Oh, Alaska!

A conference I attended recently brought me to Anchorage, and J and I decided to take the whole family and made a road trip out of it. Driving through the Alaska Range is always breathtaking. Here is a sample of what it looks like just outside of Denali National Park. This was taken on the way back home, as we are driving from Anchorage up north, about to reach the small town of Cantwell just outside Park borders (find Cantwell on the Google map below). The video quality is not great because I compressed it a lot for internet use.




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When we stopped at the Cantwell gas station, I snapped a picture of this ad. It is SO Alaskan.


Here is Big Moose in Denali Park at the Crow's Nest restaurant.


And here is the wildest moose of all, our very own Small Moose:


















Big Fish has been the quiet, reserved type lately, but I managed to snap a few pictures of her.

Alaskan Wildlife

I know what most people think at the mention of wildlife in Alaska: moose, bears, wolves, arctic fox, ptarmigans....well, this last week has been a little different. First we ran into a thieving, hot-dog eating squirrel, then met "Lucky Bird," the talking, laughing cockatoo in downtown Fairbanks taking a walk on her owner's arm. So...

Last weekend we attended an outdoor picnic at the University. It was a beautiful day, and we had lots of fun especially when we noticed that a thieving squirrel took Small Moose's hot dog right off his plate, then ran into the woods. (That's for the best in my opinion, since I don't condone hot dog eating in my family anyway. I even felt sorry for the squirrel I have so much disdain for hot dogs: )



Then just a few days ago while visiting friends downtown, we met "Lucky Bird" the cockatoo. Lucky repeats "Hello Lucky Bird!" over and over again, and she pulls her owner's zipper down on her sweater, but the funniest thing is her laughter. She laughs just like her owner... The children had a blast with Lucky Bird, and the more the children laughed, the more the bird laughed back. Her owner has had her for 15 years, so I asked how many times she's heard "Hello Lucky Bird!" by now. She gave a long-suffering smile and said "Too many to count."

Lucky also does a mean Darth Vader. Her owner thinks it's the sound of a group of people talking together but I beg to differ. Anyway, it's caught on video right as it starts, so judge for yourselves. Lucky seemed camera shy at first, but then started with her laughing routine, and closed the show with the zipper-pulling trick.