Just because it was Thursday today

A collection of pictures from today

Today was an outing day, lots of stops for various reasons for this or for that. Of course it started off with a bowl of chicken soup and a nice salad. We also get a nice view:

From inside:

And from the deck:

During the summer and warmer days there is a deck you can sit out in and enjoy the views glass free. Of course that means dealing with bugs. It was a nice cloud day over the Kenai Flats Wetlands.

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We decided to head up to Sterling afterward. It was a very colorful day. A short walk about for some handheld shots of the surroundings:

The Golden Trees:

Framed by the evergreen green of the spruce trees, the leaves on these few birch looked great, especially with some blue sky and a little bit of cloud action going on.

After that view I wanted a different view, so a looking up view was called for:

They are some pretty tall trees when viewed like that. Not as well protected from the winds as the gravel roadside trees above, thus just a few less leaves. ;-}

Wind protected, still coloring up:

Protected from the winds and from the sun, this baby Birch or Cottonwood still has most of it's leaves and they are just now beginning the turning process. In a few days, maybe a week I am sure it will be loaded with color.

I was just about done with my take some pictures walk and was actually back sitting in my vehicle when a dark splash of red caught my eye, so back to the photo walk.

Alaska Geranium Leaves, (I think):

I am pretty sure they are the leaves of the Alaskan Geranium plant, but I do not recall from any previous stops if they had them in the garden. I do love the way the leaves turn that Maple Tree Red Leaf color. While I was capturing that, I got eye bombed by another color splash.

Last of the California Yellow Poppies?

I am really beginning to like this landscape lens. It is pretty versatile. I was only about an inch away from this poppy and it came out smashing in full color and is even pretty clear and focused. Okay that was the last photo for that location.

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Onward and Eastward, out of Sterling and heading toward the mountains. We had been wanting to see the burned areas from the road. I had hoped I would be able to pullover and get some road side shots, but the fire put a serious crimp in the road construction and they were out in full force with follow me cars and trucks, and no where to stop and get pictures.

I did get a couple of pictures while stopped for a short time. The first stop I was able to use my smart phone and got this shot of a half burned telephone pole:

No other real fire damage shots, As you can see around the pole shot a lot of dead burned trees and scrub, but you can also see some trees that were barely touched by the flames, The cycle of life after the fire will go on.

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Almost time to call it a day, but I wanted to have a look at a small lake that we do not get to very often at all. The sun angle was getting pretty low in the sky and would be a real pain in the eyes on the drive back so a short lake stop was not going to prevent the sun glare.

Watson Lake:

Only 3 official campground spots so you have to be pretty lucky to get a place during the summer, but then again maybe not since it is not a very well known or talked about campground.

Well that was most of my Thursday, it was a pretty nice day, the smoke has cleared, the fishermen have finished fishing, hunting is not quite here yet, and most of the tourist are gone, it was a good day to be in Alaska, I hope it was a good day at your home.

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