Fort Abercrombie State Park in Kodiak, AK

One of the places we visited was Fort Abercrombie State Park.  There is historical significance to this state park – again, going back to defending Alaska during WWII.  However, I found it to be a beautiful place from a photographic perspective, so you’ll forgive me if that’s my focus! This first image reflects the overall view from one place in the park.  Again, love the big skies and rolling view out to sea.

As we walked thru the park, I was struck by the moss on the tree limbs, and so, of course, had to capture that in a photograph. One interesting thing about moss on the tree branches is that if you lift it off the branches, sometimes you will find volcanic ash there, left over from the eruption of Mount Katmai in 1912! Wow!

As I walked over the paths, I came to a small glade of these fireweeds.They are called that because they are one of the first flowers to bloom after the earth has been scorched by fire or volcanoes.Altho the flowers are quite lovely, what attracted me to this glade was the very busy bumble bee that was working those blooms!You can sort of see how fast his little wings were beating!

What luscious green leaves!I love the pattern and texture of the leaves.However, Jeff shared with me that there is some gooey sticky substance under the leaves that will just stick forever to whatever comes in contact with it!  Ick!

And, finally, another view of the bay at the state park.I really liked this image because of the little seagull in the far lower left corner.Love the reflection, and the impression that he’s enjoying the view as well!

Enjoy!

The Bays of Kodiak - Mill and Moneshka

One of the stops on Jeff’s official Kodiak Tour was Mill Bay.  It’s a lovely park that has a number of picnic areas, and a lovely view of the bay.  In this image, a float plane was flying by overhead, and I thought it added a nice touch to this calm and peaceful scene.

As is the case in so much of Alaska, the views are panoramic a good part of the time! Here’s a view of Mill Bay that captures the vastness of the sky along the shoreline.

There’s something about trees just sort of perching on the edge of land that appeals to me as a photographer.They are and look so solidly anchored; the open space next to them feels like the perfect balance.

We also visited Monashka Bay as we drove along the 67 miles of roads on Kodiak Island.  As you can see in this first image, the sun was peeking out in this area of the island.  I love the combination of green and blue – blue of the sky and water and green of the hill/mountain in the background and shrubbery up in the front of the image.

This next image truly illustrates that this is an island, and the vast expanse of the ocean beyond its shores. You can see the sun peeking out further out on the bay on the way to the sea, too!

As we got down to the shoreline and were walking toward it, we walked thru a small forested area and this stream or creek welcomed us.I just love the lushness of the greenery and the little wooden walk bridge adds just the perfect touch!

And, finally, here we are, down at the shoreline.I thought the coast line had such interesting character, I just wanted to capture it.Plus, the little bands of sand, silt and seaweed seem to add just the added bit of interest and texture that the image needed.

Enjoy!

 

Out and About Kodiak, AK

Here’s an illustration as to why Kodiak Island is called “The Emerald Isle”.  As we drove around the island, we drove in and out of sunshine.  We stopped alongside one of the roads we were on so I could capture this image.  The vivid green and blue are such stark contrast to the more typical foggy, rainy, misty types of days in Kodiak.  I feel so lucky that the island decided to take pity on this inhabitant of the “lower 48” to show me its beauty!

And, here’s an area where we had the more typical fog! We were on top of what’s called Pillar Mountain, where they have some wind turbines set up. As you can see, we were at the very base of them, and could still barely see them in the fog! I had to include this image as a true contrast to the first image! Our ship was just below us, down at the bottom of this mountain, but we couldn’t see it at all!!

The Coast Guard plays an important part of Kodiak’s history. During WWII, Kodiak was considered a vitally important strategic area as the US was concerned that Alaska would be invaded by enemy forces.And, contrary to what (mistaken) comedians would lead one to believe, you really CAN see Russian from parts of Alaska.Doesn’t make for very good comedy, I guess, but it is reality.LOL!And, also, the movie “The Guardian” with Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher was filmed here on Kodiak, at the Coast Guard station.

And, speaking of comedians, I’m traveling with one!Jeff promised to show me a white sand beach in Alaska.Well, here it is!Not really what one would commonly expect, but, again, it is reality!!LOL!!

Enjoy!

Russian Influence in Kodiak, AK

There is a large Russian influence in Kodiak.  The first Governor of Alaska (before the US purchased it, when the Russians still owned it) was Alexander Baronov.  He lived on Kodiak for a time until he moved the capital of Alaska to Sitka.  In any event, in town, there was this lovely Russian Orthodox Church and I just had to capture some images that reflected that influence on this island, and this State.  The first image, above, is of one of the 2 church steeples on this little church.  Notice the design of the Russian Orthodox cross.

I also loved hearing the bells ringing in the morning air. Since we visited Kodiak on a Sunday, they certainly did ring out! Again, can you see the cross in the bells? It seems to be a bit worn on the bell in the center of the photo, but check out the one on the left side – it’s much more pronounced.

There was a Russian cemetery within a couple of blocks of this church and we stopped by there.This was a headstone that I thought captured not only the age of the cemetery, but the Russian pride – on the headstone is the statement that this person was a native of Russia.One interesting thing about this cemetery that I wasn’t able to capture in photos was the somewhat odd terrain of it.It’s on a hill, and as I walked thru the cemetery, I noticed that there weren’t a lot of headstones that remained visible.A woman who was also in the cemetery noted that many of them seemed to be in stages of being buried, or already were buried, except when the families had added some additional foundation to their family plot to keep things level.It suddenly occurred to me that it might very well be that the reason for the headstones being buried and the very uneven, squishy, and almost undulating feel of the ground beneath my feet was that the graves/coffins are slowly sliding down the hill.I don’t know that for certain, but if you were there, I think you’d have to agree that the idea was really not far fetched at all.Kind of a disturbing thought, tho.

As I said earlier, it was Sunday morning, so although services were not going on when we walked around the church, there were some folks who were inside the church, and obviously had the lights on.I just loved the lighting of this window from within. It created such a peaceful feel.

Enjoy!