Juneau - July 18

To Juneau, the capital city. We disembarked and took a taxi across town to the Alaska State Museum. Beautiful baskets, and an exhibit on World War II in Kiska. We also visited the Sealaska Building's shop, Bryn got a basket by Haida weaver Holly Churchill. Some walking, shopping, a Filipino meat stick lunch, and back on the ship for some ice cream. We set said again at 3:30. Randy spotted some bald eagles, there were two on the beach, each eating its own fish. Bryn saw some more porpoises or dolphins. Tonight Bret is playing bingo and Reed is having a Las Vegas night followed by mixing special drinks – mocktails. Randy downloaded photos and Bryn wrote blog entries to be posted after we're in Vancouver. There was a stunningly beautiful sunset that night.

Alaska State Museum top left; mural on city hall; on the side of the ship.

July 17, 2012 - Tuesday in Skagway

Happy Birthday to Bryn! There was a happy birthday sign on the door and a couple of balloons. We had breakfast delivered, as we had arrived in Skagway and wanted to exit the ship. We took a bus tour that started with the Liarsville Experience. We visited a mining camp, saw a show and had another opportunity to pan for gold. Then back on the bus and up to White Pass and into British Columbia, following the path of some of the gold miners in 1897 – 1900. Very steep climb along the river, gorgeous lush forests and expanses of rock face sprinkled with ponds and patches of snow. We returned to the ship for lunch. After lunch Randy, Reed and Bret had a surprise birthday-in-a-bag celebration for Bryn. She got baskets, chocolate and Alaskan blueberry taffy. What could be better? A fun time was had by all. Then it was time to get back to the serious work of touristing so we took a shuttle back into town. We visited several historic buildings which were part of Klondike Gold Fields National Historic Park, where the boys earned yet more Junior Ranger badges. We visited some shops and the Corrington Ivory Museum, where Bryn liked seeing the world's biggest baleen basket.

For dinner, the waiters sang happy birthday and they brought a cake that looked like a big ding dong. Tasted better though – chocolate with chocolate cream between the layers. The boys were happy to share it.

Glacier Bay - Tuesday July 16

Photos, top to bottom:  Glacier Bay National Park - rangers arriving; Junior Rangers Reed & Bret; Margerie Glacier; stellar sea lion mama & 2 pups; Reid Glacier

Into amazing Glacier Bay for the day. Naturalist Rachel was at the bridge, talking about wildlife and pointing out humpback whales in the Icy Strait area. Bryn went to the back of the ship to spot some, while the boys stayed on the balcony and saw many. We had a gloriously clear day, a bit of clouds along the mountaintops but mostly blue and bright.

From our balcony, we watched the NPS boat approach, then Rangers Brad, Sarah and Rebecca boarded the ship. Ranger Sarah gave presentations to the different kid clubs, and boys earned Glacier Bay National Park Junior Ranger Badges. Randy and Bryn attended a talk by Ranger Rebecca in the theater. Ranger Brad stayed on the bridge and gave a commentary on the natural, native, and more recent history of Glacier Bay. John Muir came here in 1879 to verify his hypothesis that Yosemite Valley was a glacial valley and not a result of earthquakes, as had been the current thinking then. Most of Glacier Bay was actually a glacier when he visited, there has been much glacial retreat since then. The biggest tidewater glacier we saw here was the Marjerie Glacier, a mile across. The Grand Pacific Glacier has retreated so it is not very visible from the water. We did a lot of glacier gazing, and 'spectacular' is the word that kept coming out of Randy's mouth. We saw a little bit of calving, but small pieces, nothing large. The glaciers were noisy, with lots of pops and cracking noises. The wonderful sound of calving is called 'white thunder,' it is really loud and impressive. After the rangers left the ship, Rachel took over and continued a commentary on wildlife. We saw some more humpbacks as we exited Glacier Bay, some bald eagles, plus some dolphins or porpoises – they're quick! The nights are not quite as long as we are heading south. We are still in bed before sunset, although Randy tries to get up and check to see if the sky is clear and if the aurora borealis is visible. So far, cloudy skies during our little bit of dark night.

Sunday July 15 - Yakutat Bay & Hubbard Glacier

Sunday July 15

We cruised into Yakutat Bay and saw Hubbard Glacier, the world's biggest tidewater glacier, with a 6 mile wide terminus at the bay. Very impressive. We did not get off in this area, the traditional home of the Yakutat Tlingit people. It was a chilly day, we had some snowflakes and we bundled up to go outside on the balcony and watch what was going on outside. The bay was filled with ice floes, not icebergs but called berglets and growlers depending on their size. Some of them had stellar sea lions or harbor seals on them, handy places to float around and escape predators. Randy attended a talk with naturalist Rachel Dunham. Reed went off to Re-Mix, the teenage hang-out with all kinds of activities. Bret joined the 8 – 12 year-old-gang at Shockwaves, they had a Lego competition this morning.

When we boarded the ship, we each got an ID card like a credit card, it gets swiped for everything, such as when you get on or off the ship, or if you want to buy something. When we registered the boys for these clubs, we acknowledged that they could sign out themselves, and they both appreciate having their independence on the ship. Bret returned to our room when his club ended at 10 pm. Reed stayed until midnight, although his club is open until 1 a.m. They're meeting people and having fun.

The photo of us above was taken by us as we were reflected in our balcony window. You can kind of see the Hubbard Glacier behind us.

Saturday July 14 - Anchorage, June, and Ship

Anchorage in the morning. In the few hours we had before our bus left, we headed to the Alaska Native Heritage Center at the north end of town. Bryn went in to visit June and Charlie Pardue. June was the Aleutian basketweaver consultant on a basket exhibit, and Charlie is one of this summer's featured artists at the center. The boys took two tours around the lake and visited the 5 different house areas and cultural areas of Alaska, plus enjoyed some of the traditional dancing and athletic demonstrations. Meanwhile, Bryn chatted with June and toured around the exhibits, met the other weavers, and looked at the watercraft that June helped do the hide fitting and sewing on. We met her grandson Derek, who was one of the traditional dancers. Reed mastered the Eskimo Yo-Yo, made of seal fur, caribou hide and antler. The time went way too quickly, then we had to go out front and catch a cab back. While we waited, Bret spotted a moose munching some willow on the side of the entrance.

We returned to the hotel and boarded the bus, only to have to wait for another family who thought the leaving time was 1:30. Some of them didn't make it, they had to join us at the airport, the bus's last pick-up point. We drove west along Beluga Bay and Turnagain Inlet. Saw a mama bear and 2 large cubs on the side of the road. Had a nice stop at the Alaska Conservation Center where we filled in the gaps on our animal count. They had lynxes, bears, musk ox, caribou, and a pair of gangly yet adorable baby moose.

We made the 4:30 tunnel (1 land tunnel, every hour it is open 15 min north, 15 min south, 15 min for the train, and 15 min for airing out). Out of the tunnel and into Whittier, a town that exists for docking the cruise ships. We are traveling on the Diamond Princess, it has about 2,500 guests. Embarking was a pretty simple process as we only have carry-on luggage. We arrived at our stateroom, Dolphin 717, then went to dinner at the buffet. We shoved off around 8:30 p.m. and had a muster call where we learned how to put on life vests and emergency procedures.

On to Anchorage - Friday the 13th

Suitcases out the door at 6 am, 7 am departure on the bus, going southeast out of Denali.  Bret spotted a moose and a fox, also seen by Bryn as they were on the right side of the bus.  We made a stop at Mary Carey's McKinley Inn, yet again clouds prevented a view of the mountain.  However, bits of white clouds looked lovely hanging low against the nearly-black mountains. It was damp and misty today. Our lunch stop was in Wasilla, with a choice of fast food restaurants. We picked A&W Root Beer.  Turns out this infamous town is like a suburb of Anchorage, with a big Fred Mayer grocery-and-everything-else store (remember Gemco? like that), plus a Walmart.
We arrived at the Clarion Suites hotel in Anchorage around 2 pm, but could not check in. We left our luggage then walked 14 blocks downtown, there was an army-navy surplus store that Reed wanted to check out.   We saw the little visitor center, and Bret sat on the 5,116 lb Alaska Jade boulder, the state gem.  Randy spotted a barber shop and got a haircut while Bryn and the boys visited the Alaska Veterans Museum.  This celebrates both veterans from Alaska, and veterans from Alaskan wars.  While Bret and Reed took turns at the flight simulator, Bryn had a nice chat with the director about the battle of Kiska and the 10th Mountain Division, and will be sending her some things about them sometime in the future.
Following our late hotel check-in, we had a delicious dinner in an Irish pub.  While the boys swam in the indoor pool, Mom did some laundry and Dad caught up on computer things.

Denali National Park, Thursday July 12

We hopped on a shuttle bus and officially entered Denali National Park.  At the Visitor Center, we attended a lecture on BMWs - bears, moose, and wolves.  If a grizzly bear charges you, act big and be loud, then if it doesn't swerve away, at the last minute you should drop and cover the back of your next with your hands and play dead.  If a black bear charges, act big and be loud, then if it doesn't swerve away, throw things, hit it, and fight back.  If a moose charges you, run!   This and other info led the boys to finishing another Junior Ranger Badge.  We were also able to take a short hike, visit the Murie Science Center and have lunch before returning via shuttle to the hotel.  Soon afterward, we got on another bus for a 5 hour Denali Natural History Tour.  We saw a bull moose!  3 female moose. 2 caribou. A herd of Dall sheep.
We had beautiful clouds today.  Clouds mean no good view of Denali. Luckily we saw it the previous day.
Today was technical difficulty day with my camera.  The colors were all washed out, leading to disappointing photos of hot pink fireweed and brilliant blue forget-me-not wildflowers.  The color of the bull moose photo is also off.  Luckily, soon after this I figured out the problem and the other moose and caribou photos were fine.   It was almost 9 pm when returned to the McKinley Chalets Hotel for dinner.

Wednesday - to Denali! Moose excitement!

Up and out early to grab the bus to the train depot. We were in a dome-topped railcar from Fairbanks to Denali, the trip lasted about 4 hours. And - finally - a moose for Bryn!  Early on the trip, Reed and Bret spotted the back of one off of their side of the train, Bryn missed it.  Bryn has searched in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Wyoming, Montana, British Columbia, Alberta, and New Brunswick and never saw a live, wild moose, so Alaska was literally the last frontier in moose hunting.  Hooray!  One was spotted off of the left side of the train, and we were able to snap a not-great photo. Can you see the cow moose in the water? No antlers. Still looking for the big bull with a full rack of antlers.
Clear blue skies gave us stupendous views of snow-capped Mt McKinley. Denali is an Athabaskan word for this mountain, "The Great One."   We were met by another bus at the Denali Depot, and transported to the Mt McKinley Chalets.  We had lunch and did a little shopping and looking around before heading to a dinner theater about early Alaskans.  "Cabin Nite" featured all-you-can-eat salmon and ribs (10 ribs for Bret!).  In fact, it was a rib-roaring good time!

Fairbanks on Tuesday

Another day around this fine city. Beautiful weather, except for some sprinkles in the evening. It was the first day of our tour, we met the bus at 10 and went to Gold Dredge #8. We learned how to gold pan, with Bret the big winner at $21 worth of gold flakes.  Bryn got $18, Reed and Randy each got $9.   We also learned about how the dredge works, and how it takes 9,000 gallons per minute to run a water cannon for hydraulic mining. We walked under the Alaska pipeline to see the gold dredging area.  Next we went to have a group lunch with miners food such as beef stew and baking soda biscuits. Lance Mackey, 4-time winner of the Iditerod and 4-time winner of the Yukon Quest races, was there to say some inspirational words about dogsledding.  We boarded the Discovery III paddlewheeler and cruised down the Chena River, watching a pontoon plane take off and land, and stopping for a dogsled demonstration.  We got off to tour a recreated Athabaskan village, complete with birchbark baskets, various animal furs, and clothing.   In the evening, we ate pizza in our room and watched the baseball All Star game.

Monday, July 10 - Fairbanks

Today we changed to the Bridgewater Hotel in the heart of downtown. It has a lovely flower garden and is located on the Chena River. It is famous as hosting President Harding in 1923, infamous as Will Rogers and Wiley Post spent their last night here prior to the plane crash that killed them both in 1935.  We recited some of the quotes we remembered by Will Rogers, as Reed had impersonated him in Reed's fourth grade history project. "I never met a man I didn't like."  "I don't belong to any organized politcal party. I'm a Democrat."

It was a beautiful day in the mid-70s. We wandered around town, enjoying the views and all kinds of little treasures such as the Fairbanks Community Museum and Dog Mushers Museum, the Yukon Quest Sled Dog Race Headquarters, the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics Headquarters (taking place in Fairbanks next week), and the weekly market where we shared a reindeer hot dog. Dinner was at Big Daddy's BBQ, a place featured on the TV show 'Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.'  Bryn's favorite stops of the day were the Doyon Corp headquarters and the Morris Thompson Cultural & Visitors Center - more baskets and other fascinating cultural items from the far north.
http://www.morristhompsoncenter.org/
It feels odd typing this now as the boys drift off to sleep with the sun is still shining brightly outside.

Sunday July 8 - Fairbanks

We spent the afternoon at the Museum of the North, University of Alaska.  Randy enjoyed the movie "Winter," in which Fairbanks residents talked about survival in subzero temperatures, and he liked the Chilkat blankets.  Reed liked a rifle that banana-peeled out when someone tried shooting it when the barrel was blocked.  Bret was fascinated with Blue Babe, the only mummy of a Pleistocene steppe bison in the world, and baby Effie, the most intact mummified mammoth found in North America, seen here.  Bryn loved comparing the many baskets from 5 areas of Alaska to those she has seen elsewhere.  She was satisfied when she confirmed that an Autry basket, cataloged as Pomo, is, in fact Interior Athabasken, as she had previously suspected.

The University of Alaska campus overlooks Fairbanks, with the Alaska Range in the distance. When the clouds parted, we could see the tip of Mt McKinley/Denali.  We'll get closer later in the week, but more cloudy days are expected and this could be our only glimpse.

Alaska 2012

We're off again, adding another state to the boys' list (this is Bryn's third trip to Alaska).  Here we are hanging out in Denver on Saturday, July 7, 2012. Thundershowers led to a 3 hr delay.  We arrived in

Fairbanks around 12.  This is the view out of our hotel window at almost 1 am - still dusk - truly the land of the midnight sun!

Home Again - Sunday, August 29, 2010

End of the three week road trip. Randy argues that the trip actually ended on Saturday, as we had left on a Sunday. Bryn likes to stretch vacations out as long as possible, so she argues that since we left just before lunch on a Sunday, the actual trip end is also on Sunday. It's a debate that will never be resolved, as Randy's logic and Bryn's will don't always reach the same conclusion. ;-)

Bret was happy to re-visit his favorite Valley Hungarian Sausage Company in Littlerock for the famous ham and cheese sandwich. As we drove the familiar route home, we took some photos of Vasquez Rocks through the window. Definitely more dramatic than yesterday's Mormon Rocks.

We got home late afternoon, then went to Bryn's parents house for dinner, and the boys had fun playing with 5 little furballs. One of the neighborhood feral cats had kittens again, but her parents were able to tame them. There is a long story that goes with catching, fixing, and finding homes for kittens, but
that's not for this blog. Anyway, these are 2 of the little cuties; 3 of the 5 have been adopted already.

When we got home, our cat were happy to see us. Storm liked cuddling up with some stuffed animals on the couch.

Everyone was happy to be home, except for Bryn. I would much rather be out exploring, visiting friends, museums, and other interesting sights and attractions instead of returning to work and school schedules, multiple scout meetings, housework, museum projects, etc. Although I do like having more options on what I can wear! As you can tell from the photos, we packed lightly which meant lots of fashion repeats (if you can call our wardrobe of t-shirts "fashion!").

I hope to get the boys to sit down and write some of their highpoints of the trip, so there could be another post....

Aug 28, Sat - boys' favorites, pinball & fireworks

We said good-bye to the red rocks of Utah as we exited that state
and took a quick trip through the northwest corner of Arizona. The
Virgin River Gorge was beautiful, quite a bit of water still flowing in
it, but no spot to pull over to get a proper photo. Just past it we found
these mountains with fine visible stratigraphy and a scattering of Joshua
trees in the foreground (top photo). In Nevada, we had a planned stop at the Moapa Paiute Travel Center. If you go, the gas is a tad more expensive than in Las Vegas, but they make homemade potato chips in their cafe and they make the stop worthwhile. Plus the boys get to salivate over fireworks, and
Bryn gets to admire the baskets and other artworks in the shop.

Our one and only Las Vegas stop was the Pinball Hall of Fame.
They've relocated since last year, and are much easier to get to.
Take the exit near Excalibur and drive east to 610 E. Tropicana.
The place is filled with vintage and new games, most are 25 cents,
and all of the profits go to charity. Like last year, we had fun using up
all of our extra laundry quarters that we had saved up. http://www.pinballmuseum.org/

Late in the afternoon we left Vegas and headed up to the San
Gabriel Mountains. The 3rd photo is of the Mormon Rocks near the
Cajon Pass, the eastern extension of Vasquez Rocks near Agua
Dulce. Mormon Rocks are more rounded, not quite as dramaticly
tall and tilted as Vasquez, but still nice to look at.

We stayed overnight in Wrightwood. The enthusiastic boys shot off
a small fountain firework in the fireplace. Very exciting, but it threw
off a lot of sparks despite it's tiny size, and that won't be happening again!