another Leighton sucked into Alaska

This summer is going to be epic.....yes I said it...EPIC!   My little brother arrived 2 days ago and is working up here at the center the next 2 months.  I am so excited to get to share some fun adventures with Corey.  It has been about 6 or 7 years since I have actually spent this amount of time with one of my brothers.  We started his Alaskan summer off with a bang!  Less than 24 hours of being in Alaska he has already hiked a mountain, walked to a glacier, and bottle feed a baby bison.
Not a bad start....

This was the group that went hiking.  Corey and I are on the bottom left.  Next to me at the bottom on the right is Crystal.  She works in the gift store and came from Utah.  Jeremy is in the center of the group.  Autumn, above Crystal, works for one of the most popular tour companys that comes through our center.  The two guys on the right are Pete (far right in pic) and next to him is Pat.  They also workin the snack bar and gift store at the center.  It was a great group to go hiking with.

                            Corey and I on our way to the top.  I guess He isn't my "little" brother anymore.

 Whew!  We made it.  corey was just hanging out at the top waiting for us.

                                        Of course we had to get a group photo of our success.

Meanwhile back at the center.....

Babies are born left and right!  Our count, as of yesterday, is up to 10 bison calves, 3 elk calves, 2 musk ox calves, and 1 rowdy fox.

The next photos are by Doug Lindstrand.  This time of year he is busy left and right catching all the colors changing in the scenery and of course all the wildlife that is coming out to enjoy this wonderful sunny weather.

 The elk calves always seem to be very photogenic.




Photo by: Doug Lindstrand

"Hey there!"
"Welcome to the group"

Photo by:Doug Lindstrand

                                      Take a look at all these long legs you models out there!
                                                            Photo by: Doug Lindstrand

what is that? You want to see more baby animals......ok sounds good to me!
Doug took this photo on June 5th.  It is fairly easy to spot any newborn calves....you can probably see why.....

 We have even been taking Jade, the red fox, outside for her daily strolls.  Here a snapshot of Sarah with JadeTIP:  When walking a fox on her leash make sure to take off her harness before placing her back in the kennel or else you just gave her a brand new chew toy.

Not that i am speaking from experience or anything...

-It wasn't my fault.

Photo by:Doug Lindstrand

Well it is that time of year again already to plant this years garden veggies.  The interns have been working hard getting all the stuff planted while we are having such nice weather.

We have planted: Broccoli, parsley, onion, potatoes, carrots (my favorite), lettuce, cabbage, and a few other things that I have forgotten.  Some of our tulips have finally bloomed.  Although out of the 150 that I planted with Sarah; I would have liked to see more than 20 or so that grew.

Amber, intern from Florida, was watering the garden as Doug stopped by on his way out of the center.  Because of all the sun we have had it gets really dry around the center fast.






We aren't the only ones enjoying this sunny weather...
Need I say more....

                                              Thanks Doug once again for all the great photos!

I better get to bed since I wake up in oh about 5 hours to feed some musk ox babies.
Gosh what a terrible way to start my day (sarcastically said)

Goodnight Lower 48 -wish you were here

-ErIn