It appears that our trips to Alaska must always have a rocky start.  Maybe that is to ensure that the rest of the trip goes well.

The driver for the limo kept driving by the road he had to turn to get to us.  Even though he had been provided very explicit (and correct) driving instructions.  And even though he had called and I had given him additional instructions and he said 'Yeah, I got it, good'.  And even though he had been on the phone three times with Terry while within 5 miles of us.  So, we gave up on him and drove ourselves to the airport.  We had wanted to have a nice, relaxed start and did not get it.

After the usual dance with the parking lot shuttle (something we would have avoided with the limo), the usual chaotic game of 'self-checkin' and security (my little Asus Eee PC had to go into a big bin all by itself), we had a nice meal at Five Guys.  This about the only good thing about leaving from Terminal A in Dulles Airport.  Five Guys has great french fries and good hamburgers (you can even get jalapenos on them).

Naturally, the weather decided to play havoc with everyone and our plane departed the gate 80 minutes late.  We had had a 2 hour layover in Toronto between flights.  Guess what?  You got it, we missed the connection.  The only good thing about the flight was that, in order to balance the load, we were moved from the second to last row on the plane to the third row.  It had scads more leg room and it enabled us to get off  the plane much faster.  We were the first to the desk (after customs) to get ourselves booked on the next flight out to Vancouver.  It left 2 hours after the one we were originally scheduled on.  So, we finally made it to our hotel only two hours late (and very tired).  But we made it!

Today (technically, the 'day after' we arrived, since we basically count days by 'sleeps') was an unstructured day.  (so far, so good as to keeping the site up to date).

We had a nice 'breakfast' about late noonish at Subways in the mall across from the hotel.  I indulged in a frozen kona mocha coffee (and was only mildly buzzed for the next hour).

Then we caught the 'local' commuter bus into Vancouver downtown.  Of course, we had to find the bus stop.  The conciergish person gave us basic directions and a map.  But didn't know to take into consideration the construction going on in the area.  So, the bus stop was not easily found.  We did find 'a' bus stop, but not 'the' bus stop.  We did see 'the' bus stop as we drove by.  It was marked with a sign on a can.

So, we made it into Vancouver proper (40 minutes driving through Richmond and Granville, the suburbs of Vancouver) and discovered that the loop described by the concierge did not loop where she pointed.  It became obvious enough for us to get off where it was still walkable to the aquarium (our objective for the day).  We walked through the tourist commercial area to Stanley Park.  We eventually found the aquarium.  The signage was designed by the guys who did Myst.  You get one sign at the entrance and you have to remember it through the next 6 intersections before you see another.  And, they didn't mark all the paths.

We did see some very nice beluga wales.  Aurora is expecting her second baby in captivity any day now [News Flash, she had the baby June 7!!!!].  Her daughter and grand-daughter (11 days shy of one year) share her tank.  The aquarium was nice.  It had good frogs and jelly fish and other creatures.  I did not look in the exhibits with bugs and spiders once I recognized what was in them.

We came up just in time to catch the next show.  This was about birds of prey.  We accidentally found the perfect spot to watch (upper right corner as you face the 'stage').  It was right where the birds would be landing on a pedastal and rock.  There was a red winged hawk and a bald eagle.

We next went to with the 'rain forest' section.  There were exotic birds, caimens, small monkey thingies and turtles and tortoises.  After that it was the frogs (a great bunch, very colorful, but none caught on camera) and snakes (very colorful and pretty) and finish up with proper fish and jellyfish (very pretty).

We took the bus back 'home' and had a nice meal (after some good local beer).  There is a serious Asian theme to the area around the hotel and in the hotel.  They made my dinner nice and spicy.  This is something you don't always get in non-asian restaurants.

Our first full day of vacation went very nicely.

Today was the start of the cruise.  Naturally, being anxious not to get up late and miss the bus to the boat, I woke up way too early and was not able to get back to sleep.  So, I got up and did my morning stuff.  And Terry woke up and did his.  We went down to breakfast and were.back in the room 20 minutes before the wake up call we'd scheduled came.  Oh well.  It gave me time to work on my narrative for the day before.

We were driven to the airport and waited for the bus and the guy in the red coat.  When he showed up (in plenty of  time before the 11am time we were given), he was very cheery and didn't look old enough to shave.  (Maybe that has more to do with having recently turned 50?)  The bus arrived and we had a very happy, entertaining driver.  He kept up a good patter the whole way in and we heard history and his opinions on the real estate market (he would remain a renter and many people got caught buying the second condo to turn it around just before the market tanked) and the decisions of  the local government to build things they didn't really need, even though they would be hosting the 2010 winter olympics.  He told good jokes, got us there in time and kept us amused.

We  were actually fairly early for boarding, but that was fine.  The folks working at the embarkation place really knew how to keep the people moving and get everyone through security, customs and the actual boarding procedure.  Naturally, the staterooms were not ready (they were still cleaning up  from the crowd that had disembarked from the south-bound trip that morning).  We joined the herd at the buffet (which was pretty decent).  Then we explored all over so that we knew where everything was and how to get to places that would be good for watching the scenery and animal spotting.  In the Crow's Nest (a night clubby place we avoided at night), there was a dance floor with a very big screen (four 54ish inch diagonal screens) with a Wii signal receiver on top.  We thought it looked like a great place for doing Wii bowling.

We did get  into our stateroom about 2pm.  It was fairly comfortable with a king sizish bed, a full bath and a private balcony.  We unpacked and went back out exploring.

There as a lifeboat drill at 4:15 and Holland America takes it very seriously.  Most of the people assigned to our lifeboat station (12B) were there shortly after the signal was given.  Lots of other boats' people passed us while our boat steward was taking attendance.  Yes, they took attendence, calling out names and stateroom numbers.  While most of us were there, there were about 3 staterooms that did not make the drill.  We wondered what happened to them (whether the captain had a talk with them or they were fined or what), but never found out.

While waiting for the ship to leave (and before the drill) we saw many sea planes land and take off.  This seems to be a popular way to ge around.  We would see quite a few more as the trip progressed.

The ship left the dock at 5pm.  Leaving the dock and making our way out was very smooth.  We sailed past Stanley Park (it is actually quite big) and under the Lion's Gate Bridge.  The bridge was very, very green.  We had some good views of the city of Vancouver.  It is packed with all condominiums.  There was some sort of facility with a huge pile of something very yellow.  We think it might have been sulfer.  Terry was teased with being able to see the back end of a train consist and was not able to see the engines.

After that we spent the time before dinner watching the world go by and trying to spot animals.

Dinner was 'smart casual', so I wore one of the two non-tie-dye shirts I brought along to dinner.  We had an assigned table for the 8pm seating inthe Rotterdam Dining room and we shared the table with a couple named Pat and Norman.  We were not very social with them that evening.  The service was good but slow (after all, they only had one burner to cook on) and the food  was good.

We didn't get out from dinner until after 9:30.  I did say that service was slow, didn't I?  While wandering about after, we got talked into an after dinner drink.  I discovered a new wonderful thing to savour slowly - Dom Benedictine.  It is delicious and has a wonderful variety of complex flavors and explodes in your mouth with a great whoosh.  I now need to research and see if I was right in the flavors I believe I tasted.  It was off after that, for a good, long sleep.

And so ended our first day on the ship.

This was the first full day on the ship and it was an all crusing day (no stops).

We were lucky, a bald eagle decided to fly right by while we watched.  And  there were plenty more sea planes.  The scenery was beautiful all day (see the pictures page).

We started the day with a jolly couple at breakfast in the Rotterdam Room (no assigned seating).  We then went for a very nice 'couples' massage.  It certainly worked out some of the kinks and felt wonderful.  Somewhat after that, we had lunch, after some general watching of the world go by.

Then we spent several hours standing up top in serious winds trying to spot creatures.  With some success.  I believe that I saw two orcas and there was something else aquatic that was big and dark.  At some points, the winds felt like near-hurricane strength.  At a minimum, between the speed of the boat and the speed of the winds going against us, it was at least 32 knots (I'll figure out the mph later).  And it felt much stronger.  It really did push us around (I think you would have loved it, Jennifer).  It was quite energizing, but caused serious wind-burn and really played havoc with my hair.  It created a major knot that took quite a while to get undone.

Since it was a formal night, I went back to shower and get my hair clean.  After that, I worked on the narrative for the day before, uploading (locally) images and updating the previous narrative (with image/slide links).  Terry came back shortly after that.  I then enjoyed the privacy of our deck and let some parts of my anatomy, that normally don't get the chance, enjoy the sun. It felt wonderful.  Not too long after Terry took his pre-dinner shower, he spotted a whale blowing and ran to get his camera and then out onto the patio to get some photos (buck naked).

We had heaps of time, so we went to the casino.  We ordered a nice bottle of orange label Veuve Clicquot champagne (thank you, Ashok and Thari for your birthday gift).  The gentleman, Jeffrey, who served us the champagne remembered us from the previous day in the Mix bar (specifically, that we were drinking Stella Artois beer).  I think when cruise guests do more than just eat all the free food, the extremely helpful and friendly people working the cruise make an effort to remember you and give you more attention.  Every time he came by to chat, I did great at the slot machine.  Three times I managed to get my credits to well over my initial stake of $20.  It was a penny betting machine and I played 20 lines at one credit/line/bet.  I was able to play the same machine for about 90 minutes, and walked away with about $8 of my original bet.  It hit the bonus feature a few times and even got 5 Mona Lisas once.  It was fun.

Dinner was very nice (our assigned table mates decided not to join us).  We wanted another bottle of champagne, but they were out of cold Veuve Clicquot and they gave us the next class up [Perrier Jouet] for the same price.  It was nice and the food was good and I was quite jolly by the time we were done.  We headed back to the room and had a nice, good sleep.  We had an early start the next morning, so we didn't go to sleep late.  When we  reached our room, the steward had made it up for the evening and we were greated by the first of the nightly towel creatures, a bear.  He accidently got decapitated later.

This was the first excursion day, in Ketchiken.  The place was originally a mining town.  Now, it is primarily a tourist town with LOTS of jewelry stores.

Our excursion was an extremely fun go-kart adventure.  We had to get up about 6am in order to have time for breakfast before we gathered for the trip.  We took a bus for 45ish minutes to get into the back/park area and had a running commentary from the local driver.  Everyone but one couple were properly at the meeting point well in the time indicated on the tickets.  Not only was the last couple late, but the gentleman in the pair realised that he had forgotten his driver's license after he got on the bus (but before we left).  So he had to get off and argue about it.  The tickets specifically told everyone to bring their licenses.  He apparently was able to argue them into letting him go (and he didn't have to go back on the ship for his license).  How he succeeded in getting them to let him drive is a mystery.

After a somewhat entertaining orientation (and port-a-potty break), Terry drove the kart for the way up to the top.  The scenery was great and the ride very bumpy (and fun).  We had the red kart, but it was not the fastest one.  It didn't even have a speedometer like the rest.  Oh well, it was still fun.  We stopped partway to get a great view of a lake and waterfall.  Then we finished up to near where the waterfall finally hit sort-of level ground.  The mosquitos found us there.  After some water, snacks and pictures it was time to head back down.  I (Cynthia) drove and it was marvelous!  There was no power steering.  So, you had to really hold onto the wheel tight and muscle it.  It was apparently speed limited, so it actually slowed down while going down hill, even though I had it floored (which I did for most of the drive).  I think Terry had a better time getting pictures while we moved than I did.  (I'll check them later).

We then went on a speed boat ride back to town.  We did spot some whales, but the bears weren't cooperating.  The scenery was pretty and the narrative was informative.

We went back to the ship to for a quick lunch and then back into town for the 'freebie scavenger hunt'.  We had been given coupon books for the three shore stops along the way.  Within them were coupons for free things (with suitable purchase) and sets of things that you collect from different stores.  In Ketchiken, we collected for crystal ornaments with bits of Alaskan stuff etched in them.

After that, we went back on board and took a walk around the promenade.  I did 4 laps (1 mile) and Terry did 10 laps.  We found out that we could 'upgrade' our transfer in Seward from the bus to the train.  So, we did.

Then we went to the Crow's Nest lounge to play Wii bowling.  Unfortunately, it wasn't at the dance floor.  But it did use a big screen tv (60 plus inch diagonal).  Terry chose to watch and Cynthia was teamed up with a Wii novice.  The entertainment director worked at trying to get people to join.  One woman begged off because her shoulder hurt.  My partner and I had a good game and won.  About frame 7, one couple had to leave and we found someone else to play and actually got the lady with the hurt shoulder to play (she either decided that she could deal with the potential embarrassment or had had enough to drink). It was a lot of fun.  The game was newer and someone actually managed to throw the ball into the 'audience' behind the players.  I've never seen that before and it was very funny.

We basically wandered and looked after that and then had dinner.  The food is very good. We did a brief bit in the casino, but weren't as lucky.

This was a day in Juneau, the state capital.  We arrived fairly early, but our planned excursion wasn't until the evening.  So we had little bit of a sleep-in.

After breakfast, we went into town for the next scavenger hunt and were good tourists, buying other things at the Red Dog Saloon gift shops.  We collected a set of porcelain coasters and bought  a couple of discount T-shirts (very touristy).  We took everything back to the ship and left again.  There was a tramway that went to the toppish of the mountain and we saw an eagle that had been rescued and was being cared for (a good close up view).  The scenery was very pretty, but an avalanche had covered the trail, so we could only go partway.  We did a good touristy thing while there.  It was a nice view of the city.

Then it was back down, and look for an internet connection.  Along the way we heard some very strange bird calls and saw something big and black in the trees.  We eventually realized that it was a raven mimmicking something else.  We finally found the internet place and it was considerably cheaper than using the wireless on the ship.  While Oulook Express was downloading 750 messages (99.9% trash), I updated the travel site (finally).  Naturally, I was still behind in selecting and uploading pictures (at this moment, 8-Jun 10am), I've only gotten through 1-June on pictures.

After that, we went to the Red Dog Saloon for a nice, cold beer (Alaskan Pale Ale).  It is a very entertaining with a live musician.  The walls were covered with all sorts of stuff and fun to look at.  Definitely a recommended stop for basic relaxation and entertainment.  Then back to the ship to get ready for the evening whale watching cruise.

The whale watching cruise was a great success.  They promised that we would see whales, or get $100 back, each.  As usual, there was a bus to the cruise site.  The driver was one of many Brigham Young University students who made their way to Alaska.  Their school year ends earlier and more in  time with the start of the Alaskan tourist season, so they are heavily recruited.  He gave the usual narrative about the area and scenery as we drove.  His biggest complaint was how hard it was to find affordable or available housing (especially for newlyweds, which he was).  But, he got us there in plenty of time and all in one piece.  He did not look old enough to drive.

There was a buffet on the boat which was decent.  I'm still not sure what a 'baron of beef' is, except that it was a big piece of beef and tasted good.  Naturally, just as we were filling our plates, the first group of whales arrived.  It was a very playful pod of 9 orcas.  They performed very nicely (there are more pictures in the pictures page).  The orcas rolled, waved, fluked, breached and generally did everything a whale can do.  It was very exciting and beautiful to watch.  We stuck with the pod for about 20 minutes before we had to move on.  The naturalist told us that they almost never see orcas on this trip.  They usually see a bunch of hump backed whales.  We were very lucky.

A while later we came upon a big hump backed whale.  She (that's what it felt like to me) performed nicely as well.  We got several breaches, lots of rolls and dives and a bunch of fluking (tail flipping).  We hung around her for quite a while before we had to move on.

Next up were a bunch of Steller Sea Lions playing king of the mountain on a bouy.  We watched as one tried to jump up several times and was knocked back by a bigger one.  He finally did make it in the end.  There was a lot of posturing and a bunch  of other sea lions playing in the water near by.

We saw the obligatory bald eagles flying or posing very nicely on a rock and a nice mountain blue bird (very pretty).  It was a pleasant and rewarding trip.  We had another entertaining drive back to the ship, boarded and ended the day.

Terry went on deck to watch as the ship sailed at 10:30.  Or at least it was supposed to leave then, first they had to find an errant visitor who had not debarked in time.  So, they were a few minutes late.  This cost Holland America some bucks, as they get fined $1,000 a minute for staying past their scheduled departure (maybe that was only in Vancouver).

This is our first train day of the trip, an excursion into Skagway.  The trip wasn't until the afternoon, so we wandered from one end of Skagway, at the ship dock, to the far end, at the railway yard.  We saw Skagway from one end to the other.

At the start of the walk, we were by the train station and Engine #73 came chuffing in shunting a train to be used later.  We were treated to all the sounds and sights that the steam engine could do.  The engineer had fun blowing steam to warn off people who were getting too close, trying to touch the train.  It is a beautiful engine and was a delight to watch.  They also had one of the snow blower trains at the station.

While wandering to and from the train yard, Terry was able to get pictures of 5 full consists of the White Pass and Yukon train line.  It is a narrow gauge  track line, one of the few in the US.  We were even able to see one of the other old engines.  We also saw a beautiful old car (which had, unfortunately, been in an accident).

After that, we used the coupons for some cheap T-shirts and got some other souveniers. Then we went back to the ship for lunch because we couldn't use the last coupons we wanted until 2pm.  At which point (2pm), we went back into town and to the local brew pub (Skagway Brewing Company).  We 'earned' two free basebal-style caps for drinking two samplers of their brew (which was very nice).  They also had good onion rings and french fries.  Then back to the ship to get ready for the excursion.

Since we were going to be eating in the fancy restaurant right after the train trip, we had showers and changed into our good clothes.  So, we were a bit overdressed for the train ride.  A bus took us from our ship birth to the one next door, where the train was leaving from.  We were told that it would be the same bus waiting for us to take us back.

The train ride on the White Pass and Yukon train line on their White Pass Summit Excursion was wonderful with great views and good commentary.  It was beautiful.  At the top, at White Pass, we were treated with champagne (too sweet for me, but others enjoyed it).  We also bought the exclusive train baseball hats and were given individually numbered commemorative brassish decorations.  Then the 'shuffle' to switch the seats to face the other way and switch train sides (so everyone had a fair chance at the great views [but it didn't affect Terry, as he barely ever sat down!!!]) and back down for another nice ride.

The bus was not there and did not arrive.  So, we walked back to make our seat reservation just in time.  For all we know, the bus driver is still looking for us.  The dinner was very nice (with a nice bottle of Veuve Clique).

We wandered to the Casino for a little slot action.  After trying three different machines, I ended on the Midas Touch.  After playing for about half an hour, I hit a nice combination in a bonus play and won $223 (I was playing 2 cents a line for 15 lines, so this was a significant win).  To that point, I had only played $60.  We quit for the night and ended the day on a good note.

This was a pure cruise day and the first day looking at glaciers.

So, we slept late.  So late, that we just barely caught the end of the breakfast buffet and actually managed to get some good hot water for tea because we snuck in just after they closed one coffee station.

The views were magnificent as we sailed into Glacier National Park.  Terry spent a lot more time outside watching while I relaxed in the cabin updating narratives and relaxing and showering so that I'd be at my best for that night's formal dinner.

I eventually wandered out looking for hot water for tea (there wasn't anything in the cabin and room service for hot water seemed a bit extravegant).  The taco bar on the Lido deck seduced me into a tasty snack to go with my tea.  While relaxing there, some seals decided to play with the boat.  I was in just the right spot to watch one right next to the boat having a good time.

Then I went up to look at the glacier we stopped at, which had that great blue color and good striations from ground rocks.  Naturally, it became a game to pick the right spot to watch to catch glacial calving.  I did good again and had the camera pointed just right.  We all hoped that the helicopter that went by would jog it a bit.  It might have worked.

We were lucky with a couple of very nice eagle sightings during the day.

After the glacier watching, we went to play Wii again.  (Or, read that as 'Cynthia went to play Wii again'.)  This time it was using the one by the dance floor (four huge screens ganged into one giant one).  We played tennis that was lots of fun, but I didn't win.  And then we bowled.  It was a great as we thought it would be with such a big screen.  Almost life-like.  The Wii version was newer than ours (the lines in the bowling ally didn't line up straight like ours).  One of the bowlers let the ball go while her hand was behind her and we 'saw' it fly into the Wii audience behind the 'tables'.  It was hysterical!  We didn't know it could do that.  All the Wii people scattered and ran.  (She did it twice more that day.)  A lady who was a novice won the tournament.  We all had fun.

Then, relax for a while, find a cold beer and watch the scenery and enjoy ourselves.  The formal dinner was good and posed pictures where taken as we walked to dinner (did they really think we'd pay $25 for a picture of me in a formal dress with THAT expression on my face?).

We did some after-dinner gambling.  Ok, actually, I played the slots while Terry watched and wandered.  I managed to loose some of my winnings from the previous night, but not much.  It took a while before I could get access to any of the games I liked and they just weren't friendly that night.

We had the best towel creature of the trip, an orangutan, waiting for us when we got back to the room for the night.  Given it's position, it didn't get disturbed for the rest of the trip (and didn't get replaced the last night).

Another day cruising and our last full one onboard.

There was a morning orientation for disembarkation the next day.  The cruise director told several jokes and stories about questions and events with new guests that were funny.  His last (and maybe best) was about a guest who was so irate, even before the ship had left the dock, that he couldn't speak when he showed up in the office.  He dragged the director to his stateroom, pointed out the window at the dock and said "I specifically paid for an ocean view room".  At the meeting, we were told that we could purchase a book that showed us how to make the towel creatures, how to increase (or decrease) the amount automatically added to our bill as a tip for the stateroom and dining room attendents and other information.  It was helpful.  They paraded a big proportion of all the people who work on the ship behind the scenes to say 'hi' and 'farewell'.  This took quite a while (and our guys weren't there).

We were leaving the Glacier National Park and the scenery was beautiful again.  Terry spent a lot of time outside.  I was a wimp and only came out when we stopped at a glacier (no luck in cavings today).  Terry saw a porpoises and lots of sea otters and saw some seals who cooperated with the camera.  We watched a boat come alongside, match speed and take off the rangers who had been talking about the Park.

It was a quiet afternoon.  I did some more gambling and finished the trip about $98 to the richer (yes, I did lose more that day, but had several hours of fun.)

We went to the main dining room for dinner only because the regular guy who took care of us there begged us to make sure not to miss the dinner.  We wanted to go to bed early, but we went.  It was a lot of fun.  They put on a regular 'show' for each course and it was worth staying up for the meal (which was quite nice).

We had an early departure (and skipped breakfast on the ship) and headed for our next train experience.  Of course, all the things we were told that would happen on the ship that morning didn't (no announcements about when to disembark, etc.) and the people in the train station were somewhat clueless about what was going on.  But we eventually did make it on the train.

The attendent in our car took very good care of us.  She kept us in hot water and tea for the whole trip and took a nice touristy shot for us.

The trip went smoothly and the scenery was great.  We spotted 2 bull and 2 cow mooses, a handful of bald eagles, a marmot (who was a regular on the trip) and three sets of sheep.  There was also the leftovers from when a cargo train was derailed by an avalanche.

We were lucky enough to see the double-decker train that is going to be used for a new whistle-stop route.  It is a single car that has the engine hidden somewhere inside.  It is new and quite cool.

We made it to the Anchorage airport about noonish.  Then we had to find our luggage (fortunately that went smoothly) and then find the car rental place.  We actually had walked right by the turn for that on the way to getting to where the luggage was.  So,  we traversed the airport twice (okay, so we had a little exercise).  Getting the car turned out to be okay and finding it wasn't a problem.

So, off we went to Kenai.  It was a place we hadn't visited on the last trip but that had looked interesting.  It was a longish drive, but the weather was fine and the road clear and the scenery was nice.  We had some map fun trying to get to the main highway (and spotted a UPS Store along the way, which we knew we would want later).

Along the way we detoured to see if there were things to do later and found a nice national park where we would be able to do a glacier thingy at a later time.  We also picked up some guides to help identify birds and sea creatures and other animals.

We found our hotel, the Aspen Extended Stay Suites in Kenai, reasonably easily.  It is a very new place and was very nice and not expensive.  They were good about getting us extra pillows (I'm a big pillow hog).  We highly recommend them as a place to stay in Kenai.  We found a nice local place to get food for breakfasts, snacks and beer (the room had a frig and microwave).

After settling in (and getting the extra pillows), we found a nice place to eat in Soldotna, St. Elias Brewing Company, and enjoyed a good meal.  The service was good and the food and beer tasted just fine after a long day of travel.  It is one of those places that brew their own beer.  And you can get a growler to go.  So, we did.  It came in handy another day.  If you go, the salads are big enough for two.  So, order one and share it (like we did).

We had our first night's sleep without the movement of the ship.  It took a bit to get used to.  But the bed was quite comfortable.

Unfortunately, I (Cynthia) woke up with the flu on this morning.  It took us a while to figure out that that was the problem (sneezing and coughing could have just been allergy).  It was the overall body pain that was the real clue.  I felt miserable and could only move at the rate of an arthritic turtle.

Fortunately, it was a relaxed day.  So not being able to move a lot was okay.  We went to the supermarket across the road and got some flu stuff and I kept myself properly drugged (coughing hurt my head and felt like razors in my chest, so suppressing it was a good thing).

We also got supplies to ship stuff at Home Depot (there are a lot of them) was right across from the hotel.  Into the box went our dress clothes and shoes (what we weren't outright ditching), lots of souveniers and other stuff from the ship.  This would lighten our load a bit.  The box would live in the trunk for a day or two.

We didn't worry about getting up early and had the luxury of making our own breakfast in the room.  Although I wasn't very hungry and mostly settled for a cup of tea.

Today was a drive to Homer and back as the main activity.  Relatively early in the drive we came to a point that had a great view of the volcano that had been active for the past few months.  We clearly saw the mountain and a plume coming off the side.  Sadly, we forgot a prime photography lesson and didn't set the camera up with the tripod (this is one the things it was brought for) because we figured we'd get the pictures on the way back.  Naturally, when we came back this way, it was too hazy to see the volcano.  Oh well.  Maybe we'll actually learn this lesson this time (yeah, sure).  We did take a couple of pictures using the digital camera.

Just after that, when we were back on the road, a moose cow decided that she really wanted to be on the other side of the road.  We were good drivers and stopped to let her (and grabbed the camera).

While in Homer (a small place) we found a local Subway for lunch.  I was able to entice myself to eventually eat on the way back with a roast beef sandwich with lots of jalapenos.  You can always count on Subways to have good food (and they'll put all the jalapenos you want on your sandwich).

We saw another moose on the side of the road on the way back.  We stopped and tried to be quiet.  She looked at us, thought about leaving and then decided that she could ignore us and continue to enjoy her meal.

The scenery on the way to Homer was beautiful and the road was easy.  We saw a variety of birds along the way, including some sandhill cranes (which we identified later, I didn't really think that Alaska had wild emus).  We spotted them when we stopped to try to get the pictures of the volcano.  I saw these big birds and my first thought was 'emu', but I knew that couldn't be right.

After we got back to the hotel, I decided to try to nap (and succeeded).  Terry went exploring in the car and found another moose and saw the local scenery.

We went to a place recommended by the person at the desk for dinner, Louie's Restaurant.  We were not warned about all the animal heads, skins and bodies decorating this place.  It was interesting, but not for anyone who is an animal activist or vegetarian.  We knew I was sick when I couldn't eat the food.  The garlic tasted bad (I was definitely ill) and the green spices on the spaghetti were way too sharp (parsely??).  Terry enjoyed his meal.  I think the food would have tasted just fine if my body hadn't been rejecting the whole idea of food.

We went back and I curled up and had no idea what Terry did after I fell asleep.

I felt much better when I woke up in the morning.  Not a hundred percent, but I could move a little faster and without pain.  So, a good start.

The schedule for the day was a leisurely drive back to Anchorage with a stop to take a small glacier boat tour (3.5 hours, not 3 hours, we never do 3 hour tours because those could end you up on a deserted island) to see Portage Glacier in the Chugach National Forest.

The cruise was very nice with the usual beautiful scenery and informative narrative.  We were told a variation of the glacier speach and details about the specific glacial lake we were on and about Portage Glacier itself.  The boat was comfortable and we spent most of the time up top in the open air (the temperature was just right and it was nice and sunny).

We spent a fair amount of time watching the glacier (which was very pretty).  But we weren't lucky enough to get a good calving.  Naturally just as we went around a bend on the way away from the glacier, we all heard the loud crack.  The captain turned the boat around and we sped back, just in time to see the very last bits falling into the water.  Such is life.  We did get to ride the wave produced and it was fun.

After the boat ride we wandered different areas of the park.  While driving sorta on the way out, I looked down a small hill and saw that back of a small bear.  I told Terry to pull over (there was a parking lot right there) and I jumped out with a camera to try and get a picture.  Yes, this was the wrong behavior, I should not have been trying to approach it.  But it was gone.  There was a walking path and I saw a group of people coming from the right.  So, I went to the other side of the bridge and saw the other part of the path with a dog coming along.  The bear had gone right across the path and away and had moved right between two groups of people.

We decided to explore the walkways and found a nice view point where salmon might be spotted (if it were the right time of year, which it wasn't).  But we did get to see an American Dipper in action.  It was pretty cool!  It dove under the water and then straight out into the air and was flying.

We followed the path to most of it's end and saw various animal scat, but no animals.  The flowers were pretty and the weather was nice for a pleasant walk.

We finally finished our drive back to Anchorage, spotting some birds and eagles along the way.  We stopped at the bird sanctuary just south of the city.  We had seen moose here on several other occasions, but weren't so lucky that day.  The walkway was open this time (it had been closed the previous year) and we walked all the way to the back trying to spot moose.  We did see several different birds and water fowl.

We eventually made it to the same extended stay suites place we had stayed at at the end last year's trip.  While not the fanciest place, it was clean and comfortable and across the street from The Moose's Tooth.  Naturally, that is where we had dinner.  We ate outside this time and the weather was very nice.  I had my appetite and taste working again and enjoyed my dinner.

And so ended another day (still without having watched any TV for the trip).

Today was a leisurely day in Anchorage.  We decided to visit the Anchorage Zoo (which we spotted last trip but didn't have the time).

They have a decent collection and mostly animals from Alaska.  I don't think snow leopards are indigenous to Alaska, but they had a pretty pair.  The poor polar bear looked way too warm (we had brought unusually warm weather with us).  The llama had been shaved and looked ridiculous.

They had some orphaned baby bears in one building and it stank.  They also stored the various small creatures kept for feeding the bigger creatures in the same building.

It was a smallish zoo, but good.  The animals mostly had good habitats and a fair amount of room.  The zoo was in the tail ends of renovation.  The buildings were all new and many of the habitats had been rebuilt.

We had been told of a nice hiking path at the top of the nearby mountain and went to go find it.  The map was sorta helpful and we eventually found the turn to go up the mountain.  Unfortunately, it was a dirt road and we were not allowed to take the rental car on dirt roads.  Oh, well.

We went and found our way back to the UPS store we'd spotted the other day and shipped off our box of stuff (it was waiting for us when we got home).  Then back to the hotel and I did some laundry.  Then we had dinner at The Moose's Tooth again.  And an early night to bed (we had an early start the next day).

Early start for the next train segment.  We had to be at the train station at 7:15am.  We were headed right back where we'd been a few days ago, Seward, to take a nice glacial cruise.

There was the usual chaos at the Anchorage train station before a touristy train, with lots of people showing up at the last minute (everyone is told to show up at least a half hour before boarding time).  I've decided that the coffee stand in the station has the best cafe mocha anywhere (it's become my regular Anchorage pre-trip drink).

The trip down to Seward was very pleasant.  Terry spent it on the observation deck (after breakfast), as usual.  Our seats were the first two on the left.  This meant I had a nice ledge to put things on and could stretch out with my legs against the wall without bothering anyone.  I was able to give Paar (my travel bear) a great seat and view.  We had some good animal viewings, including a bear that was walking on the tracks and then off to the side.  The scenery was beautiful, as usual, and the weather was very nice.

The next phase of the trip was getting to the boat by bus, with assurances that it would be there for us when we got off the cruise and would get us back to the train on time (all of this did happen just fine).

The boat was nice and comfortable and the weather was a bit chilly, but okay.  We ran into some Dahl porpoises who played with the ship.  They ran along side and played in the bow wave.  We saw some more on the way back from the glaciers as well.

The scenery and commentary were very good (we've gotten quite used to this sort of good stuff).

We were shown an island where there were LOTS of sea lions.  They were pretty lazy and just enjoying the warm rocks and sun.

One of the things I'd been wanting to see since the last trip to Alaska was puffins in the wild.  We had seen some at the Aquarium in Seward and they are cool creatures.  This glacial cruise very much satisfied that.  We saw hundreds of puffins.  They were flying and relaxing in the water and in the rookeries.  I saw my fill of wild puffins (and a bunch of other birds).

There were small batches of sea otters along the way.

We had a couple of different whale sightings, one was a mother and calf pair (we saw them both on the way to the glaciers and the way back).  There was a lot of good blowing and fluking.

Of course, the biggest show was watching the glaciers (very pretty) and catching some good calving (both Terry and I got the same good sequence).  The next one caught on film looked better in person.

There was all the coffee, tea and hot chocolate you could want on the boat.  They provided a box lunch, which I mostly ate because I was very hungry.  The warm chocolate chip cookie for desert was the best part.  It was a good trip and we saw many of the same animals on the way back.

The train ride back was pleasant.  Good scenery, but no good animal sightings.  We spotted the double-decker train again and got a better, closer up view of it.

We had dinner on the train and made it back into Anchorage about 11pm.  A quiet ride back to the hotel and some sleep finished the day.

A quiet day driving to Talkeetna today.

We saw a couple of moose and got a good picture of one who couldn't be bothered by the tourists stopped on the road.

We stopped in park area and enjoyed the view.  It had a sign naming the ranges we could see and we saw where the restaurant got its name.  We even spotted an alligator.  And got the best picture of a black-billed magpie.

We tried to do some train spotting, but nothing showed up where we were.

We finished our drive and checked into the the same lodge as last year.

Since we were early, we went for a wander about Talkeetna and spotted a great souvenier.  It was a four foot stuffed moose (not real) with a great look on his face.  We didn't get him that day, just a tie-dye shirt, but decided by the next morning to bring him home.

We went back to the hotel an had a relaxed meal and a good sleep.  The view from the deck of Denali was still beautiful, even if we couldn't see Denali itself.

Today is the Hurricane Turn train.  Sadly, they have retired the two bud cars that had been used previously.  Now it is an engine, two passenger cars and a luggage car.

Before the train, we went back to get the moose.  I told the lady at the desk and she said 'Really?!  You really mean it!?' and then yelled to someone else when I said that we had a perfect chair for him, 'Hecter has found a home!'.  So, Hecter went off to be shipped back to us.  And we didn't see another moose for the rest of the trip.  (Hecter made it home about three weeks later and was set up in our rocker with a bunch of new friends.)

The view was still good and it was a leisurely trip with stops to spot animals.  We didn't see as many as last year.  There were three black bears, some swans and three beavers (finally).  One of the bears did the curious, stand-up bit next to the tracks.  Just not quite as close as we would have liked.

We had a quiet afternoon after that and a good dinner.

Well, we should have checked the day before when we drove by the Mahay Tour place (twice).  At a minimum, we could have slept in.

We got up fairly early, had some breakfast, and checked out (loading up the car, etc.).  And drove to the Mahay Tour place to go on the 6 hour river excursion and see animals and things.  We went to check in and the lady opened the book (we saw us and one other ticket purchased for the tour) and said "Didn't anyone call you!  The trip was cancelled due to mechanical failure.".  No, no one called us and 'mechanical failure' my ass!  Like I said, we could see that they hadn't booked enough reservations to make the trip worth it to them.  The options were to get a refund or book something else for the day.  The only thing available was the trip we took last year, which was fine, but we didn't want to repeat it.  So, we took the refund.

We now had a very long day to fill in.  The only other thing scheduled for that day was to drive back to Anchorage and return the car.

So we started driving and looking at the map to see what there was to detour to and look at along the way.

We detoured to see a glacier, that was only marginally impressive compared to other ones we'd seen.  And you only got within 5 miles, so couldn't touch it or get close pictures.

We did find a nice museum - The Museum of Alaska Transportation & Industry.  It had some cool old trains, trucks, cars, train-buses and airplanes and other stuff.  The lady working there was also doing rescue animal stuff and had an adorable puppy in the back.  There were some very cool old electronics and appliances.  Including an old oscillator in the men's room, like one Terry had worked with more than 20 years ago.

Just before we left, as we were chatting with the lady there, a new rescue kitten was brought in.  She was an adorable little siamese and my heart melted.  The lady asked Terry whose name she should put on the adoption papers.  We had to decline.  There were still several days left on our trip and I don't think Socks would appreciate us bringing home another baby.

So, we finally made our way back to the airport to return the car and took a cab to the hotel and checked in.  It was a Marriott, clearly designed for dealing with business people mostly.  The room was on the 16th floor, so we had a good view of Anchorage.

With plenty of time to kill, we went for a wander.  We went looking for the restaurant we planned to eat at (we had a coupon) and found it - the Glacier Brewhouse.  We then wandered some more and looked in various touristy gift places and saw interesting things.  It was finally late enough to go eat (or at least get a beer before dinner).  The Glacier Brewhouse does brew their own and we were given seats in a corner (up on a raised spot) that was right next to the glass wall showing the huge brewing tanks.  We had fun looking at the setup and figuring out the pipework.  Naturally, they had a sampler set of 6 of the brews they had.  So, we got a couple and enjoyed the beers.  They were all quite good and we were able to decide which was the one we'd enjoy with our meal.  The food and service were good and the prices very reasonable.  Sometime just as we were finishing up, they threw some sort of wood on the fire (going in the middle of the restaurant) that I am apparently very allergic to and I started having difficulty breathing.  So, I left and Terry took care of the bill and met me outside (he accidently left his choochoo hat inside).

Back to the hotel and some benedryl and to sleep.  (I was fine once I got out of the restaurant and had the benedryl.)

Train day!  We arrived for the usual chaos at the Anchorage train station.  Naturally, we showed up plenty early to check our luggage in (and make sure it was tagged for the right hotel).  I had my now customary Cafe Mocha Grande (tastes great).  We then waited for boarding and watched the usual last-minutters rushing to check in.  The train left exactly on time.

We didn't have the first row seats this time (even though, as usual, Terry would spend the whole time on the deck).  But the lady in the seats in front of us disappeared, so I could rest my legs against the seat without bothering anyone.  This time we were going all the way to Denali, so it would be a longish trip (both breakfast and lunch on the train). We went down for breakfast when they opened up for it and had a decent one.

Then it was time to relax and watch the world go by and try to spot creatures.

We did see some creatures, including a bear and a few moose.  And the scenery was very nice.  We were lucky and were able to see all of Mount McKinley.  It would be our best viewing of it that trip.

Terry and I had lunch at different times and I shared a lunch table with three strangers.  They were all newbies to the area and I told them they were lucky to see the mountain.  They were all going all the way into the park to the same lodge we stayed at last year.  I gave them the advice about the toilet seats and told them they'd have a great time.  If the weather were to cooperate, they'd get great views of both sides of Denali (it didn't).  It was a pleasant lunch (okay food, good enough).

This part of the trip was booked through the Princess Cruise people, even though we weren't on one of their tours.  This is a mistake.  They take very good care of the cruise people and leave the rest of us to flounder.  We did find the right bus at the train station and had to check in at the desk.  The guy who checked us in was new and no one told us we were supposed to give them the luggage tags.  We expected the luggage to show up in our room (as we were told it would).  When it hadn't shown up by 7pm, we called and were told that we should have given them the tickets (scolding us a bit for not having done so).  Terry gave them the numbers and the luggage was there when we got back from dinner.

We explored all the shops at the lodge.  It is a big place with it's own private bus to drive you around (we walked).  We contributed to a local good cause and 'bought' a duck for the rubber duck race (we never found out if we won).  There was a nice glass thingy place and I picked up a good gift for someone for Christmas (she'll see it then).  We eventually wandered to one of the restaurants there and ate on the deck outside, with a great view of the river.  The food was good.

We had an early start the next morning, so we made an early night of it.  Terry had also started couging (he'd caught my flu), so a good night's sleep was needed.  (We found some more cough medicine at the local shop 'in town'.)

Denali Park and animals!

Our bus was to leave at 6:20am, very early start.  We were able to get hot water for our tea and sorta oatmeal for Terry's breakfast (I wasn't hungry).  We got a brand new bus (even if it didn't look like it).  And away we went!

It was somewhat overcast, which was good for pictures, but bad for seeing Mt. Denali.  Oh well, this is life.  The scenery was good, but the animals were hiding.  We did see small critters and some sheep.  Then the bus started beeping.  An alarm was going off, but the driver couldn't find anything wrong.  She called it in and they wanted us to pull aside where we were and wait for the 'rescue' bus.  Our driver talked them into letting us get to the next rest stop first.  We had a good driver.  So, we spent a couple of hours hanging around the rest stop.  Another bus had a problem, and was likewise stranded. We did eventually get going again.

The animals stayed scarce until we hit the turnaround point and headed back.  (We lost one couple because they had to catch an early train and hitched a ride back with another outbound bus).  We did spot a confused and lost bald eagle just about a minute after the driver told us that there usually weren't any in the park at this time of year.  He was still there when we passed the same spot on the way back out.

The best animal on the way in was a wolf that ran right in front of our bus and into the woods.  Unfortunately, the camera was in the wrong mode and we didn't get a good picture.  But he/she was a beautiful creature.

On the way back, a member of the big family group in the back yelled out very loud 'BEAR ON THE RIGHT!'.  This halted the bus pretty fast.  It turned out to be a mother bear with two first season cubs.  We slowly followed them until they disappeared from view (too close to the edge).  We stopped hoping to see them again.  They came up on the road right next to the bus and we got the best set of pictures!!!  Wasn't it nice of the bus to break down so we wouldn't miss them?  The cubs were absolutely the most adorable creatures.

Then, a little later, we came upon a mama and two third season cubs.  They were proper romping teenagers and great fun to watch.

We saw some more creatures (ground squirrels, carribou, northern harriers, golden eagles, lots of snow shoe hairs).

We made it back a bit late to the hotel and rested up a bit (Terry's cough was worse).  We went to the Lynx Creek Pizza place for dinner and enjoyed a meal outside.  There was a very cute baby girl with her family at the next table.  As we were leaving, she smiled at me so I chatted with her.  I coo'ed at her (one that my children always loved) and then her father said to do a raspberry for her.  So, I did, and she started crying hysterically.  I felt horrible!

Oh well, we made an early night again.

We had a liesurely morning before the train to Fairbanks.

But Terry's cough was worse.  So we went to a local emergency clinic and he was diagnosed with bronchitis.  They gave us some antibiotics and a phone number to call if he got worse.

We walked from the hotel to the visitor's center for the park (about 2.2 miles), part of it through the park.  We were both a bit worn from it, but the exercise was good.  The park was pretty.

We spotted when the sled dog demo was going to be and then wandered about the visitor's center (which was nice).  We picked up some sandwiches and chips for the trip (and I got some good chocolate and some wild cranberry tea).

The sled dog facility was cool.  The dogs were all feeling very lazy from the heat, but they looked happy enough.  As the handlers prepared the sled for the demo (after a proper discussion of what the dogs do in the park), the dogs all started barking and trying to get the handler's attention.  They all really wanted to pull the sled!  The ones selected were so excited but calmed down the instant they were in the harness.  Then they pulled the sled so fast around the gravel track that they almost flew off on one turn.  They very much love their work.

Then we went and waited at the station for our train.  There was a very cheaky squirrel hoping for a handout.

The train to Fairbanks was nice.  It was a part of Alaska we hadn't seen before and the scenery was beautiful.  The animal spotting was very very light (especially for a four hour trip).  There was something that the engineer said was a wolf and I saw a rabbit.

It was fairly late in the evening by the time we got to the hotel.  Terry took a walk to see if there was someplace to get some food and ended up with fries and a burger from the place next door (not very good).

We had a good sleep.

We called for a cab and asked to be dropped in the middle of Fairbanks, to do some site seeing.  He took us at our word.

There isn't much in Fairbanks, it really is not a tourist town and is obviously not having the best of times.

We went looking for someplace to have breakfast and finally ended up at a co-op place.  None of the glasses, plateware or cuttlery matched.  But the food was okay and cheap.

We eventually found a good spot and called for a cab to take us to the riverboat tour.  This is something you only want to do if you really want to see the real estate along the river and hear about it.  The native fishing village was interesting (and the high light of the trip).  Oh well, sometimes things just aren't what you hope they'll be.  We did spot where we wanted to have dinner that night.

We called for a cab and waited and waited and waited and watched them close the whole place down before a cab arrived.  It was from a different company than the one we called, but we took it anyway.

The Pump House was very nice.  The food and beer was good.  It had a great atmosphere.  And the right tequila and the bottle was half empty so that it had been airing nicely.  I had a shot in a warm shot glass.  It made for good sipping.  So, the day ended well, even if the rest had been dissapointing.

Bye Bye Alaska! We had fun.

Well, all good things must come to an end and we had to return to the 'real' world.

We took a cab (the same one we'd been in the day before, with a different driver) to 'airport land' and joined the sheep.  We were able to get an upgrade on the longer segment of the flight so we had more leg room and were a bit more comfortable.  The food was marginal.  But we had planned ahead and gotten Subway subs for the trip and didn't starve.

It was a long day.

We made it home just past midnight and it took the cats about 20 minutes to decide they'd forgive us.  Another vacation all done.