Country Park

We visited a local farm and  country park today and Theo enjoyed feeding the animals..

Also driving a number of vehicles in the sand pit..

A 'ladybird' ride with Grandma keeping watch behind..

Fun on the bouncy castle..

Theo was happy to walk with me until he realized that his Mum and Dad were holding hands..

Then he wanted to join in! 💕

Lovely day!

Sparkle in the Sunshine!

Theo was at nursery today and Lauren & James at work so I pottered about doing various jobs for a while and then sat down in the sunshine with a glass of sparkling water.

Couldn't resist taking a photo when I saw the contrasting glass textures, light and bubbles popping above the glass!

Sea Life Centre, Seward

When we visited the port of Seward in Alaska we called in to the Sea Life Centre  there - an aquarium and rescue/rehabilitation centre for marine mammals.

We were very taken with the puffins - Horned and Tufted.  I had never seen these in the wild (we did on our boat trip the following day).

They had a quirky style of flight but were very happy splashing around on the surface of the water.

There were some exotic and unusual species of fish and some beautiful invertebrates..

This two-month old walrus who became separated from his mother is being hand rested and prepared to be returned to the wild.

He already weighs 200 pounds!

The seals and sea lions were very lively in their tanks.

But it was good to see them in the wild the following day, basking in the sun at the edge of the fjord.

Visiting Flower

In a sheltered corner of Lauren's garden, this beautiful Passion flower is gradually taking over.  It is planted in one of the neighbouring gardens and has come over the fence.

The complex flowers are popular with the bees..

It has lots of buds still to come and fruit in a variety of stages of ripeness.

The fruits are apparently edible but not nearly as good as the passion fruit sold in grocery stores, which are a different variety.

Wildlife Conservation Centre

On our first full day in Anchorage we took a bus tour out of the city along the Cook Inlet to visit Portage Lake and Glacier (see blog for Friday 11 August).

The tour also included a visit to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Centre, home of many different Alaskan mammals and a few birds, mostly rescue animals who have been injured or kept inappropriately as pets and cannot be released into the wild.

This Black Bear was one of two young cubs of a bear who was shot by someone who felt threatened by her.

Although this bear looks a little sad behind the wire mesh, the enclosures were large and interesting for them and, had they remained in the wild they would probably have become prey to adult male bears or wolves.

This is his twin.

This Brown (Grizzly) Bear could see no reason to get up and move on this particularly wet day.

Indoors a chance to see some huge Moose, sheltering from the weather.

In the fields, the antlers being carried on the Caribou had to be seen to be believed..

There is a large herd of American Bison st the Centre..

It was a shame that the weather was so bad as the Centre was set in many acres but it was muddy and difficult to explore.

Play Date

When we bought the book about Denali National Park for Theo, I didn't expect to be delivering it to him quite so quickly.   

He had been unwell while we were away and whilst we could do frustratingly little from afar, after a quick turnaround (8am Saturday back from Alaska, 10.20pm plane the same day out to Heathrow), I am here to try and give a little support.

David unfortunately wasn't able to join me but made all the arrangements so that I could get here quickly and smoothly, such a star.

Theo himself has rallied remarkably well and, home from hospital yesterday afternoon, he soon settled down to play with the toys he had obviously missed.

Today was a great play date with occasional naps to keep going.

We are so glad that he is well again and it is such a pleasure to be here with him and his Mum & Dad, to know he is ok and to see how he has grown since June.  (Even taller and much chattier!)

Signs and Notices

It is interesting I think, as you travel around, to take notice of the differences in signs and notices in various places.  So it was in Alaska.  

The risk of a moose strolling out in front of your car or indeed on a footpath is very real - in the Anchorage area itself, despite being a sprawling city of 300,000 people, it is estimated that there are 13,000 moose 'on the loose' and you definitely wouldn't want to collide with them!  

Near Ship Creek in Anchorage where there were many salmon in the river we also saw similar signs on hotel doors encouraging staff to be 'Bear Aware' when putting out rubbish.

Here is a completely different sign - in the Visitor Centre restaurant at Denali National Park - rather nice sentiments for those visiting the park.

In a place where teams of dogs pulling sleds is a frequent sight in winter, I guess it is necessary to have signs like this one at Kantishna in the national park.

These two rather different notices were on the Community Notice Board in Talkeetna. One is rather more self-explanatory than the other..

Also in Talkeetna, on the wall of the historic pub/hotel, were these house rules..whether these would encourage you or discourage you to visit I will leave you to decide.

We saw so many salmon fisherman with rods and coolboxes everywhere we went - so it was soon obvious why, at the Seward Windsong Lodge, this sign was necessary.  We saw other similar ones in different hotels.  Goodness knows what  flavor loose salmon in the ice freezer would impart to your gin and tonic.

The next photo is not really a notice, more of a list - compiled by our driver and nature guide in Denali National Park, this is the tally of wildlife sightings during our bus trip..

And the last word goes to this restaurant/bar in Seward...

Well of course we tried it...