Summer Drive

On Day 3 of Shibby's Alaska vacation, it was time for a road trip.  One of the first places she wanted to go was to see the bears at the Conservation Center.  We had our pitstops at Alaska Wildberry, and lunch at the Peanut Farm, and headed south on the Seward Highway.  It was a beautiful clear and sunny day to see Turnagain Arm.

It was a little different from the days of old where we explored Bermuda by scooter.  We had radio.  Coffee holders.  And traffic.  In the scooter days, we could maneuver pretty easily, or get by holdups in Bermuda's infamous "third lane' of traffic, the third lane being the center line of the road between opposing lanes flows of traffic.  Amazing that I survived all that and got taken out by a rat terrier in the end.  Anyway, our beautiful drive started out well, great clear views of the water, some beautiful Fireweed on the roadside to add a splash of color to the pictures.

Occassionally a float plane would cruise by, just willing us to take its photo as it headed on to Seward or Homer, in that cool and casual way that Alaskans fly rather than drive distances between 100 and 1000 miles. Fact...one in five Alaskans have a pilots license.

Unfortunately there was an accident further up the road, and after an hour parked on the highway, we were forced to turn back to Anchorage as the road would remain closed for several hours.  We were a bit disappointed, and with the afternoon fading, had to come up with a change of plans on the fly.  We decided to stop at the Alaska Zoo on the way back through Anchorage.

Before I talk about the zoo, I wanted to share some pictures of flowers at the zoo.  Alaska is quietly big on flowers.  You don't hear a lot of fuss and muss about city planners, or beautification schemes, you just find a lot of flowers, everywhere.  I think nature around here inspires everyone to try a little bit of gardening.  Even I managed a little wildflower garden on my patio this year, which I am desperately trying to keep alive now in September when the sun won't come out and the clouds hang low threatening to freeze my poor little flower friends.  They live in the spare bathroom now.  But anyway, there are lots of little wildflowers that pop up anywhere there is an open spot, and lot of little pots and plots carefully tended that you see all around town, and even around the zoo.

This sleepy little sunflower in the late afternoon sun made me smile.

And these bright pink and yellow flowers could brighten any day.  In Alaska, the flowers themselves are small, but their color and energy are super big!

One more shot of the flowers...and then it was time to focus on the animals (literally and figuratively).