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One of the ports we stopped in during our Alaska cruise last year was Juneau. Along the waterfront there are quite a few totem poles. They’re part of the Totem Pole Trail(Kooteeyaa Deiyi). Each pole tells the story of lineage, clan crests, and ancestral history. There are story boards and scan codes to explain their stories beside the totems. There are plans to expand to 30 totem poles representing all the clans of the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian peoples.
This one is the Kaagwaantaan Totem Pole it was created by artist Nicholas Galanin in April 2023. It depicts clan crests including the Killer Whale, and Eagle.
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After several hours of birding my birding partner and I were hungry so went looking for a place fairly close by to have some lunch. We found Quaker Steak & Lube.
This is the only one in FL going by their website. We both had salads and I failed to take a photo of either of them. It was just a Caesar Salad w/grilled chicken. Instead of croutons they served it with Cheese Curds. Now, I thought that sounded gross and would probably just pick them out, but after trying one I gobbled them up! They were warm and slightly gooy and tender on the inside yummy. Mary had the Biker Chick salad. It sounded delicious too, but it was on the sweet side and I was hot and wasn’t in the mood for sweet.
The inside of the restaurant is car themed. Each wing of the interior has a small sports racing car hanging from the ceiling, and lots of car memorabilia like a dividing wall full of MAC tools for fixing cars. I went back a second time for that salad and this time He-Man was with me he said he has some of those tools. Who knew?!
Anyway, I did get photos of the exterior and the doors.
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Last week He-Man and I had a little get-away for our 43rd anniversary. We didn’t go too far just up to Sparks, NV.
We booked a balcony suite at Hampton Inn & Suites at the marina for the view of Helms Lake, and view of Reno’s skyline. This lake has an interesting beginning.
“The site was once a gravel pit owned by the Helms Construction Corp. (1968-1995) The pit is 100 feet deep. They found petroleum and solvent contamination seeping into the pit in 1987 so it was declared a Super Toxic Sight and clean up began. In 1996 it was declared free of petrochemicals and the site was turned over to the city of Sparks.
Millions of dollars of spill mitigation money was made available to the city, which they used to construct the park and make the pit a recreational pond. They had planned to fill the pit to 30 feet, but in January 1997 the Truckee River overflowed its banks and filled the Helms Pit creating what is now Richard Helms Lake or Sparks Marina Pond.” You can read a little more about how it stays filled at the link. https://www.ndow.org/waters/sparks-marina/
Now for our view-
Our day-time balcony view
It was pretty windy the day we were up there as you can see by the water.
Our Evening View
We both really enjoyed having this evening view when the lights in the city came on.
I had hoped our 4th floor balcony room would afford a great view of the sky so I could also try to photograph Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, but alas we had a storm rolling in and cloud cover.
Finally, Monday night April 1st…no joke! We had a clear night so I went out to my front yard and spied the Comet.
Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks with faint tail.Green Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks cropped in.Dialing in my focus I got Jupiter and her Moons too.
We had a lovely anniversary walking around the lake both days, and we found a new Indian place we liked a lot for dinner so, we’ll make the drive up for that again when we’re craving Indian food, and we’ll be staying there again when the weather is warmer and we’ll take our kayak up for a paddle around the lake.
I hope the stars have lined up a fantastic week for you.
Nikon D850| Nikkor 80-200mm| iPhone 14 Pro| PS CC 25.5.1
He-Man and I are beginning to explore a bit more of our new home state of Nevada this time we spent a couple of days in Elko County exploring Lamoille Canyon in the Ruby Mountains. While on the scenic highway I spied this beautiful little church and had to stop for a photo or two.
Lamoille Presbyterian Church
From the church’s website found here they say the congregation had its first church service in Lamoille in 1872, and in 1890 the Organization of the First Presbyterian Church of Lamoille was established.
In 1905 they layed the first cornerstone for the building.
Since then it has gone through some changes and even closed for a time because of a decline in population and non use. It came back though and has been restored and had a second addition added in 1983, and in 2005 the community celebrated its 100th anniversary!
Closer look at the DoorLamoille Presbyterian Church
Hello! I’m back from taking a short blogging break. I have a few exciting things to share but, I haven’t been able to turn my mind to writing about them or processing my images yet. When I got home from my latest trip I came home to find #1 Grandson here for a summer visit!! He’s staying until next week then we’ll take him home. His school resumes in late August! It seems like summer is going by too fast. Already it’s dark here by 8:30 P.M.!
I’m so far behind processing and sharing images I fear I’ll never catch up, but let’s go back to my trip to Illinois which was in July this year. The day after my son’s wedding I went birding and He-Man came along for the walk, while we were at The Little Red Schoolhouse Nature Center I ran into a birder and we got to chatting about birds we’d each seen so far that morning, and I asked him if he’d seen any Northern Cardinals in the area and he said he had just up the trail!! We were off on the hunt. It wasn’t long too long after that I saw a red streak fly by in the trees ahead. I raced forward, He-Man raced forward as now he too was excited and on the hunt!! I saw it dive into the bushes but, couldn’t see it then suddenly it flew up to a dead tree snag and perched!!!
Northern Cardinal-Male
I’ve been dreaming of seeing this bird for what seems my whole life…more so since I started birding more seriously in 2010. Can you see me doing my happy dance? 💃💃 I still am so excited to have finally see this beautiful bird! One day I hope to see the Female so that’s still on my list.
Northern Cardinal-Male
I saw one other “Lifer” here at this Nature Center that I’ll be sharing soon, and I’ll be telling you all about my trip to Wyoming where I met up with Janet from This, That, and the Other Thing!!
I hope this finds you all well, you have a wonderful week-end!
Fuji X-T3| Fujinon 100-400mm @ 400mm| PS CC 23.4.2
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