Happy Solstice!

Longest day of the year, baby! I'll try to get a middle-of-the-night picture tonight. It probably won't be very exciting, because it'll look like every other picture I take here, but it'll be in the middle of the night! Ooooh!

It's gorgeous here today. The temperature might get high enough to match the record high for this date: 78 degrees in 1943. So, yeah, not all that hot. Personally, I think this is the best summer weather ever.

Yesterday was a lovely day as well -- we took a walk in the evening and got some nice photos of the lagoon and Fish Creek (about a ten-minute walk from our house). We also saw our very first beaver! Chris was convinced it was a muskrat, but then we saw the tell-tale... tail. I didn't get any good pictures of the beaver, unfortunately.


The lagoon at 8 PM. The mountains in the distance are part of Chugach National Forest.


Fish Creek. I haven't seen any salmon in it, but I also haven't been there at high tide.

Mom had asked whether the landscape here reminded me of anywhere else (like New Zealand). Of all the places I've been, I'd say it's most like Wyoming -- the mountains and the wildlife are pretty similar. On a side note, New Zealand was a lot like California -- the suburbs of Auckland TOTALLY reminded me of Santa Barbara, down to the little bungalows with Agapanthus in their front yards. The South Island was more like northern California. I think Queenstown must be a lot like Tahoe. I remember Mika saying in her blog that everyplace she visits reminds her of home, and I know what she means! I felt stupid saying that Australia and New Zealand were a lot like California, but... they are. Alaska, however, is not like California. It is like Wyoming. So there you go.

Finally, for all you Soren fans, here's the man himself with a cookie over his eye:


Enjoy the longest day of the year!