Alaskan Adventure - Epilogue

The Alaskan Adventure is over and this blog has been updated. To follow our travels from the beginning, go to the May 28 entry.

Photos from our trip have been uploaded to my Webshots home page.

Photos are available for viewing at http://community.webshots.com/album/550947535xlPLjd

Enjoy! Please comment on our blog entries and photos, if you wish.

Alaskan Adventure - Day 15 - Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Chicago, IL, Albany, NY, Pittsfield, MA

Partly cloudy, 53 degrees in Anchorage. Pittsfield partly sunny

Travel home from Alaska. Took a red-eye flight from Anchorage to Chicago. Arrived Chicago at 0430. Flew out of O'Hare at 0750, arrived in Albany at about 1100. Rented a car and drove home.

My reflections on this vacation are still a little out of focus. The two weeks have gone by so quickly that I probably need some time to grasp what we have seen and done. Holland America owns the cruise ships, owns the hotels, owns the tour busses, owns even some of the attractions we visited. I guess that makes the tour kind of like a Disney World experience; tuned to the tourist and wrapped in a plastic package. Yet I know it was so much more than that. The real Alaska isn't owned by Holland America or any other tourist company. The real Alaska is in the mountains, the islands, the lakes, fjords and harbors. It's in the vast expanse of unspoiled land and in the rugged individualists who live there. When you are in this environment, you can't help but sense the awesome presence of some higher power. Call it God, call it nature, call it an 8.0 on the Richter scale. Call it what you will, but something pushed these incredible mountains out of the earth's crust, something painted incredible beauty in every vista, something placed the unit of measurement on this land at awesome. It wasn't me, it wasn't you, we have barely the capacity to comprehend or appreciate it. Taking it all in left me feeling very small and unimportant.

This experience left me with some other thoughts.

• I want to go back. Although we saw a lot and did a lot, we barely scratched the surface of this great land. If I can, I will go back.
• I want my kids to experience this sometime. I wish we could have all been together on this trip. Probably not ever with me, but someday, on their own, I wish them this experience.
• I wish that somehow, my country can come to understand the obligation we have to protect planet earth... for us, for our children. We only have one home...earth. This is it. If (when) we destroy it, there will be no going back.

For now, I carry the memories of an incredible adventure, my own Alaskan Adventure.

Alaskan Adventure - Day 14 - Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Fairbanks, Anchorage, AK

Mostly cloudy, 61 degrees in Fairbanks, 53 in Anchorage.

Woke up at my normal time, around 0530, went back to sleep until 0930. This has been a tiring trip; lot of touring, up early every day, awake until late at night. Today is a travel day and since we don't have a flight out of Fairbanks until 4:11 PM, there was no point in getting up early. We will be flying from Anchorage to Chicago on a red eye flight tonight, so we probably won't get much sleep. Packed up and worked on our photos until checkout time at noon. I talked to Mark on Instant Messenger briefly.

We checked out of our room at noon, then had lunch at the Red Lantern restaurant in the hotel. At 2:00 PM, we took Holland America's shuttle bus to the airport. Our 50 minute flight from Fairbanks to Anchorage took off at 4:11 PM. We had a layover of about 3 hours before boarding our United red-eye flight to Chicago. We slept intermittently on the plane, arriving at Chicago's O'Hare airport at 4:30 AM.

Alaskan Adventure - Day 13 - Monday, June 12, 2006

Fairbanks, Anchorage, AK

Mostly sunny, 75 degrees in afternoon, cloudy in evening.

Got up at 5:00 AM. We ate a good buffet breakfast in the hotel, then at 9:00, boarded our tour bus for a quick tour of Fairbanks. Our driver talked about what it was like to live in a place where the temperatures in winter regularly reach 30 or 40 below zero (the record is 69 below). Parking lots in shopping centers provide electrical outlets for their employees to plug in engine block heaters, for example. The average snowfall (65 inches), by the way, is less than in Pittsfield. Then it was on to the Goldstream Dredge #8. This tourist attraction, owned and operated by Holland America, features a huge dredging machine that was actually used in gold mining until 1964. The explanation of different gold mining techniques, a tour of the actual dredge itself, and a chance to do some actual panning for gold were all interesting. Cindy and I took the gold we got out of our panning, (worth about $5 each), and had it put into lockets to give to Karen and Mark. A great lunch of beef stew was provided.

Our next stop was at the Alaska Pipeline. The pipeline, completed in the mid 70s, carries crude oil from the oil field at Prudhoe Bay, 800 miles to Valdez, Alaska. The pipeline is mostly above ground in order to prevent melting the permafrost. Informational displays at this pipeline access site explained that the pipeline is 48 inches in diameter and covered with 3 inches of fiberglass insulation. The pipeline rests on a horizontal beam supported by Vertical Support Members (VSM). The VSMs each have a cooling system to prevent the permafrost from melting and the pipeline rests on the horizontal beam with a Teflon pad, so that it can move as the pipe contracts and expands. About once a month, a "pig" is run through the pipeline. The pig cleans the inside walls of the pipeline as well as collecting data on the pipe (roundness, valve condition, etc.).

Our next stop was at the Riverboat Discovery. This attraction was developed and has been owned by a Fairbanks family for three generations. They have 3 boats which provide a tour down the Chena River. The tours include a demonstration of a short takeoff and landing by a typical bush plane (a Piper Super Cub), a stop at the kennel of Susan Butcher (four time winner of the famous Iditarod dog sled race) and a shore visit to a recreated Athabascan Indian village. The village was very well done, with many informative talks by Athabascan Indians. Our guides in the village were college age girls who talked about the challenge of keeping the native traditions while being part of today's world. Cindy particularly liked this part of the tour.

We had a little time before our next stop at Pioneer Park, so our driver gave us an unscheduled drive through of the University of Alaska at Fairbanks. This campus of about 10,000 students has a fairly robust set of majors, but really specializes in mining, forestry and agriculture. The campus, located on a ridge, was nice but had somewhat of a sterile feel.

Our last stop of the very long day, was at Pioneer Park. This park, owned by the borough of Fairbanks, celebrates the pioneers of Fairbanks. We saw a live actor show at a theater, then went to a large Salmon Bake. The Salmon Bake, held at an open air area of the park, featured prime rib, haddock, cod, and of course, salmon, all cooked over open wood fires. It was a really good meal.

We got back to the hotel at 8:30 PM. Cindy did a load of laundry at the hotel and we packed up our suitcases for the trip home. I didn't get to bed until about 2:00 AM. By the way, it never really gets dark here at this time of the year.

Alaskan Adventure - Day 12. Sunday, June 11, 2006

Denali National Park and Fairbanks, AK
Sunny and clear in Denali, hazy (smoke from forest fire) in Fairbanks. Warm.

Woke up at 05:00 AM. We were dressed, checked out of our room, and sitting down to breakfast at the Courtyard Restaurant at the lodge by 6:30. At 7:10, we were on the bus for an 8 hour Tundra Wilderness Tour of Denali National Park. This tour touches a mere fraction of the 6 million acres (about the size of the state of Massachusetts) that is Denali National Park. Our bus driver, Joe, was very knowledgeable about the Denali wilderness and did his job with a passion. His love for the land was obvious.

We entered the Denali National Park and followed the only road through the park, heading west for 54 miles over a mostly dirt one lane road, climbing up through the tiaga, a northern Boreal forest to sub-arctic, then arctic tundra. We climbed up mountains, with 1,000 foot drops just inches from the wheels of the bus, with no guard rails. The terrain was unlike anything I had seen before; woodlands which, as we gained altitude, led into grasslands sparsely populated with spruce, aspen, birch, poplar, willows, tamarack and bushes. These trees and plants maintain a precarious hold on the earth, because the permafrost only allows their root systems to penetrate a few inches into the earth. In places totally above the tree line, the mountains were stark, with patches of snow on their summits and flanks, but mostly loose, sandstone and shale rock, the steep sides covered in scree. Wildlife was initially hard to see, but as we learned how to look for it, became increasingly apparent. Along the way we saw moose (at least 9 or 10), brown (grizzly) bear (at least 10), caribou (a couple dozen) Dall sheep (many), as well as snowshoe hare, arctic ground squirrels, ptarmigan and arctic terns.

Views of he wildlife were wonderful, but throughout the trip, we shot anxious glances to the southwest from every high vantage point. We were all anxious to know if we would be blessed to see the "High One"....Denali. This mountain, at 20,230 feet, creates its own weather, and 75% of the time it is shrouded in its own clouds, even though the rest of Denali Park is in clear and sun shining conditions. For most of the trip, the mountain was totally enveloped in clouds. We pushed on and when we arrived at Stony Hill, we saw it. Mt. McKinley. Probably 95% of the mountain was visible, with only the peaks covered in clouds. It was awesome! This was a moment I have dreamed about for years. I was mesmerized by the mountain even though it was still 40 miles away.

We ended our tour and boarded the train to Fairbanks at 4:00 PM. The train ride, with dinner, took four hours. We checked into the Westmark Hotel in Fairbanks; we relaxed; Cindy took a bath and I updated this blog.

Bed at 12:30 AM.

Alaskan Adventure - Day 11 - Saturday, June 10 2006

Anchorage, AK

Sunny in the early morning in Anchorage, becoming cloudy and rainy north of Anchorage. Clear and sunny from Broad Pass north to Denali.

Woke up at 05:30 AM. We were dressed and out of our room at the Hilton by 6:45. It was a short bus ride from the hotel to the train. We boarded the McKinley Explorer on the Alaskan Railway and left Anchorage at 8:15 AM. It was an 8 hour train ride north to Denali National Park. Holland America had 4 double height, glass roofed cars on the end of an Alaskan Railways train. These cars had room for 88 people on the top deck and a galley and dining room for 44 people below. It was comfortable, with great views from any seat. I spent a lot of time on the open end of the car taking photos and videos. Breakfast and lunch were served.

The views were outstanding. I saw a bald eagle and two moose from the train. The only disappointment was that Mt. McKinley was shrouded in clouds and we didn't get a view of it. Perhaps tomorrow we will.

We arrived at Denali National Park at 4:45 PM, checked into our room (U-449) at the McKinley Chalets, relaxed for a while and then went out to explore the village and shops. We bought some souvenirs at the shops, then went to a dinner / show at the chalet. It was corny, but fun audience participation dinner theater. We met a guy there who works for a company who is nationally renowned for "flying" actors in theater productions. Peter Pan and many other productions on Broadway and elsewhere. Cindy left the show early to go back to the room. I hung around until it was over, then walked down to the Nenana river's edge and walked along the shore. I met up with a bunch of young people, sitting around a bonfire and having a few beers. I hung out with them briefly before going back to my room.

The land of the Midnight Sun is driving me nuts. It's 11:55 PM and the sun has just disappeared from the mountain peak to the east. It seems like it is about 7:00 PM. I am very tired, yet "wired" by the daylight that won't quit. Reminds me of the movie "Insomnia". And in 4 hours, we will have another sunrise.

I gotta get some sleep....

Alaskan Adventure - Day 10 - Friday, June 9, 2006

Seward, Portage Lake and Anchorage, AK Overcast and raining heavily in morning, temperature in the high 40s. Rain continued throughout the day, finally stopping in Anchorage. Just overcast in Anchorage.

Woke up at 0615. The gym on the ship was closed, since disembarkation had already begun. Cindy got up at 7:30. We ate breakfast in the Rotterdam Dining Room for the last time and watched a sea lion frolic in the water below us. After breakfast, I decided to go into Seward and left the ship. It was raining heavily and the next shuttle into town (about 2.5 miles away) wasn't for another half hour, so I bagged that idea and returned to the ship. The dock is definitely not in a tourist area. It has the look and feel of a commercial pier

Waiting, waiting..... Cindy and I sat in the Atrium, deck 8 and waited to disembark. Finally, at about 12:30 PM, we were off the ship and onto a bus that would take us to Anchorage. It was pouring rain; very gloomy and depressing. But we forged on.

The bus ride to Anchorage followed the Seward Highway (SR 9 and SR-1), past Kenai Lake, through the town of Moose Pass, alongside Upper Trail and Summit lakes, to Portage Lake. We stopped here in a driving, windy rainstorm. Portage Lake was choppy, but we went on our boat tour to Portage Glacier anyway. Have you guessed yet? Yep, you win, Cindy stayed behind. I got soaked with the driving rain, getting photos of the lake, waterfalls cascading off the mountain sides and, of course, the glacier. Portage glacier is much smaller and less impressive than Hubbard Glacier, yet it was still nice to see. With the low hanging clouds, and driving rain, it felt like wild Alaska. After Portage Lake, we followed alongside Turnagain Arm to Cook Inlet, then into Anchorage. On the way to Anchorage, we saw two Moose along the roadside. Impressive animals. We arrived at the Hilton in Anchorage at about 6:00 PM. After checking into the hotel, I called Karen and John. I miss them so much. Dinner was at the hotel. Cindy took a relaxing bath while I prowled the streets, checking out the town. Spent time updating this blog. Hit the sack at midnight. Tomorrow, it's on to Denali National Park via the Alaskan Railway.

Alaskan Adventure - Day 9 - Thursday, June 8, 2006

Hubbard Glacier Sunny and clear, temperature in the mid 50s. Gorgeous day!

Woke up at 0430 and read for a little while. Decided it was too early to get up, so I went back to bed until 0630. Just as I was about to go to the gym to workout, we entered Yakutat Bay and began our approach to Hubbard Glacier. I wisely decided to bag the workout and go on deck to view and photograph the glacier. It was awesome! Absolutely incredible! We were at the terminus of a river of ice 600 feet thick at this spot (up to 2000 feet thick in other places), 7 miles wide and 70 miles long! The ship got very close and there was ample time to view it. In addition to the view of the glacier, the SOUND of it was incredible; loud cracking and a roar like thunder as seracs 3 or 4 stories tall tumbled and crashed into each other. Often, we were treated to the sight of the glacier "calving", (the name for when part of the face of the glacier shears off and falls into the sea). Cindy slept through most of it. I finally got her up and out by 0915. We ate breakfast in the Rotterdam Dining Room and had a magnificent view of the glacier from our table.

The ship sailed from Hubbard Glacier at 10:00, bound for Seward, AK. At 11:00 AM we went to the Van Gogh lounge for a disembarkation briefing which closed with the entire (well, almost) crew coming out on stage for applause and a song. It was the formal end to the cruise. Tomorrow, we will disembark at 12:15 PM.

Cindy took a nap in early afternoon and I wandered around the ship. After being on board for a week, there were still a few nooks and crannies I had not yet seen. On the Sports (12th) deck, there were shuffleboard courts, a volleyball court and a basketball court. If the whole family was here, I just know we would have had a 3 on 3 volleyball game. There is also an entire section called Club HAL, that is reserved for kids and teens. It has a playroom for small kids, a video game arcade, a teen's lounge as well as the outdoor teen area, called the Oasis.

Cindy woke up, met me, and we had a drink and a snack at the Lido Bar by the pool. At 4:45 PM, Vanguard Tours hosted a cocktail party in the Van Gogh Lounge. The sea was a little rough, with rolling swells, starting about 7:00 PM and lasting until after midnight. At 7:45 PM, we enjoyed our last dinner on board in the Rotterdam Dining Room. The evening was spent packing our suitcases. They had to be left outside the stateroom by 1:00 AM

Sleep at 1:00 AM.

Alaskan Adventure - Day 8 - Wednesday, June 7, 2006

Sitka, AK
Overcast in morning, turning sunny in Sitka, temperature in the high 50s, low 60s.

Up at 0545 and into the gym by 0615. Worked out for about 40 minutes. Breakfast again was in the Rotterdam dining room. Today's sailing brought us to Sitka, AK. Sitka is a town of about 8 or 9 thousand permanent residents and was the site of Russia's first toehold in North America. To this day, the town has a very definite Russian flavor.

We dropped anchor in Sitka Sound at 7:00 AM. The harbor in Sitka is not deep enough to accommodate tying up at the dock, so our ship dropped anchor in the sound and transportation from / to the ship was via tender. There were 3 other cruise ships in port with ours. At 9:30, we left the ship with the Vanguard tour group and boarded a bus for a short tour of Sitka (there isn't much to see). Our young bus driver, nicknamed "Stretch" amused us by showing us how he can pull the skin on his neck out 4 or 5 inches on both sides of his face. He claims he is going to be on the David Letterman Show's Stupid People Tricks feature in August. We'll have to watch for him.
We stopped at St. Michael's Cathedral, a replica of the original (1844) church which was the diocesan seat of the Russian Orthodox Church in Alaska. It is still an active parish, with only about 60 parishioners, mostly Tlingit Indians. Looking around the church and talking to it's priest, I was reminded of my mother, and uncles Mike and Andy, who were Russian (Greek) Orthodox Catholics. I lit a candle in remembrance of them.

After the church tour, we got back on the bus and traveled a half mile to Sitka National Historical Park. Here, we watched a show by the New Archangel Dancers, an all-female troupe of locals who preserve the Russian folk dance traditions. Cindy and I walked through the rain forest in the park to the site of a famous battle in 1804, when a Russian expedition fought the local Tlingits and drove them from the area to establish the Russian presence in Alaska. Rather than ride the bus back to the town center, we walked. Although cool, the sun was shining, a welcome relief from the past week of rain. Cindy decided to catch the tender back to the ship and I went to the Internet lounge and uploaded a few photos to my Webshots photo page. I caught the tender back to the ship at about 2:30 PM.

Dinner tonight was formal, with the "Parade of Baked Alaska" for dessert. After dinner, we had a glass of port in the Crow's Nest Lounge on Deck 12, while we watched the sun set. I got a great photo of it. Sunset is about 10:30 PM! With sunrise at 4 AM, there is close to 19 hours of daylight! We cruised through the midnight dessert buffet extravaganza and showed remarkable restraint, I must admit. I only had one chocolate covered strawberry. Karen and Jenaye would have gone wild over the desserts.

We watched some TV before bed.

Alaskan Adventure - Day 7 - Tuesday June 6, 2006

Juneau, AK
Overcast, temperature in the high 50s

Woke up at 0530 and opened the gym (no kidding) before 0600. Got there and the bulkhead door was closed. I opened it, put on the lights and started working out. As I ran on the treadmill, we approached Juneau harbor in the Gastineau Channel. I found myself torn between running back to my stateroom for my camera and staying with my workout. The draw for my camera was the view over the bow. Juneau, a beautiful city tucked in close to Juneau and Roberts mountains was spectacular in the morning mist, with several ribbon waterfalls tumbling thousands of feet out of the clouds to the base of the mountains below. I felt badly that I gave up recording this view with my camera in order to workout.

Before eating, we stopped at the tour desk to confirm that I had gotten on the helicopter flight / glacier trek today. Indeed, I was confirmed. The day was looking up! Breakfast, again was most enjoyable. After breakfast, we disembarked. Cindy was going on the Juneau city tour (with our NBFs). I headed down Franklin Street and found an Internet Cafe. Over a cup of coffee, I talked to Tom Patton and Mark on Instant Messenger and updated my blog in the limited time I had. After a quick trip on board the ship to drop off my laptop, I disembarked again to go on the glacier trek.

The ride out to the airport was short. Once there, we (there were 5 of us) checked in with NorthStar Trekking. They operate the helicopters and tour guide service to the glaciers. After getting fitted for glacier boots, crampons, harness, helmet, jacket, fleece, pants and gaiters, we piled into the helicopter (an A-Star 6 place) and took off. The chopper trip took us flying around mountains and ducking under a low cloud bases, over Herbert glacier and then to a landing on Mendenhall Glacier. The helicopter set down on the ice not far from the guides Mountain Hard Wear tent which serves as their base camp. After it took off and left us there, we met a young woman named Evelyn, who was our guide for the glacier trek. After a short safety briefing, we were off for a 2 hour trek across the glacier. We explored the seracs, crevasses and moulons of the glacier and drank ice cold glacier water as it flowed over the blue ice. It was disappointing when our time was up and the helicopter landed to pick us up.

I spent some more time in an Internet facility in town uploading blog entries. Getting way behind, especially with the photos, since the internet connection on the ship isn't working.
I met Cindy back at our stateroom on the ship before it sailed for Sitka at 6:00 PM. Tonight's dinner dress was casual.

Alaskan Adventure - Day 6 - Monday, June 5, 2006

Icy Strait Point, AK
Overcast, temperature in the high 50s


Slept in until 0715. Hit the gym at 0730 and worked out as the ship dropped anchor in Icy Strait near Icy Strait Point. We have sailed 908 nautical miles from Vancouver. Today we didn't plan any special shore excursions. Instead, we planned to have a relaxing day, go ashore and just wander around Icy Strait Point. We had breakfast in the Rotterdam dining room. That's the way to go. Everybody seems to head for the Lido Restaurant to stand in line and eat cafeteria style. At the Rotterdam dining room, you sit a a table with linens, get served by a waiter in a calm, civilized atmosphere.

After breakfast, Cindy did laundry (she is, after all, the Laundry Queen) and I spent some time in the Explorations Cafe, updating this journal, organizing photos and again trying to get on the internet. Again, it wasn't working. The ship must be having a problem, because the TV comes from satellite, and although we lose some channels occasionally, the TV is up fairly reliably.
In late morning, we took a tender to Icy Strait Point. On shore is a complex of fairly new buildings that are set up for the tourist industry. There are shops, a canning museum and native dance theater. We took a bus into the only town on the island, Hoonah. Hoonah is a native town, with a population of about 860 people. It is a very poor town, very isolated from the rest of the world. The ferry only comes to the island twice per week. The people here live on fishing and canning, and supplement their existence with hunting and berry gathering. We stopped for lunch at Mary's Inn and had hot wings and an Alaskan Summer Ale. Cindy caught the bus back to Icy Strait Point and I wandered around for a while more, taking photos of bald eagles. They were everywhere, with 5 or 6 of them visible at all times. I was amazed by it at first, then just got used to them being all around you. When I returned to Icy Strait Point, I found that Cindy had already taken the tender back to the ship. I browsed around Icy Strait Point a while before catching the tender back to the ship.

In late afternoon, Cindy and I did a thermal spa. The thermal suite at the spa on board the ship was empty, so we had it to ourselves. We spent about one and a half hours in the hot tub, sauna, massaging showers and hot ceramic lounge chairs; all with a view of the water and misty mountains. It was fantastic! Soooooo relaxing. In fact, it was so relaxing that I fell asleep on the thermal lounge chair.

Dinner was informal. After dinner, we just relaxed in the stateroom, before turning in.

Alaskan Adventure - Day 5 - Sunday, June 4, 2005

Ketchikan, AK Low overcast in morning, mist and fog early, clearing in the afternoon. Temp in the high 50s.

Got up at 0530. Went to the gym on the Lido deck and worked out for a half hour. The Statendam docked in Ketchikan at 0800. Cindy and I had breakfast in the Rotterdam dining room, then disembarked the ship at 0815. I had booked a float plane flight to Misty Fjord. Cindy didn't want to do the plane trip, so she went to a Lumberjack show in Ketchikan, just a couple of blocks from the pier.

The float plane dock was a mile away from the ship, but because Ketchikan is so small, and right up against a mountainside, they have only one main street running the length of the town. It was under construction and limited to one way, so we had to circle around the town, climbing up the mountain and coming around on their "bypass" and back down to the water. This 3 mile detour on the bus gave me the opportunity to see a bit of the non-tourist part of the town. Ketchikan has a full time population of about 8,000 people, with another 6,000 in the surrounding area. It receives 13 - 14 FEET of rain a year! They have a saying here: "If you can't see the top of nearby Deer Mountain, it's raining, if you can see the top, it's about to rain". There's so much rain that it's difficult to keep the houses painted properly. Another effect of the rain is that turf on sports fields is always soggy. They solve that problem by not having grass fields. Their sports fields are gravel. The baseball fields double as soccer fields and there is no running track for the High School track team. They too, use the gravel baseball field. Can you imagine sliding into second base? Ouch!

The float plane was a single engine, turboprop deHaviland Otter (N435B). Our pilot was a retired Airline pilot who flew 767s, and is now flying the bush in Alaska. I asked for and got the co-pilot's seat. We took off to the northwest, then circled around and flew down the Tongass Narrows past our ship and the center of Ketchikan. Flying under a low ceiling, sometimes as low as 350 feet altitude, we continued southeast down the Revillagigedo Channel, made a left turn and followed Behm Canal northeast into the Misty Fiords National Monument. About 40 miles up the canal, we turned right, into Rudyard Bay, a narrow, steep walled fjord. Here is where it really got fun. The walls of this fjord rise about 3500 feet above the water (which is about 2000 feet deep). We flew right next to the wall, then made tight turns at the end of each box canyon we were in, flew out of that canyon and turned into another. The scenery was spectacular; snow, rock, waterfalls everywhere. I took videos and stills. We flew through four of these canyons, before doing a water landing inside the bay. During our short stay, a couple of us climbed out onto the floats to enjoy the scenery. Then back in the plane, takeoff and retraced our route back to Ketchikan. The total tour distance was about 155 miles and lasted two hours. It was, by far, the best part of my trip so far.

I came back to the ship, and met up with Cindy for our tour of Totem Bight park. This is a small totem pole park on a bight (a bight is a small, shallow bay) north of town. The guided tour was given by a college girl, Tiffany, from Utah. Go figure. But she had been trained well and seemed to know a lot about the area and the native culture. This tour lasted a couple of hours, then it was back to the ship . On board, I tried the internet again. Still no satellite connection. We had cocktails in our stateroom (Cindy bought some scotch in town and smuggled it aboard) before dinner. After dinner, it was drinks on the Lido deck by the pool. We had the entire area almost to ourselves. I guess most of the old folks went to bed already.

Turned in around midnight.

Alaskan Adventure - Day 4 - Saturday, June 3, 2006

At sea, en route to Ketchikan, AK
Low overcast in morning, mist and fog throughout the day. Temp in the low 60s.

Alaskan Adventure - Day 4

Slept in until almost 0800.. Went to the gym on the Lido deck and worked out for about 45 minutes (treadmill and Nautalis), then showered and went to breakfast with Cindy in the Lido restaurant. We ran into our "New Best Friend" (NBF), Lee who followed us to breakfast, even though he had already eaten. After breakfast, we looked at some additional tour bookings, with NBF Lee hovering over our shoulders trying to make sure he and Annette were by our sides every minute. They even switched their dinner time to be with us. Fortunately, we accidentally (honest!) told them the wrong time. This is going to be a challenge to enjoy their company (they are nice folks, and we do enjoy some quality time with them) while not being stitched to them at the hip.

Lunch was in the Rotterdam dining room. I spent the afternoon in the Explorers Internet Cafe, reading and updating photos and this journal, while Cindy attended a meeting on shopping info. Internet connection was intermittent because the heavy cloud cover made connection to the satellite spotty, so I was not able to get on the internet to update my travel blog, get email or IM. Makes me feel really disconnected.

In the late afternoon, Cindy and I did a "bar tour", hitting the more out of the way bars on board; the Crows's Nest, Ocean Bar and a couple of others. The Crow's Nest was especially nice, with a panoramic view over the bow. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to see, with the low clouds and fog.
It was formal night tonight...suit and tie, dress for Cindy. After dinner, we caught a show at the van Gogh lounge. It was "the world's fastest banjo player". God, am I really here? Am I really doing this? But it just gets better... We went up to the Crow's Nest club and ran into Andy and Lynn (the Penn State people, remember?). We joined them and another couple from North Carolina. There was a band and a DJ when the band was on break. I tried to shake off the feeling that I was at a geriatric day care center and have fun, but Cindy wouldn't dance. I had to ask some of the women there to dance. When I found myself on the dance floor with a 75 year old woman who was doing an arthritic version of Elaine Benis' body spasm, I wanted to scream.....Shoot me, just shoot me!!!
We left after midnight. Cindy went to sleep, and I went up to the Internet Cafe until 1:30 AM. Still no satellite connection.

The clocks get turned back tonight. There are so many hours of daylight in Alaska, that they don't have much use for Daylight Savings Time. That makes us 4 hours behind EDT. Tomorrow, we dock in Ketchikan and I will take a float plane flight to Misty fiord, weather permitting. Something to look forward to.

Alaskan Adventure - Day 3 - Friday, June 2, 2006

Vancouver, Victoria, BC, at sea in the Strait of Georgia
Overcast in morning, clearing as we sailed. Partly cloudy and clear in the Straits of Georgia. Temp in the low to mid 60s.


Up at 0545. We were supposed to meet our "new best fiends" (NBF), Lee and Annette for breakfast at 0730, but were a little late because I was talking with Mark on IM. True NBFs that they are, they waited and sat with us while we ate. After breakfast, we packed, checked out of the hotel and boarded the tour bus for a tour of the city of Vancouver before being brought to the ship.
We started our tour with a stop at Queen Elizabeth Park. This park is on a hill overlooking the city and had a small, but beautiful garden, which was built in a quarry, much like the Butchart Gardens we visited yesterday. The tour through Vancouver left me with the impression that the city was rapidly growing, but without a plan. Because of its rather temperate climate (it rarely snows and the temperature drops below freezing only several times a year), the area attracts retirees. Being the largest and most cosmopolitan city in western Canada, young people are also attracted here. The city has a large oriental population, so the second language of Vancouver is not the "official" second language of Canada (French), but Cantonese. Our tour bus drove through Chinatown, which was colorful, with many meat, poultry, fish and vegetable markets,m then through the old section, called Gastown. I learned that Vancouver has become a very popular site for filming movies and TV shows. Karen would have been excited to see the building which was used as the headquarters building in her favorite TV show as a kid, MacGyver.

Our second stop was in Stanley Park. At 1,000 acres, it is the largest urban park in Canada. Sitting on a peninsula in the harbor, it offers great views of downtown Vancouver, and the surrounding area. From our first stop in the park we caught our first look at our cruise ship, the Statendam, anchored across the water in Burrard Inlet. The second stop in Stanley Park offered a good view of Lion's Gate Bridge which links Vancouver and the North Shore. This suspension bridge was built in 1938 by the Guinness brewing family of Dublin, Ireland as a commercial investment. Cindy and I had a beer at a restaurant overlooking the bridge.

We arrived at the ship at about 2:45 PM. It took a while to get processed and on board. After checking into our stateroom (604) and going through the mandatory lifeboat drill, we settled down at the Lido bar by the pool and had a couple of Margaritas. Dinner, at a table for two in the upper level of the Rotterdam dining room was at 7:45 PM. Dinner was excellent (as to be expected) and the service and atmosphere were delightful. It was most enjoyable, but I did find myself thinking how much Karen, John, Mark and Jenaye would have enjoyed this. And I found myself missing them.

After dinner, Cindy and I wandered around the ship, getting our bearings. Tired from the day's activities, we crashed at 11:00 PM.

Alaskan Adventure - Day 2 - Thursday, June 1, 2006

Vancouver, Victoria, BC
Overcast in morning and evening, rain in afternoon.

Up at 0545. The sun struggled to rise through an overcast sky, but in the end, was swallowed by it. Talked to Mark on IM at 0630, just to make sure he got out of bed and made it into work on time. At 0700 we went down to breakfast. While in line waiting for the hostess at the restaurant, we struck up a conversation with a couple, Lee and Annette from California. Ended up having breakfast with them and they seem to have adopted us as their new "best friends". Although we are not on the same tour bus, they sought us out on the ferry to Vancouver Island and at every stop during the day. They were on us like barnacles on the belly of a fishing boat. I hope this doesn't turn out to be a burden. They're nice enough, though; Lee is into digital photography, so we have something in common.
In the hotel lobby we also met Andy and Lynn, from a Philadelphia suburb. I struck up this conversation because Andy was wearing a Penn State cap and jacket. He's a '64 grad, played on the PSU lacrosse team. They lived in State College for a while.
At 0925, we were on a tour bus headed for the ferry to Vancouver Island. The ferry was BIG... We're talking room for 30 big buses or tractor-trailer trucks, plus a couple hundred cars. Restaurant, bar, shops and game room on board, in addition to seats for about 2,500 passengers. Sailing time across the Strait of Georgia from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay on Victoria Island was about 1-1/2 hours, very scenic as the ferry maneuvered through the many islands along the route.
After docking at Swartz Bay, the tour bus took us to The Butchart Gardens at Tod Inlet. This 55 acre garden, was begun over one hundred years ago by Mr. and Mrs. Robert Pim Butchart in an effort to beautify a worked out limestone quarry site used in the manufacture of Portland cement. You don't have to be a gardener to appreciate the beauty of this site. We spent a couple of hours there, then boarded the bus to Victoria.
Victoria, on the southeast end of Vancouver Island, is the seat of British Columbia government. Unfortunately, we didn't have much time there, barely enough to take a fast walk through the shopping area on Government Street and have dinner at the Wharfside Eatery on (what else?) Wharf Street. Then it was back on the bus and ferry to retrace our path back to the hotel at the Vancouver Airport. Since we didn't get back to our hotel room until 0915, we just relaxed in the room for the evening.

See more photos at http://community.webshots.com/user/bodnar103

Alaskan Adventure - Day 1 - Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Pittsfield, MA, Albany, NY, Cincinnati, OH, Salt Lake City, UT, Vancouver, BC
Sunny all cities, except Vancouver (rain).

Well, day one was almost a disaster. We got up late, got out of the house late and yet would have still made the 0800 plane, but I left the passports at home! What an idiotic thing to do...can't go to Canada without them. The ticket clerk in Albany made us reservations on a 1040 flight. I had to race home (literally), get the passports and race back. Of course when I got home, the garage door keypad didn't work, so I had to get the key to the door from the Perrys. So what else could go wrong? Plenty! Stay tuned. There was a flight change. Good thing I had checked my email. I had Expedia email me a new itinerary, and raced back to Albany. We checked in and the ticket agent (same one as before) had trouble processing our tickets. We had to call Expedia. Finally, with only minutes to spare, we got on a flight to Cincinnati. The agent told us that the ticket she printed was for the 0800 routing (Cleveland, LAX, Vancouver). She said "See an agent in Cincinnati, they will fix it".

We got to Cincinnati, browsed the airport shops, talked to Mark on the cell, ate lunch and went to see the Delta ticket agent. She said we couldn't use the tickets we had, because they were for the old routing and on Continental Airlines, not Delta. We were at the counter for over a half hour and it was starting to look like we would be spending two weeks in Cincinnati, not Alaska. Finally, after the agent made repeated calls to Expedia and Delta, she was able to get us proper tickets to Vancouver through Salt Lake City. At 4:45 PM, we were back in the air heading west. The rest of the flights were uneventful. We landed in Vancouver, BC at 8:45 PM PST.

After clearing customs, we checked into the Fairmont Hotel at the airport and had dinner. Beautiful hotel, not what you would expect at an airport. The meal was excellent too. Bath and shower to wash the road grime off, then sleep. Hopefully, the fun starts tomorrow.

It was a long and harrowing day. Not many photos. Check 'em out at http://community.webshots.com/album/550947535xlPLjd Who wants to see photos of Cincinnati, anyway?

The Alaskan Adventure

On Wednesday, May 31, 2006, Cindy and I will be off on our vacation to Alaska. We will leave Albany, NY and fly (via Cincinatti) to Vancouver, BC. After a couple of days in Vancouver, we will board the Holland America cruise ship, Statendam, for a seven day cruise through Alaska's Inside Passage, with stops in Ketchikan, Icy Strait, Juneau, Sitka and the Hubbard Glacier, docking in Seward on Friday, June 9. From there, we are overland to Portage Glacier and then Anchorage. On Saturday, June 10, we board the McKinley Explorer on the Alaskan Railway for a trip through the Alaska Interior to Denali National Park, home of Mt. McKinley, the highest mountain in North America. We stay overnight in Denali and then tour Denali National Park on Sunday before boarding the train again for Fairbanks. After a couple of days in the Fairbanks area, we will fly home via Anchorage, Chicago and Albany, NY. Our return to reality will be on Wednesday, June 14.

You can follow our adventure through Alaska on this site. We will be posting our thoughts and photos (on this site and at http://community.webshots.com/album/550947535xlPLjd ) whenever we are connected to the internet.

Travelers

Time passes

And we move through the vastness of space

Though distance separates us

We travel together

Stars in one constellation

- George G Bodnar

Nothing is impossible

Nothing is impossible

there are ways that lead to everything,

and if we had sufficient will we should always have sufficient means

It is often merely for an excuse that we say things are impossible.

- Francois de La Rochefoucauld

A Rich Man Named Link

There once was a rich man named Link

Quite fond of liquor, I think

He put in a bar

In the back of his car

So his chauffeur could drive him to drink

...bod

Reflection on Reflection

What is it about the human spirit that cries out for someone out there to hear and listen?