Okay, so there are rats. Let's just get that out of the way now. But they're cute! And so far, not in the house. Here are a few photos of rats eating leaves, and then a rat being eaten, all taken on the same day from different windows of my house ( Read more... )

Full disclosure: tkp works here!


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Here it is, folks: the end of the Alaska trip series. The last day was mostly travel, and before we left my brother, sis-in-law, and I only had time to get down to the kennel where they keep the sled dogs that still patrol the park in winter for poachers and signs of motorized traffic. Dogs are still more efficient than snowmobiles for this purpose ( Read more... )

The only motorized vehicles allowed in Denali are buses that take tourists partway into the park, to a nice (and new) visitor center with a lovely view of the mountain. Which is really, really big. Interestingly, though I'd always heard it called Mount McKinley, the local name is Denali and I heard that used more often while I was there. Since the ( Read more... )

More photos from the train ride to Denali. We took the Alaska Railroad, a slow-ish, sight-seeing train with viewing areas and all that. These were all taking from windows of the moving train.


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Day two, part four (and final).


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Alaska, day two, part 3: sea lions. Steller Sea Lions, I think. They're a fractious lot, let me tell you; they sound exactly as though Mr. Darcy (the dog) and his girlfriend Sacha have been slowed down while fighting. Our caption knew where they hang out, and we got pretty close, as you'll see--partly because they were worried and sent out young, ( Read more... )

Including Whittier (and approach) and a day cruise we took on a small boat that usually serves as a taxi or kayak conveyor. It was somewhat overcast most of the time, hence the darkness of some of the photos. I've brightened and played with contrast, but any more takes away the feeling of what it actually looked like.


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I'm slowly working through these. Here's part one of day two of my trip last August. They're all at a wildlife center, not in the wild, but I still found them interesting. Though yeah, there are bars in the way.


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The store keeps not having Annie's Mac and Cheese (the regular kind, in the purple box so I have to eat the Arthur-shaped ones. I don't really like Arthur, but I like to pretend I'm eating little Radiohead bears.


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