Part II, Day 2 of inheflow's Excellent Alaskan Vacation

[intheflow]

usedtobesick was delayed in joining us for a few days, so on Day 2 Blue and I left Hull Boss at home and she took me to spots around Anchorage. The first thing we went to see was the spirit houses at Eklutna. The story behind the spirit houses is that they are an example of native culture merging with Christianity--in this case, Russian Orthodoxy. Our tour guide for the spirit houses was a guy Blue and I nicknamed Father Dude--the youngest, tallest, cutest, hippest Russian Orthodox priest evah!



There's all kinds of history about these little houses. The pertinent info is that they cover graves, their colors represent families, and the ridge on the top represents the deceased's job. The natives have used this burial site since about the time Columbus landed, and the Russian Orthodox Church arrived in the 1840's. There are very old spirit houses, new spirit houses, and whimsical spirit houses.




After visiting the spirit houses, we literally crossed the highway to Thunderbird Falls. Blue let me use her long lens with the image stabilizer. :loveya: She didn't get it back until I left. :evilgrin: I'm still very proud of these hand-held shots.





After T-Bird Falls, Blue took me to a nature preserve. She and I were walking along and saw these cute ducks. "Ooooh! Look at the momma and baby! Look at that red and green head!" We started snapping duck photos like we had discovered new duck species.



Then this woman walked up to us and said, "Did you see the moose?"

"Uh, no. What moose?"

She turned around and pointed.









"Oh, THAT moose!" :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Our last stop for the day was a birder's heaven called Potter's Marsh. Took many shots of gulls and more duck species, but since I've already posted about 20 photos in this thread, I'll just send this arctic tern shot out to Maestro!

[Adsos Letter]

1. ...MOOSE!!!...

Gotta' love it. Looks like you saw some very cool stuff and brought back some great shots to prove it.

Are you still running on Alaska time?

:D :hi:

[intheflow]

2. I'm only back one time zone,

in Portland, OR, so it's not too bad on my body. usetobesick has it much worse--he had to go back to the east coast for business. His body clock is all messed up!

[Adsos Letter]

11. If you are still in Portland check out Powell's Books...

It is a bibliophile's paradise!

:D

[intheflow]

15. I'm moving in two weeks

and already have waaaaaaaaay more books than I'll ever read in their entirety, and waaaaaaaay too many to pack. But thanks for feeding my bilio-addiction... you enabler, you! :P

[Adsos Letter]

18. I told ya' my wife said I could be somewhat of a pill...

...you can never have too many books...

:D

[Eurobabe]

3. Oh what a nice way to start my day, thanks intheflow!

That moose shot is great, you brought me right there. Post more!

[MissHoneychurch]

4. Great pics intheflow

you sure enjoyed your trip. I can see that. The last picture of the bird is fantastic!! You really got lucky there. :thumbsup:

[intheflow]

5. Those arctic terns are amazing.

They migrate every year back and forth between antartica and the Great White North in North America. And they still find energy to get all freaked out when the paparazzi arrives. This shot was taken as the tern was giving me and Blue a piece of its mind for invading its private space! :rofl:

[regnaD kciN]

7. Well, you know what they say...

..."One good tern deserves another."

(O.K....I'll go hide now...)

[Blue_In_AK]

6. We also made it to Eklutna Lake

Here is the beaver pond where we saw the ducks. The moose was on the other side of the bridge, just right of center.

[intheflow]

17. Your lake shot came out better than mine.

I just wasn't feeling the love at this lake, the lighting wasn't speaking to me. Maybe I was just tired from trekking around the falls, though. :)

[Blue_In_AK]

20. Your spirit houses

are so much better than mine, I don't even dare post any. :blush:

[NashVegas]

8. Is That Bullwinkle?

Or a cousin?

Fantastic shots.

[intheflow]

16. If it's Bullwinkle,

it looks like Boris and Natasha have gotten a wee bit too close because he's so scarred up! :silly:

[pipoman]

9. Really great shots

love the moose and the story of the Spirit Houses. Sounds like you had a great time.

[DS1]

10. wow, what a place!

[Maestro]

12. Those Spirit Houses are neat.

I always like learning about neat cultural aspects of different populations. I suppose anthropology appeals to me to a certain extent. Nice color in those shots. Hey, I bet if you have a close-up of the guide with him not looking at the camera and in B & W that would make a killer "people" shot.

Your waterfall shots are awesome. I have tried in vain to do those shots but they never turn out. Please, please, please, pm your settings. :)

That wildlife is just incredible. I don't know of too many places where someone would come up and say, "Hey, did you see that moose?" :rofl: Great pic! And as far as my birding trip went, the only bird that I tried in vain to capture on film were the Elegant Terns all over the beach, but they were so fast, I just couldn't get a good shot and now you send me out a shot of one. It's a conspiracy! Just kidding. That is a nice capture of a very quick little flyer! I really need to get up there! Potter's Marsh has just been added to the itineray. :)

[Blue_In_AK]

13. The terns are very, very hard to capture

Here's the best I could come up with (extreme crop)

[intheflow]

19. This tern was really putting on a show for us.

Actually, it was just in our faces p.o.'d, and flying and diving very close so it was fairly easy to catch. I will say that the long lens with stabilizer helps tremendously. I'd never have been able to capture that shot with my unstabilized lenses.

My settings? Uh... lets see... that one number on the right was really high... the other number on the left was really low... I am an idiot at remembering how to match the technical terms with the numbers I see through my view finder. But cheating and looking at the EXIF info, I see:

Manual setting
100 speed
1/4" exposure time
F32 f-stop

It was fairly bright conditions, though the light was muted with overcast skies. And again, I'd never have been able to do that without Blue's image stabilizer lens.

[JeffR]

14. really enjoying these, itf

but of course what we all want to see are the party shots you and Blue took.:party:

???????????

[wakeme2008]

21. FYI Moose are the reason all Sled Dog Racers carry BIG hang guns

Bears are asleep for the winter but the racers sometimes meet a Moose with an attitude :rofl:

I just finished Sue Henry's Alaska Mystery Series - 11 books very good :)

[Blue_In_AK]

22. In 1985 Iditarod champion Susan Butcher was attacked

on the trail by a pregnant moose which got tangled up in her harness. She lost two dogs and 13 more were injured before another musher came along and shot the moose. Obviously, she had to drop out of the race, one of the few times she wasn't a top finisher in all her years of racing. Moose look cute, but they can be really unpredictable.

[intheflow]

23. Moosatude!

:)

[pipoman]

24. Some of the bigger

gun companies sell a handgun called an Alaskan...a large caliber, short barreled revolver...Sure would hate to have to shoot some big animal protecting it's territory, but as they say, "better to have and not need than need and not have" I suppose.

[Blue_In_AK]

25. Here's one we encountered on our walk tonight...

And then HullBoss says, "Get closer, she's not paying any attention." So I did, but I must have been shaking because she's not quite in focus. You get the idea though. ed. This is NOT a crop.

[intheflow]

26. Hull Boss is sure brave.

Standing behind you all the way! :rofl: Can't believe the man that loves you that much encouraged you to get closer t a moose. And yet he worries houseguests won't be happy with the best hospitality in North America. :eyes: :P

[Blue_In_AK]

27. I know. He's silly sometimes.

That moose looked awfully big through my lens as she was walking towards me. I had to remember to back away s-l-o-w-l-y, because my urge was to scamper.

[uppityperson]

29. Be careful with those meese! Great picts to you and itf!

I love the waterfall ones by itf.

[babylonsister]

28. "Oh, THAT Moose!"

:rofl: And that tern is quite the little show off! Great pix! What a photographic wonderland!