Bear Country

 As an early birthday present, for my 70th in October, two of my sisters and my son bought me a flight on Sasquatch Air to fly out and see grizzly bears. So today was the day.

I joined 20 other people and we flew in 4 planes out to search for grizzlies. The first locations were devoid of bears so we ended up at Katmai National Park. A very beautiful location. We landed on the beach, formed into two groups. After receiving instructions, do’s and don’t, we headed down the beach to the mouth of the river. Two male grizzlies were waiting for the salmon to run. Although, we could see the salmon jumping in the ocean, it was low tide and they were not coming up the river.

After a couple of hours we sat and had a bite to eat, waiting for the tide to come in.

We reformed our groups and went back to the river. One of the grizzlies spotted a salmon and charged for it, he missed. The other grizzlies decided he had enough of this poacher in his fishing spot and charged. Nose to Nose, they stared at each other, the interloper bowed his head and walked down the beach. After a few minutes the other one decided there were no fish and he wandered off.

Here are a few #iPhone12promax pictures.

Grizzly on the beach Katmai NP

Landing on the beach Katmai NP

Bear tracks by the plane

On the way to Katmai NP

On the way to Katmai NP

Seldovia, Alaska

Mount Saint Augustine Volcano

Homer Spit

I will have more pictures from my camera.

Glaciers and More

Never got my cinnamon roll, though I did go back out.

What I did get was huge headache courtesy of Delta Airlines. You may know that I flew a friend out from Rhode Island to housesit for me while I am in Alaska. Yesterday, I receive an e-mail stating that the flight schedule had changed and they had rebooked his return flight, not unusual. I looked at the rebooked flight and found they had change the destination from Providence Rhode Island to Boston Massachusetts, WTF. So, I called, put on hold, was informed the wait would be about 2 hours. After three hours the phone disconnected, called back and hold for another three hours, and disconnected. By this time I am going to bed.
In the morning, first thing I call again. This time they give me the option to have them call me back, where was this option yesterday.
That was at 5:23am, I received a call back at 10am. I told them I needed for them to rebook the second flight from Atlanta to Providence, rather than Boston.
The flight from Albuquerque leaves at 6am and arrives at about 11 in Atlanta. The flight to Providence, has changed and now leaves at 6:57pm. This turns out to being considered a layover, rather than a connection, so it would be turned into two one way tickets , at a higher price. The alternative is to take a 5:51am flight to Salt Lake City with a plane change to Atlanta and then catch the same 6:57pm connection to Providence. Of course this makes no sense, except to the airlines. I worked for TWA for almost ten years and know how to rebook it and make it work, but I wasn't about to get into it with her as I figured the flights will change again before the trip. By that time I will be back in New Mexico and can talk with an agent or supervisor at the airport.

Okay, done with the ranting.

I took a drive to the, Eveline State Recreation Site, to hike around and, hopefully, see some wildlife. Maybe, some bears with cubs, or moose and their babies. 
I had been left a first aid kit and some bear spray for hiking. When I was at the trailhead I prepared myself with my camera equipment and the bear spray. I read the directions and discovered that the zip ties had not been removed and I had nothing with me to remove them with. I figured the best I could do, if I encountered a bear, was to shove it in his/her mouth using my left hand, I am right handed and need it to draw, and hope the bear would bite the canister and have it explode in its mouth. I would most likely be mauled to death, but there would be some picture of it as my camera was in my right hand.
I am here typing with both hands intact, no wildlife except for a few small birds flitting around.

I did get some picture of both the, Dixon and Portlock Glaciers.

Dixon Glacier 

Portlock Glacier

I then drove out to the Spit, as it was an almost perfect day, no clouds, lots of sun and no wind, unfortunately, that also washed out all the color, except blue and white. 

M/V Kennicott
Leaving the Homer Harbor

Kachemak Voyager
The ferry to Seldovia

As I was driving through Homer I came across a Vintage Car Show and captured a picture of a souped up Chevy.

Picture of my trip in Alaska:

ALASKA PORTFOLIO

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Lisa Departs

Sorry no pictures today.

Lisa made her finally preparations to depart on her trip.

While doing that the, blind men, came to install the blinds. Of course the ladder they brought with them was too short to reach the higher windows. they installed the lower windows and then went to get their scaffolding to reach the upper windows. They look great and should help in keeping the house warm.
Add to my "leaving the house duties" raise the blinds so the dogs don't destroy them trying to look out the windows.

I went  out to pick up my lunch at the airport, it was being flown in from Seldovia. I had ordered it earlier in the work after seeing a post on facebook. There is a food truck in Seldovia that makes the food and on Fridays they will sent your meal to Homer by plane. this weeks offering was Cioppino.

Lisa, my sister, and I split this for lunch and we were both full.

Amazing amount of really good food.

Looking forward to next weeks selection.

It was only $12.00 total, unbelievable price for what you receive.

We are getting ready to leave for the airport and Lisa tells me to "remote" start her truck, click the top button, so I click, "no hold the top button, so, don't click it, no click it, but hold it. Wait if I am clicking I and not holding, I am either clicking or holding. Who's on first? No Who is....FINALLY got the truck started. Hold; don't click.

Took Lisa to the airport and then got lost attempting to go to Safeway. Made a right when I should have gone left, quick recon (NO I AM NOT LOST) of the town.

I then had to come back home to let the blind men finish. 

After they were done packed up and left, I heard a phone beep a message, not my phone. So, Drew, one of the, blind men, had forgotten his phone, I ran out but they were gone. I was hoping he wouldn't get very far before he noticed it was missing. Approximately, ten minutes later there is a knock on the door, I grab the phone and answer the door. I hand the phone to him, we laughed about it. He left, I went in the house and see his phone on the counter, SHXX, I gave him my phone, I run out the door and almost knock him over, as he is returning. We laughed.

That was when I noticed that the BBQ Grill had returned, they put it in the garage and left, no sound, no word. Couldn't even thank them. It originally came in a box unassembled, which is not how she ordered it.

So, Lola, and I curled up together to watch UCLA beat Michigan and advance to the final four. We will be watching the UCLA/Gonzaga, not sure who to root for. I always rooted for the California team as I grew up there, but I have followed Gonzaga for years and have always rooted for them. Well may the best team win. 

Lola and I, new blinds behind us.

It is just me and the doggies for the next two months enjoying Alaska.