And Just Like That...We're Green Again

It seems to happen quickly every year.  We'll be truckin' along with our browner than brown mountains...and then boom!  The Kodiak summer time green roars in again.  The depth and magnitude of those summer colors is unbelievable.

Beautiful, vibrant, unforgettable - it seems I ran out of adjectives to describe Kodiak's allure about a year and half ago.  Unfortunately, when you blink, the green is gone just as abruptly as it appeared. 

But since it just started, I'm choosing to look forward to the next few brief months of the aptly named "Emerald Isle."  Because would you just look at that:

The green is still gradually crawling its way up the mountains - not quite there yet!

This is just the beginning of the transition to green, so it's not nearly as intense as it will be in a few weeks.  Those deep, emerald hues are still trickling their way up the mountain peaks.  But, it won't be long now!

We broke the kayaks out for the first time this season last weekend, and it was a gorgeous, sunny, Kodiak at its absolute best kind of day. 

I managed to find myself in the middle of a gull feeding frenzy, so of course I had to pull out the camera to see if I could grab a few shots.  How about those diving gulls?

Action!  They were noisy and erratic as hell!  Can't you just hear them squawking?

It would be more compelling if they were puffins or eagles, but it was still impressive to be right in the mix with them all diving and swooping around.  I was glad I didn't get pooped on.

Speaking of impressive, we had the privilege of seeing an enormous whale glide right up out of the water not far from our boats.  I heard him before I saw him, and he was just far enough away that I didn't freak out. He was twice the size of my kayak.  It was incredible.

This is by far my favorite time of year.  We repeat ourselves often, but it's true:  Kodiak's beautiful when the sun shines.  Too bad it doesn't happen more often.  Can't be too upset about it, though.  After all, the incessant rain is the reason why it gets so green in the summer.  Coastal temperate rainforest = lots of green in the summer, but lots of rain all year round.  I guess that's the trade-off.

I'll be a good little trooper and savor & appreciate the sun while we have it, and I'll do my best to focus on those memorable, sunny days. - And not fixate too intensely on the reality...which is that the best time of year is both fleeting and fickle in how often the sun decides to make an appearance.

Because really - sometimes a week of beautiful weather somehow (unbelievably) makes up for all the gray, dreariness that's the norm in Kodiak.  Remind me I said that after the next two week stretch of not seeing sun or blue sky.  And I'll probably tell you to suck it.  Ha.  Let's hear it for Kodiak summer. - Short-lived, but spectacular as it is!

Ta-ta for now.