Eklutna Lake—June 29-July 2

Wednesday the 29^th was the morning I had decided to take the pickup to the car wash and start the process of cleaning it up.  So I headed to Peter’s Creek nearby where I had notice a car wash on my way into Anchorage.   I sent about an hour there washing and vacuuming the truck before heading back to the campsite.  Upon arrival at the camp I set out with rag and spray cleaner to remove the great number of kamikaze bugs that dotted the entire front end of the vehicle.  Six thousand miles of bugs takes a bit of time to get off, but in the end “mission accomplished”.  In addition, I went over the rest of the vehicle and removed the dirt which the wash had failed to remove and then turned to doing the inside.  It was a very nice day to do this because the sun was out and the temperature was in the low 70s.  After a shower, I headed into Anchorage to pick up Mike and Terri Church, my new friends who were going to attend the Whale Fat Follies with me this evening.  Before the show we had dinner at one of the old time favorites places in Anchorage.  Both Mike and Terri were one time residents of Anchorage, that is where they met.  Then on to the show.  I cannot tell anyone how much I enjoy going to this spoof on Alaska and politicians.  I have attended this show at least 6 times in the past and look forward to seeing it each year.  It is so fast moving and well done that I highly recommend anyone attending if in Anchorage.  So, with and aching side from laughing, we headed back to camp after the show.  By the time I got back to the trailer the rain had set in.

Every time I woke up during the night I could hear the rain, pretty heavy by Alaska standards, beating down on the room.  The rain continued throughout the night and well into the afternoon.  So I took advantage of the time to head into Anchorage to get the part for my awning that I had been notified was ready to pick up.  Later that afternoon I tried to put the new gas strut on the awning even recruiting the new camp host friend Keith to help me.  We worked about an hour trying to figure out how to make the installation, but we were not successful.  So the next step is to set up an appointment to get the local dealer to install it.  Just another small frustration.  Later Mike and Terri showed up at the camp to visit.  After a very nice visit they invited me to dinner and we headed into Eagle River for pizza at a locally popular restaurant.  While at dinner White Keys called and we arranged to meet in the morning at Fred Meyers for a birding day.  Then back to the trailer

While at the follies I visited with White Keys (he is a birder and president of the local Audubon) about going birding on Friday.  When I awoke it was raining, but Michele and I were planning on birding with and we headed out in the rain in our rain gear.  One thing about rain in Alaska as it often doesn’t last long or rain hard.  We had a text from White Keys that he was going to stay in and will keep in touch and meet us later.  So Michele and I headed to Hillside Park in Anchorage to do some birding.  She is new to birding but very interested.  At Hillside we were greeted as we got out of the car (and the rain had stopped) by a fly in Varied Thrush who was singing from atop a Spruce right above us.  As we wandered around the trails in the park we were able to find Black-capped & Boreal Chickadee, Yellow-rump Warbler, Golden-crown and Ruby-crown Kinglet, a Pine Siskin, and Red-breasted Nuthatch.  While birding we got another text from White Keys and we agreed to meet at Potter’s Marsh shortly.  Once there the three of us did the boardwalk.  We found a nice group of Short-billed Dowitchers, Green-wing Teal, Lesser Yellowlegs, Tree Swallow, of course Mew Gull and we did locate the unusual Short-eared Owl that is being see here this year.  In addition, we added Sandhill Crane, Lincoln’s Sparrow and Yellow rumps to the list.  We spent some time watching the eagle nest at the end of the boardwalk and observed the parent Bald Eagles bring food to their young—a couple of fish and a small mammal.  We also had good looks at Muskrat out of the water which is rather unusual.  Then we proceeded to the Old Seward Highway to try and find a life bird for Michele—Northern Waterthrush.  As we stepped from the car one flew into the tree adjacent to our car and started singing.  So, today she added 3 new life birds, the waterthrush, the owl and the golden-crowned kinglet.  On the way home she informed me that she now has 301 life birds—she is an avid Ebird listser.