There’s not all that many days that I feel the need to raise my fist at the hands of fate and wave it mightily while crying “do over!” in my mind. After all, usually something goes wrong and we move on. Today however has screamed “do over” from the very start. And as if testing my sense of humor, continued on throughout the day.

You see, I had actually planned to get up quite early for a Saturday morning given I was planning on heading out of town and enjoy some hiking and photo shots in the bay town of Seward. And I did get off to a good start. But no sooner had I pulled out onto the main highway when I looked down at the dash and saw the battery indicator light begin to blink mightily in my face. “Odd,” I thought, “the battery is new. Why would it be flashing.” So erring on the side of caution, I turned around and headed home. Only to pull up the hood once there and find my alternator belt shredded to a crisp, as if having been pulled through a cheese grater. It became obvious today’s chore would be to find an auto shop that was not only open, but would also be able to squeeze me in. So I called a few only to be told there were no availabilities. “We can fit you in on August 4th” was the common theme. Sorry gents, but obviously I’m having a car crisis, its own version of a bad hair day. Finally I remembered one particular automotive place that had been recommended on a list I belonged to. I was pleasantly surprised to find not only were they open, but they could fit me in. So off I drove with my eye constantly on the pressure gages. You see the handbook warned that driving with that light on could cause overheating. And the car was getting mighty hot as I pulled into their parking lot. But I did make it.

Thinking I was pretty much benched for the day, I ended up borrowing a family members car to run errands. Imagine my surprise when not two hours later I received a call saying it was done and furthermore, was right around the price I had hoped for. I went over and picked it up and decided to go on my road trip anyway. With cloudy skies I headed south to Seward, stopping along the way to take photos. Once there, I walked around the docks and then decided to go for a hike up at Exit Glacier. I was amazed at how much more moraine there was than my last visit. Exit Glacier as part of the Harding Ice Field actually has this great interpretive aid for its visitors. All along the road in are signs with dates on them. If you think of the Berma Shave signs of youth, this will give you an indication of the same type of signs. But the reality is the signs hold dates. The dates? Are where the glacier used to lay. I was amazed at how much the glacier has regressed even in the past 50 years. One must see it to believe it. And even in the past few years since I was last there it has melted quite a bit. I decided to take the hike on up to the glacial face. Out of the corner of my eye I caught a group of people wearing hard hats. I later found out after talking with the Park Ranger that it was members of the National Park Service that were in fact building a new trail. It was rather fun to watch. On the way down I saw a black bear on the distant hillside. Made it home in pretty good time as well after stopping at one of my local hiking spots and taking photos of the waterfall and stream.

Now why would I call a do-over on what sounds like an actual good day aside from a few minor inconveniences? Well on the way home I decided it looked like it would be a great sunset. And I wanted to test out my camera with night shooting, so I decided I would head back out later in the evening. And when that time rolled around, no sooner had I stepped foot into my car that I turned on the engine to be met with a constant squealing sound. I turned it off and turned it back on. Same drone. It is obvious I’m going to have to take the car back to the repair place on Monday to see what is wrong.

Do over! I call a do over!

Despite it being an absolutely glorious day here in Anchorage, I find the day filled with an overhang of sadness in some ways. After stirring to find my morning beginning with an earthquake, I decided to rise at the time and just read m news. Imagine my surprise to find it filled with two very significant events. At least significant for Alaska:

Over a thousand travel miles later and my weekend is over and alas we’re back at Monday. Funny it seemed like it was just another Monday not too long ago. But even with the weekend being over, it was indeed an enjoyable one. Saturday found me up at Denali National Park for a day trip. As it has been several years since I have been up in that direction, I figured why not. So with camera in hand I made my way up to Interior Alaska in a little under four hours. And as soon as I entered the park I was reminding myself that I had to spend more time up there. I’d forgotten how completely breathtaking Denali can be. And because I so enjoyed it, I’m planning on going back over Labor Day weekend and taking the bus back to Wonder Lake. I’m hoping the fall colors will be in their prime then and wildlife will be abundant. That is my hope anyway.

And because I had been in the car for so long I decided to do a bit of hiking down at the Savage River. No sooner had I begun my trek down the trail when I heard the flutter of wings. I began to look around wondering what it was. I turned and found a lone seagull sitting on a rock cocking its head at me. I continued on and again heard the flutter of wings. Stopped and turned around and again the same seagull landed on another rock a few feet from me. This continued the entire length of the portion of the trail I hiked. That gull was either lonely or very hungry. But not one to feed wild animals, I continued on my way.  Around the next bend I began to hear the cheery jingle of bells. As soon as I heard them I knew someone was hiking with bear bells on. I came upon their holder about a half mile further up the trail. A young girl hiking by herself wearing not one or two bells. But four. Rather amused by that, I asked her if she was expecting a run in with a bear. Come to find out she was here visiting by herself from Florida and one of the things she had heard down there was that we in Alaska “grow them big” and she didn’t want to run into one. She was actually quite nice and I admire her for making this trek solo. After a few hours of exploring Denali, I began my journey home.

Now one would think that after such a long trip on Saturday, I would spend the next day relaxing. Right? Wrong! I had already planned to meet up with a friend and head up to Independence Mine in Hatchers Pass to do a bit of exploring and then take the drive over the pass down into Willow. As it had been years since I last drove that road, I was looking forward to it.

We did get a nice early start and drove up to Hatchers Pass under a brilliant blue sky littered with white puffy clouds here and there. We decided to stop at the Susitna River to enjoy the water and take a few photos. I had hoped to get in some good shots with a slower shutter speed. However with it being as bright as it was, I knew that wasn’t going to work. After awhile we continued on up to the pass and went to the mine and hiked around a bit. No sooner had we started to climb up the Gold Cord trail when we were met by a ground squirrel bounding along with a mouthful of grass. I quietly turned on my camera and was awarded with a few shots of him. He would barrel into his den and then stick his head up. His antics were quite amusing. It was only after awhile did he obviously feel we were too close and began to emit a series of shrill chirps that were answered by another ground squirrel further down the hill. After an enjoyable lunch at the Motherlode Lodge, we headed over the pass. And I will say this. That road is every bit as bumpy as I remember it.

But it’s weekends like this that remind me why I so love living here.

I must admit I’ve always been one that has tried to never have expectations when it comes to certain subjects, especially those that come via third party and word of mouth. After all, what good are expectations when you tend to set them so high that each time you’re let down when they aren’t met. The same holds true pretty much for me and that of anticipation.

So when I was told about this hiking trail in Girdwood that was supposed to be amazing, I began to wonder. Why hadn’t I heard of it then? After all, I’ve lived here over 30 years and I tend to do a fair amount of hiking. But yet I had never heard of this. So I shrugged it off and went on my way. Until it came up in a conversation with my ex-boyfriend. What was mentioned this time was a series of waterfalls. I was immediately intrigued then. After all, I’m all for waterfalls. Especially when it comes to photographing them. So I stored this tidbit in the back of my mind and life continued. A few times since then I have asked for the directions to the place. Even drove out there once or twice to make sure it was for real. When I saw the hand carved sign that read, “Virgin Creek Falls”, I figured I’d give it a shot at a later date. That later date ended up being last night.

Now what is truly interesting is over the last week I have become photography obsessed once more. I’ve always loved taking road trips and would make it a point to go on them quite often. Just as I always made sure I carried my camera with me when hiking. However, over the last few years, I had noticed my interest in photography had waned. I chalked it up to the fact that I had never truly clicked with my new camera at the time, which was a Canon A80. So when my Canon decided to bite the dust during a recent hiking trip, I knew it was time to upgrade. I wanted something economical, but still a higher megapixel camera with solid features. I ended up with the Sony H5. And I got that a week ago today. During that time? I have been running non stop. Always wanting to take more pictures.

So given I have quite a few friends that are fellow photography buffs, we decided to make an evening of it and all head down to Girdwood to check out this trail I had heard about. I had heard so much about it, I admit the expectations were there. Wait, didn’t I just say I attempt to have NO expectations with things? Well yes, but I had heard so much about how beautiful this trail was that the expectations had of course began to build.

Did it live up to my expectations? Absolutely. In fact it exceeded them.

The Virgin Creek Falls trail is relatively short but is situated in a boreal rain forest surrounding the local ski resort. As one would expect, there are a vast assortments of shrubs, trees, ferns and ground cover. Literally blanketing the landscape with nearly a thousand shades of green. And running through that rainforest is Virgin Creek that nestles its way into waterfall after waterfall after waterfall. Absolutely beautiful. In fact it’s probably become one of my favorite spots.

We were only there for no more than an hour, as my travel companions had bad knees and the constant hiking/climbing over tree roots was bothering them. But during that time, I took over 150 photos.

I will definitely be back to explore more in depth. But that sense of expectation and anticipation remains. And I know it will be met. With the same gift of visual sensory as I received last night.

Alaska Botanical Gardens
Anchorage, Alaska

There are times when even the unplanned can turn into the best of events. In this case it was an hour [or an hour and a half to be exact] of spare time, a camera and no one to meet for lunch. An unusual occurance for me. As I didn’t want to venture too far from work, I found myself over at the Alaska Botanical Garden just moments away. The flowers were in full bloom and my views were met with narily a person in site. A definite feast of colors for the palette.