bus driver tried to pull into me and gave me a nice, big honk. Just exactly what was preventing him from waiting until I had passed? It wouldn't have put anybody out and it just made sense. I guess he was basically senseless. But then, I got to stop by L & T's to pick up some stuff and that was all it took to put me back in a good mood. If you are welcomed by people and pets who love you, it quickly recalibrates your frame of mind, as it should.

Anyway, here is just some of the really cool stuff we saw last week in Alaska.
Dahl's Porpoises - I had never heard of them and in fact Mike and I thought they were penguins as they swiftly swam as fast or faster than we were along side the ship.


We saw a number of whales but this was the most that we saw of them, no breaches. With it being this early in the season, they are only just now making their way back from Hawaii.


No matter how many of these we saw, the majesty of these
birds never ceases to amaze. There is no shortage of bald
eagles in Alaska.



We saw this actual buoy loaded up with sea lions. If I had my photo I would include it instead because it got much closer but this gives you a good idea of the King of the Hill game they were playing. There were a couple of harbor seals trying their best to find a spot on the buoy but the sea lions raised a huge ruckus everytime one of the smaller seals tried to scrunch in and booted them back off the island. It was fun watching them in their little buoy world. It kind of reminded me of the good old days when we tried to see how many kids we could stuff into a Volkswagen bug or a teleph0ne booth (remember telephone booths - your kids will never even know what they are, kind of like record albums...but, I digress).

There are a number of huge glaciers that are worthy of an entire blog in and of themselves.
Suffice it to say that they are magnificent, very blue, very cold and shrinking by the day. We did not see any calving as they call it when chunks break away from the mother ship.



Ah, now for the grand finale! BUTCHART GARDENS IN VICTORIA, B.C.!


There is nothing more I can say, these pictures
as poorly as they represent the reality, say it all.
If wishes were horses I would have this entire garden in my backyard!



It was a lovely time away, I'm going to see how long I can maintain the glow...