Now, there are only so many times I can visit World of Coke, and believe me… I’ve been there quite a few times… but, the Aquarium is a different story. That is one place that I don’t mind accompanying visitors to. Mostly because I adore the Ocean Voyager gallery and could probably sit and stare at the animals for hours on end.

One of my favorite views in Atlanta: in the Ocean Voyager gallery at the Georgia Aquarium.

(click here for larger view)

(click here for larger view)

My favorite animal in the gallery: the manta ray.

A serene setting right by Lake Quinault, perfect for a few days of R&R. Luckily, they had free WiFi in the rooms, so Paul and I were able to stay productive in between moments of rest and relaxation.

I’m not sure why, but we hardly ever really have a vacation where we completely unplug.

The sun decided to peek its head out for a little while during one of our days here, I think maybe the only time we saw the sun during this 2.5 week long trip.

Beautiful (close-to) sunset time over Lake Quinault.

On our first day at the park, we took a few trail hikes through the Quinault Rain Forest to a couple waterfalls.

The next day, we spent some time driving to the west coast, along the Pacific Ocean to the Kalaloch beaches. We made sure to make a stop at Ruby beach, which is supposed to be a photographer’s playground.

Unfortunately, the weather was rainy and overcast so we made do with what we were given:

I guess people like to stack the smooth, water-polished rocks on the driftwood along the beach.

Good times. If we manage to make our way back out here to Olympic National Park again, perhaps we’ll try exploring more of the western shoreline further north.

I heard it’s supposed to be amazing, and I would love to spot some of those gray whales, seals and sea otters playing in the ocean.

To be able to buy a quick lunch from the market, stroll down to the park and enjoy food by the waterfront while watching boats and ships sail by. Ah, bliss.

I wish that I had the mindset to take more photos while at the market and waterfront, but I was too busy stuffing food in my face. Here are a few images that I did capture from our time in Seattle:

Fairmont Olympic Hotel, the location for this year’s BlogHer Food conference.

Lake View Cemetery, the final resting place of Bruce and Brandon Lee. Watching my parents’ old Bruce Lee movies was a big part of my childhood, so I knew that I needed to pay Bruce a visit while we were in town.

Pike Place Market, we walked down every day while in Seattle.
Fish at the market, sadly there were no flying salmon any of the times we walked by the stands.

And since lugging around a DSLR camera can get cumbersome, while eating my body weight in food, Instagram was one of my best friends on this trip.

Paul down by the Waterfront at Pier 62 and 63.
Zeeks Pizza, quick stop for lunch.
Top Pot Doughnuts, a must stop on our eating through Seattle list.
Oaxaca Tacos at Cafe Flora, the best meal that I had during our entire trip.
Sunset at Sea Tac Airport while waiting for our red eye back to Atlanta. Goodbye Seattle, till next time!

After getting off at the port in Skagway, we took a bus to Dyea, a small gold mining town just outside of Skagway.

All of the dogs that we saw at the Musher’s Camp were race dogs, who have raced in the Iditarod Dog Sled Race. In the summer, they do these tours to keep the dogs in shape and to educate people about dog sledding. In the winter, the dogs go (usually North) home with their musher and train for the upcoming Spring races.

The older dogs (6-7 years old) who have been retired from racing are used to train the new puppies, or are adopted out to good families.

I went into this dog sledding thing thinking that we would see a pack of Alaskan huskies.

Boy, was I in for a pleasant surprise.

There was not a single purebred at the mushers camp. All of the dogs were mutts (my favorite!) These were some of the happiest, healthiest dogs I have ever seen. Lean, mean powerhouses that weighed around 35-45 lbs.

A little history about the Iditarod Race: Siberian huskies were used back in the day to pull sleds because they are built for power, not speed. That was back before the plane and snowmobile came around.

These days, the sled dogs are bred for speed and endurance. Hence, there are mixes of Siberian husky (for the thick double coat of fur) and faster breeds, such as the greyhound.

A little about our dog sledding experience: Before we started, most of the dogs would tug at their harnesses and howl & bark from the pure adrenaline of going for a run. As soon as the musher gave the signal, the dogs would immediately all fall into place and work as a team, effortlessly pulling the sled along the path, through the woods.

The two lead dogs knew exactly which turns to make, relying purely on the voice commands of the musher. As soon as we would pause, the dogs would all move to the side of the road for a potty break. Then as soon as the musher gave his command, all the dogs would line up and pull the sled again. It was a wonderful thing to observe, just how intelligent these dogs are.

Then we got some puppy time, which is an important part of these dogs’ training: getting used to interacting and being handled by people.

How sweet was this little guy? His siblings were all named after chess pieces, and he was Rook. I think Paul wanted to take him home… just look at them, what a pair.

A new mama nursing her week old pups:

Meeting and learning about these incredible sled dogs was the highlight of my Alaskan trip. Dogs never cease to amaze me with their loyalty and intelligence. One thing that I was glad about the mushers camp that we visited is that the dogs are all Iditarod race dogs and that is their job, their job is not to be a tourist attraction.

That part of it is sort of a bonus for us, since they need to stay in shape during the summer months, and what better way to do that (and for their mushers to earn a bit of extra money) than to teach visitors about dog sledding?

On our first day in Alaska, we took a whale watching tour out to Stephens Passage in Juneau, Alaska. Since our tour was meant to be a photo safari, our tour guide was a professional wildlife photographer who lives in Juneau.

How cool of a job must that be? To take people out on wildlife watching tours and take amazing photos at the same time?

We took a boat out on Stephens Passage where we spotted humpback whales, sea lions and harbor seals. Since Stephens Passage is a protected wildlife area, the whales are federally protected here.

We also learned a lot about humpback whales, especially considering I went into this knowing nothing except that the whales are huge and eat krill and other small fish. You usually find the whales by looking for their spout of water and mist when they come up for air. After that first burst of water, the whales will usually come up two or three more times, before retreating far down into the water to search for food.

The “final retreat” is when you will see that magnificent tail, or if you’re lucky: a partial or full breach from the water. We weren’t so lucky on our trip out to see the whales. No partial or full breeches, but we did get to see a quite a few tails.

Including this humpback whale calf who was traveling with its mother.

There were also quite a few bald eagle sightings by the harbor:

After the whale watching, we got off the boat and hiked to Mendenhall Glacier:

I’ve had the idea in the back of my mind for a while now, to photograph the buildings in my hometown of Radford, Virginia, but I always seemed to forget or the cold weather would keep the Southern belle in me snuggled up inside next to the fireplace.

Luckily this year, the weather in Radford was perfect for walking around and taking some photos.

As small as this little city is there are some charming buildings along Main Street, so that’s where Paul and I headed with camera in hand. It’s amazing looking at my hometown from a different perspective now that we live in Atlanta and only manage to visit Virginia once a year at Christmas time.

The little brick building below used to be a piano/music school, where I took my first piano classes.

Incredibly cool clock in downtown Radford, in front of one of a few building murals. I just absolutely love the murals of old advertisements on the sides of the buildings. Just adds that extra something to a small town.

Photos of Radford would not be complete without a few shots at an old train depot.

The city of Radford got its start as a railroad town back in the 1850s, when the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad came through, and it became a railroad town – due to the large number of trade and business that came to the area because of the train depot.

The passenger train stopped running through the city back in 1971, but there are still many freight trains that make their way through.

There’s your quick glimpse at my childhood hometown of Radford, VA. Maybe next time I come visit I will try and make my way to some places where I spent most of my time: the high school, a few restaurants and the tennis courts.

I usually do run with my cellphone secured in my running belt for safety purposes, but today I decided to slow down a bit to enjoy the beautiful autumn leaves and snap a few camera phone photos during my run. Alpharetta’s Greenway is just lovely this time of year and instead of focusing on how far and fast I could run today, I looked up and enjoyed the multicolored foliage.

This is why I pry myself out of bed every morning: For these views.

Now, what am I going to do once winter gets here? Oh well, I guess I will worry about that in a few weeks.

Photos taken on an Android phone and edited in Photoshop.

The couple of days that we were able to spend in Rocky Mountain National Park were pretty amazing. The landscape is breathtaking – especially for this Georgian who sees mostly flat land.

But, my favorite part was the wildlife, especially the elk herds. They are just such magnificent animals. As long as you keep a decent distance from them, they pretty much ignore people and just go about their business.

I just wish we had more time to spend at the park observing the scenery and the animals.

For more details on our trip to Rocky Mountain National Park, please visit my post at Dash of East.

The Grand Canyon is an attraction and American natural wonder that doesn’t really need an introduction. It’s located in the state of Arizona about 4.5 hours north of Phoenix and about 5 hours east of Las Vegas. Our trip to the Grand Canyon was sort of an added bonus to our trip to Phoenix/Glendale to watch the 2011 BCS National Championship game.

Since our trip to the canyon was during the winter, the North Rim was closed, so we visited the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon Village is the main lodging and dining area on the South Rim, and although it may be slightly more expensive to stay there than to stay at one of the chain hotels right outside of the national park, it was definitely worth it to stay a few yards away from the rim of the Grand Canyon.

For more details from our trip to the Grand Canyon, visit my posts over at Dash of East.