Make-up Pictures from DNP - May 27, 2011

Anchorage, AK, May 27, 2011. I found the first picture above on Wikipedia under "Ptarmigans." The two lovebirds shown there look just like Tommy and Gertie. At least, they look like I wanted Tommy and Gertie to look after we left yesterday. They appear to be in love to me. That is how I envisioned Tommy and Gertie.

As I was finishing last night, I lamented that I didn't have better pictures of the moose and calf that walked through our campsite last night. Annie cured that deficiency this morning. As we left the campground, a moose and two calves were standing beside the road. Ever ready with the snappy, Annie began shooting away. She took a dozen pictures and the best are displayed above. Unfortunately, she was unable to capture the mom and two calves together.

Then, as we drove out of the campground onto the paved road, another mother and her two calves crossed in front of us. As you can tell by her gaunt and angular appearance, it appears that she had delivered the calves very recently. That conclusion was confirmed by the mother repeatedly licking one of the calves, to "clean" him\her. Shutter clicks, this time from both Annie and me, produced some pretty remarkable pictures. You will see one of the calves attempting to nurse in the middle of the road. Wow.

Driving south from the park toward Talkeetna gave us some breathtaking views of Denali. The first several are from the north. At one of the turnouts, we met Gary and Holly Davis from Powhatan, VA. Gary is retired from Sunbeam. His last station was an eight-year stint in Hong Kong. They arrived in Anchorage last week and rented a motor home, similar to what we did in 1998. DNP was their last stop before flying home. Nice couple.

The second set of pictures show Denali from the south, taken from an overview just outside of Talkeetna. Talkeetna was the model for the television show, "Northen Exposure." The show was a comedy\drama with a set of quirky characters which included Rob Morrow, Jeanine Turner and John Corbet in the cast. In real life, Talkeetna is a staging community for delivering travelers to remote parts of DNP, including those who intend to climb The Great One. Keith and Lara Birkes trained there before their assent of Denali.

We stopped briefly in Wasilla, not because it is the home of Sarah Palin, but because there is a Curves there and Annie wanted to exercise. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Curves was closed. I don't think Governor Palin was home anyway. I read that she is on a "Freedom Tour" which began in Washington and will end somewhere in New England. I assume New Hampshire, home state of the second Presidential Primary, is on her itinerary.

As you can see, we decided to stay a night in Anchorage. We will look around tomorrow, then head down to Homer on the Kenai peninsula. We may try our hands at charter boat fishing.