like a paparazzo shooting photos of the celebrity of God...

I've found it. My favorite place on earth, that is. An hour and a half drive south and west from here (about 90 miles) will take you to a little town called Homer, AK. It's a fishing village with a beautiful backdrop of mountains. The "spit" juts out into the inlet 4 miles. They've built up the "spit" with shops, restaurants, bars, tourist attractions, etc... so that in summer the place is overrun with people. But the rest of the year it's fairly calm and quiet. I participated in a run/walk to Homer. Over the course of 2 months we accumulated miles and tracked them. If we made the 90 miles it is between here and Homer then we qualified to go and eat pizza at Fat Olives (best pizza in the world, by the way). So we went this last Saturday. Here's just a small part of what I saw.

I got within just 3-5 feet of this bald eagle. He just sat there watching me as I snapped his picture like the paparazzo. Here's one of the best ones. This one really seems to accentuate his size; he was huge.


Here's another shot of him. This one is my absolute favorite. Probably one of my favorite shots I have ever taken. I love it. The shadows and light on the mountains in the background. The way his head is turned toward me. The boats and the water.


Here he is flying.


While we there a storm moved in and then out again. On its way out, I snapped this shot of the sun piercing through the storm clouds.


On the way back to Soldotna the sun was setting and it was glorious. This doesn't begin to capture the beauty of it in person. The mountain that you see in this picture is Mount Redoubt (pronounced reed-out), an active volcano across the inlet.


This is another shot of the sunset.


Beautiful memories. Snapshots in my mind for me to always remember. Maybe someday you all will come and visit me and you will be able to see the awesome beauty of this place for yourself. It's resplendent!