I have always found mushrooms to not only be delicious, but fascinating…yeah, I know…kinda weird…LOL  I was surprised and delighted to discover the 50+ species that live in Southern Alaska! Just FYI…there are over 5K in the Pacific Northwest AND….drum roll, please…between 40-55 thousand varieties worldwide!!!  How cool is that?!  That’s the extent of stats, but here are a multitude of pics of mushrooms…many were found right in the museum park area.  I spent quite a bit of time laying on the ground, moving grass to get stem and under cap shots….I AM retired, you know!  LOL

We have been waiting for 3 months to see a moose on the loose…in nature!  We have seen them at farms, etc…but not loose!!!  One day Faye, volunteer extraordinaire, came into the museum exclaiming that a young bull moose had jumped the 8′ fence and was wandering around in the yard!   Almost simultaneously, Carl texted with the same info!  I was on my way!  I ran downstairs and out the back door to find Carl with camera in hand following the moose and waving me on!  OMG!

“Hey, wutchu lookin’ at?”

“Hmmm, which way do I go?”

“I see you!”

“Can’t a moose have a snack in peace?”

“Judi, be quiet!”

“I’m going in!!!”

“I bet they can’t see me now!” “Oh, yes we can!”  LOL

A full grown moose would be about a foot or more taller and be sporting a much larger rack!! Someone told us this summer that he and a friend would dare to snowmobile under the body, between the legs of one! Now, that’s TALL!!! AND CRAZY!!!

“YES, I’m still here!  Geez!”

Sure enough, there it was just walking around behind some of the equipment…then to the far end of the yard to have a little snack of leaves!!!  At one point, you will see in the pics, it turned around and looked straight at us!!!  Another bucket list item…CHECK!!!