Alaska, June24, 2025, Baby, it's cold outside

 Ward and I recently took a trip to Alaska. We flew into Anchorage (via a stop in Seattle) and used our friends' house as our home base. I am chronicling our trip here.

Cascade, Berry, and Coxe Glaciers at the entrance to the Harriman Fjord in Prince William Sound.

Today's outing was the "26 Glacier Cruise" out of Whittier. Whittier is a small town in Prince William Sound, accessible only by boat or through a tunnel. The tunnel was initially designed for trains, but was later modified to accommodate cars as well. However, there is no 2-way traffic, so getting through the tunnel is carefully timed for trains and cars going inbound or outbound. We left early and got through a cycle earlier than planned, which gave us time to explore the town and the local museum.

The Whittier Tunnel under Maymard Mountain was built in 1943 to enable sea-going shipping to reach the interior of Alaska via the railroad.

The museum was a single room that highlighted the importance of the area during World War II and the Cold War, featuring local heroes and their stories. There were also first-hand accounts of the harrowing 1964 earthquake. Bo, who has visited the museum over the years, said it has really grown. When it first opened, the exhibit featured artifacts and index cards.

The 26 Glacier Cruise we were on supposedly went by 26 different glaciers. We didn't see that many because of the fog and rain. However, the promise of many glaciers is not the reason we booked this afternoon cruise. It was because it had a no-motion-sickness guarantee. I am prone to motion sickness, so when I saw this one, I said. "Sold!" It was also a favorite of Bo's, who went with us. BTW, it lived up to its promise of a big boat in calm waters.

The boat was a large catamaran, and we were joined by several hundred people on the outing. We sat in a booth with three other friendly tourists from Memphis. I was especially impressed with Ginny, who sat across from me, because she was an expert at spotting animals. The captain called out animals when he saw them and slowed down the boat, but Ginny saw some things he didn't. I called her Eagle Eyes and stayed with her at times while Ward and Bo went out on the deck for better looks. We saw more sea otters than anything else, but we also saw sea lions and humpback whales. Well, we saw their water spouts, but I did see a fin of one of them. Ward saw a harbor seal that I missed. Bo had a better camera than we did, so the animal pictures I'm posting were taken by him.

We sat in the upper cabin of the boat.

After lunch was served, people moved freely about the boat, both inside and out.

Sea otters

This sea otter had a baby riding on its belly.

Sea lions

This sea lion was enjoying an afternoon nap among the kittywinks.

The captain stopped the boat for a while in front of Surprise Glacier. Surprise Glacier was further up the Harriman Fjord from the three glaciers in the first picture. Perspective was hard to get here. The glacier looked about 400' across and about 400' away. In reality, it was 3/4 mile across and about 1/2 mile away. We saw several pieces of ice break off (calving) that didn't seem that big until we felt the large waves they generated. The captain said that one of them was one of the biggest he's seen. (The black stripe in the middle is the medial moraine.)

I hadn't realized before this cruise how blue glacial ice is. Think blue popsicle. 

The captain told us this was J. K. Rowling's yacht. It was huge! Harry Potter has rewarded her well.

On the way home, we stopped at Portage Lake overlook. It was beautiful, but I was cold. After a brief picture, I appreciated the beauty from the warmth of the car.

Bo dropped us off at the airport, so we could pick up a rental car to use for the rest of the trip. B had a much-appreciated dinner waiting for us.

Tune in tomorrow for when we spent the day chasing Denali.

Until next time...

Alaska, June 23, 2025, Only in the Summer

  Ward and I recently took a trip to Alaska. We flew into Anchorage (via a stop in Seattle) and used our friends' house as our home base. I am chronicling our trip here.

Our train trip to Seward yesterday made for a long, tiring day. Because of that, we chose to have an easy day today and visit the Alaska Botanical Gardens. If we can, we try to work in a visit to gardens wherever we go. Here are a few pictures from our visit.

Columbine

Ursa botanicus. Alaskan bear decorated with what they eat.

I think this is saxifraga.

Himalayan Blue Poppies

Rock sculpture

Lamium. We have this in our yard, but it blooms yellow.

Magpie sculpture. From the artists: "The imaginative pair of magpies represents Alaska's dramatic shift of light and darkness throughout the changing seasons."

Lady's Slippers

Those are real flowers planted on the VW wagon. I guess that's real Flower Power. 😁

We had sandwiches for lunch at The Great Harvest Bakery and took home a loaf of cherry white chocolate bread that we had sampled. There's nothing that beats the taste of good bread, and that's what we had here.

B fixed shrimp salad for dinner, and we enjoyed talking while looking out their windows, which offered views of the mountains.

Come back tomorrow when things are going to get cold. 

Until next time...

Alaska, June 22, 2025, Chugga, chugga, choo, choo

 Ward and I recently took a trip to Alaska. We flew into Anchorage (via a stop in Seattle) and used our friend's house as our home base. I am chronicling our trip here.

If you squint and look way in the back,
you will see the domed, double-decker car we were on.

One of the top things on Ward's list of what he wanted to do was to ride the Alaska Railroad. Today, his wish came true when we rode the train from Anchorage to Seward. Bo took us to the train station to catch our 6:45 am train. Yesterday, I referred to this early time as 0-dark-30. That was silly because this time of year in Anchorage, there is no darkness. Only dusk. And it was certainly light when we got up at 5:30 am.

We opted for a car with a glass top, so we had great views in most directions. While this train was not advertised as a tourist train, it was. During the 4 1/2-hour trip, we heard commentary about the areas we were riding through, and the train slowed down when there were animal sightings.  We saw dall sheep, eagles, and a bear on the tracks. Actually, the bear went over the hillside before I caught a glimpse of it. But it was there. We went to the lower level for breakfast and got a different perspective on what we were seeing. I enjoyed the ride, but Ward was thrilled. He's always been fascinated with trains. 

We went downstairs in our train car for breakfast.
Guess who had sausage gravy and biscuits again?

The scenery was beautiful along the way as we rode through the Chugach Mountains.

Part of the route was along the Kenai Lake.

It was busy when we got off the train because there were several buses of people there from cruise ships. However, most of them did not stay in Seward. They went further north. 

Seward, on the Kenai Peninsula, started as a Russian trading post (the first non-native settlement). It has a population of about 2000, but has large influxes of people during the summer, with visitors from cruise ships and the train. The town was essentially destroyed by the 1964 9.2 earthquake and subsequent tsunami, but rebuilt, and today it is an important fishing port.

We saw lots of fishing and tourist boats in the harbor at Seward.

Monument commemorating the founding of Seward in 1903. Seward was proposed as the ocean terminus of the Alaska Railroad to the interior. 

Besides taking a train ride to Seward, our goal was to visit the Alaska Sea Life Center. The center is an aquarium and a marine life rehabilitation center. While we enjoyed all of the animals we saw, the puffins were the most fun to watch. They would dive underwater and swim gracefully, almost like we see birds in the air.

We didn't get many pictures inside the Sea Life center,
But we did get one of a puffin (upper right). 

After the center, we wandered around town and were surprised that several restaurants were closed. Since it was tourist season, that's not what we expected. However, we did not go hungry because we found a place for lunch.

Dog sleds were carrying things from ships in Seward to Nome
 before the famous 1925 medicine run.

We spent the afternoon walking around town, exploring a riverfront park and the Kenai National Park Visitor's Center until it was time to catch the bus home. The bus took about half the time of the train. Part of the ride followed the same path as the train, but the other part was through new territory. We had local commentary from the driver for the entire ride, which made it interesting. BTW, the train seats were a lot more comfortable than the bus seats. But we only paid half as much for the bus seats, so I guess that's okay. :)

We had a seat in the front of the bus, so we could see out the front as well as a side window.

Bo picked us up at the bus station after a long but good day. 

Stay tuned for the next time when I show you a place that we try to visit, wherever we go.

Alaska, June 21, 2025

I've been thinking about writing the next post for two days now, and I seem to be suffering from perfectionist procrastination. Thoughts bounce around like: How much background information do I want to include? How much personal information should I write about? Should I combine the next two days? Did Ward take any pictures for this day? And the list goes on. In the meantime, I've done all the laundry, cleaned three bathrooms, and weeded 3 large flower beds. I guess there are some benefits to overthinking things and the procrastination it brings. 

So if you know me, and I think you do, it's time for some speed blogging. Here it goes.

The first burst of wildflowers in Anchorage is the dandelions.
In most places, they had finished blooming.

The morning was cool and drizzly, so we decided it was a good day to visit the Anchorage Museum. On our way, we took a driving tour through the city, especially looking for fishermen along Ship Creek. When the fishermen start showing up in numbers, it means the salmon have started to run. Numbers indicated that it was still a bit early.

Before the museum, we had brunch at Humpy's, a favorite of Bo and B's. The other three had blackened flounder Eggs Benedict. Turns out flounder is more expensive than salmon. Who knew? I won't tell you what I had, but it was not very adventurous. (Okay, I had sausage gravy and biscuits.)

On the grounds in front of the museum, we stumbled upon a band concert composed of representatives from various local bands. We listened for a few minutes. I always enjoy hearing a band, and this was no exception.

I was curious about the two percussionists in the back who were dressed alike. 

I try to take a picture of a sign of where I am to help identify photographs later on.
 I learned that this was a good idea the hard way.

Inside the museum, we saw four different exhibits. The first was about the Indigenous people of Alaska. The exhibit was curated by the Smithsonian, and groups were arranged geographically. B worked with many of the groups in her job and brought interesting insights to the displays. We also viewed exhibits about Alaskan humor, Alaska and the Cold War, and Alaskan dogs. Most exhibits were too dark for pictures, but here are a few photos. 

Ward is a sign reader at an exhibit. He reads, I skim.
That's probably why he remembers more about things than I do. :)

This was part of the humor exhibit. I think these represented the three bears.

Alaska played an important part in the Cold War due to its close proximity to the Soviet Union. I was surprised to learn that the Soviet Union had an official art style called Soviet Realism. The US government funded artists during this time, promoting the exact opposite art style. Think Jackson Pollock.

Ward never met a map he didn't like.

We enjoyed dinner that night that B fixed, and were surprised when we looked at the clock and it was already 11 pm. We still hadn't adjusted to the daylight that seemed to go on forever. Off to bed, because we had another 0-dark-thirty rising time in the morning.

It took me more than one 12-minute timer to do this, but I did it.

Until next time...

Alaska, June 19-20, 2025, North to Alaska, 2.0

 I'm finally getting around to posting more about what we did on our recent trip to Alaska with stops coming and going in the Seattle area. I am modifying a post I did on the trip on our first two days below, now that I have more time, so some of it may look familiar.

 Another morning of getting up at 0 dark thirty. The Seattle airport was huge and crazy busy, so it was a good thing we got there early. 

However, the flight was uneventful, and we were met by our friends in Anchorage. We haven't seen these friends, B and Bo, in over 30 years, so we had a good time catching up on the details of our lives.

B and Bo took us to the Alaska Zoo for a low-key activity on our travel day. We thought that was a great idea since we try to visit zoos when we travel. This zoo specializes in Alaskan animals and rehabilitates animals as well as displays them. The star of the day was the polar bear, who was quite active. 

Bears are featured heavily in all things Alaska. This bear was at the entrance to the zoo.

It was also fun to go downstairs and watch the polar bear swimming underwater.

This musk ox was seeing if the grass was really greener
 on the other side of the fence.

The next morning, we headed to Hatcher Pass, a scenic pass in the Talkeetna Mountains located between Willow and Palmer, Alaska. Specifically, we visited the abandoned Independence Gold Mine there. Gold is one of the key factors that drew the US and others to develop Alaska. Independence Mine was active from 1897 to 1950, with a break during WWII. There was more activity in the 1970s. At its peak, the mine had 16 families living there and 206 workers. The mine camp is now a state historic site.

Some of the buildings had been restored, and some were in ruins.

We took a tour of the mine camp, which was interesting. We were a bit surprised by the amount of snow still on the ground. In some places, it was a good 4" deep. The snow was slippery at times, and I was glad I had my boots on. However, B and Bo brought along their springer spaniel, who was living his best life playing in it. 

Bo was showing me the trails they like to hike. However, it was decided that they would be too snowy and muddy for a hike today. Charlie, their dog, was ready to go, however.

Ward loves a train, no matter what kind it is.

The drive home through the Talkeetnas was spectacular. In fact, just about any direction we turned on this trip, the scenery was breathtaking.

Each evening, B cooked a good meal, and we enjoyed relaxing after dinner, chatting about this and that during the endless light of the evening.

 Until next time…