The snow was falling, the bison were calving, the crowds were missing (just 2 dozen to watch Old Faithful - I've been there when there were easily 2 thousand) and just 25% of the park was open - it was a great day in Yellowstone. It was tough to pick a few pictures to sum up the day in the park, it really had to be expereienced more than photographed . . .
Crater of the Moon was closed to vehicle traffic when we got there due to snow removal efforts but we could - and did - hike in and explore to our hearts content. This was the first of many places where we enjoyed parks virtually to ourselves in the "off-season".
We were shocked, amused, and eventually tickled at finding the mid-sized rental car we had reserved for the road trip portion of our vacation turned out to be an electric blue PT Cruiser. I'll admit, after 11 days and 2600 miles it sort of grew on me a bit (but don't tell anyone . . . . . ).
The top photo is a mourning dove nesting on my sister's garage - it has no problem with the garage door going up and down just a couple feet away but it is very shy when it comes to being photographed, it took a couple days of being patient. The other two pictures are of Map Rock along the Snake River. It dates to pre-historic times and shows what are believed to be the best hunting spots along the Snake River and its tributaries.
We made our Dutch Harbor to Anchorage to Seattle to Boise, Idaho portion of our travel and we're having fun exploring. The bird nest is in my sister's yard; she planted four fruit trees 12 years ago for each of her children and they have thrived - the children and the trees - in the years since. The other pictures are from a trip to Jump Creek this afternoon. We love Unalaska but it's wonderful to be around family and have that sense of history that binds us all together. Goldfish is meeting most of my family for the first time, even though I have known her for 13 years. We're here for a couple more days and then we're renting a car and driving to North Dakota, hitting Yellowstone on the way. It is actually colder in Idaho right now than it was in Dutch Harbor when we left!
Goldfish and I are hitting the road for a brief honeymoon tour of the US - the dog-sitter is lined up, the house-sitter is lined up, and my in-box is almost emptied out at work. I can't decide if I should post travel pics on my old blog which has a lot of pictures of scenery and wildlife from motorcycling to Maine from Alaska and back, or if I should post them here. What do you all think? Should I keep this as just an island blog - keep it pure? Or does it matter?
Our friends did an amazing job decorating the company rec hall for our reception and we had a fantastic time. Our friend Keri, along with being a witness at our ceremony, made our wedding cake from scratch, handmade flowers and all. Dabby, Sandy, Mario, Ivana and others who decorated and the all the folks who brought so many fantastic dishes to the potluck buffet - Sandra, Sally, Rocky, Purida, Alise, Ricardo, Mike, Vicki, Mel, Ann, Angel, James, Cindy, Elena, Josie, Nancy, Jun, Joe, Kristine, Al, Giselle, Steve E., Rizal, Dan, Elaine and many others - thank you! All the production crew and technicians who came and partied and those who cleaned up the mess afterwards, thanks so much. We are truly blessed with a great bunch of friends and coworkers . . . . . . 
If Goldfish and I look like we have a lot on our minds in this photo, then well - judging from the clock on the wall - we've been married about 90 minutes at this point so we probably did! Plus we're digesting our post-ceremony Mexican meal we had with our two witnesses, Keri and Elaine. In case you're wondering, I cried, Goldfish remained steady, and we're very happy with our decision . . . . and Trevor, you can see the beard is coming back quickly so you can stop worrying . . . .
I love finding these impressions of eagles in the snow when I'm out exploring - these two pictures were taken on Strawberry Hill a couple weeks ago. I especially like the bottom picture showing the spot where two eagles landed in the middle of untracked snow and then took off - what they leave behind is, to my eye, as beautiful as the bird itself, especially in context of the surroundings. The snow is disappearing fast and I'm enjoying the longer days and milder weather but I will miss "snow eagles" until next winter . . . . .
We're pretty happy with how the invites turned out, it should be a fun time Saturday night!
We turned the kitchen table into a production facility tonight as we turned out some invitations for the wedding reception this weekend. I cut two linoleum block prints so we could use two colors - tommorow night we'll trim the prints and attach them to the front of the cards we designed and printed last week. Cheers - great to talk to you tonight Trevor!
I had a great hike with Chico on Bunker Hill tonight - well, I was with Chico until a truckload of teenage girls picked him up, thinking he was lost, and brought him home to Goldfish after calling the number on his tags . . . what a traiter! Anyways, I hiked all over, following the cliff face, wondering where my dog had disappeared to, and I was rewarded with a group of 10 sea lions playing about 100 yards off shore. I had the perfect bird's eye view to watch them and even though the pictures are poor the memory is precious. You can just make them out in the top photo if you look closely and Mount Ballyhoo is on the right in the distance and Hog Island is on the left. 
Goldfish had a bridal shower tonight so Chico and I were on our own - we spent the time walking up the backside of Bunker Hill. You can see Chico is looking fabulous as usual and I scraped off the beard for Spring cleaning because between the big rain storm the other night and the warm temperatures I think winter is on the run! You can see in the top photo how much snow has melted in the past week . . .
