Homer and back to Anchorage

The highlights version because I have got to get ready to get on the plane.

Moose with twin babies
Beaches and walking
Birding (of course)
Great food
Shopping!
Alpine version of little bunny foo foo...

Lots of birds and a few mammals were spotted:

1. SNOWSHOE HARE
2. Northern crows
3. Bald eagles
4. Common ravens
5. Black legged kittiwakes
6. Glaucous gulls
7. Loons (probably pacific)
8. Mallards
9. Euarasian wigeon
10. American wigeon
11. Northern pintails
12. Savannah sparrows
13. Sandhill crane
14. Green winged teals
15. Belted kingfisher
16. Glaucous winged gulls
17. Bonaparts gulls
18. Common merganser
19. Northern Shoveler
20. MOOSE! (1 mama with twin babies +3 more along the road = 6)
21. Magpies
22. Arctic terns
23. Barrow's goldeneyes
24. American Robin
25. SQUIRREL (to go with moose)
26. Red necked grebes
27. Tree sparrows
28. Scaup

To Homer

On the road again, looking for birds and other cool things... We left a little later in the morning than we usually do, a side effect of arriving home after 11 p.m.

The drive to Homer is gorgeous. At the requisite Beluga Point stop we saw Dall Sheep a bit further on we saw our first Moose.  The birds were out but elusive. We could hear them in the trees when we stopped, but they are tiny tricksy things that do not want to be seen.  At one of our stops I spotted a snowshoe hare, complete with big white feet ducking under the wooden plank trail.  

As we got closer to Homer we spotted a few more moose. A stop at Deep Creek State Recreation Area found us the inlet and a few more birds. It is also where we found the field of Bald Eagles. They were everywhere, in the trees, on the ground, on stumps, rises, hollows, and even a juvenile delinquent in the river playing.   We decided there must be a conference/convention.  Why else would there be so many in one spot?  

More moose sightings and we were at Homer.  We checked into the hotel. I tried to get us a cruise for the next day, but that just didn't end up panning out. We drove around town and out on the spit. We saw birds and more birds, more than 20 of the cutest sea otters ever floating around, and a few more moose, bringing my total to 9 sightings for the day.   

Dinner at Fat Olives was interesting. Arlene recently read an article which talked about how people who eat organic food are more judgemental. I don't know how true that is but you should have seen the servers ire at us not taking the other halves of our dinners.  Seriously though, why not offer half portions to begin with?  

Tomorrow we are going to do a bit of walking and birding and drive back to Anchorage.  Alas, Melinda and I have planes to catch on Thursday.

1. Arctic tern
2. Mew gull
3. Canada geese
4. Scaup
5. Cliff swallows
6. Northern crows
7. Common ravens
8. Sandhill cranes
9. Bald eagles
10. Varied thrush (Melinda & Arlene)
11. DALL SHEEP
12. SNOWSHOE HARE (Jenny)
13. Magpies
14. Green winged teals
15. Greater yellowlegs
16. Lesser yellowlegs
17. Semipalmated sandpipers
18. MOOSE! (9)
19. Greater white fronted goose
20. OTTERS (20+)
21. Boneparte's gulls
22. Black legged kittiwakes
23. Herring gulls
24. Surf scoters
25. Glaucous winted gull
26. Black scoters
27. American wigeon
28. Mallards
29. Northern shoveler

Top of the World - Barrow

An outline of a day:

Breakfast at Sam & Lee's which Arlene kept calling Sam and Ella's which if you say aloud isn't a good thing.

Birding/driving around looking at things

Barrow Public Library

Birding/driving around looking at things

Inupiat Heritage Center

Birding/driving around looking at things

Return of vehicle

Arctic Pizza for lunch/dinner

Barrow Grocery Store

Hanging out in Hotel Lobby

Flying back to Anchorage

1. Dark eyed junco
2. Snow buntings
3. Glaucous gulls
4. Greater white fronted geese
5. Red necked phalerope
6. Lapland longspurs
7. Snowy owl
8. American robin
9. Northern pintails
10. Snow geese
11. Common raven
12. American golden plover
13. Semipalmated sandpiper
14. Tundra swans

On to Barrow

The morning came early and sadly I did not sleep well, I guess I was too excited about going to Barrow.  The cab picked us up at 4:30 and we were on the plane by 6:00 a.m.   The flight wasn't packed so we were able to spread out a little which was nice.  We landed in Fairbanks, Prudhoe Bay and finally in Barrow.  I am hoping that my pics from the plane window work out.  

It is a whole different world up here. No mountains, no trees, just land, sky, snow, ice, and sea.  The sea ice is still hugging the shore but the open water is in the distance. Then add in the 24 hours of daylight and this is fascinating. Lunch at Pepe's a mexican place (chimichanga) and dinner at Arctic Pizza an everything place (chicken parmesan), both served decent if underflavored food, though the hot sauce at Pepe's was definitely hot.  But the best part of the day happened with Mike the garroulous guy we had show us around.

He was chatty and knew all kinds of things about the town and its people.  I think we taught him a bit more about birds.  And we did see birds, though not eiders. The eiders are out on the farther tundra and the polar bears are chasing the sea ice that is out to sea.  Be that as it may we did see some awesome birds including:

Snow buntings (the house sparrows in number of Barrow)

Greater white fronted geese

Glaucous gulls

Snowy owl (in all white plumage)

Lapland longspurs (in beautiful breeding plumage)

American wigeons

Northern pintails

Hoary redpoll (unfortunately I am the only one who spotted this one)

Ivory gulls

Tundra swans

American Golden plovers (in breeding plumage)

American robin (who isn't supposed to be here)

Common raven (who was hanging out on a huge satellite dish)

The list may be shorter than other days, but there are 6 bird species I've never seen and they birds are gorgeous. 

There is so much more that needs to be added to this entry including the stuff about airports and what they do for you when you can't climb stairs to small planes.  Igloos and airplanes what they really are. Bowhead whale hunting, debris in Barrow, honey buckets (though you might be fine not knowing), taking one's shoes off to be in a hotel, semi naked 60 year old stories, baleen palm trees, skin boats, ice houses, how to make money in Barrow, when seas collide...

Out and About in Anchorage

We (Daria, Melinda, Arlene and I) stuck around Anchorage going to various ponds and parks to look for birds.  It was lovely at the mudflats, windy at Potter Marsh and gorgeous up high in the park overlooking the city.  I did a lot more walking than I ever thought I would without getting winded or needing to stop and rest. Even walked up the big hill to view the city.  Go me!

Met Kayla, Hazel and Michael (Nick's cousin and her adorable family) at Snow City Cafe for Brunch.  Hazel is absolutely adorable and Kayla is a hoot.  I am going to definitely spend more time with them next time I am here. Eventually we had dinner at City Diner.

We did see a great number of birds which is awesome, and got a lot of talking in and even a bit of planning. Looks like the bird girls may go to Maine in 2014.

1. Robins
2. Rock doves
3. Greater scaups
4. Canada geese
5. Magpies
6. Dark eyed juncos
7. White crowned sparrows
8. Black capped chickadee
9. Lesser yellowlegs
10. Short billed dowitchers
11. Black bellied plover
12. Whimbrels
13. Downy woodpecker
14. Mallards
15. American wigeons
16. Herring gulls
17. Mew gulls
18. Red necked grebes
19. Arctic terns
20. Bonapart's gulls
21. Yellow rumped warblers
22. Ring necked ducks
23. Trumpeter swan
24. Sandhill crane
25. MOOSE (5 in the course of the day)
26. Tree swallow
27. Northern (red shafted) flicker (Daria only)
28. Green winged teals
29. Swainsons thrush (Daria, Melinda, Arlene)
30. Pacific loon

Valdez back to Anchorage

Morning began with a trip to the Magpie Bakery a fabulous place for breakfast in Valdez.  Nothing like a hot cinnamon roll for breakfast.  :)  They even had gluten free pumpkin muffins for Melinda.  Arlene got one of there amazing looking bear claws.  MMMMmmmmm.   Laid back atmosphere and amazing pastries.

First bird of the day was a Raven on the way to the bakery. YAY that's always a good thing.  First mammal of the day was a feral bunny on our way out of the bakery.  Hmmmmm

We did a little birding there in Valdez. This is when we finally spotted the elusive and much sought after (by us) American Dipper.  We were about to give up when one flew in (spotted by Arlene) and then watched by all of us.  Then there were two dippers fishing, swimming (I had no idea they knew how to swim) and catching itsy bitsy silver fish (I had no idea they ate fish either).  I sure hope my pictures turn out well.   Then we climbed back in the car and headed out.

1. Ravens
2. FERAL BUNNY
3. Northwestern crows
4. Gadwalls
5. Mallards
6. Pintails
7. American wigeon
8. White crowned sparrow (Jenny only)
9. Robins
10. American dippers
11. Herring gulls
12. Sandpipers (probably the pectoral ones again)
1. Tussock ducks

We then drove and drove and drove, over the mountains of Thompson Pass, and through the valleys on the Richardson Highway http://dot.alaska.gov/stwdplng/scenic/byways-richardsonsouth.shtml We stopped frequently, which was good for me. As long as I can get out of the car and take pictures or identify birds on a regular basis then I can stay awake, otherwise forget about it.  I became a human flycatcher, flitting away from my resting place (the car) out for something and then back.   We stopped for lunch at the Copper River Roadhouse at a restaurant called Nummy's, which I still think is a cute name.   We saw sections of the pipeline and many many mountains.   

1. Common redpolls
2. Dark eyed juncos
3. Magpies
4. Trumpeter swan
5. Bald eagles
6. Barrows goldeneyes
1. Snow swans
7. Greater scaups
8. Green winged teals
9. Tree swallows
10. Gray jays
11. CARIBOU
12. Yellow warblers
13. Yellow rumped warblers
14. Belted kingfisher

I spotted the Gray jay while we were driving, I'm sitting in the back seat watching for stuff and there's this darn bird at the top of a tree flipping its tail at me.  It was definitely a gray jay so I holler out and Arlene slows and stops and turns around and we go back.  YAY!

I think both Melinda and I were dozing when suddenly Arlene starts yelling Caribou Caribou CARIBOU while slamming on her brakes.   It is a very good way to wake up.  She turns the car around and sure enough there are two huge caribou just off the road.  We took lots of pictures while they posed for us.

We arrived back in Anchorage around 5:00 hung out for awhile with Daria and then went to dinner at a local Mexican restaurant called La Mex, it was exactly what I needed.  Back home to Daria's and back upstairs to bed. Though I did take some time to balance my accounts...  All the goings and doings may mean fewer souvenirs for friends and family. Think I'll wait to buy anything till the last day.  :\    Sad sad, but I am definitely recovering from the overwork of the past year.  This is a much needed break.  

Clarity

I've lost this post once, I don't know what happened on blogspot, but if it happens again I will just chalk it up to the universe not wanting me to share this information with anyone but myself.   I've achieved a bit a clarity on this vacation.  One bit of clarity is on fear and how my life has been shaped by it.  Fear of doing, fear of speaking, fear of hurt and/or harm.  In January of 2011 I walked out my front door and slid down the concrete steps destroying my ankle in the process.  The cocoon of fear and paralysis that had limited my world shattered that day.  The most physically painful thing to have happened to me in my life thus far was walking out my door.  This truth, that pain happens anytime, anywhere and we really can't protect ourselves from it began my recovery.  Sure it is important to wear our seatbelts, eat right, work out and all the other good things we can do to prevent 'bad things', but in the end, bad things will happen and the better prepared we are mentally and emotionally to deal with them the happier we'll be overall.

It took me more than a year to recover from the injury, I still have twinges, but I am very grateful for it.  It has taken me more than a year to clear the shards of the cocoon that still trap me.  Everyone asks how I am losing weight (almost 40lbs as of this writing). Well, I've always worked out, and now I eat less.  But the biggest thing for me is the acknowledgement of my emotions and processing of them.  This isn't easy. It really isn't easy in light of continuing painful interactions or miscommunications. I am having to process a backlog of sadness, resentment, anger and a host of other emotions that I was suppressing by eating as well as the emotions I feel now.  I am doing it though.  I'd rather be angry or sad than numb any longer.  I'd rather misunderstand and feel something than to ignore and eat my pains away.

Once upon a time a long time ago, a friend of mine gave me the personal motto Audeo, meaning I dare.  At that time in my life I also used the phrase 'if you don't risk, you don't win' a lot.   I had very little money, no stable relationship and very few close friends.  In some ways that made the risks easier because it seemed I had nothing to lose.  Now I have a career, stability and a wide network of close caring friends.  I have wondered if my fear has used this against me.  I have stuff/relationships to lose and fear knows it.   Fear is an awesome tenacious beast that only has to be faced to be conquered.   I am going to face it.  I want to live a whole, real, meaningful, connected, interconnected, loving, intentional, happy life.  I am not going to let fear make my choices any longer.

One fear I am consciously working on is my fear of walking down stairs.  The fall has made my psyche and body react with fear to stairs.  It is taking work to make myself go down them. But down them I go. I now use the mantra 'I am a graceful mountain goat' in my head as I go down the stairs.  Thinking about the fear or focusing on the fall only makes me clumsy and more likely to fall.  There's a truth to the saying that 'what you focus on is what you will bring to pass.'   I am definitely more graceful going down stairs.  A real triumph occurred recently when I went down stairs that felt perilous and I didn't use the handrail.  :)   Go me.

Audeo. My personal motto refound here in Alaska.

Ferry to Valdez

An early morning (of course, what other time would birders get up?) and we're back on the road.  Gerhardt thinks that I need more sleep. Doesn't seem to matter what time of day I get in the back seat and bam I'm asleep.  We stopped at Beluga Point and saw more Dall's Sheep.

1. Ravens
2. Arctic terns
3. Canada geese
4. Mew gulls
5. Red necked grebes
6. DALL SHEEP
1. snow masquerading as dall sheep
7. Sandhill cranes
8. Magpies
9. Robins

Then drove (or rather Arlene drove) on down to Whittier via the long one way tunnel.  The tunnel is narrow and is used by cars and a train. Traffic goes one direction for a time then the other. Kinda cool, of course I don't use it every day.  Whittier is a funny little town with lots of boats, a ferry landing and a few shops.  http://www.whittieralaska.gov/   We had arrived early so we did a bit of birding in town. I finally broke out the spotting scope to start practicing using it. The parking lot had sparrows but the building by the bay where we were trying to see water birds had a boxer.  This doggie wanted to play fetch.  She was very patient and didn't want to be petted only played with.  Arlene finally gave in and tossed the rock. Yes, the boxer dog wanted to play fetch with a rock. Not just any rock but this one specific rock. She'd retrieve it and bring it to one or the other of us dropping it at our feet and then looking at us and/or the rock quite expectantly.  Silly mutt.

1. Stellar's jay (Melinda only)
2. Northwestern crows
3. Savannah sparrows
4. Song sparrows
5. Marbled murrlets
6. Greater scaups

In Whittier we drove onto an enormous ferry, parked the car and went upstairs. Apparently you don't have access to your car during the trip.  Instead you hang out in the spacious restaurant/hotel lounge area with lots of leg room, seating, and windows.  We saw lots and lots of sea life and birds from this ferry.  The water was very calm and the sun very bright and it was a gorgeous day.  To add to our fun, three other women, all who have been trained as guides for the ferry and/or work for the forest service were there to help us spot and identify birds.  I finally have learned how to tell a Kittlitz from a Marbled murrlet in flight and on the water.  WHEEEEE!  

1. OTTERS
2. DALL PORPOISES
3. Black legged kittiwakes
4. Surf scoters
5. Glaucous winged gulls
6. Herring gulls
7. STELLAR SEA LIONS
8. HUMPBACK WHALES
1. icebergs, dirty icebergs, ice chunks ...
9. Horned puffins
10. Pacific loons
11. White winged scoters
12. Bald eagles (lots and lots of these in Valdez)
13. Kittlitz murrlets

We drove off the boat and meandered around town checking things out and looking for birds.  I did see a couple of new ones, a flock of pectoral sandpipers and the merlin chasing them.  Dinner was at this posh place I ordered the halibut, and they brought me out this HUGE slab of fish, it was lovely but there was no way I could eat it all. Heck I could only eat about 1/4 of it.  I think Arlene is going to make chowder of the rest.

1. Yellow rumped warblers
2. Mallards
3. Northern pintails
4. Green winged teal
5. American pippet
6. Glaucous gulls
7. Pectoral sandpipers
8. Merlin
9. Northern shovelers
10. Gadwalls

Early to bed early to rise I guess that's partly cause I'm still on Idaho time...  Oh, and it was a busy sunny day.

Miscellany

I am going to be going back to all of these posts when I get back to Idaho.  Someone, with all of their lists and wisdom, forgot to pack the cord that takes the photos from the camera and puts them on the computer.  YAY go me.  I did use this as an excuse to buy another memory card for the camera. That way I'm not worried about running out of space on the camera.   I am  also going to  add more detail to some entries. But that may be a continuous edit.  Sorry if that messes you up. :)  I write as documentation for me for my life and to share my adventures with my friends and family.  I like making sure I get as much added as possible.

Puffins!

A very early morning began our day. Oh not that you can tell, it doesn't really get dark here anymore.  It's light when I go to bed and it is light when I wake up regardless of the hour. Because I am used to Idaho time I tend to wake up here sometime between 3:30 and 4:00 a.m.    We packed up Gerhardt (Arlene's Jetta) and headed out for Seward.  On the road we saw:

1. Magpies
2. Ravens
3. Mew gulls
4. Arctic terns
5. Sandhill cranes
6. DALL SHEEP!!
7. Bald eagles
8. Suicidal dark eyed juncos

And then came the surrealist sign "Do Not Park By Guardrail"   Why surrealistic?  Because there is no guardrail...

We went to the Seward Sea Life center first and checked out the birds (including eiders), fish, stellars sea lions and harbor seals.  Nothing like an aquarium to teach you what to look for on the ocean.  Then came the big boat ride.  It is awesome to be out on the ocean again.  We saw so many things it was astounding.  

1. American wigeons
2. Red necked grebes
3. Suicidal robins (seriously birds kept jumping in front of Gerhardt)
4. Heard a varied thrush but nobody saw him.
5. Trumpter swan
6. Barrow's goldeneye
7. MOOSE!
8. Harlequin ducks (lots of them, they became the common duck of the day)
9. Northwestern crows
10. Savannah sparrow
11. SEA OTTERS!
12. DALL PORPOISES
13. Pelagic cormorants
14. MOUNTAIN GOATS
15. Double crested cormorants
16. HUMPBACK WHALE
17. ORCAS
18. White winged scoters
19. Pigeon guillemots
20. HARBOR SEALS
21. Surf scoters
22. Marbled murrelet (my first new bird of the trip!)
23. BLACK BEARS
24. STELLAR SEA LIONS
25. Glaucous winged gulls
26. Glaucous gulls
27. Rhinocerous auklets (sooo adorable)
28. Tufted puffins
29. Horned puffins
30. FIN WHALE
31. Herring gulls
32. FERAL BUNNY

Dinner at the Apollo restaurant in Seward. Didn't try anything new, had their Halibut fish and chips because it is irresistible. Thought about trying the king crab pasta, but the halibut lure was to much to pass up.  I've been riding in the back seat of Gerhardt this trip. It's awesome, I can spread out all my stuff (books, electronics, binoculars...) and myself.  Eyup, I napped all the way home.  Some of it was deep sleep and some was lighter, but all of it was great.  I missed out on seeing 4 more moose apparently, but really, don't care sleep is something I've been needing for a long time.   

Tomorrow we head out for Whittier where we're going to catch a ferry over to Valdez.  We can then bird around the coastline of Valdez. We're staying overnight and then driving back the next day. The drive should be amazing. Though there could be quite a bit of snow. The snow dumps here in Anchorage are not expected to melt until sometime in August. There were piles of snow in Seward and the avalanche remains are huge. Of course this was a record breaking snowfall year for most of Alaska.   Sure glad I have wool socks. 

Out and About Anchorage

Upon landing I found Melinda and Arlene waiting, we loaded all my baggage (me included) into the car and began our adventure. Okay, really we just went over to Snow City Cafe for breakfast and started plotting our adventure.  I tried their bob breakfast (one egg benedict and one egg benedict florentine).  Still not a real fan of cooked spinach apparently, but at least I'm trying some new things.  After the strategy meeting we headed out to various parks, Fred Meyers and finally Moose's Tooth for dinner. Here I tried white pizza (really for the first time) complete with artichokes and a gluten free pizza, mainly I just had their spinach, nut, cranberry, grapefruit salad which was amazing.   Daria (our hostess) came to dinner with us.  We did see lots of birds in our gallivanting including:

1. Magpies
2. White crowned sparrow
3. Arctic terns
4. Bonaparte's gulls
5. Mew gulls
6. Greater scaups
7. Barrow's goldeneyes
8. Canada geese
9. Mallards
10. Rock dove
11. Dark eyed juncos
12. Yellow rumped warblers
13. American robins
14. MOOSE - not a bird, but...
15. Northern harrier
16. juvenile bald eagle
17. American wigeons
18. Red necked grebes
19. Horned grebe
20. Lesser scaup
21. Violet green swallows
22. Ravens

Went to bed early. I was exhausted.

The Blue Jay Has Landed

It is interesting how sometimes life gives you what you need instead of what you want.  I had no idea that I needed THAT much thinking time, but apparently forces beyond my control decided I did.

I went to work for a couple hours on Monday, mainly so that I could catch my Dean up on what had happened during the two weeks she was on vacation.  I talked to several other people to make sure our projects were on track and then headed out.  I ran a couple of errands, gassed the car and hit the road.

Trip leg 1 driving to Boise.  I did some thinking and some singing (finally feeling that my voice may actually come back to me.)  I did a bunch of talking with my Mom and my friend Raven.  I got to the Boise airport early enough that I could park my car (no sky cap service) and take my two monster bags in and get them checked in.  Thank heavens.  There is no way I can manage the two monsters plus my carry on and purse at the same time.  This left me time to go visit a bit with Corinne who was kind enough to let me leave my car at her place.  She is so sweet and lovely.  She dropped me back at the airport in plenty of time to get through the tsa and onto my plane.

Trip leg 2 flying to Seattle. Duo's brother works for the tsa in Boise so I kept my eye out and wouldn't you know it, fate intervened and he ended up searching my computer bag.  It seems that the gold glittery jewelry bag that Arlene gave me is impenetrable by whatever method they use so they had to identify what the black spot was.  We talked a bit and joked and when we realized it was the jewelry bag he said women have too much jewelry to which I replied that it wasn't possible.  He clarified that his sister has too much.  I laughed.  Boy is he going to be in trouble for that comment.  I settled in with my Kindle for the waiting.  I've been reading "The 5 Love Languages" it's quite interesting/fascinating and had quite a few insights for me personally.  Anyway, time to board the plane rolls around and no, there's something the mechanics want to assess.  Uh Oh.

No problem still going to arrive in plenty of time to meet up with Min and the next flight.

But no, delayed even longer.  Flight was supposed to board at 7.  At 8:15 I got rebooked on a later flight.  At 8:30 I got rebooked and comped a hotel.  At 9:00 we finally left Boise.  Arriving in Seattle was entertaining.  I now had to find my way to the Red Lion.  But first was finding some parking island to get the shuttle.  I was about to choose sleeping in the airport when a guy who looked like he worked there strolled by.  He got me where I needed to go.  YAY.

Red Lion in Seattle has the best beds ever.  Sleep was awesome.  Waking up and putting my traveling clothes on from the last day, not so awesome.  Thinking and going slower, awesome.  Getting 4 hours of sleep, not so much.  Anyway, finally caught the plane out of Seattle at 6:00 a.m. So yes, you guessed it I was up and back at the airport at 4:00.  I arrived in Anchorage at 8:30 a.m., two time zones away from my normal one.

To add confusion to this expedition, Melinda had left her cell phone in her car.  More on that later.