Mother's Day Weekend

The Saturday before Mother's Day, it was decided we'd take the Mercury out for lunch. Steve drove the three of us to Walla Walla, where we picked up a very good meal at a place just a smidge older than the Mercury. The Ice-burg was first opened in 1952. It is always a super busy little restaurant. 

Steve noticed the locust in the parking lot was blooming. He said he used to suck the nectar out of the snapdragon like blossoms from a tree in their yard when he was a kid.  

Just a strange sort of angle. I was trying to get Steve and Jon, but not the young people I didn't know! It didn't exactly work. 

The menu is fairly extensive. Especially in the shake department. Jon decided to get a cheesecake shake. The burgers we received were wrapped in paper bags with little ears, I didn't get a photo of those. When the worker bagged them, she twirled them around, making 'ears'-pretty snazzy! I wasn't thrilled with the sweet relish. I didn't realise that was a choice I could have removed! The fries were excellent and all of us could have eaten more of those!

We opted to take our lunch to a nearby park. Steve and Jon moved a picnic table to the shade so we could eat our lunches in relative comfort. It was HOT!!!!!

Jon's shake was pretty thick and cheesecake kept getting caught in the straw! So, I fished a spoon from my bag for him. He was surprised I had one. I actually had two! 

After he ate, Steve went over to see the baby geese. The birds were fairly calm, but he didn't get too close. Later, we all stopped by the pond/lake and admired the lanky legged family. We decided they look a bit like emu! 

On Sunday, we took Dorothy to Roosters Country Kitchen for their Mother's Day brunch buffet. We left after church and boy were we glad I'd made reservations. It was very busy and all of us ended up completely stuffed with delicious food. I didn't get photos.  The restaurant was dark and I needed to get back to the house and finish packing for my trip north when we got back to Athena. 

I left Walla Walla around 7 pm and landed in ANC just after midnight. I got to Kenai on a earlier flight Monday, but needed to wait for my luggage. It was still scheduled for the later flight. The Kenai airport appears to be going through a complete remodel. I didn't recognize it and my view from the table near the dining room looks out onto a lovely green and rusty brown colored garbage dumpster. Thankfully, above the dumpster, you can still see the sky!! 

Father's Day-Critter Section!

We spent the afternoon of Father's Day at the Gattenby's. On the way, before the bridge over the river, Kenai, I saw my first caribou. The best part was this one (who is molting) who looked up at the person walking past our car as I took a picture!!! And yes, it seems SILLY that I grew up here, lived next to the river for a time, and am only seeing these things for the first time now.

 Their house has a lot of critters!! Many kinds of birds and two black dogs.

 The largest goose is called 'The Old Man' (I believe) and is rather tame.

 When we got back to mom's house, we watched a parent chickadee feed her baby. The baby can fly, but it appears it still needs help eating!

 I took this photo on Saturday. It is a sad picture. The baby golden eye duckling on the pallet has been alone for several days. It got separated from its parent and she won't accept him back. He doesn't have anything wrong with him--he DOES peep rather loudly on occasion--but it appears the little one is surviving. I wish someone else would adopt him, though. I was thankful the mallards ignored him instead of fighting with and/or killing him. I've been calling him 'Pippin'.