Oh! Wow! Awesome!

I'm going through the circa 1000 photos I took on my trip to Alaska, Nevada and California, and I realize that they can't capture what I felt, looking at wide, unspoiled vistas, or details of human creativity and endeavor:

Oh! Wow! Awesome!

I will eventually get some photo albums published, but here is a wee taster:

Humpback whales engaged in a group fishing and feeding style called bubble net fishing, and which is a fairly rare event. We sure lucked out seeing this during our whale-watching trip.

I discovered something about ice floes: They are like looking at clouds. In this one, I see the Loch Ness monster.

Impossible to describe how this really feels to see in person. Photos never do the awe justice. But I was really happy to get this quiet and dramatic trip into one of Alaska's most beautiful fjords: Tracy Arm.

A musher adjusts the sled dogs in a summer musher camp. The dogs get so eager, they end up crossing the line (literally) and have be put back. Amazingly, they do all usually keep their place and pull coordinatedly once they start pulling. Sixteen dogs pulled us on a wheeled cart over bumpy dirt roads and what fun that was! I think I was as thrilled as the dogs.

Mono Lake, California. I found myself on a one million year old lake, surrounded by dormant volcanoes four to six times as old. Can you teld I held my breath?

America has ghost towns, and plenty of them. For some reason, America is good at creating ghost towns (it's pretty good about creating towns out of thin air, too). Bodie, California, is one of America's more famous ghost towns. We didn't see any ghosts, though. I love the pastels in this photo.

Santa Cruz's boardwalk. That's me in the rear, screaming my head off on a simple log ride because it's a lot scarier when you can't see where you're going. Whee!

Photographed on one of the formal nights on the cruise ship. Wave to Keera!