I’ve spent a lot of time at Dyea this week, walking on the tidal flats and, naturally, taking tons of photos.

When I head out with my camera, I usually have some idea of what I’m looking for. I planned to walk along the beach and take some shots of whatever looked interesting – seaweed, driftwood, rocks, birds, you name it. I did all of that, but the highlight was not what I was expecting.

The highlight was the thing I was not expecting: seeing these adorable guys in the river:

I first saw harbor seals shortly after I moved to Alaska in 2014. I was walking on the beach off Anchor Point and came across one hauled out on a rock. On land, they look like bloated sausages but they have the cutest faces.

It makes me sad to see people with no interest in anything but “the big stuff” such as seeing a bear. They miss the little things, like seals or schools of eulachon in the river, and never take the time to stop and listen to those gulls as they fish.

Look around. What you expect isn’t all there is to see.