glacier calving – Wandering Dawgs

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #384 – What Astonishes You?

February 7, 2026February 7, 2026Posted in Butterflies, Flowers, Nature, PhotographyTagged caterpillar, glacier calving, Grand Canyon, Landscape, Lens-Artists, Mesa Verde, ocean, Photo Challenge, Redwoods National Park, Trillium, Whooping Crane83 Comments

What have you seen or experienced that has astonished you? The challenge is to include photos about things that astonish you and tell us why you are astonished.

I got the inspiration for this challenge from these words by Mary Oliver from her poem “Sometimes”:

“Instructions for living a life:

Pay attention

Be astonished

Tell about it”

According to the Merrriam-Webster Dictionary the definition of astonished is “feeling or showing great surprise or wonder”.

There are so many astonishing places and things to experience in our world if we just take the time to pay attention to what is around us. Sometimes we can be surprised by something in our own backyard or neighborhood. It may be something in nature or it could be something created by humans like a piece of art or interesting architecture. We may want to travel to see astonishing wonders of nature or things created by humans. The challenge is to show us what astonishes you. What makes you go “WOW”?

I can find wonders all around my neighborhood and my own back yard when I slow down and look around me. It’s the little things like these that bring me joy. I’m astonished that this weird looking caterpillar on the left will become a beautiful Gulf Fritillary like the one on the right.

I plant flowers in my garden to attract hummingbirds, butterflies and other pollinators. During the warm months I keep my hummingbird feeder filled with fresh nectar. No matter how many times I have witnessed it I am always astonished when I see one of the huumers hovering in mid air.

I am always astonished at the vastness and power of the ocean. These waves were crashing on the beach as a tropical storm was approaching Tybee Island, Georgia.

Sometimes my husband and I travel long distances to see astonishing sights. When I pay attention I often find astonishing things I wasn’t expecting to see.

I was in awe of the ancient giant Redwoods in Redwoods National Park in California. I spent most of my time looking up, taking in their enormous size.

And then I looked down at the forest floor and was astonished to discover the beautiful trillium flowers were blooming.

My husband and I have traveled to Arizona twice to visit the Grand Canyon. The canyon is awe-inspiring and makes me feel how truly small I am in the grand scheme of things.

We spent two months in Alaska in 2013 and every day brought new things that astonished me. Seeing and hearing a glacier calving was one of those events that has always stayed with me.

Not only was observing Whooping Cranes in the wild an astonishing experience, knowing that they migrate 2,500 miles from Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada to Aransas National Wildlife Refuge every fall was even more astonishing. After wintering in Texas, they begin their migration back north to Canada about mid March each year. We made a special trip to Texas to see these magnificent birds who once were on the brink of extinction.

I am always astonished when I see ancient structures built by humans that have survived for thousands of years. I’ve never seen the Pyramids or the Great Wall of China but I have seen the Cliff Dwellings of Mesa Verde National Park. How did they build these structures and how did the people survive in the harsh environment?

Last week I enjoyed all of your wonderful shapes and designs in response to Tina’s challenge. Thank you to everyone who joined the challenge..

I hope you will join in for this week’s challenge. I can’t wait to see what astonishes you. Be sure to tag your post with Lens-Artists and include a link back to this post.

Be sure to check back on Saturday, February 14 at noon eastern time when Ritva will be hosting the challenge.

For information on how to join the Len-Artists challenge please click here.

Every Day is a Gift

Memories of Alaska Glaciers

January 19, 2021January 21, 2021Posted in Alaska, Glaciers, PhotographyTagged aialik Glacier, blue, Emotions, Glacier, glacier calving, Lens-Artists, Photo Challenge, SundayStills29 Comments

When I saw Terri’s Monthly Color Photo Challenge was for the color Glacier Blue, I took the challenge literally and browsed through my archives searching for the blue in my glacier images from our 2013 Alaska RV trip.

I was amazed each time we saw one of these ancient, gigantic bodies of ice. We saw a few from the road, many from nature cruises, and even some from an airplane. Each one took my breath away. We could feel the cold each time we approached one for a closer look. Seeing all these images again brought back many happy memories.

The captain of our cruise from Seward took us close to the Aialik Glacier and shut off the engines so we could see and hear the glacier calving. There’s more about that amazing experience at Glaciers and Wildlife in Seward

Probably the most memorable day of our Alaska journey was the day we took a flight seeing trip from Talkeetna. We not only saw glaciers from the air, but our plane landed on one.

The blue glacier water can be seen from the air

Beth on Ruth glacier under a clear blue sky

On a nature cruise from Valdez our boat navigated through the ice and in Juneau we saw Mendenhall Glacier up close.

While these images make me cold as I look at them they also make me happy. I feel so grateful we were able to make the trip when we did.

Many thanks to Patti for this week’s Lens Artists photo challenge Emotions.

Glaciers and Wildlife in Seward, Alaska

July 22, 2013February 10, 2016Posted in Alaska, Birds, City Park, Glaciers, National Parks, Restaurants, WildlifeTagged Aialik Glacir, glacier calving, Holgate Glacier, humpback whales, Kenai Fjords National Park, Kenai Peninsula, Nature, Puffin, Sea Otters3 Comments

Our Alaskan Journey continued in Seward, Alaska where we spent three nights in the Seward Waterfront Park.

Day 63: Wednesday, July 17, 2013. Palmer to Seward, Alaska. Seward Waterfront Park, Resurrection Campground Site R5. 132 miles traveled.

Our drive took us through downtown Anchorage and then south along the Seward Highway. There were spectacular views of Turnagain Arm and mountains most of the way.

Turnagain Arm at low tide

Turnagain Arm south of Anchorage

Henry and Blondie enjoying the view

Gorgeous scenery every where we went

Resurrection Campground City of Seward Waterfront Park

Small boat harbor in Seward, Alaska

We arrived in Seward and searched the city campgrounds for a waterfront site but had no luck so we picked a site in the fourth row from the water and then took a walk to the small boat harbor to check things out.

Day 64: Thursday, July 18, 2013.

A van picked us up at 9:45 and drove us to the harbor for our 7 1/2 hour sightseeing cruise on the Spirit of Adventure with Major Marine Tours. Our trip took us through parts of Kenai Fjords National Park and there was a park ranger on board to tell us information about the wildlife and glaciers we were seeing. We had comfortable seats inside a cabin where we stored our gear and then went outside to see the sights. As we traveled through Resurrection Bay we could see our RV when we cruised by the campground. There were sea otters in the water and we stopped to watch a mother and calf humpback whale.

Our campground from the water – we’re in the middle on the back row

The buildings on the top of this rock are bunkers from WWII

We saw sea otters all day

Sea otters enjoying the day

So relaxed

Humpback Whale

There were Puffins in the water

The cruise continued thorough Ailiak Bay to the Holgate Glacier for a close view of the half mile wide Holgate Glacier and Surprise Glacier. Captain Nicole turned off the engines so we could listen for the sound of ice breaking loose from the glacier before falling into the sea. When the ice breaks loose and falls it is called calving. We heard and watched about four or five calvings before moving on to the next glacier.

Henry and Beth at Holgate Glacier

Holgate Glacier

Surprise Glacier

Ice fallen from the glacier floated all around us

Our next stop was at the mile wide Ailiak Glacier where we witnessed more spectacular calvings. There was complete silence on the boat as we waited for the roar of ice. We were fortunate to see several more chunks of ice fall into the water including what our captain said was one of the biggest ones she has ever seen. Take a look at the next sequence of pictures to get an idea of what the ice falling looks like.

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

Hearing and seeing the ice fall was simply amazing. I could have sat there all day but the cruise continued as we traveled through the Chiswell Islands and saw more humpback whales, puffins, and other wildlife. Captain Nicole got us back to the dock right on time at 5:30. What a great day.

It was our anniversary so we drove about four miles out of town to the Salmon Bake restaurant for a Salmon dinner to celebrate. I just can’t get enough of this salmon!

Day 65: Friday, July 19, 2013

After a day at sea, some of it being in very rough waters, we were both sore and exhausted. I think 2 months of travel and sightseeing tours finally caught up with us. We both slept late and took it easy all day. We took a last drive around Seward in the afternoon.