Everywhere you turn in Alaska there is fascinating wildlife. Mostly you see them running away from you because they don’t want to hang around with humans. We did have a couple of close encounters. In Denali, we met a caribou that sort of danced and ran in front of our bus for about five minutes. Another scarier encounter was on the Winner Creek trail in Alyeska. As we were hiking we turned a corner and all of a sudden I was staring down a giant bull moose just a short distance away. He stood there for a moment and I thought “oh, oh!” Then he saw Ray and took off. Whew! We saw a lot of Alaskan animals up close near Anchorage. They were living on farms and in research centres. Mostly because they were abandoned as babies and saved by park rangers. I fed Rocky the moose willow branches. Ray was super close to a rehabilitated grizzly. And guess what else we met?—Santa’s reindeer in training! I know Santa lives at the North Pole, but some of his reindeer seem to live near Fairbanks and Anchorage Alaska. Just in case you are already thinking of Christmas, Running Reindeer Ranch in Fairbanks has a “secret” cookie recipe. Do you think it might be Santa’s favourite? You are Always in my Prayers. Love Mom. Running Reindeer Ranch Cookies
• 1/2 cup white sugar • 3/4 cup brown sugar • 1 cup butter • Mix well • Add: • 2 eggs • 2 teaspoons vanilla Mix well Add: • 1 cup of flour • 1 teaspoon baking soda • 5 cups oatmeal • 1 cup dark chocolate chips • 1 1/2 cups coconut Optional: 1 cup walnuts Divide dough into 24 roughly equal balls. Flatten balls and shape them into cookies. The dough will rise a little but will not change shape significantly. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes or so
2 Comments
KB NPW
11/2/2022 12:03:26 pm
Did you see Rudolph helping to train the reindeer?
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Ray
11/2/2022 07:32:26 pm
It must have been Rudolph’s day off. Most of the reindeer seemed to be resting and eating in order to be in good shape and rested up for their big day. We were allowed to feed Rocky but not to touch him. We were not to touch the antlers either, but when they are growing they are covered with velvet, which is soft and supplied with nerves and blood supply. During this time there are sensitive. Later the velvet falls off and then they can use their antlers for pushing matches to figure out who is the strongest. The bear was behind an electric fence and no petting was allowed but he was very close. Even though he was close he seemed to ignore me, and so I wasn’t scared, just amazed at how close I was to a grizzly bear.
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