Alaska Cruise June 2012

We have always wanted to visit Alaska, to take pictures and see the Northern Lights (The Aurora Borealis) and even though this is not the right time of year to see the Northern Lights, we had an opportunity to take advantage of some time off between classes to take a vacation.  So we took our first cruise!!! It was amazing, the people were wonderful, there are tons of things to do, the food is fantastic, and we got some great pictures, hope you like them.

We flew into Seattle, and stayed at the Waterfront Marriott, which is right across the street from Pier 66 where we were leaving from the next day.

I went up to the top deck to take the pictures of the Seattle skyline and Alvin was taking pictures of me while he chilled by the pool.  Our Stateroom attendant made these cute towel animals and left them for us almost every day, so I took pictures of them and kept them together in the room.  The Staterooms are small very efficient hotel rooms, with all of the amenities you would get at a hotel.  We had an ocean view.

After a day at sea, the first port of call was Juneau, Alaska.  We took a land and sea photography excursion.  For the land part, we hiked about 3-4 miles through trails to the Mendenhall glacier.  It was cold and raining, but incredibly beautiful. This tree above was cut down by beavers, you can see how efficient they are.

There were 3 markers with dates of where the glacier ice came to.  It has receded a lot over the years.  In the picture above you can see how the glacier has carved its way.

Chunks of the glacier break off forming icebergs of different sizes and shapes.

We saw several whales and learned a lot about them.  One young whale breached right in front of the boat very unexpectedly and scared the heck out of everyone who saw it.  Even our guide was startled, and it happened so fast, no one got a shot of it!!

We also saw seals, hanging out at this buoy, they would fight and kick each other off!

I  know where the pictures for each days activities start by the towel animal, go figure.
The next day, the port of call was Skagway.  We took the White Pass train and Yukon expedition. We took a tour bus in Skagway, Alaska up to the Yukon and into Canada, had lunch at Caribou Crossing and then came back to the White Pass train station for the return trip back to Skagway.

These are some of the spectacular views, the picture above is of Cairns.  They are piles of rocks left by visitors, basically saying there were "Here", they were all over the place in different configurations.

Here we are in the Yukon

and this is the smallest desert!  It was left by the glacier in Caribou Crossing.

At Caribou Crossing (Carcross), where we had lunch, they raise and race sled dogs, the dogs are very excited to run and they give visitors rides as a way to train the dogs.  The puppies were adorable.

and oh yeah!!!!, we saw bears, many bears, up close and personal!!! The first ones crossed right in front of the bus  and the others were just at the side of the road eating.  They are all brown bears, they can be brown, black, cinnamon or light tan to white and still be brown bears.  It was AWESOME!!  The bus driver kept asking if we wanted to get out to have our pictures taken with them and we all said YES, but he didn't let us.

This is emerald lake, the driver took us here, about 10 miles farther than usual to show us this lake.  The color variations are the different depths and the color comes from the silt and minerals and vegetation that the glacier brought through.

On the train ride back to Skagway, we saw waterfalls, deep gorges, and beautiful scenery.

When we got off the train, we had some time to roam around downtown Skagway.  The  picture above is the original snowplowing engine.  They have restored it and used it recently on an anniversary of the railway.

Pretty amazing to see the size of the ship, and with the snow capped mountains in the background it was beautiful.

The next day, we sailed through Glacier bay and saw several other glaciers.  We even got to see the glacier calving.  You hear the ice cracking and it sounds like thunder and if you are lucky enough, you can see the chunk of glacier break off and fall into the water.  I am not sure how clear the splash is on the last photograph, but we did get to see it.

Next day the port of call was Ketchikan, Alaska.  We did not have an excursion planned so I just walked around taking pictures and shopping.  They are known for their totem poles.

The last port of call before returning to Seattle, was Victoria, BC in Canada. It was rainy, so I took the shuttle to downtown and took a few pictures, then returned to the ship to have dinner and we went to a show.

All in all, it was a fabulous cruise, with so much to do and see.  I would recommend it to everyone.  We are already thinking about where we can cruise next!!!

Hope you liked the photos and as always,  Happy Photography.

December 2011

In December, we took a terrific ROAD TRIP!  We flew into Burbank CA, rented a car, drove to Oakland, spent a day in San Francisco, drove to Ft. Bragg and drove down the California coast, stopping when we felt like it and ended up in Disneyland for Christmas.  It was amazing, fun, a great photo opportunity, an a really fun way to spend the holiday.

Here are some of the street performers we saw while in San Francisco

From here we drove to Ft. Bragg/Mendocino area.  We had been in Medicino in 2003 for a wedding and loved the area, we spent 3 days there. 

Okay, so they are out of order, but as you can see, we did, and saw a lot.

The sea elephant was really cool to see, there were lots of people watching and what I realized afterwards, was that most of the sea lions were on the shore giving birth, so the babies we saw were just born.

The restaurant balcony was in Downtown Disneyland.  It was Ralph Brennan's Jazz kitchen.  We had a great meal, in the Queen's balcony, were entertained by the street musicians and little kids dancing up a storm.  It was really fun, and a great way to celebrate our anniversary.

The next picture is the San Francisco street cars, they are fun to ride, and are manually turned, on each end of the route.  Hard to believe in this day and age!

Headlands coffee house is in Ft. Bragg, it is a cool little diner, it has a great friendly atmosphere.  People hang out with with a book and have one of many varieties of tea or coffee with some great homemade goodies.  It has a really laid back feeling.  We had been there in 2003 and nothing had changed.

Oceans and sunsets were one of the goals for this trip as far as photography went, so the next few shots are of that.

The pelican was in Monteray, 

Next stop, Carmel. I love the mission in Carmel, it is beautiful.  There are flowers and buildings are really quaint, I took a lot of pictures here and they had a lot of Calla lilies.

Then we went to Cambria  and Solvang, a little Dutch town  and then we headed to Anaheim.  

We spent Christmas day with 70,000 of our closest friends.  I had been to Disney World about 25 years ago and thought it was great.  I was not sure that Disneyland could measure up.  It sure did, we had a great day, we got there at 7:30AM when it opened and never left until after 10PM.  We spent most of the day in Disneyland, but were told we had to do a few things in California Adventure, so we ended the day there.  Hopefully we will get back there again and start in California Adventure.

Well that's a taste of our December to Remember.

Until next post, happy photography.

Spring 2012

I have been have some issues with the blog, which is why I haven't posted anything lately, but it is time to get back into it, and we have been taking some pictures lately so here it goes.

Spring 2012

What a marvelous time of year, spring.  The rebirth of everything that has taken a nap for the winter.  We have had so many of the cactus in our yard for years, and yet each spring it is like a new surprise as things start to bloom.

This is from our trip to Desert Botanical Gardens as are the several pictures following.

I love these tiny pink flowers, and I don't remember seeing them in the gardens before.

I love this butterfly, it looks like a stained glass window to me, so beautiful and delicate.

I was totally intrigued by the shadow on the leaf.  See how colorful this butterfly is on the underside of the wings?  It looks like a totally different butterfly from the top, below is the same butterfly, but from the top of the wings.  Pretty amazing, huh!!

I'll stop for now and post more of Spring 2012 soon.   Happy Photography

Calendar pictures

It's been a while since I posted anything. Things have been busy at work, but that doesn't really matter since I need to catch up. So today I finally ordered a first 2012 calendar and want to share some of the images with you. We called it "The year in retrospect"

If you recall, the hummingbirds at our house, built their nest on the wire of our hummingbird wind chimes. This little one, must really like Christmas, since she built her nest on Christmas lights in our neighbors carport!

Alvin captured this on his daily walk. This and several of the other flowers below are from around the neighborhood.

These two pink flowers were AMAZING!! the blooms were 8" - 9" across and so beautiful!

These were from the Desert Botanical Gardens in Arizona.

This was from our trip to Sedona and The Grand Canyon. I shot this view of the Grand Canyon through the roots of a tree.

This was a little surprise, growing in the Red Rocks of Sedona AZ.

This beautiful Yellow flower was what we chose for the cover.

So those are a few of the highlights of our year. It has been full of beauty and travel and fun and photography.

Glad we could share a little of ourselves you.

Happy Photography!!

Hummingbirds

We have a hummingbird wind chime hanging in the carport, and one day when Alvin was out in the yard, he kept getting buzzed by a hummingbird. He could'nt figure out what was going on, and then he noticed that a hummingbird had built her nest on the wire of the wind chimes!! The nest is only a couple of inches big, I tried to show that here.

She laid 2 eggs the first time, and once they start to grow, there is no room for her in the nest. They are not so cute when they are little.

but, very pretty when they grow up.

The same hummingbird came back and laid a second set of eggs, that same season.

Well this year, we think one of the babies that was born in the nest, came back and built a nest in the exact same place and had 2 chicks this year!

One is obviously much more developed than the other out of this pair, but they have already left the nest, I hope they both survive, and maybe we will get another set this year!! What fun!

Happy Photography!