Hi friends!

You would not believe the change here in south central Alaska in just a week’s time! Every year Mother Nature does the same thing and every year I am astounded once again by the dramatic, nearly overnight change!

Last week; the first week of May, we were slogging through mud and the last hold-outs of snow were still visible deep in tree shrouded ravines and on the shady sides of some hills. Everything was brown with nothing except the brave pussy-willows were peeking their Spring heads out.

Then we had a couple of days of light rain to add to the moisture still in the ground from melted snow and run-off. Two days of bright sunshine and 50-60F temperatures (daytime) followed. It was enough to finally trigger "the change of seasons". I woke up and looked outside a few days ago. Instead of brown, I found myself surrounded by green!

The birch and alder had all decided to leaf out overnight! They were tiny, half-furled leaves that first day, but it gave the entire forest an airy aura of green not seen since here last summer. Our house sits on a hillside, so I was privileged to be able to watch the transformation of a large part of the valley from my back deck.

Over the past three days - only three days - spring has arrived in Alaska in all its multi-toned green glory. Even the willow and cottonwood are clothed in their best early foliage. Finally ... finally, it is Spring in Alaska! I'm ready to go hiking!

Here's the latest article from the Alaska site at BellaOnline.com.

Kenai Fjords National Park
Kenai Fjords National Park, located at the tip of the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska, is one of the state’s top destination choices. The Park is renowned for its outstanding marine and land wildlife, hiking, fishing and glacier viewing boat cruises.

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art60571.asp

Please visit alaska.bellaonline.com for even more great content about Alaska.

To participate in free, fun online discussions, this site has a community forum all about Alaska located here -

http://forums.bellaonline.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=433

I hope to hear from you sometime soon, either in the forum or in response to this email message. Your feedback often helps me decide which direction to take with future articles.

Have fun passing this message along to family and friends, because we all love free knowledge!

Deb Frost, Alaska Editor
http://alaska.bellaonline.com

One of hundreds of sites at BellaOnline.com