LOOKING BACK

June 11, 2015

Anchorage, Alaska

   Once again the Thomas' begin another adventure today. The Pinkerton's arrived last night from Arkansas. They have been fellow traveling companions on many of our adventures. We boarded an Alaska Airlines Aztec flight to Seattle on the first leg of our Alaskan Adventure. 

ALASKA - DAY 1:

   Our room at the Marriott gave us a great view of the parking lot. The mountains outside of Anchorage were on the other side, though they were partially obscured by a bad case of haze. After the free breakfast at Marriott we hailed a Taxi and headed to the Hertz car rental office downtown Anchorage. We had already reserved our Camry for the week at a much cheaper price than if we had rented from Hertz at the airport office. In fact, in a later conversation Debby had with an airport agent, he said, "You got a very good price!" (Just in case you rent a car in Anchorage).   

   The downtown office was supposed to open at 0800; we arrived about 0900. The agent was not there. After several phone calls and an hour of waiting around, the man finally showed up and made some lame excuse for not being there at 0800.

   A half hour later we had our car loaded and we were on the road. Our first stop was to Walmart where we bought a case of water and other necessary supplies.  

   So we headed back to the car. At this point we were about two and one half hours behind schedule. Once behind the wheel, Ron decided he should have made a stop at the bathroom and got out of the car. I decided to go with him. As we walked across the parking lot, I heard Debby and Nancy laughing hysterically. I turn around to comment, "Never pass up a bathroom!" They were still laughing as they also followed us to the bathrooms.

   So about 3 hours later than we intended, we set the GPS and headed towards Denali. A half hour down the road we doubted if the GPS was right and so we turned around and headed back towards Anchorage. A half hour later we realized the GPS was smarter than the 4 of us put together, so we turned back around...another half hour wasted. *Sigh.

   We decided to stop in Wasilla, home of Sarah Palin, to have lunch. Somehow, along the way we missed the turn. *Sigh.

   Towards the end of town, we spied a burger joint and pulled in hoping we picked a good place. I don't believe any of us were impressed but we made it work.

   Continuing on Highway 3, we watched the woods and meadows, even the ponds of water, expecting to see a lot of wildlife. We saw two birds...a Raven and a Sea Gull, I think. *sigh.

   We passed the town of Willow and the Talkeetna turnoff. There was a lot of road construction going on, causing us several delays all the way to Denali. Apparently, Alaska land moves and shifts enough to cause the highways to buckle.

   We finally arrived at the Princess Lodge, where we would spend our second night. *Whew!

WILDFIRE

WILDFIRE

   Exiting Denali National Park and the Denali Visitors Center, we headed back to Anchorage, about 5 hours away.  We had already packed our luggage into the rental Toyota Camry and checked out of our lodge, so we pulled onto Highway 3 South.

   After a while, we decided we needed to stop for a cold soft drink and ice cream.  We pulled into a small, insignificant market with a road sign that advertised "Liquor Shakes", though that was NOT what we were looking for.  Apparently this longtime family owned business used to sell both items and "grandpa" thought it funny to run all the words together and make people talk.  So the sign stuck and is still making folks talk today.

   The lady asked us where we were going.  "Anchorage" was our reply.  She began to tell  us the highway was closed before Willow because of a forest fire that had jumped the road and was burning along both sides. We thanked her for the information and headed towards the fire.

   Talkeetna was the town a few miles nearest our side of the fire.  We soon found ourselves in a long line of parked cars on Highway 3. We could see the smoke ahead of us.  People were watching its progression, hoping the highway would soon open.   In a few hours we were told by a volunteer who drove along handing out cold water that the road was impassable; that the winds had picked ip and the fire was still out of control, and that it was unlikely the road would be open before morning.  She suggested we go back to the Red Cross Shelter that had been set up in Talkeetna for those displaced from their homes or for those of us traveling to points beyond.  

   We called around but all the motels, hotels or Bed and Breakfasts were full...no place to stay. The couple running the shelter were retired military veterans and were working very hard to accommodate people.  I slept a few hours in the car while the others opted for a spot on the floor in the shelter. 

   It was a long night.  About 1:30 Debby overheard a conversation that the road was opening and cars were getting through. So we headed out and soon found ourselves waiting in line once again. A few cars at a time were being escorted through and then a group from the other side heading North would be escorted. So we patently waited in the early morning "midnight sun". 

    Sitting and waiting, I caught an unusual movement out of the corner of my eye. There, in the light of morning was a Bull Moose running up and down the fence row, looking for a way out, I suppose. He was a beautiful animal. His Antlers appeared dark, like in velvet and beautifully curved as he looked towards us. Apparently the long line of cars behind us made him change his mind about wanting to cross the highway. He turned and disappeared into the trees.

   This escorting routine took two hours before it was our turn to roll. We entered the edge of the burn in 3 or 4 miles. Heavy smoke still rose up from charred logs and stumps. Thick, acrid smoke lingered across the highway. Visibility was so low we could barely see two vehicles ahead of us. Some houses had been spared, yet there were reports of others going up in flames. Volunteers had been able to evacuate people and sled dogs from the fire's path. 

   We followed the lead vehicle for 16 miles. All the time, seeing the results of the destruction of this wildfire. We felt sorry for the lady we had seen at the shelter who lost everything she had. Reports circulated that the blaze may have been started by some kids shooting off fireworks. 

  I must put in a good word for The Marriott Suites of Anchorage where we stayed. We had spent our first night in Alaska at this Marriott. They kindly allowed us to store our excess luggage for the next two days, while we stayed near Denali National Park entrance, without charge. We had reservations there the night of the fire, but because we were unable to travel, they were kind enough to not charge us for that night.  Additionally, they let us check into our room at 0730 the morning we came through. We remained there three more nights.

   We applaud The Marriott Suites of Anchorage for their extreme kindness and for going out of their way to accommodate strangers.

   Nancy became very sick with a bad cold; weak, slight fever, nauseous, sniffles and coughing . Ron took her to the Doctors at Providence. The doctor told her she had "Nausea" and sent her home.  (Don't you just love modern medicine?)

End

KENAI FJORD

KENAI FJORD TOUR

   On Wednesday, our final day in Alaska, we took a boat tour of the Kenai Peninsula.  We were up early, before coffee, and headed out to Seward, Alaska to catch a small ship, carrying 150 tourists, along the Kenai islands in the edge of the sea.  This all day trip would take us as far as a glacier field, where we would see glaciers moving and breaking off and falling into the sea.

   Kenai Fjord Tours offered a great experience for viewing ocean wildlife and moving glaciers.  Our Captain had 22 years of experience and proved to be a good tour guide for our group.

   After driving the two hours to Seward, we were there at 0730 as they requested.  We parked in a shuttled parking lot and got our boarding tickets for the ship.  We began boarding at 0815.  

   Throughout the day we had many stops for wildlife viewing.  There were more birds than I could imagine...some I had never known. 

   As we left the dock, our first encounter was with a lazy Sea Otter.  He was content with floating around on his back, enjoying a snack of fresh shellfish as we invaded his privacy with oooh's 'n ahhh's 'n photographs.  The Otter didn't seem to mind. 

   As we left the bay, we were met by another Otter or two.  Then came the Dall Porpoises jumping through the water.  They appeared to be playing, but we're probably feeding.  These were small in size, more like the size of a large Salmon than a Porpoise.  There were many of these in the Kenai around Resurrection Bay. 

   Our Captain chased down a pod of Orcas farther out into the sea. They were traveling pretty fast as we watched them jump through the water. We found other Orcas feeding in the ocean. They were beautiful, magnificent, deadly and awesome, all at the same time.

   We sailed into a bay to watch a glacier. Most of the worlds' glaciers are receding at a much faster rate than we would like. The glacier we see today is no exception. According to our Captain, this glacier, less than 100 years ago, was 10 miles farther out and 300' high. We spent a half hour close to the glacier. It often cracked with a loud crack; sometimes followed by ancient ice tumbling into the sea. One of the boat staffers retrieved a piece of the glacial ice with a dip net. It was amazingly clear ice.

   Leaving this Fjord we resumed our quest for sea life. The Captain stopped the ship along one particularly steep-sided rock island to watch a couple of Humpback Whales as they fished. The Whales would submerge and blow a ring of bubbles that caused a school of small fish to bunch closer together. Then quickly, the Whales swam upward through the school, eating a few dozen at a time! We watched them do this several times. Pretty cool to watch.

   We cruised up close to Seals sunning themselves on the warm rocks in several places along the islands. We spied a lone Bald Eagle perched high on a rock, checking out the picture-taking tourists.

The Fjord tour was great! Very impressive! Seward would be a great area in which to spend more time sightseeing, hiking and fishing.

   Back to the Hotel. We have an 0610 flight to catch!

End

TO DENALI

Alaska - To Denali

Leaving Anchorage in our rental, we headed North on Highway 3, the lone highway that cuts across Alaska to Prudhoe Bay and Redhorse. Highway 1 cut off to the right but we continued on Highway 3 to the cut-off to the Princess Lodge. There was a lot of waiting on the highway for road construction, as only one lane was open for travel in several places. 

   We continued to search the side roads, meadows, ponds and lakes for Moose, Bear or any 4 footed animal we could find. The longer we looked the more we became disappointed that we didn't find any. 

The Princess Lodge is a beautiful resort situated on a hillside with incredible views of Denali. It was cloudy when we arrived. Checking in was very easy. There was no waiting and the lodge was very beautiful.              

   Our room was in Cabin 1 right across the street. The main lodge blocked our view of the snow covered mountains, but the lodge had a great viewing area with tables and chairs and lounge chairs on a huge wooden deck facing Mt McKinley. Today was cloudy and the mountain was covered. Ron and I had decided to take a ski plane ride to the mountain for a glacier landing. We quickly signed up for a 11:00 AM flight for tomorrow morning.

   Debby's uncle, Phil, and Leigh Winn, traveling from Missouri, soon arrived on a tour bus and joined us. It was great to see them and spend some time together. They were staying in Building 25 which was not close to us. We helped get them settled and headed for the main lodge where we relaxed in the lounge chairs. The mountain was cloud covered but lower snow covered mountains were visible. 

    We enjoyed a great meal at one of the casual restaurants, named 20320 Restaurant (named after the elevation of Mt McKinley.  My Blueberry Salmon was delicious.

   We retired for the evening, long before dark. With Alaska getting nearly 20 hours of daylight every day as they approach 22 on the longest day of the year, the nights never truly get dark in June. In contrast, December barely sees 4 hours of daylight. 

   The next morning I found Debby in a chair, with a Starbucks coffee in hand, watching the crystal clear view of Mt McKinley in the early morning sun. It was indeed a gorgeous sight! We took a few dozen photos as we stood on the deck. I tried to get coffee a few times but the line from tour bus tourists delayed my coffee time about an hour. So I took more photos. 

   We left the Princess Lodge about 0830 for the one hour drive to Talkeetna (I love that name) where we will catch our plane to the mountain. Arriving in ample time, we entered a small, run down eatery called the Talkeetna Roadhouse. It was very busy, probably because the food was so good! We were lucky to order takeout and sit at the outside picnic table. My Mushroom and Swiss Quiche was delicious!

It was very interesting to people watch this town.  

   Did I mention I love the name "Talkeetna"? It means, "where rivers come together".

End

GLACIER LANDING

GLACIER LANDING

  

 Alaska offers so many opportunities for exciting things to do and places to explore.  Our country's largest mountain is one of America's popular attractions.  It's common name is Mt McKinley, named for one of our American Presidents.  However, it has been called Mt Denali for many many years by the natives of Alaska.  There is a movement by the people of Alaska to have the mountain officially called Mt Denali.  The family of McKinley, of course, oppose this change, so the battle continues on both sides.

   Denali National Park is also the largest  National Park in our Nation, as well.  I believe it has 14 of the highest mountains in the USA, besides Mt Denali, the highest.  One can fly for many miles seeing nothing but snow covered mountains.  It is quite a sight!
   One of the things I wanted to do from the time I first read about it, was to fly into the mountains and do a Glacier landing.  Thus, Ron Pinkerton and I found ourselves laying $389.00 on the barrelhead for this opportunity.
   Talkeetna is a primary hub for Alaska adventures.  We arrived early for our 11:00 AM flight.  Our destination today will be the Ruth Glacier, a flat, snow covered Glacier a half mile wide and about 4 miles long.
   The flat, glaciated valley approaching the mountain range was mostly uninhabited. There were a handful of private cabins in the lush green tundra, dotted by a myriad of ponds, lakes and streams.  This area is best traveled in the winter when snow and ice covered the vegetation and freezes the water.  ATV's and dog sleds are popular as transportation into this area.  The cabins are primitive with no electricity.
  The tundra began to change to remnants of receding glaciers.  Eight passengers and one Pilot were on board this small single engine prop driven plane.  The landing gear was equipped with a pair of skis designed for landing on snow.  We sailed around varying heights of steep sided peaks and spires.   Flying in and around the mountains is difficult to describe.  It was beautiful.  Photographs failed to truly capture this experience and mere words cannot adequately describe it.
   This was an impressive experience and, I believe, was the high point of my Alaskan experience.

ANCHORAGE

ALASKA - 2015

To ANCHORAGE

Once again the Thomas' begin another adventure. ALASKA is our 50th State!  Yes, I know it's really our 49th State, but this is our 50th state to visit!  
The Pinkerton's arrived last night from Arkansas. They have been fellow traveling companions on many of our adventures.  

We boarded an Alaska Airlines Aztec flight to

Seattle on the first leg of our Alaskan Adventure. (Just FYI in case you rent a car in Anchorage!)

ALASKA - DAY 1:

Our room at the Marriott gave us a great view of the parking lot. The mountains outside of Anchorage were on the other side, though they were partially obscured by a bad case of haze. After the free breakfast at Marriott we hailed a Taxi and 

headed to the Hertz car rental office downtown Anchorage. We had already reserved our sedan for the week at a much cheaper price than if we had rented from Hertz at the airport office. In fact, in a later conversation Debby had with p airport agent, he said, "You got a very good price!" (Just F in case you rent a car in Anchorage!) The downtown office was supposed to open at 0800; we arrived about 0900. The agent was not there. After several phone calls and an hour of waiting around, the man finally showed up and made some lame excuse for not being there at 0800.

A half hour later we had our car loaded and we were on the road. Our first stop was to Walmart where we bought a case of water and other necessary supplies.  

So we headed back to the car. At this point we were about two and one half hours behind schedule. Once behind the wheel, Ron decided he should have made a stop at the bathroom and got out of the car. I decided to go with him. As we walked across the parking lot, I heard Debby and Nancy laughing hysterically. I turn around to comment, "Never pass up a bathroom!" They were still laughing as they also followed us to the bathrooms.

So about 3 hours later than we intended, we set the GPS and headed towards Denali. A half hour down the road we doubted if the GPS was right and so we turned around and headed back towards Anchorage. A half hour later we realized the GPS was smarter than the 4 of us put together, so we turned back around...another half hour wasted. *Sigh.

We decided to stop in Wasilla, home of Sarah Palin, to have lunch. Somehow, along the way we missed the turn. *Sigh.

Towards the end of town, we spied a burger joint and pulled in hoping we picked a good place. I don't believe any of us were impressed but we made it work.

Continuing on Highway 3 towards Highway 1, we watched the woods and meadows, even the ponds of water, expecting to see a lot of wildlife. We saw two birds...a Raven and a Sea Gull, I think. *sigh.

We passed the town of Willow and the Talkeetna turnoff. There was a lot of road construction going on, causing us several delays all the way to Denali. Apparently, Alaska land moves and shifts enough to cause the highways to buckle.

We finally arrived at the Princess Lodge, where we would spend our second night. *Whew!

Disneyland 2015

Disneyland 2015

Disneyland 2015

Although it had been a while since our last visit to the Magic Kingdom, we had no trouble adjusting to the excitement.  

The planning stages for a trip to Disneyland began before the Thanksgiving dinner dishes were done.  We wanted to surprise our six year old Great Granddaughter, Melody.  After all, no grandparent in their right mind would ever dream of telling a little kid about going to Disneyland too far in advance, else the daily onslaught of excitement and questions would drive a codger crazy.

We had a great plane ride to Long Beach. Deb and I had invited our grandson, Dawson, to come along, too.  We figured two kids would be better than one in case we couldn't ride all the scary Tea Cup type rides with her.

The jetBlue Airlines provided the best flying times, as well as the best price. This is one of our two favorite airlines to fly as it seems to have more room than other planes. Debby sat with the two grandkids and I was in the first seat across the aisle. Next to me was a couple on their way to Cypress. The husband sat next to the window and worked on being a humorist. He leaned over as I was trying to read the words on the video/audio controller on the arm rest, telling me to be careful, that if I pressed the center button the wing would fall off. His wife laughed. A few minutes later, not to be outdone, I held up the barf bag and asked if they "have any extras because I only have one?" They looked at me nervously before figuring out I was only jerking their chain.

Our minivan ride from the Long Beach Airport was uneventful and our driver was talkative. That made the trip go faster. We gave him an extra dollar tip. He dropped us off in front of our motel in good order. We put our luggage in a storage room and headed across the street to the Disneyland entrance. This was our first of three days.

O

Our time there passed quickly. Our Park Hopper passes allowed us to enjoy both Disneyland and California Adventures. According to our step counters, we walked several miles every day. One thing was for certain, we were exhausted every evening!

Our fourth day did not include the Park. My cousin came and picked us up for a time of visiting. We headed for Ruby's, at the end of the pier at Huntington Beach. We watched the surfers and had lunch. The kids got to play in the sand for a little while. The weather began to change. Dark clouds were blowing in from the south and I could smell the rain coming. We load up and went to my cousin's house for a little while before he took us to the Long Beach Airport, where we were scrutinized, X-rayed, photographed, fingerprinted and searched as we went through Security. I guess we fit the terrorist profile.