Found some missing Alaska photos! Yippee!

Kirk had an extra compact flash hiding somewhere? In his camera bag? But we JUST found all these great images from our trip to Alaska last summer and the bears at Lake Clark National Park.









And this day was really special - from our SECOND trip to Alaska in June 2009. We had some extra time (while the kids were at camp at Keystone Science School, and this afternoon we hung out with this mother and 3 cubs. At one point, they all took a nap in the grass, and we did also! Luckily as part of the Homestead Lodge plan, our guide Scott was looking out for us while we napped!

Scott said that we got more viewing opportunities than other guests because we had time and were willing to hang out (nap) in the field. This first photo is of our guide Scott and his wife, Sage, and you can see the first two photos have us viewers, photographers, with the bears in the background.

Best of Alaska Photos Summer 2009

Whew! What a summer of amazing travel and vacations - mostly to Alaska - 3 full weeks in that beautiful state this summer! As I finalize all the photo editing, I thought I would share my very favorite photos of the Alaska trips. As a photographic summary....







This last one is a favorite - 9 year old Tyler swinging outside the lodge, and a grizzly meandering away from him in the background - neither one really oblivious of the other!

The photos from our June 2009 trip here....

And photos from our July 2009 trip here....

And our favorite place on earth is Lake Clark National Park which is 135 airmiles southwest of Alaska and an amazing wilderness where the best photos were taken!

Thanks to Sheila and James of Alaska Homestead Lodge for two wonderful stays there. And to Scott and Sage for being great guides and keeping us safe around the bears!

Thanks to Dale Franz for opening my eyes to this place and scheduling a photo workshop there. Thanks to David and Joanne at the Silver Salmon Lodge for letting me be a tag along participant on Dale's workshop when I was balancing family time and my time!

More information about Lake Clark can be found at these links:

National Park Service
Tripadvisor
Away.com

What an amazing beautiful place to visit and we are feeling truly blessed to have spent time this summer in Alaska - we will be back soon!

Bears, Fish, and RAIN in Alaska......

Wow... we have had three amazing days of nothing but fish, bears, and rain here at Lake Clark National Park and staying at the Alaska Homestead Lodge. We love this place. Our flight is scheduled back to Soldotna in two hours - but with the rain & visibility - we're hoping we are forced to stay longer!

Yesterday's bear watching was absolutely amazing - a grizzly sow with three first year cubs - we watched and photographed them for HOURS! At one point we all laid down in the grass and took a nap when the cubs and sow took a nap! Now that's being relaxed! (And our guide Scott was there to protect us!)






This was a pretty unusual scene we are told - a first year grizzly cub riding on Mom's back. It seems to be his mode of operation - our group is thinking he may have some deformity or trouble walking, and it's easier for the family if he just hops ups on mom's back. Cute, interesting scene, but also pretty sad for a cub like that - the chances of surving in the wilderness without full physical capability puts him at a big risk. Oh, the life of a grizzly bear!

Back to Alaska and Lake Clark National Park - Day 1

Well, Day 1 of our return trip to Lake Clark National Park has been absolutely amazing. The salmon are in and the Alaskan Coastal Brown Bears (same as grizzlies but Alaska's brown bears) are eating them up! It has been a blast to watch the bears fishing. So much more action than the clamming and grass eating shots we took in our June Trip.

We are staying again at the Alaska Homestead Lodge and can't recommend it highly enough - we love this place! We want to make it home!








Although the dog barked this morning and there had been a bear right on the front porch, who left a couple scratch marks by the front door of the lodge. And this male grizzly keeps wandering around in the yard.... it might make me a little nervous

Leaving Lake Clark National Park in Alaska

On Tuesday we had to say goodbye to this wonderful wilderness and our great hosts James and Sheila Issac at the Alaska Homestead Lodge. There's only two ways out - by boat or by plane and we took a Natron Air seven seater plane. The kids loved it - but this momma was a little nervous!

These planes land on the beach at low tide - they say it's a great landing strip - but it took us a little while to get used to!








This last photo is of Mount Redoubt - a volcano 30 miles from the lodge which has been active this summer! And we even experienced a 5.2 magnitude earthquake which we felt while there! It was centered much further north than us, but it was the first earthquake we've ever actually felt!

Bye James & Sheila, Scott, Simon & Emily - we'll see you again soon!


You can always tell Heather's opinions quite quickly these days (a preteen)! She loved it there and did NOT want to leave!


And I am usually happy to get home after a vacation, but this was different. I shed some tears leaving Lake Clark and the Homestead. The whole experience was one of the best four days in my life! It was an amazing experience! I have never seen Kirk so relaxed and happy!



But the recipe for "Kirk Happiness" could be dangerous. Or dangerously expensive! It took almost 3 weeks off work, two days of fishing in the Kenai River, and four days away from civilization and next to grizzlies to finally get the guy to relax & nap & enjoy life!

Photography Workshop at Lake Clark National Park

I had the pleasure of joining Dale Franz for another Franzfoto Safari while at Lake Clark National Park - there were 8 of us photographers total, and it was an amazing experience! Some of the photos on previous posts were taken with Dale's Class, but I thought I would share a few photos of the group!

Dale has another similar trip planned for the first week in July 2010 and I highly recommend it! They will be staying next door to the Homestead, the Silver Salmon Creek Lodge.








I thought that Lynn's mosquito netting above was funny the first day, but I donned it day 2, as it's a necessary part of the equipment. In this photo below, I don't know if Art was taking a rest on his Canon 500mm lens or if he was just dodging mosquitoes! Art was on last year's Yellowstone trip - so it was good to see another fellow student! Art has been back to several of Dale's trips - that's the sign of a great photography instructor, lots of return students!




This last photo shows the gang traveling via ATV guided by Drew from the Silver Salmon Lodge. Drew has been living out there for several years and even spent a couple winters as a caretaker, so he's the local brown bear expert!

Kirk took this photo of the gang from his ATV and Heather & Tyler were with him. When 9 year old Tyler saw me with the gang of photographers, he pulled me aside & said, "Mom, do you know you're the only girl in your workshop?" Luckily it was another GREAT group of photography students and they welcomed me although I'm not one of their kind!