Today found me driving from Billings, MT, to just past Spokane, WA - last long drive of the trip. The scenery in Montana is quite rugged, & I was surprised to see so much fall color; It's mostly the yellows of aspen & larch, but some of it was pretty striking against the dark evergreens. And some spots were pretty warm in the low 50s, though other areas were still below 40 at mid-day.
boat tour to wildlife & glaciers
I can now die a happy woman! The boat trip was fantastic in every way. (Major Marine 8.5 hour tour on Orca Song from Seward to the Northwestern Glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park) We saw SO MUCH wildlife, including several rare sightings & behaviors. Here is the first of 3 sea otters we saw. This is the sea cave & rocks where we got very close to see sea stars & jelly fish - many, many of each. A dozen Dall's porpoises swam & played near our boat for a while. They swam so fast that they were hard to photograph, but we saw each one many times. This group of Stellar's sea lions is typical of what one sees in Alaska, that is no babies, just a group of adults hauled up on shore. Though humpback whales are often seen in this area, they are mostly seen alone or perhaps a mom & baby. Not only did we see a whole pod, we saw them engage in what is called bubble net feeding. Many pods around the world do not engage in this type of feeding. There are...


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