Today was our first full day off since arriving in August. We took advantage of it by sleeping in, eating a late breakfast, then heading into town with the dogs.

Our first stop was the post office, to pick up a package. The Homer Post Office is where you would be sent if there was waiting line for Hell. A typical visit for any reason will usually take at least a half hour. Today, because of the holiday season no doubt, they actually had a dedicated counter for collecting package notices. We only had to wait 10 minutes to get our package from my brother. Of course, when we checked our mailbox this evening, there were two more package notification slips.

Then, we took the dogs to the beach, Ashlee’s most favorite place in the whole world. I mean beaches in general, or anywhere where land meets water, pretty much. Her Labrador half practically squeals with glee anytime we drive towards any body of water.

The beach was cold. Seriously. Like, “windchill in the single digits” cold. There was lots of ice on the beach.

We both bundled up, with long underwear, down coats, hats, soft shells, and gloves. We basically doubled our size.

This was taken at 2:30. See how low the sun is already?

The angle and telephoto compression make Macgee look much smaller than he actually is.

Ashlee usually gets in the water, but after fetching one stick out of the surf, she refrained from entering the water again.

We make long shadows. The beach has a lot of kelp that has washed up.

Which Ashlee likes to eat.

A bald eagle watched us from a driftwood tree, but took off when I got close to try to get a picture. I, of course, only had my wide angle lens, even though I always know I should take my telephoto for just these sorts of opportunities.

Unbundling long enough for a few of these shots, Skippy’s lips froze to her teeth. (not really)

That’s me, I still occasionally get out from behind the camera.

Here’s some wave action for those of you in landlocked states. Not exactly a soft, sandy beach, but who in their right mind would be laying out, anyway?

Also, we watched “Primer” on Netflix Instant Play the other night. It’s quite confusing, as it involves time travel, but the story is intriguing, and half the fun is trying to figure out what exactly happened after you finish watching it. It might take more than one viewing, but it’s just over an hour long, and there is a lot of discussion online to help fill in the gaps.

Life Alaska, Fun