Denali – Wandering Dawgs

Lens Artists Photo Challenge # 222 – Mountains are Calling

October 28, 2022Posted in Nature, PhotographyTagged Denali, Lens-Artists, Mountains are Calling, Photo Challenge, Rocky Mountains20 Comments

Amy has asked us to share our joy of visiting/climbing mountains. I live in coastal Georgia where the nearest mountains are many miles away. Some of our most memorable trips are ones we took to visit mountains.

A few hours north of where I live is Brasstown Bald, the highest point in Georgia at 4784 feet in elevation. I don’t have a picture of the mountain itself but here is a view from the top.

View from the top of Brasstown Bald, the highest point in Georgia

If we travel a little farther north into North Carolina, Tennessee or Virginia we can visit the beautiful Great Smokey Mountains National Park or take a ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Cataloochee Valley Overlook Great Smoky Mountains National Park

We can keep going farther north in Virginia to take a ride on the Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia.

We’ve made a few RV trips to the western United States to visit the majestic mountain ranges there.

Storm over Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Colorado

Pikes Peak – “America’s Mountain”, Colorado

We even traveled to the Canadian Rockies.

Of all the mountains I’ve seen, the ones in Alaska are my favorites. The rest of the images are from our RV trip to Alaska several years ago.

Denali (formerly known as Mt. McKinley), 20,320 feet tall, is the tallest mountain in North America. The last three images were taken from three different locations. No matter where you are when you see it, it is an amazing sight.

Many thanks for Amy’s Lens-Artists Challenge #222 – Mountains are Calling

Wandering Around America one state at a time – Alaska

January 4, 2017November 28, 2017Posted in Alaska, Birds, Glaciers, Road Trip, RVing, Wandering around America, WildlifeTagged America the Beautiful, Arctic Circle, Bald Eagle, Denali, Haines, Ninilchik, Talkeetna17 Comments

State 2:

Welcome to the next post in my series highlighting states we have visited throughout the years. I hope you will enjoy coming along for the ride! I will be featuring the states alphabetically and next up is

Alaska

Alaska became the 49th state on January 3, 1959. The capital is Juneau and it is the only state capital that can only be reached by air, boat, or birth. The largest city is Anchorage.

We spent 50 glorious nights in Alaska in the summer of 2013.

I loved meeting so many wonderful Alaskans and hearing their stories. Wildlife, glaciers, boat trips, a flight seeing tour, eagles, halibut fishing, Denali National Park, taking the RV on the Alaska Ferry from Skagway to Haines, and a train ride on the Alaska Railroad are just a few of the amazing things we experienced while we were there. Our favorite place was Haines. The most exciting thing we did was take a flight-seeing tour from Talkeetna to see Mt. McKinley and land on Ruth Glacier. The farthest north we went was Coldfoot, north of the Arctic Circle.

Pullen Creek RV Park, Skagway, Alaska

Waterfalls along the Klondike Highway

Arriving at the Haines ferry dock

Watching for whales in Haines, Alaska

Bald Eagle at Chilcoot Lake State Park, Haines, AK

Haines boat harbor

Deadliest Catch!

Mendenhall Glacier

The free George Black Ferry crosses the Yukon River from Dawson City to Top of the World Highway.

Poker Creek Alaska

The signposts show other towns named after chickens. Who knew there were so many?

The Pedro Dredge in Chicken is a National Historic Site.

Santa Claus House, North Pole, Alaska

Downtown Talkeetna.

We went really close to Mt. McKinley

Loving every minute of our time on Ruth glacier

Home of author Mary Lovel in Sherman, Alaska

The Alaska Railroad runs right behind our campsite

Such an amazing sight to see their tail

Stellar Sea Lions on day trip to Juneau

Calving on Aialik Glacier one

A pair of Orcas on Columbia Glacier tour from Valdez

There were Puffins in the water

Sea Otters on Columbia Glacier tour from Valdez

Wandering Dawgs at the Arctic Circle

A good look at the Alaska pipeline as it goes underground

Four of these fish are ours!

Mount Redoubt sunset in Ninilchik, Alaska

Anchor Point is the most westerly highway point on a continuous road system in North America

Our first moose sighting was this cow by a pond

Lukor liked it on top of his house

Polychrome Overlook, Denali National Park, Alaska

Caribou grazing in Denali National Park

Do you see the profile of a face on the right side of the rock?

Chunk of ice from the Columbia Glacier

Fireweed behind our campsite made the beautiful view even better

Mama bear looking for more fish near Valdez

Every day was memorable, every day was special, every day we saw something spectacular. Was it worth driving over 14,000 there and back? Absolutely!

To read previous posts about the states featured in this series just click on the state name: Alabama

Beautiful Planet Earth

May 10, 2016August 11, 2017Posted in Nature, PhotographyTagged Denali, earth, Everglades, Grand Canyon, Great Smoky Mountains, Weekly Photo Challenge, Yellowstone, Yosemite21 Comments

America’s National Parks are some of the most beautiful places on earth. Our wandering has taken us to many of them over the years. These are a few of our favorite national parks.

The Grand Canyon, Arizona

Denali National Park, Alaska

Yosemite National Park, California

Overhanging Rock with Yosemite Falls in Yosemite National Park

Yellowstone National Park

Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Everglades National Park, Florida

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina

Cataloochee Valley Overlook Great Smoky Mountains

This is my contribution to the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge. For more interpretations of earth visit WordPress Photo Challenge: Earth

Favorite Alaska Memories

September 5, 2013June 20, 2015Posted in Alaska, Birds, Glaciers, Road Trip, RVing, WildlifeTagged Arctic Circle, Bald Eagle, Denali, Haines, Ninilchik, Talkeetna12 Comments

Although we left Tok, Alaska almost a month ago, our memories of Alaska will never leave us. Here, in no particular order, are a few photos of some of our favorite places and adventures.

Our favorite place was Oceanside RV Park in Haines, Alaska where we could sit and watch for whales, watch eagles fly by, and watch the ferries and cruise ships sail by.

Cocktail hour whale watching with Ted and Ruthy

The most exciting and most memorable experience of the entire trip was the South Face McKinley flight-seeing tour and landing on Ruth Glacier with Talkeetna Air Taxi.

We loved all of the boat trips we took.

Whale Pectoral Fin on day trip to Juneau

Seeing ice calving on Aialik Glacier on the Kenai Fjords trip from Seward

Driving to the Coldfoot, sixty miles north of the Artic Circle was a drive to remember.

Catching Halibut and watching the sunset in Ninilchik, Alaska.

Denali National Park.

Moose beside the road on the way out of the park

Beautiful green valley at Polychrome Overlook

Driving the Top of the World Highway, panning for gold, going for a train ride on the Alaska Railroad, watching for wildlife on the side of the road, seeing the Fireweed blooming everywhere, seeing glaciers off in the distance and up close are all highlights of the trip we will never forget.

Every day was memorable, every day was special, every day we saw something spectacular.