Our Holiday table will be decorated with this nice carnation and baby breath with American flags centerpiece today. Happy Fourth of July! Click on the image to enlarge.
July 2015
One Decade Ago
Throwback Thursday! Ten years ago over the Independence Day Holiday, Damsel and I flew to Anchorage for an Alaska-by-rail tour. We left LAX, connected through Portland and got to Anchorage mid-afternoon. The day we got there, there was a street fair in town a couple of blocks from the hotel. We hung out there for a while and came back for the buffet at the hotel later.
The next morning we embarked on the first leg of the trip winding up at Denali National Park where we stayed that night. There were plenty of museums, a dog sledding exhibit and other activities to entertain us. On the Fourth of July, they shot off fireworks at nine PM, but they were difficult to see in the sunlight (land of the midnight sun and all that). Our hotel cabin was on the south bank of the Denali River.
The following morning, we waited in the rain while the train pulled into the station at Denali. You can see the rainfall in the photo above. Click on the image to enlarge.
The rain stopped a little way up the tracks and it was clear all the way to Fairbanks. We spent a good evening at the hotel that night, taking a break from the TV entertainment to go outside and truly witness the midnight sun. Wow!
The next day was a flight from Fairbanks to Portland and thence back to LAX where we rescued the truck from the parking lot and headed back home. It’s really hard to realize that was ten years ago.
Late Blooming Cholla Flowers
Several of the cholla cacti around the house have flowers opening in early summer which is pretty late in the season for them according to our observations. However, cactus flowers are always enjoyable regardless of when they occur. Click on the image to enlarge.
Some of the compass barrel cacti in the neighborhood are opening and many of the saguaros in the area have more flowers even though our big guy’s flowers seem to have come and gone. There didn’t seem to be as many this year from big guy.
Now, we look forward to second spring which will be here in a couple of months. Meanwhile, high temperatures and monsoons and the resulting humidity are in the immediate future.