~~Trek to Talkeetna~~

When I left Anchorage at 4:30am, it was really cold outside, around 20 degrees.  Of course, it was pitch black, but it was not snowing, only cloudy.  Just before I got to Wasilla, I saw my first aurora. It was cloudy, so there was a lot of noise in the view. But it was there...green, pink and then white.

Then, the snow came...more like a blizzard really.  Seeing the road was dangerously difficult, as the only guide I had was the snow plow drifts from the day before.  A scary, cold 4 hours later, I arrived in Talkeetna.

Talkeetna, a quirky village in Matanuska Borough, is wildly popular in the summer months. It houses a fabulous lodge that is only open a few weeks in March for Aurora viewings.  It opens again from mid-May to Mid-September.

Interestingly, on a clear day, one the best places to view Denali is from Talkeetna.

Denali, on a clear day.
Only 20% of visitors get to see it because it creates it's own atmosphere of clouds.

Talkeetna in the winter is still buzzing with a few visitors and locals.  Speaking of locals, fewer then 900 people call Talkeetna "home."

Train house...

Mostly Moose Gift Shop

Breakfast, Lunch, Showers and Rooms to Rent

The Salted Pickle

Silverbear Sundries

~~A Trip on Trail Ridge Road~~

~~Trail Ridge Road/Beaver Meadow National Scenic Byway~~

Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park, Colorado

Sunrise at Rainbow Bend

Foggy morning above Estes Park, Colorado

Resting Buck Elk, Rutting is hard work!

Snacking Cow Elk

Drama in Stormy Skies at the Top of the Trail

~~Estes Street Photos~~

The Stanley Hotel

Enjoy a morning walk through and around Estes Park, Colorado!

The Stanley at Dawn

~~Cabot Trail~~

The Cabot Trail, a 185-mile loop on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada, follows the rugged coastlines and provides spectacular views of the ocean...and the sunrise.

~~Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia~~

Peggy's Cove, founded in 1811, is a rural community on the eastern shore of St. Margaret's Bay, Nova Scotia. It is famous for it lighthouse that was established in 1868.

Much of the property on the Cove is private.

William Edward Garthe (1907- 1983) was a Finnish painter and sculptor
that lived on Peggy's Cove.

Garthe was sculpting "life on the Cove" but died before it was completed.