Dismal Day in Denali

We're off the boat, or as Frank likes to call it, "the Ship".  We said goodbye to her and set off for the town of Anchorage, a fairly nondescript kind of town.  It has the shopping centers, souvenir shops, hotels, etc. but is  very well know for its fly-in, fly-out workers for it voluminous supplies of oil and gas.  While having dinner, we chatted with the waitress and she described conditions in winter and commented that eight to nine (homeless) people die each year from freezing.  Occasionally, a young person will freeze to death after a night of heavy drinking in a club, and while heading home might, stumble and fall and not get up again, literally.  Not a nice news story! 

We also met some rather loud guys from Chicago and Minnesota who took a bit of a shine to the two Australians having dinner next to them.  That's the photo Frank put up of the three guys admiring me.  Mind you, they were a bit tipsy... 

The weather has not be kind to us leading up to our final days.  We have been spoiled, however, with reports that at this end of the world, it rains for the most part of the year.  Despite the weather, it is still eerily beautiful here in Denali.  During our 3 hour coach ride from Anchorage, to our delight, we saw a young bear cub in it's natural habitat ... among the woods; it was so exciting!  The terrain in these parts is slightly different to previous virgin alpine forests we've seen.  It resembles more bush land down on the flats but as the road rises up towards the mountain, it changes again.  I have never seen so many mountains in one place and as a consequence very few people live in these parts.  

We're at McKinley's Lodge which is the largest private park accommodation, with landscapes that blend in with nature; the Alaskans are quite conscious of preserving their fauna and flora, which makes me happy.

Hope all is well ... 7 sleeps to go before I get back to my lovely home.

Frank is on the bed in the fetal position because he wants to stay on.

Bye for now.

Anchorage

:-)

Hi all.  Since our last post we have encountered some not so good weather which has spoilt the trip a bit but we are making the most of it.  Our visit to Glacier Bay was pretty eerie with the low cloud and still waters.  It was like a scene straight out of American Werewolf in London on the moors.  Last night we were diverted to Whittier instead of passing the College Fjord due to a big storm in the area.  This was a good move for us as the last day or two was a bit whoosy on us both although Connie was the only one that needed the sea sickness tablet.

Today we disembarked from our ship and headed to Anchorage.  Along the way we passed through a conservation wildlife park where we got up close and personal with a brown bear and some moose.  This was a pretty good experience and we really enjoyed finally getting close to a real live bear.  For a few precious moments we forgot about the cold and rain while admiring a truly magnificent creature.

The ride to Anchorage brought us through the awesome countryside we had experienced in the Canadian Rockies.  Once again the low cloud hitting up against the mountains provided the most enjoyable experience with, once again, views from epic blockbuster movies.

Anchorage is the biggest city in Alaska which is also the capital with around 300,000 people.  Overcast, windy and cold temperatures greeted us as we checked into our hotel although there were signs of the sun trying to break through and provide some much needed warmth.  Tomorrow we head to Denali National Park for 2 nights where we hope to see more wildlife in, hopefully, good weather.

Trust everyone is fine back home.  Connie misses you all.  Bye for now.

Island Princess

Our first day on the Island Princess and she is grand!  She is a floating CBD, decked out in her finest, and wanting for nothing.  There is no shortage of anything of this ship … she has it all.  One can do so much and so little if they want … she caters for all.  Restaurants, cafes, snack bars, bars, casinos, pools, pampering rooms, theatres, mini auditoriums and so much more including a GYM.  Yes, we have been exercising every day spending at least 30 minutes on the treadmill and using weights.  Mind you, with what we have been eating, we need to exercise.  So far Frank has not put on any weight and I have only slightly gained the smallest amount.

The food on board the ship is surprisingly good.  In the Bordeaux Dining room, where we mostly eat, I tasted the most incredible spaghetti dish outside of the Valenti and Tornatore kitchen.  It was a tomato based sauce with capers, olives, baby broccoli and shell pasta.  Mama mia, era delizioso.  The buffet, which caters from 05:30 to midnight every day, is of a high standard as well and fully optioned out.  Service is quick and genuinely courteous with staff from all over the world at your beck and call. 

Our journey on the way to the tip has been wonderful, stopping at Ketchikan and Juneau.  Today we're in Skagway, the smallest of the three port side towns.  The scenery has been nothing short of spectacular, even getting a glimpse of the humpbacks in between ports.  The weather however, has been very cold; how stupid of me even contemplating sending back all our heavy winter gear after speaking with some Australians in Vancouver who had been on this ship earlier.  Even Frank is wearing his winter woollies.

We have seen a few shows and done a lot of window shopping at ports although bought very little.  Frank is trying hard to add another "time piece" to his collection.  They have some very nice brands at very good prices, or so he tells me!  Bremont, Ulysse Nardin, Breitling, Rolex etc etc.  He is trying to balance the watch with diamonds but I'm not taking the bait and so far we are still happily married.

There are jewellery shops galore at every port.  The season runs from April to September and over 800,000 passengers visit during this time.  It allows the stores to run on high volume, low margin so the shopping is quite good.

Yesterday was a highlight of the trip with a helicopter ride to the Mendenhall Glacier followed by dog sledding; this was so much fun!  To stand on top of the world and have the most athletic (not to mention, very fluffy) dogs pull you along through the white snow-filled top of the glacier was incredible.  These dogs, mostly Huskies or derivatives there of, are at their happiest when running in sub zero temperatures, and I mean running.  When the handler picks the dogs to use for the trip they, all go so excited and bark like crazy, just howling out "take me, please, take me".  With over 280 dogs in camp, it's an amazing sound.  Interesting fact; the handlers do a 6 day on 1 day off rotation during the tourist season.  The one day is so they can get back and have a shower.  You really need to love the cold and dogs to do this job!!

Weather has been good and bad but mostly good.  Our time in Ketchikan was good considering it's supposed to rain there every day, we got a full day of sunshine.  Juneau started sunny but cold with our trip to the glacier but quickly turned wet and miserable around midday so we made our way back to the ship and bummed around there.

People are very friendly everywhere we go.  They're never bothered with stopping to chat and help if we appear lost.  The places we are visiting are primarily tourist towns.  Skagway, for example, has a permanent resident population of 800.

As a final note, Frank wanted me to mention the lovely gift he gave me for our 25th Wedding Anniversary … he's so romantical!!!  He organised dinner at one of the ship's a la carte restaurants, a table by the window.  As we sat there, looking lovingly into each other's eyes, outside the sun was setting over the water.  And then he arranged for the waiters to bring out a beautiful package made of alfoil in the shape of a swan.  Inside was a beautiful ring, he had designed himself.  A lovely way to end the evening.  He also wants me to add that I gave him nothing in return!

:-) :-) :-)