Flower trees in Alaska?

I love, love, love flowers and flowering trees. I got this ingrained love for flowers from my Grandma Keller and my mom taught me to always appreciate fresh flowers in doors as well. All I am trying to say is I come by this craving very naturally :-). This fall/winter/spring have been insanely crazy, way too busy, way too many things happening and I have been aching {desperate} for flowers more than usual.

While driving from Juneau a week and a half ago I kept seeing white bushy trees as I drove. Do you see the lowest row? I wondered as I drove what they were - even though I love to look at trees, I don't know their identities....to me they go into just 2 categories - pretty or not so much...

Some had a red-ish tint....

I decided it must be the pussy willows and wondered if I'd see them when I got home.

[side note: This photo is just 'cuz it is so pretty.]

See my side mirror?...that's dad towing a boat behind me.

This was my view for a lot of hours - two days of driving 7-8 hours, in a truck all by myself, with no radio, no talking, no questions, no phone, no computer, no people interaction = a very happy April :-). Little did I know how much I would need this [re]charge for the week to come as opposed to recouping from the weeks past. As always, God's timing is perfect!

Back to what I was originally going to say when I started this post (a couple hours of homework and multiple loads of laundry ago...) When you're a bit (or a lot) delusional and a lot desperate for Spring these look like flowering trees when you drive by them. It is something sprouting, but it doesn't look like the buds we usually see. I think it is the pussy willows - I need to stop and take a close up photo, but for now this is the best I have. Out my living room window I see our usual leaf buds. May 1: I think our spring is here to stay - we had a day this week that hit 70*, yes we had snow/hail/rain yesterday and it's been chillier the last couple days; but that was in April - it's May now :-).