The Reason I Moved

Today after I got off work at 8pm, the air was so clear and beautiful that I had to go take pictures. Here is the outcome of that excursion. The first six pictures are taken from the parking lot directly across the street from my apartmen complex.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is my everyday view.

This is my favorite mountain. Do you see that peak? It is a PEAK. I'm very excited about it.
It comes to a freakin point!

The rest of these were taken at various spots along the Seward Highway heading south out of Anchorage. It really is stunning.

It was finally setting at 10:15pm when I turned around and headed back.

And this, my friends, is a waterfall seen through a hole in the ground.



Right next to a giant patch of snow, still on the ground. Lord knows how long that's been there.

And that, folks, is the reason I moved from flat, stinkin hot Houston.

Short Drive Down Seward Highway

I don't think I could have picked a more beautiful place to live.

If you like mountains.

We'll see how I still like it in January.

Check back regularly for new pictures as I slowly start to wander around this place.

Alaska Zoo Day

These pictures are for those of you who (for whatever insane reason) do not have a Facebook or a MySpace.

Kay and I went to the zoo, where I preceded to take pictures as if I had never seen an animal before.

And if you've read any of the previous posts on this blog, that's pretty close to the truth...

*Disclaimer: I love polar bears, so there are approximately 3,000 polar bear pictures at the end of this series. Deal with it.

Red fox. He moved just as we walked up, but other than that, he went right back to sleep.

Turkey. In Alaska. Who knew? The Raven. They really are everywhere here.
Owls. What beautiful creatures.

I had to take a picture of this. Why on earth is a raccoon worthy of a zoo exhibit?

Musk ox roar like lions. I swear, it's true. I have it on video. I'll try to post those later.

This was the male musk ox.

And this was the female musk ox.

And her baby.

They were shedding their winter coat.

It wasn't pretty.

Bald eagle.
Spectacular.
They had fake Christmas trees in their cage. Don't ask me why. If you've never looked a bald eagle in the eye before, let me tell you they have very intelligent eyes.

Siberian tigers. They all but disappeared in the brush.


Except, of course, when they look right at you... He can smell me...
Somewhere in this picture is a wolf. Can you see him?

Neither can I.

Wolves are fairly elusive creatures. But that black smudge in the middle there is a wolf lying down.
They were playing.
See, in Alaska, it's not so hot that from February to October the animals seek refuge from the heat. They actually play. Where you can see them. It's quite entertaining.
My favorite bear picture, despite the fact that they're out of focus.

This one was about the size of the ones we saw by the side of the road.
They were both pacing back and forth, but always ended up by this gate. The little (comparatively) one would do a pirouette whenever he got there. I have it on film.
This guy was huge. Probably 6 feet in length when he was walking, I can only imagine how long he was when standing.

Caribou!

Caribou baby.
Did you know tame caribou are called reindeer?

Reminds me of the Grinch's dog.

This one's antlers were so wide that when he went to feed, he would shove everyone else out of the way.

See?
Can you imagine carrying that around on your head?

Bactrian camel.
Emo llama!
This one reminds me of Cusco.
Lol they were alpaca.

This one looked like a girl with pigtails.
She ate out of the keeper's hand.

Feeding time for the animals.
Silver backed porcupine.

Water bufflo are a lot longer than I expected them to be.
Our buffalo are cuter. Much cuter.
This one got run off by the little one above. Here he's leaving in dejecton.
I guess she wanted to have a private lunch with the big guy.

Moose.
He didn't do anything.
Except pick his head up.
Boring moose.
Magpies.

Coyote.
He didn't stay still long enough for a good picture.
Owls.
See that white thing in his talons, right under his head?
That's lunch.

Ah, polar bears.

They're really, really big. This one was the male.
This one was the girl. (She's on the pill. Otherwise they wouldn't be able to live together.)

He paced back and forth.
She would tease him. He didn't like it much.

Until finally, he just jumped in himself.

And then they played.

For the next 10 minutes.

So beautiful.

Sea otters look at me!
Sea otters look away =( Sea otters lie down.
Sea otters go to sleep. Fur seals.

They really were swimming too fast for me to get a good picture.
There were two of them.

Bubbles!