Saturday, July 16, 2011

A Wedding and Animals

To reach the Kenai Peninsula, south of Anchorage, you travel the Seward Highway along the Turnagain Arm. This is a beautiful stretch of road overlooking the Arm, with its rising and falling tides as well as nearby mountains. There are many pull-offs where you can stop and take in the breathtaking scenery.

Often as we travel we come upon the unexpected. We pulled into the Beluga Point Scenic Viewpoint to check things out. We are told that on occasion Beluga whales can be spotted from here. We didn’t see any whales but…..

 

Seward Hwy. View-5

We did witness a wedding. We saw a small group of people clustered together. One of the girls was dressed rather formally so we walked over to see what was happening. Blake and Shasta were about to be married. Blake is stationed in Anchorage and had always liked this point. The two of them came down alone, knowing there would always be travelers around enjoying the views and he was sure someone would help them out. Blake brought the written vows with him as well as documents that had to be signed. He collared an innocent fellow and asked him to administer the vows. So with 8 or 10 of us travelers looking on, the two were married! Rings were exchanged and the two of them were very happy. How cool! They plan to have a reception with their families back in Oklahoma later this year. Shasta was obviously dressed appropriately and Blake spared no expense on his garb.

Blake-Shasta Wedding-3          Blake-Shasta Wedding

Our motor home is in the background, so this is evidence that we were there.

                             Blake-Shasta Wedding-8 

Notice the “official” signing the papers.  

  Blake-Shasta Wedding-9    Wedding Party-1

 

And now the animals:   Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center

Not too far on down the Seward Highway we came to this very interesting park. The AWCC is dedicated to the rehabilitation of orphaned or injured animals. Here are some of the animals we saw as we walked the 140 acre grounds.

Brown Bears

Black Bears-4

Black Bears-7

Black Bears-10

Elk

Elk-1

Elk-3

Moose

Moose-2

Baby Moose

Musk Ox

Musk Ox

Wood Bison

AK. Wildlife Consv. Center

Caribou

Caribou

 

And my favorite, a black bear, just hangin’ out…..

Brown Bear in a Tree

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