Chihuahua with crazy radio ears

I thought this was pretty interesting!

Alaska Cruise Trip- Day 6

Today we arrived in Skagway, the northernmost point of our trip. It was one of our favorite days because we got to experience some amazing scenery and took a wonderful tour. We took the "Experience the Yukon" tour and would highly recommend it to anyone taking an Alaska cruise. Our tour guide was named Bruce and we lucked out because he's the guy who trains all the tour guides in Skagway. It was a 7 hour tour and it went by so fast, it seemed like it was about 3 hours instead.
As we headed out of the town of Skagway on our bus, we were immediately impressed by the view around us. It wasn't too long before we were crossing the Canadian border into the Yukon Territory. On the ride, we learned a lot about the the gold rush, the trail that the gold seekers took, and what life was like for them. We saw all kinds of terrain including subarctic tundra. It kind of looks like the moon because of the lack of tall trees and all the rocks. The land in that area is actually called permafrost because it stays frozen all year round. This causes the trees to not be able to grow very tall because their roots are very shallow.
After numerous stops for photo opportunities, we arrived in Caribou Crossing for lunch and some time to explore the area. The BBQ lunch was good and included all you can eat homemade donuts. We just happened to sit right next to the donut serving area so we treated ourselves to a few. They were little. ;-)
Caribou Crossing is home to an Itidarod sled dog camp and we got to visit with the dogs and hold puppies too! They were so cute and definitely a highlight. They also offered rides in wheeled sleds but we didn't do that. We watched some other people do it and were highly entertained by how excited the dogs get when they are about to pull a sled.
We did some shopping in the gift shop and it was time to head back to the bus. We took a quick little side trip to a very pretty lake called "Emerald Lake" and then headed back toward Skagway.
We stopped next in a tiny town named Carcross and had a few minutes to look around there. We were able to get our passports stamped there so that was neat. There was a little girl who couldn't have been older than 9 or 10 and it was her job to stamp everyone's passports. Very cute!
The drive back to Skagway was even more picturesque than the drive out, because the fog had lifted and we were able to see the majestic mountains surrounding us. They were all carved by glaciars and the valley is just amazingly beautiful!

The Town of Skagway

We saw this young bear from our bus. It was eating dandelions!

What an amazing view!

I loved holding the sled dog puppies

Some more beautiful scenery

One the way back, we were able to stop and walk around the subarctic tundra. These tiny trees are hundreds of years old but don't grow any taller because of the permafrost and the snow pack. It was so cold here, my hands were frozen within about 10 minutes. This area is where the movie "Into the Wild" was done.

All in all, it was a fantastic tour. If you're ever in Skagway, make sure you get to do this excursion. I would rate it a 10!

Trip to Paso Robles

Chad and I took a trip to Paso Robles this weekend to visit his parents and we had a very nice time. It had been a while since we had been up there and it was great to see them and catch up on everything that's been going on. As a little sidenote- my camera has been "on the fritz" lately and we were able to pick up a new one on our way up there at Best Buy. I got the Canon Powershot SD1100 IS - Digital Elph and these pics are some of the first I took with the camera. I've been very happy with the results so far.

This is their dog Skipper and he is such a little bundle of energy. He provided much entertainment during the weekend. :-)

This is Skipper posing for me with his favorite toy ball.

We went out to dinner here the first night we were there and it was very tasty!

The pretty foliage around their house.

We went over to the stables near the house and made some horse friends while we were there. This one liked Chad a lot and was licking his hand. :-)

Another horse friend posing for the camera.

My camera was on "kids and pets" mode when it caught this horse's tongue mid-lick. :-)

This horse also liked Chad a lot. :-)

And he liked Chad's shirt even better... we think he thought it was food.

A sneaky hiding horse. :-)

Lake Nacimiento- near the house.

All in all we had a wonderful time and look forward to our next trip.

LT enjoying the wind

I am trying out my new ilife '08 and one of the great features is being able to post to youtube straight from imovie. This was from two summers ago when we drove across country. Thought it was pretty cute.

Norman

Norman is Steve and Liesl's dog and he is so cute I had to blog about him.  He's our nephew dog so of course we are very proud of him and love to take pictures of him. He is so photogenic. These are a few of my favorites. :-)