Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Campfires and Rainbow Girls

Camping with Fairbanks Assembly #1 International Order of the Rainbow for Girls (I.O.R.G.) this past weekend. We went to Chena Lakes Recreation area near North Pole, Alaska. It was a lot of fun! The girls swam, took turns walking the dogs and ate!

The girls behaved beautifully - the dogs did not - don't make me dredge up their naughty behavior.
Here are some amazing photos the younger RavenChick took of the campfire:



What is I.O.R.G.? //http://www.gorainbow.org/home/home.taf

The International Order of the Rainbow for Girls is a Masonic youth organization which teaches leadership training through community service. Young women between the ages of 11 and 20 learn about the value of charity and service through their work and involvement with their annual local and State service projects.

The Fairbanks, Alaska assembly recently celebrated their 76th Anniversary!!


Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Camping With Dogs

After the drama of packing up and hoping we didn't forget anything (we always do), we were finally on the way.

Getting there was half the fun! We stopped and got Taco Bell for dinner on the way and all the dogs got their own taco. They REALLY enjoyed that! Now they want Subway and McDonalds.............

Lucy and Sly "driving" the motorhome they are so funny - they had a ball exploring the woods - so many interesting scents to follow.

I worried they might encounter a porcupine like Luckydog did a few years ago. Score: Porcupine 13 - Lucky 0.

We had needlenose pliers with us thank goodness and it seems Luckydog learned a tough lesson.




The husband and younger Raven Chick decided to do some fishing, Lucy and Sly swam after them and tried to get into the raft!

They are not big fans of the water and stayed in just a short time. Most of the time it was just paws only in the water for them.

Rainbow trout, grayling and some salmon are in this lake. You can see them jumping out of the water. I'm thinking some of them should join the circus - they're quite the acrobats!

The weather was glorious! Unusual for this area - no high winds or rain. The mountains were in full view. There are wildfires burning on the flats in Interior Alaska, but the smoke didn't roll into our area until the day we left, so we enjoyed clear smoke free air. When we got home it was hot (77F), hazy, muggy and smoky - ugh! Anything over 70F is entirely too hot!

Lucky our aqua pup - he spent a good part of the trip cooling himself off in the water. He's part Newfoundland, so is drawn to any body of water - puddles, rivers, lakes....

Mmmm, the stench of wet dog filled the camper..................


Here is one of my attempts to photograph nature (I might have to quit my day job - bwahahaha):
I'm a bit weak in identifying the flora and fauna. If you know the name of this beautiful flower I would love a comment.

I see so many fantastic photographs on Etsy, it's inspiring me to see what I can do with our camera.

Let's see, I'm available for weddings, Bar Mitvah's, Senior Portraits, Glamour Shots...............


A wonderful trip with my family. We live for our wonderful Summers! It helps us survive the -50F long, dark Interior Alaska Winters!

Camping sure is hard work. The puppies are exhausted: