on the trail

One day last week my family went hiking on one of the many trails around the city and of course I had to take a million and one photos. But hey, I'm fine with a ton of photos, because who doesn't want to look at pretty flowers?



I have my brother William here with me (he's the blonde one). He's an expert on plants and knew a lot of the names of the flora we stumbled upon. This flower is a Columbine and my favorite flower we saw on the hike.




William thinks these flowers are called Morning Stars, and I don't doubt his expert knowledge.







The flower on the left is called Bluebell and the one on the right is Lupine. It just amazes me how many different kinds of flowers there are and how intricate and detailed each one is. It's beautiful how each little part of the flower was made perfectly.







These pretties are Clovers, pretty common but I still love them. Who doesn't love a pretty purple flower?






This plant is Devil's Club. And that's my mom's hand. These plants are crazy huge. The leaves are around 16 inches wide, and the plant has been known to grow as tall as 16 feet!








Aside from seeing pretty flowers, we also stopped to sit on the bluff, which overlooked the ocean and the city below. It was a perfect view to see so many different aspects of Alaska: the forests, mountains, ocean, and city.

Also on our hike we ran into a baby moose. It was chilling out right on the trail. Moriah was excited about it because she thought that meant we would have to turn back and therefore not finish the hike (moose can be pretty dangerous), but after we stared at the moose and it stared back, it ran up the side of the mountain. On our way back we spotted the baby again, but it evaded us pretty quickly.









I really love being able to explore all the different places in Alaska (just maybe not so early, Daddy. :) ) and it's great to know that there are great adventures mere minutes from our doorstep.

out of luck, I look up

day 195

(click on the photo to view it larger)

I'm back to the regular 365 photos, as the week long day camp is over. Next week though my friend Megan is coming up, so the photos will be more of a documentation. Today, however, I did something I have never done before. I drove to a location to take portraits of myself. Of course with my luck there was a huge party going on at the park I went to, with tents and games and cars filling the parking lot. And of course once I thought I was out of sight on the trail a bunch of horseback riders appeared out of nowhere. I awkwardly walked past them and finally got to the field.



What you don't see in the photo are the mosquitoes swarming around me by the millions, the pandora radio on my phone playing pretty music to scare away bears and moose, or the rain and wet grass causing my pants to be completely soaked. But you also don't see me feeling absolutely amazing.

I read a saying today that said, "Once in a while, blow your own mind." And I thought, "Heck, why can't I blow my own mind every day?" So here is the 365 photo that blew my mind today. It was a completely new experience for me and quite possibly a major turning point in my 365 project.

the world is infinite

day 194








Yes, it is July in Alaska, but it seems like we traveled to a different world today. Just an hour outside the city there are glaciers and driving wind and rain (at least today there was) and I felt like we were on a different continent. The cold and rain and wind actually added to the fun as it made for a real adventure.







We sledded down the glacier and tried to stand against the wind, but it was so much fun we hardly noticed the rain soaking through our jeans. After about forty five minutes in the kids were ready to go, so we hiked back out and stayed in the comfort of a warm car.







Thankfully my friend is coming up so we may have to come back to this spot. It was truly an adventure.

I see the world in front of me

(the zoo)




day 193





















For today's day camp excursion we went to the zoo, which I was especially excited about because I love the zoo. There was also a wedding going on, so if you've been following the blog for a while, you know that I nearly died of a cuteness attack. Sadly I didn't get too many good photos of the animals as I had not even thought about bringing my telephoto lens, but lucky for you guys (and meee!) my friend from Oklahoma is coming up next week and we will definitely be going to the zoo one day.