Head in the clouds

Greetings!

I have been so negligent of my blog all summer, and I really have no excuse other than just being busy and distracted, and out of Ritalin. Ok, just kidding about the Ritalin, but I have been totally taking advantage of the summer time and if I do sit down for any amount of time, it is usually to watch reality TV and/or eat junk food (so obsessed with So You Think You Can Dance!)....but not to blog. Plus, during the summer so many friends (skree Violet Noir, Kate, Les, and WW) visit Chicago and it is so fun to get to spend time with them. Oh and we got a Wii and a Wii Fit--so that keeps me busy and teaches me all sorts of things like how out of shape I am and that I have the balance of a 60 year old.

Up yours Wii.

A few hours will pass very quickly while trying to master the Wii.....seems this whole summer is going by way too fast.

So, last the blog left off, I had just returned from Alaska.

As I said in the previous post, we flew into Fairbanks, which was not really in the mountains like I expected. We spent a few nights there, but during the days we drove all around, because honestly, Fairbanks was a little boring. One day we drove to North Pole, Alaska which was very cool in a cheeseball kind of way. The stores there are decorated for Christmas all year round. It is a small town, but it has lots of silly things to take photos of. Exhibit A= the photo above.

I must also point out that we were in Alaska for their Summer Solstice which is the longest day of the year and a huge celebration. The daylight lasts 24 hours for about 2 months in the summer. It was FREAKY to say the least. You would wake up at 2 am and it was full blown light outside. In Fairbanks, they had a midnight softball game and when they were promoting it on the news, they said everyone who was going to to the game should wear plenty of sunscreen because it would be 80 degrees and sunny. Their heat of the day is AT MIDNIGHT!

One of the things that shocked us was the large variety of wildlife EVERYWHERE. This moose was just hanging out on the side of the road. I was not privy to how huge moose are. They are massive and when you spot one on the side of the road you must stop like a lame tourist and take a photo.Driving around Alaska is very beautiful. The scenery almost everywhere is amazing. This is a photo in Denali National Park. Denali means "The Great One" in Native Alaskan and it refers to the largest mountain in North America. It has since been named Mt. McKinley by our government, but none of the Alaskans ever call it Mt. McKinley. It is Denali--period.These photos were taken from the car driving in and around Denali National Park. This is a snowshoe hare who was sucking on the pebbles then spitting them out. It was in a creek bed and all the creeks are glacier fed and full of minerals, so I can only guess he was getting some sort of mineral off the pebbles. He was very very cute and not scared of me at all.

This is a photo of a Ptarmigan which is a grouse. These birds are loved at Denali. Many of them had hatchlings the week we were there, and this made the Park Rangers very excited. All of the Park Rangers talked about the park as if it were a person. All the ones we spoke to seemed to truly adore their job.

We took over 1,300 photos, so I could post so many more of the mountains in and around Denali, but sadly none of our photography could ever do them justice, so I will humbly move on to Anchorage, Alaska.

The drive from Denali to Anchorage was gorgeous, but we were happy to check into our hotel because it was a such a long drive. Anchorage is much more of a "city" than Fairbanks. Anchorage had lots going on AND they had a Nordstrom-HA! The first thing we did was eat. We ate coconut fried salmon, king crab legs, halibut, ETC. The seafood there is amazing. Next we went to a "Sled Dog Rodeo". The Iditarod Dog Race is HUGE in Alaska. The mushers are superstars there. We got to see some movie dogs.

This dog was in Snow Buddies,and this dog was in Eight Below. I have never seen either movie, but my husband has seen Eight Below and he totally remembered this dog. Apparently, Alaskan Malamutes are extremely intelligent and easy to train for movies. I think the dog that was in Snow Buddies looks kinda like Day-Z from Fightin Mad Mary's blog--all the cool dogs have a little Sled Dog blood!

This is Dallas Seavey whose Father won the Iditarod a few years ago. He is shooting for a win too. Those dogs were so excited to be harnessed up and run. They are a joy to watch.

I posted a few months ago about Finley going to Sled Dog Fantasy Camp because he could totally pull a sled through subzero temperatures in the mountains.

A dog can dream, can't he?

I will do a post about Seward, Alaksa in the next few days. Seward is worthy of a post all it's own.

Have a wonderful day!

(photos property of MonkeyPosh LLC)