Friday, October 10, 2008

Pretty Saint Paul

I think the pictures speak pretty eloquently as to the beauty of Saint Paul, but I'll add captions. I felt like a kid in a candy store. There was so much to see, and so much more I wanted to learn and do here! A few hours in the evening after work just weren't enough.



Volcanic lava flow into the ocean

The island has many cliff faces, excellent bird rookeries, although we were too late for many birds this year.
Shannon, Queen of Saint Paul

The coastlines are just so breathtakingly beautiful here -
they reminded me of pictures that I saw of New Zealand's coast

Old weathere rocks along the ridgeline of Saint Paul

Fox prints in the volcanic beach sand

Reindeer hoof prints along the cliff top

The beaches are beautiful too

And, like everywhere else I've been in Alaska,
the beaches are chock full of plastics
PLEASE STOP USING PLASTIC BOTTLES

We arrive in time to still catch all the wildflowers

I don't know for sure, but I made some identification guesses based on what locals told me and from what I recognized from other places...correct me if I'm wrong - PLEASE

Wooly Lousewart

No clue - but these were tiny, less than a half inch across


Saint Paul's beautiful Russian Orthodox Church. The bells were beautiful hear, and you could hear them all over the island.


Aargh! A dandelion, even here! And yes, I picked it.


An alder growing along the ground, almost five feet long! The branches and trunk picked up completely off the ground, so it was a true dwarf tree growing horizontally rather than vertically to escape the nasty winter winds.

Yarrow
Tundra Lupine
Arctic Poppy
No clue - it looks like alien pods though
Another Tundra Lupine

A beach plant with tiny electric blue flowers
Me in the middle of an old lava flow
The coolest flower I saw on Saint Paul - it's stem reminded me of an onion...but no clue
Last land until Russia!

Floating fish processors off the coast

The Saint Paul version of a hotel - we rented a duplex

Sunset on the Western coast of the Island -
Note the silouhettes of the two seals (to the right) watching us








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