The Elusive Fox

On Thanksgiving Day, as we were busy in the kitchen preparing dinner, my daughter looked out the window and saw a fox. She said she had seen him several times while she was at our house during our roadtrip. Because of the Thanksgiving dinner prep, my camera was not on the table where it usually sits in anticipation of any outdoor activity. By the time I had gotten the camera the fox was into the woods. Look closely and you can see him concealed by the trees. (Click on the photo to enlarge it.) He did pause and look back at me before heading off deeper into the trees. I was trying to get some shots of him before he disappeared and in my hurry I didn't get the camera's focus on the fox.

That's the one thing about wildlife photos--you have to be prepared for the unexpected. My camera normally is out and ready, but of course when I am unprepared seems to be the time when a wild creature picks to show up. Since we seem to be on his regular path, I'm hoping I'll manage to get some better shots of him.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! I took this photo of a wild turkey in Montana in October.

Winter Pattern

Many of you think of winter as drab and dreary. In Fairbanks the ground is covered with snow for half the year. We have little wind, so the trees are often covered with snow and flocked white for weeks at a time. The daylight hours are dwindling, but we have many beautiful sunny days. The snow glitters like those beautiful Christmas cards you receive. All around I see beautiful winter patterns. Here is a photo I took today in my backyard. Beauty surrounds me.

Montana Mule Deer

I took these photos of mule deer while we were in Montana visiting Mona and Don. When we drove by this mule deer and her two babies were very curious. They checked us out to determine if we posed any danger.

Hey, Mom, what do you think?

I think we'd better skedaddle.

The puzzle shot in the previous post was taken as they were heading away. I am unsure whose rump it was, but I am inclined to believe it is one of the youngsters.

What in the World.....

I have a puzzle for you. I took this photo somewhere on our trip. Can you guess what it is? I have not done anything to this photo. It is exactly as it came out of my camera.

Moose in the Backyard

Early this afternoon I was putting out more seed for the chickadees when Marty called my attention to a pair of moose coming into the yard. A cow moose with her calf from this spring wandered in, nibbling on tasty tidbits.They particularly seemed to enjoy the dried remnants in my flower bed.

The calf walked across the yard near the feeders by the deck.

Mama watched and seemed a bit reluctant to leave the flowerbed, but soon she followed the calf across the yard.

The paused to nibble on tree branches as they made their way around the yard.

We often enjoy watching moose as they make their way through our yard. You can check out more photos that I've posted by clicking on the label "Moose" under the Label section in my sidebar. The winter diet of moose is composed mostly of branches and other dry woody material. I am hoping that they will be unable to prune our little trees as they did last year. This year we wrapped them with landscape fabric that is supposed to keep the moose from eating the trees. We added three small crab apple trees this summer, and the moose are very partial to apple trees. We'll see how we make out!

Winter In The Backyard

We've settled back in after our roadtrip. We got home just in time for the first cold spell that has hit Fairbanks this winter. As we were traveling around the country in lower than normal temps Fairbanks enjoyed an unusually warm spell for this time of year. We had a couple of days of mild weather after we got home, and then last night it dropped down to 23 below zero F. It was around 10 below early this afternoon on our deck. The cold temps don't faze the chickadees. They were busy flitting to the feeders all day.

They love the sunflower seeds.

They are a little fluffier when the mercury drops. I love watching them zipping to the feeders, then back again to the trees. On a cold winter's day they are a bright spot.

I want to thank all of you who followed our roadtrip across the country and all of you who made such lovely comments. We enjoyed seeing some of the diversity of our beautiful country and sharing it with you. I took lots more photos than I have posted and over the next few months will share more with you and give you more detail on some of the items I just touched lightly on. Of course, I'll be posting photos of life in Fairbanks too. It's time to embrace winter!

Home!

Early yesterday morning we crossed the border into Alaska in a light blowing snow. It cleared up within a few hours.We had sunshine again for a while, although there was still blowing snow on the road.

We crossed the Tanana River and had a good view of the oil pipeline.

The sun shining on the mountains gave us a mystical view.

As we came down into the Tanana Valley the sky was cloudy and by the time we got into Fairbanks it was snowing.

As we drove down the road towards our house the snow was very peaceful and beautiful.

It was very good to be home! Out on the deck the chickadees were busy at the one sunflower feeder that I had hung before we left home. One little bird flew up a few feet from me on the deck. "It's about time you got here."

"Put out some more grub, won't you?"

We are busy settling in and catching up on the mail, etc. Today my granddaughter is coming by for a visit. Within a few days we'll be back to our routine and our roadtrip will be just a memory. I'll be sharing more photos of the things we saw over the next several months. We had a great time, but it's good to be home!

Today the Yukon, Tomorrow--Alaska

After traveling from just before daylight until after dark, we reached Beaver Creek tonight. It was another beautiful day spent driving through the Yukon Territory, with a few dips into British Columbia. We passed several lakes and crossed numerous bridges.

Most of the day the temperatures were around 20 degrees F and the sun shone brightly.

We were surrounded by snow-covered mountains. I was struck by one mountain that looked like a polar bear carving.

The road wound up and down and around.

The sun glittering off the snow made a magical scene.

Early this morning before it was light we saw another caribou and then just as it began to get light a beautiful bull moose and of course numerous ravens. We saw two different coyotes, the second standing on the road with a raven. The raven flew off to the side of the road and the coyote ran after it, jumping up attempting to reach the raven. Then he turned and looked back at us for a brief moment before disappearing into the woods.

As the light began to fade, the clouds made a lovely pattern in the evening sky.

We were intending to stop shortly after 4:00 at Burwash Landing, only to find that the Lodge was closed for the winter. The next spot with open lodging was 100 miles down the road in Beaver Creek, just across the border from Alaska. Tomorrow we have a little over 300 miles to travel to get home. I'm looking forward to relaxing for a few days and sleeping in my own bed again, not to mention seeing my little granddaughter who will shortly be 7 months old. We've been gone 45 days, and I know she will have changed a lot. It was wonderful though to see my two granddaughters who live on Vashon and my grandson who lives in Mt. Vernon--oh, and their parents too of course!

A Winter Day on the Alcan

This morning at 6:45 a.m. just as the sky began to lighten we left Fort St. John. The sun came up and it was a lovely sunny day with temps ranging from 6 degrees F to 35 degrees F. The road varied from bare and dry to icy to slushy to compacted snow. We saw some ravens, hawks, deer, and a single caribou.

We drove up and down through the Canadian Rockies.

The Liard River is beginning to ice up.

Throughout a long section of the road the snow clung to the trees making the drive a beautiful winter wonderland.

We saw even more buffalo than we did on our drive south.

For over a 100 miles we saw several herds of buffalo and quite a few small groups or individuals foraging for food in the snow.

The road crews were out to keep the road clear.

The ever present semi trucks were kicking up snow clouds on many parts of the road.

As the sun went down beautiful cloud formations could be seen in the sky.

We only made a few stops over the day. There is a three hour gap between the last lodgings along this stretch of road and Watson Lake. As the light failed at 5:00 p.m. we drove into Watson Lake. The temperature had dropped to 6 degrees and for the first time since last winter we plugged the truck in. (For those of you who live in a warm climate, an engine heater is an essential part of life in the North. All our vehicles have a plug attached and an electrical cord is part of our winter gear.) Watson Lake is in the Yukon Territory, and our drive tomorrow will be in the Yukon. On Thursday we will be in Alaska and finally at home in Fairbanks.

On the Way Home Through British Columbia

Yesterday morning we headed north from Mt. Vernon on our way home to Fairbanks. As we went through Bellingham we were stopped for a few minutes as a parade of old cars went by. Leave it to Marty to find a car show even while driving down the road! Then we drove through northern Washington on our way to the Canadian border. We drove through some gorgeous farm country.

We crossed the border into Canada at Sumas. Within a matter of minutes of coming to the border we were on our way.

In southern British Columbia we were still enjoying lovely fall colors and more beautiful farm country with snow-capped mountains in the background.

We then went through the Fraser River Canyon. It is a very scenic route with many tunnels through the mountain.

Clouds hung low and created beautiful framed pictures as we came out of the tunnels.

At one turnout we stopped and I took photos down into the canyon of the railroad track. While we were in Mt. Vernon, my son Brian commented on remembering my terror while driving through the Fraser River Canyon on a trip south when he was 13, some 30 years ago. I don't remember that, but I'm sure he is correct. Hey, Brian, this time the Canyon was a piece of cake! I'm sure the road is considerably widened from 30 years ago, and just having drove through Sequoia National Park, in comparison the Canyon is nothing!

Last night we spent the night at the Red Coach Inn at 100 Mile House. The Inn sits on the site of the 100 Mile Way-Station on the old Cariboo Trail. The original Way-Station was built in 1863 and burned in 1937. Gold was discovered in 1861 in Barkerville and people began the trek north from Lillooct. As we drove along this route we saw many markers for 70 Mile House, 150 Mile House, etc. A town has sprung up at 100 Mile House and has a population of 2,000. The stagecoach below is Express Stage Coach #14 and the only surviving coach of the Barnard Express & Stage Line. It traveled between Ashcroft and Prince George until 1917. The restoration of the coach has just been completed.

Late yesterday afternoon we had seen the last of the fall colors and began seeing a little snow along the roadside. This morning we headed out and after we went through Prince George and climbed into the mountains we ran into a 20 mile stretch of YIKES--WINTER!

It was snowing pretty heavily so our speed was slowed down a bit.

As we descended from the mountains the snow stopped and the road was bare. We came into Chetwynd, which is known for its chainsaw carving. The hold the International Chainsaw Carving Championship in June each year.

We drove north from Chetwynd to Fort Saint John where we landed for the night. It was a bit below freezing but the roads are bare. We have a little less than 1500 miles to go to reach Fairbanks. So far we have traveled a little more than 10,000 miles on our trip. We left home on September 28 and are ready to be back home. A few more days will see us there.