Saturday, July 29, 2006

Random Utah Photos








It's been a hot & lazy Saturday today...I was able to upload a few more photos from Utah.... Here are just a couple notes about some of the photos:

(1st photo) We were sight seeing with Mary & Neil on a dirt road that ran along the side of a mountain. Off to my right the clouds had parted just in one small area casting a beautiful light down on just a few select mountains....Neil pulled the car over. I put the window down and took the top photo right from inside the car. It was a different story in Alaska...once on the land portion of the trip, the bus kept on moving..... Great memories of both Utah and Alaska....but a certainly a few nicer sight-seeing shots in Utah.

(3rd photo) A view of the mountains at Sundance Ski Resort, the resort Robert Redford owns.

(4th photo) The purple flower is called 'Monks Hood'. The very first time I even knew of it's existence was in Norway...after that introduction, I noticed it in Maine, Utah and even in Alaska...gosh, those little monks do get around.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Views from Talkeetna, Alaska




(This photo of the Talkeetna Chamber of Commerce is for Mary, my sister-in-law, who works for a slightly larger chamber in Park City, Utah.)



(worn out LL Bean boots get recycled in Alaska)


Downtown Talkeetna is a tiny community that gets a big boost from the bus tours on their way to Denali National Park. Just outside the town center is a brand new (HUGE) beautiful lodge that is only open from May to September. (we stayed just one night there...it's very nice and when McKinley isn't hiding behind the clouds, the lodge apparently has an amazing view) You can see the entire town center from just next to the 'welcome' sign (shown above) ...and Mark & I took a walk by all the choices of where to have dinner before we made our choice. The deciding factor...a big sign saying they had fiddleheads, Mark's favorite. This 'restaurant' was a covered deck with plastic tables & chairs, a kitchen that might have started life as a shed that now has wheels under it and an outdoor grill for cooking the very best tasting salmon I've ever had. We had just spent 7 nights on a huge Royal Caribbean ship, where each night we had dinner in a formal dining room, but the salmon I had at this little outdoor restaurant was far superior to anything I ate on the ship. I wish I had taken a photo of the place....although, the boot & bear sign were photos taken at this 'restaurant'...unique Alaska atmosphere. (Seeing the LL Bean boot planter made Maine feel not so far away.)

Ohhhh, I forgot to mention this....Talkeetna is the town that the tv series 'Northern Exposure' was based on...

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Glacier Ice




These are some views from Hubbard Glacier area, Alaska. The ship was not able to get close to the glacier due to large chunks of ice. It was very cold on deck and we had to dress in our winter gear...there were folks on our cruise that came to Alaska with little more than a lightweight sweatshirt. The ship store sold lots of warm coats....all the same design....black & white fake fur with bears & trees...glad I came prepared!

Thursday, July 20, 2006

They know how to make a buck...



Cruise lines do whatever they can to get you to spend your money....here are just a couple pics we bought from them for our scrap book.......

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Home

We've made it home! At noon on Monday we left Denali National Park (area) and rode on the bus for about 4 hours. Then we took a super ritzy glass domed Royal Caribbean rail car for 4 hours and had dinner on the rails. From the rail car in Anchorage, we gathered our luggage, went to the airport and our flight began at midnight. We got into Portland around 7pm. It was a lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng trip home. But it feels great to be home...great to see the kids. I will try to post more pics from the entire trip in the next few days...but for now I have to unpack and do a bunch of laundry.

Monday, July 17, 2006

Denali

On most years only 30% of the people that come to Denali National Park see Denali...(Mt. McKinley)....this year the guides said the weather has been so bad only about 5% have seen the mountain......and as we were coming back from our Jeep Safari, the clouds cleared and there it was................awesome sight. It was 80 miles away from where we stood and yet it was so huge. We were thrilled!!!

One more day and we head home....we've had the greatest time.

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Russian Nesting Dolls

Mark took this while he waited for me to decide....imagine this many dolls times 10...all hand painted, every single one different....my head spun trying to decide. It took me over 2 hours to find the one....I've only waited my whole life for one of these dolls....now I have 2! (we went to another store later on that same day....and I found another)

Everything is a little bigger here

Totem Pole, Sitka National Park

View from inside the train, Skagway

Tree Moss, near Mendenhall Glacier

Nap time for some Sea Lions, near Juneau

Tail....it's the pic you hope to get

light house near Juneau

Mendenhall Glacier

Thursday

Thursday….it’s been a rainy day here in Icy Straight, Alaska. The enormous amount of warm clothing has paid off, because we’ve needed almost all our cold weather gear. Today we went on a whale watch cruise…I’m not sure exactly how many different whales we saw, but there had to be 30-50 different sightings…it was spectacular. At one point the boat stopped and a cow & calf came within 75 feet of the boat….it was raining pretty hard and most of the time I didn’t even attempt to take any photos…just enjoyed the awesome sights.

Yesterday we stopped in Sitka. I heard a lady today say that she didn’t see why we stopped there…that it wasn’t that great. Well, apparently she didn’t go to the National Historical Park like we did….that was soooooooooooooooooooo nice. I think Sitka was my favorite port of the trip. The park is really beautiful…and then what I had been waiting for…shopping for a Russian nesting doll. My head spun there were so many beautiful choices of Matrioshka dolls. Mark was a saint…waited 2 hours for me to do my shopping. (he did snap a pic of one of the shelves in one of the stores....he had my camera around his neck while I shopped, and he just clicked the shutter very discretely.)

Last night we bought tickets to a mystery dinner theatre here on the ship. That was fun and we had dinner with some interesting people. Tonight is another ‘formal’ night, so we have to dress up again. Mark hates dressing up, but does so to please me. What a great guy.

Tomorrow (Friday) is a day at sea…a day to rest up and I’ll try to re-pack for the Saturday departure…our land tour begins on Saturday. Home whatever day the 18th falls on. I’ve lost all track of days here. It’s been one long wonderful vacation. I hope everyone gets to take this trip at least once in their life.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Juneau & Skagway

Alaska is GRAND in every sense of the word. We’re having a wonderful time….eating wayyyyyyy too much and not getting a whole lot of rest because there is too much to do. Today we are in Skagway…a town of 800 that has 4 HUGE ships docked in their harbor (it’s actually the end of a fjord) …so their population for the day could be as many as 8000 people. We took a train ride this morning up to White Pass & into the Yukon Route….some of the photos are taken from inside the train looking out through the windows, and there are some strange reflections on the photos. (These are not UFOs or strange clouds) Once off the train we headed directly for Starbucks for a GOOD cup of coffee. That might be the one true downfall of these ships…their coffee is lousy. After the much needed caffeine jolt, we shopped in town and are now back in the cabin resting….well, he is, anyway.

Yesterday was an amazing day for me. My tour was about 5 hours long…called a photo safari. Unfortunately my long lens was not working, and being pig-headed I kept thinking it would be ‘fine’. It wasn’t. Most of the pics came out lousy, but that is ok….I had a wonderful time just the same. I saw humpback whales and eagles and sea lions laying in the sun. I also saw the Mendenhall Glacier and got to hike in the rain forest near the glacier. Mark unfortunately didn’t have as much fun on his tour. He had wanted to kayak near the glacier, but they only had a view of it…many miles away. He did see some eagles though. In Juneau, eagles as common as gulls are at home….well ALMOST. I would have had a great shot of one had my long lens been working correctly…instead I have a big blurr.

Tomorrow is Sitka….no tours planned…just hopefully shopping for those Russian nesting dolls. We’ve seen many, but I have been holding out hoping that since Sitka is an old Russian town, maybe they will have the best selection. So far we’ve seen dolls starting at $5 and going up to $450….and some I didn’t even ask about. After the shopping we’re going to try to walk through their National Historic Park which is also called ‘Totem Park’…..bet we’ll see some totem poles!

We fly home a week from today….it sure has been an amazing & wonderful adventure so far!

(sorry....photos would not load....will try later. I've used 20 min just trying to upload with no luck. At .33 a minute....will try later. )

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Sunday, on board

A foggy start to the day...


We’re on the ship! We boarded yesterday (Saturday) and have had a very nice time since. I love the balcony in our room….we stayed out until midnight as the ship very slowly made it through some narrow channels. The winter gear has been used already…needed winter hat, gloves, and also the wind pants when sitting out on the balcony, and eating lunch today. (there were no tables inside, so Mark got our jackets and we sat in an exposed area….burrrrrr!) Quite a difference from Utah! I haven’t seen any whales yet from our room, but will keep watching for them. Radiance of the Seas is a BEAUTIFUL ship…I hope I get to see it all, as it is HUGE! Today is a day at sea, tomorrow we stop in Juneau where Mark is taking a kayaking excursion and I am going on a photo safari with a professional photographer. I hope the weather is nice…

By the way, I really miss Katie & Ben.

Photos from Saturday...leaving Vancouver




Saturday, July 08, 2006

Views from Vancouver










First pic.....swan in Stanley Park
second pic....view from walking path along Stanley Park shoreline walking path
third pic....duplicate pic, sorry
fourth pic...evening view from our room....mountain in good view behind city
fifth pic...view of Canada Place from Stanley Park
sixth pic...yellow rose from rose garden in Stanley Park
seventh pic....totem poles in Stanley Park
eigth pic....view from hotel balcony
nineth pic....turtles in Stanley Park's Lost Lagoon
tenth pic...first time either of us had touched the Pacific Ocean

We're having a GREAT time on vacation...tomorrow we board the ship and head out for Alaska. Tonight we tried Greek food for the first time....liked it a lot.... we also walked for 4 hours in Stanley Park, which is sooooo beautiful....photos do not do it justice. I'm not sure of internet connection for the rest of the trip...will post if we can. I am so looking forward to unpacking on the ship and making it 'home' for 7 days.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Views from Mary & Neil's Back Yard









Sorry about the duplicate pic...not sure why that happened, but don't have time to repost all the pics in order to take it out. By the way, that is Rusty Dog at the top...and indeed he is top dog! Neil & Mary have a very nice home here and they have worked very hard on their back yard. Last night we sat and watched the July 4th fireworks from their lower patio...best fireworks ever!