Alaska on my mind

Thirty-six hours back in Georgia. The suitcases are put away, laundry clean, and I've even put in a day at work. Of course, there is still more to be done, as there always is when returning from vacation ... grocery shopping, bills, sorting and printing pictures. It was a wonderful trip, and I am glad to be home.

It's kind of hot here in Georgia, and even spending a week in Chicago's warm humidity didn't prepare me for this. I'm adjusting to being back in the heat, but I do miss the cooler weather.

One more Alaska story for now: The last Monday that Clint and I were in Alaska, we headed to the Mendenhall Glacier with my family to take some pictures. As we got out of the car, we noticed a crowd, went over to investigate, and discovered this small black bear. I know she appears brown in the picture, but did you know black bears come in a variety of colors? This one is a cinnamon black bear. She was pretty small, even for a black bear--I would guess it is her first year away from her mother. While we were busy taking pictures--I used the camera's zoom to get the picture below--several park rangers kept the crowds and the bears away from each other and eventually encouraged the bear to meander into the woods, away from all the people.

After the bear left, we started taking family pictures and relized that our camera was out of batteries--I had forgotten to charge the camera, and used the last of the battery we did have taking pictures of the bear! Luckily, my dad had a camera in his car, and he was able to take a few before his camera battery died.