November 30 Photo Shoot, part 2

Later this same day - after dropping Kasey off following her surgery - I wanted to catch the sun coming up over the mountains, but couldn't find a satisfactory place from which to shoot. I ended up heading south out of Anchorage and drove about 10 or 12 miles out the Seward Highway.

First, I stopped at a little pull-out along the road and took the first four shots, below. After leaving this spot, I continued on until I got to Beluga Point (so named because you can sometimes spot pods of beluga whales cavorting here in the spring) and took the next three shots from there. Finally, as I was headed back toward Anchorage, I stopped at Potter Marsh (part of the Anchorage Coastal Wildlife Refuge) and took the remaining six photos from there.

Hope you enjoy my little journey!

TFL - kimB

Panoramic shot of Cook Inlet and Turnagain Arm. This is actually two shots stitched together -- as wonderful as my camera is, "panorama" is not one of its many modes! Took this at 10:58 am and you can see the sun is not very high in the sky at this point. In fact, it had only been "up" for about 90 minutes!

While taking photos of the inlet on the west side of the highway, I could hear the sound of running water. Turning around, I could see a mixture of ice-covered rock and quickly flowing water coming down behind it. I crossed over the highway and once there, found these wonderful works of art - plant stems and grasses totally encased in ice! Very impressive :) I couldn't resist taking a few photos!

More of the wonderous iced plants. In this photo, you can also see the ice-encrusted stones and pebbles at the base of the cliff. They look like jewels :)

Last photo from my first stop heading out Seward Hwy - no special name for it, just a pull-out spot for slow drivers. 11:04 am I used the sunset mode to get this dramatic coloring.

Located about 12 miles south of Anchorage along the Seward Highway, Beluga Point is a great place to watch for pods of beluga whales and also the bore tide ( http://alaska.org/bore-tides.jsp ). Photo taken at 11:12 am.

There's usually a stiff breeze - okay, wind - blowing along the inlet and seeing trees like this is pretty common. I think they're very artistic looking!

It was actually a calm and "breeze-less" day (for a change) and I could hear the waves quietly lapping at the shore below. Such a lovely sound :) This is the last of the photos from Beluga Point.

There were several of these footprints on the path to the marsh. I couldn't tell if these were simple dog prints or something more wild and untamed. I showed the photo to DH and he said you can see the difference in the length and shape of the toes. These belong to a wolf. Too cool!

Part of the Anchorage Coastal Wildlife Refuge, this is a well-known local bird-watching site and home to more than 130 species of birds and a wide variety of animals. Here is a website to check out if you are interested in learning more: http://www.wc.adfg.state.ak.us/index.cfm?adfg=refuge.anch_coastal . As you can see, the marsh is frozen for the season, but it is still a beautiful place to visit.

Closer view of the reeds and grasses in the frozen marsh. I used the "oil paint" filter (Roxio PhotoSuite 5.0) for this photo.

Just some of the many frosted plants surrounding the marsh. These look like they're dusted with sugar!

I love hoar frost - makes me think of crystalized sugar or "rock candy" :D!

Delighful cattails with frosted caps! Wanted to get closer, but these are on the water and I was afraid of breaking through the ice, as it's not very thick at this time.