Start Them Young

A Little Kid Biking To Home After Surfing

While walking to our car after boogie boarding, I came across this kid who was beaming with happiness as he was riding his bike, with a backpack and a surfboard! I hurriedly took my cellphone to take a picture of this awesome moment, little kid enjoying the simple pleasures in life out of the doors. Why nature and outdoors are more therapeutic to me than shopping is because my memories of happy childhood were spent out of the doors, whether playing baseball with my cousins and other kids in the neighborhood, or swimming in the river or in the ocean, or playing hide and seek in the bushes, or running in the rain. I could not remember a time my mother showed me her indulgence to shop for herself and show off her new clothes, new bags and new shoes to her friends which is sadly the trend I see now in Facebook of younger parents, or a pity, even older and supposed to be already matured parents! The child looks up to us as their model, and early on, if they have no responsible models, I am afraid they will end up not knowing also the priorities in life but shopping irresponsibly and focus so much on looks and popularity rather than character. 

A Happy Dolphin for a Happy Child

When I was younger, eating out for us meant going to the river for a day of swimming and fishing, or going to the beach for a day of fun, or going to the mountains for a day of simply enjoying the mountain scenery. My father would always tell us that their priority is to send all of us to school so we can provide for ourselves when we are older. Dining out in restaurants was expensive for them and beyond their budget. When I was in elementary, I won in the regional spelling contest, and I got prize money! I was interviewed in the radio if what would I do with the money, and my response was, "I will ask my mother for advise how do I spend this." When I got home, I asked my mother what do I do with the money, and she told me we will go to the bank the next day. The next day, I opened my first savings account! My mother then explained to me that my money will grow slowly by earning interest. Then, she asked me, if I wanted to buy something from my prize money. Maybe, because early on, I was Math minded and enjoyed calculating, instead of thinking new things to buy, I was enjoying the thought of my money earning interest through the years. I shook my head. Funny, every month, I would ask my mother that we would go the bank so I can deposit some money left from my allowance and I wanted to see how much interest my money had earned, those were one of my real time Math problems. Those were my childhood joys, playing in the field, running outdoors, swimming, and seeing my savings account grow. In college when I got more allowance from the scholarship, though I admit I would buy new shoes that would match my new  blouses and skirts, but it was always after a careful partitioning of my allowance. I always saw to it that I save at least 20% of my allowance. Now that I am older, these childhood joys remained, my love for nature and outdoors, and for saving for the future! I do believe in enjoying life and making the most out of what we have now, but at the same time, I do believe in responsible spending and saving, of striking a balance between luxury and necessity. And for me, saving for our future and the rainy days is one of life's necessities. Like when I was a child, I find joy checking my bank. These days, I find joy in checking how much my bank and IRA Accounts  have grown. I do read a lot of updates on market growths, and update myself on Stock Trading, Mobile Trading and Stock Trading to keep myself current with today's financial trends. Though I consider myself more on the conservative side of trading, but there are some funds I feel safe trading because I know I will not be withdrawing them in 20+ years. This so far has helped me earn more than my more conservative funds! However, I do not want to put all eggs in one basket, that is why I love to diversify funds. I subscribe to financial magazines so I can learn more. What I like about online financial sites such as  Online Trading, are the tools that make it easier for me to study the market, making investment decisions a lot easier. 

If probably my mom trained me early to focus on shopping and delight on physical appearance with new clothes and new shoes, I probably would be one of those who would be saying, "life is short, you only live once, enjoy" yet at the very deep core of their heart live in fears because they are totally drowned in DEBT! Happily, that is not what I grew up with, my mom and dad would always tell us, "life is short, you only live once, ENJOY on priceless things that will last a lifetime!"   

Kenai Fjords National Park Wildlife Part 2

In my previous post, Kenai Fjords National Park Wildlife Part 1, I shared some wildlife that we were lucky enough to see and experience during our visit at the fjords, which is shaped by glaciers, earthquakes and ocean storms. This rich assemblage of wildlife habitat is home to whales, bears, sea otters, seals, sea lions, and many more. In addition to whales, sea otters, sea lions and marmots, here are some more wildlife we saw and experienced at Kenai Fjords National Park,

Dall's Porpoise

Dall's porpoise are often called by visitors as "little orcas". They are considered on the the fastest of the smaller cetaceans, they reach speeds close to 35 miles per hour.

Dall's Porpoise

Similar to dolphins, we saw them playing and riding on the bow waves of the small ship we took for the 6-hr Kenai Fjords National Park Glacier and Wildlife Cruise. 

Seal on Ice

Seal Inspecting This Ice

Harbor seals haul out on boulders near shore at high tide and on ice flows in front of tidewater glaciers. Transient orcas, bears and large sharks feed on seals, however, orcas and bears do not hunt on ice, thus the floating ice and icebergs are a safe haul out for the seals. The ice also serves as their viewing platform for fishes they can hunt. 

Flock of Murre and Puffin (both murre and puffin belong to alcid family)

Birds at Kenai Fjords National Park are known to be probably better in diving and swimming than flying. Murres are especially abundant in Alaska, but they can be found South in Northern California. Murres are mid-water feeders that can dive up to 600 ft and swallow their prey under water. 

Puffin

Puffins, like murre, belong to the alcid family. Alcids are group of diving birds that swim underwater using their wings for propulsion and their feet for steering.  Both bald eagles and peregrine falcons feed on puffins and murres,  to protect themselves from puffin attack, puffins and murres fly in large groups forming a wheel which is called wheeling, making it difficult for eagles and falcons to prey on them. 

Bald Eagle

Bald eagles are unique to North America, and has been the United State's national bird since 1782 symbolizing wilderness, power and freedom.  

For more about Kenai Fjords National Park, a park dominated by ice that is entwined with the sea, please visit the park's website, Kenai Fjords. 

If Life's A Beach

CA Sea Lavender Lined Trail Next to The Beach

Life is a beach.....is it? Some say, "life is a beach....you get drown...", while others say, "life's a beach, ride the waves of life, surf it up, and calm it down." I love beach, and actually the second quote is my thoughts about beach :) Sometimes I think, if life's a beach, then I am living life. But we all do live life, which makes life more than just a beach :)

Life is more than just a beach, more than just a hike, more than just a climb, more than just flying, for life isn't simple, but its complexities make it beautiful and fun living. 

Talking about beautiful living, one beautiful city in the East Coast I just learned while surfing for places is Wilmington in North Carolina. This beach city is located between Cape River and Atlantic Ocean. Though a popular tourist town in North Carolina because of its beaches, outdoor recreation, foods and culture, but definitely it is more than just a tourist town. It is home to University of North Carolina at Wilmington, regional medical center and to Screen Gems Studios- one of the largest motion picture and TV studios outside of Hollywood. This is where Dawson's Creek and One Tree Hill were filmed. Tourists at Wilmington are reminded of the city's rich history by the grand old homes and tree-lined boulevards which make this place one of the most beautiful small cities in the South. The homes in Wilmington are beautiful, I got excited to see a wooded house like the one below

with 4 bedrooms and 4 baths for $379,000. A house close to the beach with your own wooded backyard and beautiful lush garden at a very reasonable price is very attractive. If you are planning to relocate to Wilmington, I found one realty site, BlueCoast Realty Corporation, which will make your home search easier. You can search by map, by type of property, or by subdivision. I like these feature since I usually wanted to see the proximity of the house to the essentials, such as hospital, clinic, supermarket, and of course, beach :) After all, though life is more than just a beach, but beach adds fun and coolness to life! 

Kenai Fjords National Park Wildlife Part 1

Sea Lions, Kenai Fjords National Park

This may be the second to the last part of my featured series on Harding Icefield and Kenai Fjords National Park. As much as I love this natural park where the ice, sea and mountains meet, and where the Ice age still lingers, I am excited as well to share our other adventure trips in Alaska. However, rest assured, I will go back to share more natural features of Kenai Fjords National Park that we were able to experience. 

This post is about the wildlife in Kenai Fjords that we were lucky enough to see and experience. Though Kenai Fjords National Park is famous for its black bear and mountain goat population, but we only saw a black bear and mountain goat from very far that my camera only showed a small black dot for the black bear and a hazy cloud of white for the mountain goat, not good enough to be shared :) The only land mammal we saw very close to us was a hoary marmot, he surprised us during our Harding Icefield hike.

Hoary Marmot

Hoary marmots are the largest North American ground squirrels, their largest population is in Alaska, but they are found throughout the Northwest, in northwest Canada to Washington, Idaho and Montana. 

If however we were not so lucky enough to spot wild animals on land at Kenai Fjords, we were lucky enough to spot a lot of marine animals. The most abundant sea wildlife we saw in the fjords are the Stellar sea lions. 

Stellar sea lions are the largest members of the otariid, or "eared seal family". Another group of marine mammals we saw in Kenai Fjords are the whales. Though they are very hard to photograph, because they seem to jump and leap in surprising places and time, but with some patience and luck, we were able to capture some of them with our lens. We saw two different whales in Kenai, the humbpack and the orca. 

Breaching Humpback Whale

Orca

Humpback whales spend their time from mid-April to November feeding around Kenai Fjords National Park. Each day, a humpback eats a ton of food.

Humpback Whale

During the winter months, humpback whales migrate to and breeds in waters of Mexico and Hawaii. Their migration allows us to see them in the waters close to San Diego Coast, and where every winter, whale watching has been one of our favorite activities in San Diego. 

Breaching Humpback Whale

What makes it special seeing the whales here is because the whales are so close to the mountains. Kenai Fjords National Park is bounded by the mountains and the sea, and where more than half of it is buried in glacial ice. 

One of the cutest sea mammals we saw at Kenai Fjords are the sea otters.

Sea Otter

It is very inspiring to know that the sea otter holds the role of being a "keystone species"  for the fjord estuary ecosystems of Alaska. Keystone species link the whole ecosystem. If the sea otter population is healthy, then one can conclude that the ecosystem it lives in is healthy. Please click Kenai Fjords Estuary Ecosystem, to learn more.

Since I do not want to overwhelm you with so much pictures and information in one post, I will continue sharing the other marine wildlife and sea birds in Kenai Fjords National Park that we were lucky enough to experience in my next post. 

PS....I would like to thank Nature Center Magazine for featuring my blog for this week, I really appreciate it and no words can describe the simple joy your feature has brought to my day. 

Aialik Glacier Calving

To continue from my previous post, What Is At The Other Side of Harding Icefield, another glacier that flows out of Harding Icefield is Aialik Glacier.

Aialik Glacier, When It Was Peaceful

Aialik Glacier is the largest tidewater glacier of Kenai Fjords National Park. A tidewater glacier terminates at sea level and calves directly into the sea. 

Aialik Glacier Terminating Into the Gulf of Alaska

The source of Aialik Glacier is the vast Harding Icefield. The face of the Aialik Glacier is 300 to 400 feet high from sea level to top, but its source, the Harding Icefield, is 3500-4000 ft thick of ice. 

One of the natural dynamic changes that occurs in a tidewater glacier is ice calving. Ice calving is the sudden release of a mass of ice from a glacier or from an iceberg, or from other huge masses of ice. When we were close to the glacier but still at a very safe distance, we were asked to become quiet and listen to our surroundings. With silence, we saw and heard glacier calmness, and the chilly winds glued us onlookers in awe.

Hoodoo Like Structures of Aialik Glaciers

Then, we heard a cracking sound somewhere, soft at first, that we onlookers were looking where it came from. Then, the cracking sound started to rumble and roar, and we saw flakes of ice falling into the frigid waters of the sea. 

Aialik Glacier Calving

The falling ice roared like thunder, maybe many times louder. The sea jumps as the ice threw water into the air.

Splash of Ice Threw Water Into The Air (can you see the bird flying away?)

Then, the ice fall became softer, and gentler, looking more like a waterfall.

Icefall Thinning towards the end of Glacier Calving

Thin Ice Fall Looked Like A Waterfall

When all the calving was over, the meeting of the mountains, sea and ice looked calm again, as calm as we first saw it. Birds were flying into the glacier again, not flying away.

After the Glacier Calving, Everything Is Calm and Birds Flew In

A lot more ice spread out in the sea.

Ice That Fell from the Calving

As the sea calmed, we started seeing wildlife which seemed to be rejoicing either for a life spared,or for the ice that fell to answer their needs.

Sea Otter thankful for having Escaped the Wrath of Ice Fall or Thankful for More Ice

Sea Otters and Harbor Seals often haul out on icebergs, which offer refuge from terrestrial predators such as bears. Also, orca whales don't usually hunt in ice-choked fjords. The reason why fjord estuary ecosystem is one of the richest assemblages of life on Earth. 

Seal Looking Perhaps for a Bigger Ice to Haul For Safety

Happy Sea Otters, 

perhaps they sing: "let there be more ice, don't make them too big we can't climb, but don't make them too small either we'll get caught"

As we left Aialik Glacier, the experience still continue to linger, and the memories of the dynamic changes in nature serves as one of the living lessons of why everything has a purpose. 

What Is At The Other Side of Harding Icefield?

A Hiker Enjoying the Scenery at the Harding Icefield

Our hike to Harding Icefield during our second day Alaskan trip is for me the best part of our seven full days wandering. When I was planning the itinerary for our trip, I thought I saved the best part for last, that is hiking in the glacier! I am not saying I did not enjoy our glacier hike, I actually enjoyed our glacier hike immensely. However, Harding Icefield totally blew me away, in maybe all aspects. Physically, because the wind at the end of trail of Harding Icefield was extremely strong that we had to really exert so much pressure on the ground not to be blown away. Mentally, emotionally and spiritually, the forces that shape Harding Icefield continue to inspire me. Maybe it is because I have never seen something like this before. Though we saw many glaciers on our first day, but it is at this day where we came very close to a glacier and looked at it in all directions. Harding Icefield covers 700 square miles of Kenai Mountains in glacier ice, connecting a network of 38 glaciers. During our hike, we only were able to take a glimpse of one of the glaciers, the Exit Glacier which I shared in my earlier post. In my two previous posts, Hiking Harding Icefield and Exit Glacier, I mentioned I will be sharing next the other glaciers of the Harding Icefield.

Bear Glacier

The first glacier I will share is the Bear Glacier. Bear Glacier is the largest glacier flowing out of the Harding Icefield. It was hard for me to imagine that we were at the other side of this glacier a day before, at 3500 ft level of a sea of ice. 

the other side of Harding Icefield is the Gulf of Alaska

Mentally, it is mind blowing for me to think that just the other day, we were sitting close to the peak of the icefield at the other side of this ocean. I guess being a lover of both the mountains and the ocean, this is what makes Kenai Fjords National Park very special for me, a place, where not only mountains and oceans meet, but mountains, oceans and ice. The Kenai Fjords National Park was established in 1980 to " maintain unimpaired the scenic and environmental integrity of the Harding Icefield, its outflowing glaciers and coastal fjords and islands....This park is about ice and its legacy, glaciers, icefields and coastal fjords."- source: http://www.nps.gov/kefj/naturescience/naturalfeaturesandecosystems.htm . The fjord estuary ecosystem is one of the richest assemblages of life on Earth, and found only in 6 locations around the planet ( Chile, Norway, New Zealand, Alaska, Greenland and Antartica). Much of Kenai Fjords National Park cannot be accessed by foot, and I am glad we took the Kenai Fjords National Park Glacier and Wildlife Cruise to be able to see the other side of Harding Icefield. It gives me the dreamy thought that we have crossed the icefield to the other side, only that, we did not cross it on foot :)

Big Crumbles of Ice, Kenai Fjords National Park

In my next post, I will share one of the most magical experiences I had observing the dynamic change in nature first hand, where all those ice in the above picture came from, and another glacier of the Harding Icefield.