January 13, 2009

Our cold spell has finally broken and the temps today were in the mid to upper 20sF. Very pleasant - in fact, I was able to wear just my jacket, rather than my winter coat :) However, with the warmth also came the snow - and later in the evening - rain!

Okay - enough of the weather report - on to today's photos! These first two photos were taken at the VFW in Eagle River. It was around 12:30 pm and this handsome raptor was the only one there. I was actually on my way to someplace else and spotted him, so took a detour into the VFW parking lot and snapped a couple pics. FYI - I'm not actually as close to him as it appears in these photos - I was in my car, about 25-30 feet below where he is sitting in the tree. My camera's telelphoto lens was fully extended (300mm equiv) and I enlarged the photo somewhat during the editing process.

This was my view as I drove into Anchorage -- blowing snow... not too bad for driving, though!

Met up with my daughter and son-in-law in Anchorage this evening, to look for living room curtains for their home. I parked on the fourth floor of the parking garage and had a perfect view of my SIL, Ivory, as he waited for DD, Jen to pick him up after work. He actually works at the Army/Navy warehouse located a couple miles away, but needed to be at the store this afternoon. When I first spotted Ivory, he was standing down where those short posts are in the bottom of the photo - we hollered back and forth to one another for a minute or two, then he went around to the back of the store, which is where he's heading in this shot.

The first through third floors of the Anchorage 5th Avenue Mall in downtown Anchorage. This is not the largest mall in town, but it is the tallest - four stories (top floor is all food court).

Home Dept of JC Penney - these are the curtains Jen liked best.

Colorful towels at the JC Penney Home Dept

Very cool window display at Nordstrom's - spotted this as we left JC Penney. I would have liked to get a better angle of this shot, but it was windy and chilly and we didn't linger.

More curtains - this time at Bed, Bath & Beyond - Jen liked the blue and brown ones.

Jen liked these blue embroidered curtains a lot - BB&B (they're my personal favorites, too)

Saw this fun pack of Star Trek Pez dispensers while shopping at BB&B! I think I'll go back soon and grab them for my son J's birthday -- he really likes Star Trek :)

~ klb