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Tom and Maria had a small party planned for New Years Eve so we needed to go into town and do some shopping. I went along too, for I had not brought my tripod to Alaska with me.

I usually bring a small Bogan tripod which will fit in my suitcase (by small, I mean it will actually just fit if I take it all apart, barely fit that is) but in my rush to get packing and still be able to spend an hour or so taking photos of the wolves out on a now melted pond (it was quite warm the day I left and there was a layer of water on the ice) I did not have time to look. Also, with all the warm clothing I had packed, I had no room! So, I decided to be smart and just buy a tripod up here so I would not have to travel to Alaska carrying so much equipment. I definitely plan to be back!

The only problem with shopping for a tripod, is that the town of Eagle River does not have a camera store!

Wal-Mart to the rescue. They had a cheap $20 tripod (my filters for my lenses are three times that expensive!) but hey, for $20.00, just a one time use is OK. Tom also has a tripod, an old somewhat unstable one, but it's slightly better than the one I just purchased. Having two cameras with me, my Canon 1D and 1Ds, I needed two tripods! And, as it turned out, for shooting fireworks, having a rickety tripod turned out to be a bonus. More on that in the next chapter of my trip.

On the way back from Wal-Mart, we noticed a few birds in the trees so we stopped to take photos. As there were quite a few, Tom drove me around a bit to see if there were better angles to shoot. They were all high up in trees and looking straight up at your subject is not the best angle.

Then, all of a sudden, all of them took off to the air. They started congregating to this one spot. Turns out at this little lodge along the highway, somebody tosses out flat biscuits for them and just like pigeons in the park for scraps of bread, here were 20-30 eagles and a dozen or so ravens, all gathering to get something to eat. It was a great photo opportunity, and since my 100-400mm lens has image stabilization, hand-holding the lens was not a problem.

To think, when we left for the store, remember we were just going grocery shopping and stopping by Wal-Mart, I was debating whether or not to even bring a camera! Then, just at the last minute, I decided to bring my long lens in case we like saw a moose or something. Was I sure glad I brought the correct equipment!!! This goes to show you, always be prepared when traveling to the store in Alaska ;-)

Anyway, the eagles were a cool thing to see on my first day. I barely had to even get out of the car!