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Gotta admit, I've been letting the unending rain drag me down a bit, so made a point of venturing out today with the camera, albeit the little Olympus instead of the pricier Canon cos it was, well, raining. I mean, come on. Even the birds are tired of the rain.
This one's from my front yard, the others that follow are from here and there in the area.
I put off heading out today when I saw the sunshine because, well, because it's so often fooled me lately. I'd no sooner get up to go grab my shoes than the clouds would roll back in, so I got a late start toward Hatcher Pass. Even then, I HAD to stop for a water fix at the Little Su River viewing platform.
And then a glance upward, where I was going.
Not far beyond the parking area for the viewing platform stand these gates, which you'll often find closed in the winter, indicating unsafe roads. 
Just a random shot as I worked my way upward.
Closing in on the Motherlode Hotel.
Although the clouds were more in than out over Hatcher, caught a relatively clear, albeit hazy, look down toward the Valley.
First glimpse I'd had of the Lodge and mine area in awhile.
Looking back, toward the Valley, would would be below the low spot between the mountain ridges.
It took me even a minute to realize the purpose of this photo, which is to show that white spot just below middle center.... a vehicle moving up Willow-Fishhhok as seen from the road up toward the Lodge.
Ski cabins, for rent, btw.
A few views of the mine area, which I didn't meander on up to as it was clouding up....again.
From just above the Lodge, looking back from the parking area.
Lots of traffic in and out of the Willow-Fishhook Road access, which appeared to be in pretty decent shape, a hunch verified by the speed at which some of them were moving along.
My usual "whatever" as taken out the windshield without looking as I heading back downward.
Brief, relatively unsuccessful artsy moment as I tried to get an artsy shot of the fireweed in front of the pond. Since the cottonwood fluff floating around had set off my allergies and pretty much limited me to the car, I was sorta limited in possible angles from the car window, however. Ha
Just some pretties as I was driving. I even stopped and rolled down the window briefly to take these!
Hard to see, but try to spy the two specks just right and a bit below the speed limit sign. There are two people there who were apparantly stopped and discussing some rocks that had fallen between the time I'd driven in and was leaving. I couldn't figure out how to stop and get the rocks -- not very impressive, but, then, I might think differently if they'd fallen on or even in front of me --- alas, but did turn around to snap this.
The quality of this picture pretty much characterizes the mood of my poor head by that point. The white alongside the road is cottonwood fluff, which my allergies do NOT like. Some huge chunks of the stuff there, not to mention all of the smaller, finer stuff floating around in the air. Silly me, I figured all the rain we've been having had surely cleared it all away and didn't take any Alavert before heading out! That said, even with the resulting stuffed up head, loved my time at Hatcher!
"Gimme a Double Cheeseburger, super sized fries, and a super, duper double chocolate shake, please!"
"Gimme your fries or I'll, well, I'll do something to your car that you won't like."
"Can I keep him? He was just standing alongside the road all by himself. Can I keep him, huh, huh, huh?" (On serious side, anyone know whose registered the Diamond F brand around here?")
Boy, I'd like to take these home with me but figure someone would notice since they're beside the McDonald's drivethru lane.
Despite the pale blue skies, the mountains were a bit hazed in today. View from Windbreak/Trout House. Can you guess where I had lunch? :p
Hmm, I was just SURE Bristol and Levi would send me an invitation? Just kidding; no clue whose wedding but, hey, this IS Wasilla.
Oh, boy, what a find I made today. I went down to the Town Square Art Gallery near Carrs to pick up a poster by a friend that had won a Mat-Su Valley poster contest and saw this hanging on the wall as I was checking out. It's a Jon VanZyle and absolutely perfect for that space by the front door that I've been looking and looking for something for since I moved in here. I'm not sure of the details on it, it looks almost like a cross stitch but obviously isn't, or when he did it, but hope to find out a bit more later. Love it, Jon!
All the flowers shown here today are from my own frontyard.
It always amuses me that tho' I had trouble growing dandelions in Florida, stuff grows everywhere here with very little assistance from me, including in the cracks of the front sidewalk.
This one is in the little circle cache flower bed in the middle of the front yard. I love Columbines, especially that they're so dang interesting looking during all phases of their blooming.
The fireweed is here, too. This one is along the back fence in the backyard.
Right beside of the above fireweed, mixed in with mostly green right now, a few lovely splotches of white.
An ol' bit of lore says that when the fireweed reaches the top, only six more weeks of summer, so I'm glad to see mine has lots of time to go yet.
The batchelor buttons are really flourishing this year.... well, except where someone's dog chose to nap in the middle of them one night. 
And I'm really getting used to the incredible aroma and look of my own personal field of clover, aka the front yard.
