We went out to Chena Lakes today for me to do three geocaches and also to do some birding.

Today's birds:
Alder Flycatcher or Hammond's Flycatcher or possibly both
Woodpecker--either Hairy or Downy. I'm guessing Hairy based on size, but I really couldn't tell.
American Widgeon, with ducklings
Black-capped Chickadee
Dark-eyed Junco
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Gray Jay
Canada Goose
Red-necked Grebe
Yellow Warbler
Common Goldeneye
American Robin
Cliff Swallow
Raven

The flycatchers I don't remember seeing before and we aren't sure which it was but could well have been some of both. There are others on the list that are confirmations for my list, so I can add them for sure now.

Tomorrow I am going to meet Brant at his office to go have lunch, and we are packing for Denali, and then in the evening whatever relatives are in town at the moment are coming over for dinner. Then on Friday morning we are leaving for Denali. We are going to stay at a campground outside the park the first night, and maybe hike to the lake we used to camp at when Zach and I were little and backpacking was easy. Then we go into Teklanika for three nights and ride the shuttle bus all the way to Wonder Lake and do bike trips or whatever the other days. I don't think I've been as far in as Wonder Lake since I was...well, the last time we drove in on the lottery I might have only been 12 or so. Not sure.

So...may post tomorrow, may not, we will have to see how busy we get. We probably walked at least two miles today and my knees are steadily improving. I can walk mostly normally on level ground now and get at the most a dull ache. I'm still avoiding steps and hills as much as possible but if I have to it's more of an "ow, that hurts" rather than "holy @#$%@$^! my leg is going to snap off at the knee."

Time to update my bird list. I need to finish my trip log, but I don't know when that is going to happen. I may end up printing out what I started writing and finishing it by hand. I know it will be a while before I can put together a webpage for the PMT and I want to get the actual writing done before that. I haven't done any work at all so far...maybe I'll get some reading done on the Denali trip when I don't have internet access to waste time on.