Alaska...the Interior...

Arrival at the port in Seward meant the end of our cruise.  I really enjoyed the week at sea but was eager to hit the road and see more of the vastness of Alaska. When we disembarked in Seward, Bruce and I headed out on one more excursion.  A short guided hike to Exit Glacier which is located a quick bus ride from the port.  Once we made all the stops to pick up other folks for our hike, we were on our way.  Exit Glacier is one of a number of glaciers spawned from the expansive Harding Icefield.  We checked in at the ranger station and then started the short/easy hike up and back to the edge of the glacier.

Y'all, I need to take the moment to tell you a few things about the experience...1- I was looking all over the place for bears (specifically grizzly bears!) and was quite nervous that we'd run into one - we didn't! 2- When people say the mosquitoes in Alaska are huge they ARE NOT exaggerating!...more on that later...

The hike itself was beautiful; though, for most of the trail our only view were the shrubs/trees growing along the path.  The glacier was stunning but by the time we saw this one we had seen several others that were a good deal more impressive.  The spectacular thing about this glacier was how accessible it was on foot.  Bruce and I both enjoyed the excursion out to Exit Glacier and decided we'd come back later in the week for a longer hike when we returned to Seward.

I think I should stop at this point and explain that we could have probably planned out our time in the Interior a little better than we did.  We found a cabin rental we thought would be amazing at Denali and jumped on it before we planned out anything else so we ended up in the car a little bit longer than we probably should have since we also decided to return to Seward and further explore around Kenai Fjords National Park.  Oh well, it did nothing to take away from the trip except maybe costing us a little more time that we could have spent elsewhere.

So, after the glacier hike we boarded a coach for Anchorage.  We saw our one and only moose in the wild (eating from the bottom of a roadside pond) on this ride north so I've included a picture.  Other than that it was just a series of views that were completely breathtaking...each more spectacular than the last.  Out of the whole of Alaska, I found the area to be the most beautiful!  Bruce slept.  

Sure, we took that same drive later in the week but that day was a cloudless bright blue sky and it felt like the whole of the landscape was alive with color and beauty...and he missed it!

We spent one night in Anchorage before renting a car the next morning and driving further into the Interior.

One side story - on Monday morning we both got up early and repacked our suitcases.  We left them in the hotel room until we rented our car and then drove back for them.  The shuttle to the airport, renting the car and the drive back might have taken 30 minutes, plus or minus, but when we pulled in to the hotel to gather our belongings and check out we were met by a shock - fire trucks and an ambulance parked out front.  People were walking in and out so we walked in as well to get our things and leave.  I had assumed a fire but no!  Someone on our floor accidentally set off bear spray and the entire place (every single room!) had to be opened up and aired out. Just entering the elevator on the first floor made us cough so that we had to get out again for fresher air...so we sucked in as much clean air as we could, quickly went up for our things and then left as fast as possible.


The drive toward Denali was beautiful even given the many clouds and some rain.  On a whim, we decided on a detour to the little town of Talkeetna from where we'd heard just that morning from someone that good views of Denali (Mt. McKinley) were possible when the weather was agreeable.  For us, it was not,  But, we enjoyed some pizza and a quick look around, nonetheless.  I found Talkeetna to be absolutely charming!  I wish we'd done more research before the trip because it's apparently a quite popular place to stop and next time I visit Alaska I intend to stay a day or two there...

Onward to Denali National Park...we were in the car for hours and hours but finally arrived at the edge of park and then still drove for at least an hour, maybe more, to get to the entrance and to the place where we'd rented the cabin for Monday and Tuesday nights.  We arrived after the park closed for the day, unfortunately, but were able to get our bearings (insert picture of me with the bear out front of the visitors center) and then went off in search of food which we found at a great restaurant called Salmon Bake - so good we went back again on Tuesday night :).


Denali NP is enormous.  The word doesn't even begin to cover it, really.  Our plan was to hike some but we also wanted to go into the park and see wildlife.  So, in the end, we decided on one of the park's shuttle buses.  There is only one road into the park and outside traffic is only allowed to go in something like 15 miles so if you want to see more than that you must either take a shuttle bus or one of the park's guided tour buses. It is a long 12 hour round-trip ride to go all the way to the end of the road (Kantishna) so we decided instead to go only to the Eielson Center which is an 8 hour round-trip on one of the green shuttle buses.  I could tell it was not Bruce's first choice to be on a bus for this long but he went along with it anyway and we boarded a bus around 8:30am.  I'm told something like 30% of people who visit Denali NP actually get to see Mt. McKinley...only 30%...because of the weather/clouds. We were so fortunate to have near perfect weather on every day of our trip and this day was no exception.  The views from the bus were awe-inspiring!  My photos do no justice to the beauty and the wildness of this place.  From the Eielson Center, we did a short hike (maybe 1 hour up) for a 360 degree view.  Additionally, we were able to see some caribou and grizzlies from the bus.  The caribou were close by but the bears were off at a distance so the photos of them are not that good.  Other than that, the wildlife viewing was lacking.  I had hoped to see a wolf or maybe a lynx but neither happened...several people on buses before or after ours reported seeing a wolf but it was gone when we came through.

My biggest disappointment with our entire trip was not planning more time for Denali.  I could have spent an entire week there and I don't think it would have been long enough.  The next morning we had just enough time to go over to the park sled dog kennels to meet some of the dogs and see a little presentation and then we headed south again toward Seward.  We spent 7-8 hours in the
car to get back to the coast - it was a long day.

When we arrived in Seward, we found our accommodation - a refurbished train car which sounded more interesting than it turned out to be - and then some dinner.  We took a little walk around town and then went to bed to prepare for an early start the next morning.  We had talked about kayaking or maybe taking another short water excursion to see some of the fjords or maybe more aquatic wildlife but instead landed on another hike at Exit Glacier.  After the previous experience there we picked up both bug spray and some bear spray  (just in case and thankfully we never needed it!) for our hike.  The bug spray was applied liberally and we headed off up to a place called Marmot Meadow which was said to have a good view of the glacier.  It was hot - extremely humid, really! - and the bugs were everywhere!  Mosquitoes and all manner of flying and stinging things.  The worst was the swarming around face/ears.  I'm not sure why this place has so many, really, because we didn't encounter this anywhere else.

I'm sure, even given the annoyance of the bugs, that we'd have continued even further up toward the Harding Icefield if time had allowed but we had plans to visit the Alaska SeaLife Center to see puffins upclose :).  They are the cutest little creatures and I had such a nice time seeing them and watching them interact together along with all manner of other aquatic animals like sea otters (with which we did a feeding encounter), sea lions, seals, ducks, etc.  One of my other favorites was the King Eider which I'd never heard of before but found to be quite beautiful.

The next day, we left Seward to return to Anchorage.  On the way, we stopped off at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center which was most impressive!  It was there we saw moose, grizzlies, porcupine, a wolf, Canadian lynx and a bald eagle up close, along with many other animals.  The center is situated alongside Turnagain Arm which is the area I wrote about earlier with it's amazing beauty from the ride between Seward and Anchorage.  Again, we could have spent hours and hours there but needed to get back to Anchorage for pre-arranged dinner plans.

The cherry on the sunday of this trip for me was seeing Abbey and her boyfriend Ben for dinner Friday evening in Anchorage.  Abbey is a good friend of mine from New Zealand who I met when we were both working as au pairs in Switzerland years ago.  Months and months back, I saw her post on Facebook about planning a trip to Alaska and we went on to find out that our trips overlapped so we set a date to meet for dinner and it worked out.  Talk about a treat!  We were able to catch up and share some memories together which I most enjoyed!

The arrival of Saturday meant flying home.  We spent the day exploring some of Anchorage but mostly we were tired and so we went in the Anchorage Museum for a little while and saw an interesting exhibit on native life in Alaska and then we found a good place to have lunch and a beer and browsed in the shops a bit.  Then we made our way to the airport for our red-eye flight to Atlanta.

Alaska was amazing...please, make sure you understand this...ALASKA WAS AMAZING!  Usually, at the end of a trip, I'm ready to go home, ready for my stuff and my house and different clothes but this time was different.  I wasn't ready to leave.  I didn't feel I'd seen enough.  I haven't felt that way in a very long time about a destination.  If you haven't seen this place yet you should and as soon as possible!  I've already begun thinking of my next visit....more time in Denali and Talkeetna, a visit to Fairbanks perhaps, King Salmon, maybe up to Gates of the Arctic National Park?  The options are endless!  I think a lifetime exploring there wouldn't be enough to see all the place has to offer!

So, I'll say this....until next time, Alaska...see you soon!

LuLu

Alaska...the cruise...

Alaska has long been on my bucket list of places I'd like to explore.  So, when Bruce invited me along with his family on an Alaskan cruise, I jumped at the opportunity!  This all came about almost a year ago - August 2015.  Back then it all seemed so far away but the time went by quickly and the trip was upon us before we knew it.

Our cruise was 7 days one way from Vancouver, BC, Canada to Seward, Alaska aboard Holland America's ship the Zaandam.  We went through the inside passage, made stops in Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway and spent and unforgettable day cruising through Glacier Bay National Park.

In Ketchikan, we hadn't booked an excursion so we got off the ship and explored on our own.  My favorite part of that day was the Totem Heritage Center where we were able to see many totem poles that were quite old and learn about the significance of these poles and also about the imagery used in totem poles in general.  I believe all the poles we saw were carved by the Tlingit people.  We walked through the city - which I was surprised to learn as small as it is that it is the 5th largest city in the state - exploring lots of back streets and going in some cute little shops.  We walked past the famed Creek Street (a former red light district in the early part of the 20th century).  After that, we enjoyed a lunch at a local fish restaurant - a recurring theme throughout this trip, as you can imagine.

Our arrival in Juneau brought a full day of excursion activities.  We disembarked and immediately boarded buses out to the Lynn Canal for a few hours on a smaller ship to search out Humpback Whales.  We were not disappointed!  Did you know that a group of whales is called a gam??  I didn't!  Well, we say a gam of around 10 humpbacks which we were able to watch for some time.  They came up to the surface and we were quite close so we could see their water spouts and also those beautiful tail flukes (fins) as then dove back under.  I was hoping for a bubble net feeding sighting (which I understand is not all that common) or something spectacular like a whale doing a big jump out of the water but that just didn't happen.  We were told that those big, impressive jumps happen more around Hawaii where they go to mate; their time in Alaska is mostly for feeding in the water which is very rich in nutrients.  We were also able to cruise out and see a number of Stellar Sea Lions sunning themselves on the rocks of a nearby island - and by a number I mean one hundred or more, easily.

Another part of our excursion from Juneau was a trip out to the Mendenhall Glacier.  I wish so much that we'd had more time there!  Alongside the glacier is Nugget Falls and a there's a trail to get out there which takes about an hour.  We didn't have time to do that and the visitor center so we opted to do a short walk out to a viewing point instead.  I was not at all disappointed by the views from there, though.  What a beautiful sight!  I was surprised to find that Alaska boasts half of the world's glaciers - over 100,000.  We saw so many that I lost track.

After the excursion we were all pretty wiped out but took a little bit of time to walk around the part of the city beside the dock.  Again, there's so much more to see there...I've already got a long list of things to revisit or see for the first time the next trip I make to Alaska (which, I hope will be very, very soon!)

Our next port of call was Skagway.  Of the three ports, this was my favorite.  To me, it looked like an old western town....maybe a little cleaned up but the buildings and the main street really seemed like a place John Wayne would be comfortable in.  Our excursion wasn't super early in the morning there so we disembarked and walked around a bit going in some shops and soaking up the atmosphere.  Skagway was made famous as a starting point for those mining prospectors arriving in search of gold in the Klondike area of Canada's Yukon territory.  From there, miners would start the hard journey on foot across the White Pass into Canada.

And that brings me to our excursion from this port.  We road the White Pass Train line over the mountain pass into Canada.  I don't think we could have picked a better day for it!  Endless blue skies with only a few clouds and fireweed in full bloom along the train line (think beautiful purple stalks of blooms all over the place!).  It was a 3+ hour trip via train through the mountain tunnels and around the many turns to the top where we crossed into Canada (but we're sadly not allowed to get off or given a stamp from crossing the border...).  We were able to see sights along the way of the old trail used by miners, had impressive views back to the harbor at Skagway and also had sightings of several glaciers along the tops of the mountains.  If our whale watching trip hadn't been so impressive I'd have thought this excursion was my favorite...my pictures from that afternoon don't do justice to how beautiful the day was.

The next day our cruise ship entered Glacier Bay National Park.  I'm told that a lot of ships are too large to enter the park and also they only allow two ships per day to enter so not all Alaskan cruisers get to witness this. I would tell anyone looking to book a cruise through the panhandle of Alaska not to miss this!  It was spectacular!  That morning, several national park rangers boarded the ship to give us some information about the day and the things we would see.  I found it all so fascinating.  Also, a local Tlingit woman boarded the ship to tell us some about their history there.  We spent most of the late morning/early afternoon sitting on the back deck of the ship as we sailed through looking at the untouched beauty of that place.  We were able to cruise up to the area of the park where the Grand Pacific Glaciers and Margerie Glaciers reach the open water.  The Margerie Glacier is the one I've seen most in pictures of glaciers calving off into the water with a loud crack.  We were able to see that happen several times in the hour or so we were able to be in that area of the park.  Our huge ship was dwarfed by this massive river of ice that is slowly making it's way to the bay.

Our next day was spent at sea as well but this time we were moving along at a quick pace headed toward Seward.  I cannot say enough about the crew of the ship and how much I enjoyed my time on board.  They were all very pleasant and accommodating.  Most of the ship's crew were either from Indonesia or the Philippines.  On the last day at sea, the Filipino crew put on a show which I enjoyed thoroughly and the Indonesian crew had a tea which was interesting also.  Each night we went to dinner in the main dining room and enjoyed wonderful meals together.  We had the same servers throughout the week which allowed us get to know them a little bit - I liked that a lot.

When the 7th day arrived, I found myself not quite ready to get off the ship.  It was such a lovely week filled with nice people, good food and amazing sights!  But, when we arrived in Seward we did disembark.  From there, Bruce and I said goodbye to his family and headed out on our own.  We did a quick excursion before leaving Seward and then headed north but more about all of that on the next post...

Until then...LuLu

Turks and Caicos - our search for warm weather in February...

Four months ago, Brian and I got the idea to book a trip to somewhere warm for February...now that it's 30 degrees in Georgia, I'm ever so glad we did! I'm a faithful reader of the Clark Howard travel deals emails so when I came across a fabulous airfare to Turks and Caicos we jumped on it!  

The adventure began yesterday...nearly freezing our fingers off as we walked to Marta (trying to avoid wearing heavy coats and taking winter items that we certainly wouldn't need at the beach!). At the airport, in my excitement, I managed to hit a sliding door so hard with the bag I was pulling behind me that the door derailed...we walked away quickly but laughed about it for hours. Brian had a scare thinking he'd lost his car keys. They were in his coat pocket on the plane but not when we got in line for customs in Turks and Caicos. We went so far as to have several people search the plane and filed a lost and found report with the airport - who knew where they could be!....turns out, in all the chaos of deplaning, he had put them in his carry on and they'd fallen down to the bottom with his clothes and shoes.  So, when we got to the hotel and all of that was settled, our vacation finally began!   

The temps here are in the mid 70s. Our plane landed under a thick layer of dark gray clouds which I was expecting after watching the forecast for the last few weeks. It's threatening to rain a good bit while we're here but we are hoping for some good weather too. 

Once we put our bags in the room and changed into warm weather clothes, we headed for the beach to take a quick walk and get our bearings. It was almost completely empty - there was us and a cute young couple who got engaged there moments before we arrived. :)  We found a wonderful restaurant and had an Italian feast sitting outside under the lights, though the winds blew strong and it threatened to rain. I took this picture of the sunset as we walked along Grace Bay...even on a super cloudy evening, the water here is gorgeous! 

This morning I woke to beautiful blue skies and a nice warm wind. We are going to spend the day at the beach and hopefully I'll have some fun photos and stories to tell. 

Until then...

LuLu

Our day in Gib....

Good Morning, Friends,

Today is my last day in Spain.  In a few hours, we will leave Marbella for the airport in Malaga and once again return to Zurich.  We have spent two wonderful nights here but really not much of our days.

Yesterday, we traveled about an hour by car to Gibraltar, a British territory.  It's been on my bucket list for a while to see the Rock of Gibraltar but I honestly didn't really know much more about place. Gib, as the locals call it, is a territory that is in dispute.  The British have it but the Spanish want it. I'm told it is a place where online gaming companies and other corporations base out of for tax purposes.  That, financial services and tourism seem to make up the biggest part of their economy.

I had a very simple list of things to cross off before I got there...not a long one but still pretty ambitious.  I'm proud to say I was able to cross them all off.

First:  I wanted a stamp in the ol' (now new) passport.  We went through the border on foot this time (another first for me!) and I had read up on the best way to get a stamp.  So, I got in the line of the most agreeable looking border agent and when it came my turn I asked for one and it was given without delay....yay!    

Second: We got to cross the runway at Gibraltar's airport.  I'm told this place is one of the only, or possibly the only, runways in the world that allows constant car and foot traffic.  We walked across...really cool!  The airport there is ranked one of the more dangerous in the world because of the water on either end of the runway.  When we walked back to come home, we were just across when they stopped traffic to let a plane land.  What a cool thing to see!

Third:  I got to see Africa!  Part of our talks about this trip involved possibly taking a ferry over to Tangier, Morocco for a day - we didn't go through with that plan because we read way too many bad reviews from others who had done that same thing.  That part of my bucket list would have to wait for another trip but I was able to see the continent from Gibraltar.  What we were able to see prominently was Jebel Musa (the mountain of Moses) in Morocco.  The Rock of Gibraltar is the Northern Pillar of the Pillars of Hercules, with the other standing across the Strait of Gibraltar on the African continent.  The identity of the Southern Pillar is disputed; however, Jebel Musa is considered to be one of the most likely candidates.

Fourth:  I got to see the Barbary Macaques.  They are the only wild monkey population on the continent of Europe and they live on the Rock of Gibraltar.  These thieving little guys are EVERYWHERE up there.  As side note, the Rock of Gibraltar is much larger than I thought it would be.  I guess I thought it would be something prominent but I never imagined it would be as large as it is.  You can hike up the Rock but we didn't have time for that so we took the cable car.  Before we even made it up to the top cable car station, we saw the monkeys on the rock and hanging off the railing at the station.  When our car got close enough, they jumped on top and we were told not to feed them, not to touch them (but also not to freak out if they jumped on you - which I did see happen to several kids...), and to put away all loose items and secure your bags.

I want to share two of the sightings/events we witnessed.  One of the macaques had climbed up the railing of the cable car station to the third storey.  A lady was standing there along the walkway with some others.  She had on a backpack and had her back to the railing and before she knew what was happening the monkey had unzipped her backpack and taken out a bag of gummy bears; then the macaque proceeded to climb up on the roof of the building where he ate his newly acquired snack.  When we arrived at the top, we decided to quickly go in and get a snack and drink.  While we sat there in front of some glass windows, we saw a mother macaque walking around with a small baby holding on tightly.  About that time, a worker at the cafe came around the corner and must have startled the mother because she lunged at the lady with her teeth barred.  I had heard that they monkeys do bite if they feel threatened or if they feel their young are threatened.  Luckily, the macaque didn't bite this lady but it was interesting to watch.  Shortly thereafter a male monkey arrived with a sandwich he'd stolen off someone and they all sat there in front of us for a while.

Fifth:  My fifth goal wasn't so much for me but for Manda.  Apparently, her favorite animal is the dolphin so when we found out we could go on a dolphin tour from the port it was quickly booked.  Amanda just wanted to see one dolphin, she said.  Our dolphin cruise was 1.5 hours out in the Bay of Gibraltar with a fantastic company, Dolphin Adventure, and a wonderful crew.  They were a wealth of knowledge about these creatures and also about life in Gib.  In the end, the weather was fantastic - sunny but not too hot out on the water - and we saw so many dolphins we couldn't count them all.  I'd say over 100.  Several different types of dolphins and even some that were quite young. They were so playful and lively, it was a truly fantastic outing!

In late afternoon, we headed back to Marbella and we made a quick detour through the other side of the city.  What I didn't say about Marbella is that it's a well known destination for people to see and be seen.  We are staying in the poor (but what everyone else would consider normal) part of the city.  We were told in Nerja that even the rich feel poor in Marbella and I can believe it.  The only other place I've seen that many luxury cars (Lamborghinis, Maseratis, and Ferraris.......) on the street was in Monaco.  

Our most enjoyable part of Marbella was by far the food we had at a cute little restaurant we stumbled upon our first night there - El Interludio.  I would go back to Marbella just to eat in that restaurant.  The atmosphere was lovely, quaint, cozy; great for having dinner with friends and enjoying lots of conversation.  This place was mostly tapas - a mix of Spanish and French food -  and the owners of the restaurant really took the time to explain each dish as we were ordering.  In the end, we ordered bottles of wine and multiple tapas each to share.  We tried a good bit of the menu and everything was phenomenal!  Each night we went back to Grandma's house full and happy. :)

I guess now is the time to sign off and finish packing.  I'll check in again when we get back to Switzerland.

Until then,

LuLu