A Golden Day

We saw the Golden Eagles today! It was a perfect day for flying; great visibility and clear air.
We had just pulled back into the laundrymat, and a fellow laundry washer pulled in right after to see me shading my eyes staring up at the sky.

He looked a bit puzzled and looked up, and I explained that I had just been watching a pair of Goldens. We struck up a conversation and I was suprised to see that the insignia on his shirt said, "Alaska Raptor Center" with a picture of a Bald Eagle on it.

While we were chatting away discovering mutual aquaintences, the Goldens returned a bit higher up, and my new friend started ransacking his Land Rover for his binocs, at which point the Goldens soared off again.

We exchanged phone numbers with plans to share some favorite hiking trails in the future. He chastised me for using the dryers (hey, I had six dryers full-way too much to hang up at home) and then I told him we took advantage of the drying time to go for a hike. We said goodbye, and the saplings and I took the upper power line trail across the highway, which was a new one for us.

One of the Goldens flew over us to cross the road, and after a bit uphill hike, we saw the other Golden come out of the treeline and head away from us. Apparently they decided to split up and hunt solo.

We saw moosetrack as large as my hand, and some feline track that might have been Lynx, although it looked rather small.

Once we crested the hill, the view to the West was amazing-we could see Mountains that must be part of the White Mountain range in New Hampshire.

The wildflowers were still blooming;wild morning glory, hawkweed, New England Asters. And the local butterfly population was enjoying them more than we were.

We are actually starting to enjoy laundry day now with our educational hikes. Peko saw me loading the laundry up this morning, and jumped in the back seat, waiting expectently.

NO way was he missing his nature hike! ;)