Back from Alaska

Y'all know I can barely go a day without taking a picture of something; here are the highlights of the trip.
If you have the ability to get up there sometime before Al Gore melts all the snow, you really should. Don't go in the winter (unless you're Joe 'The Iceman' Soltis!).
Anyway, these were from the 'warmest' part of the year, with the 22.5-hour days. I think it would have been impossible to take a bad shot.
I promise; these nine and no others ...

One: The Alaska Rail Road has a number of so-called 'flag stops' on its routes. If you don't have avaliable transportation otherwise, you can flag one of their trains down and it's supposed to stop for you in those designated zones. This was a scheduled stop at an unimproved (read as no shelter at all) station outside of Fairbanks someplace.

Two: This was supposedly the clearest view of Mt. McKinley in two years. The native guy giving the talk we listened to said he still remembers when it was only called Denali, or 'the High One.'

Three: My son loves the technology. As the cruise ship announcer guy said we were in Glacier Bay, my son held up the GPS and said, "Daddy, I knew that already."
Side note -- this is the same GPS that went missing before the cruise. A guy from the bookstore called me to say they had found it on a stack of paperbacks, and he hadn't thrown out my note asking for its safe return. Cool, huh?

Four: An honest-to-goodness paddle-wheeled steamer. Probably the last one still cruising along under steam.

Five: This guy is retrofitted to run on a modern powerplant. It's been plying the waterways around Fairbanks for a bunch of years, apparently, and hasn't changed hands for almost 100 years. The family that owns all these boats built one in the 50s, almost from scratch. They appear to have a half-dozen of these things.

Six: "For every Alaskan driver's license, they sign out five pilot's licences," said the bush/floatplane guy. Apparently, these things are so common up that way that there's a cottage industry for souping them up and making all kinds of modifications to them. I'd be happy with one like this.

And, yeah.
Seven: I was dealt the hand, so I had to play it. On Dad's Elvis cards, no less. And I had to take a photo of it, or y'all wouldn't have believed me. On the train, en route to the cruise ship, Elvis channeled to me through a pack of KEMs that it's okay to love the 356.

Eight: A legitimate humpback whale tail. No zoom, no tweek. There were apparently eight of these huge creatures in the waterways off of Juneau, and the little pontoon-observation-charter-guy could only take us within 100m of the whales. The curious ones, like this guy, nosed over to the boat to have a look at us. Really a cool thing to do with a child -- he was all eyes when he first heard one of these things breathing. He was in love with crab the first time he ate some -- so that got expensive quick -- and he decided King salmon deserved to be smoked because it "tastes better that way." I love my son. He's a GENIUS.

Nine: Last one, I promise. If you'll look closely at the photo, you'll see my Mom entering the crosswalk from the right of the frame. Blue outfit and "matching" lime-green purse. (There's probably nothing else of interest in the shot.) :

Welcome home, pilgrim! Pam and I spent our honeymoon on an Alaskan cruise, and I have to agree that it is probably the most beautiful place I've ever seen.

Cory -

Welcome back! Glad to see that you had a great time with your son on your Alaska vacation. Isn't that a spectacular place for scenery and wide open expanses of wilderness? Feel free to forward your favorite pics to share!

We've done these Alaska cruises and I would highly recommend it to anyone who ever has the opportunity to do so.

BTW - judging by the picture of your son (and there is NO denying he's your off-spring), that 'intense-looking-white-dude' look must be a family trait!

BWaaaa HAAAA HAAAA HAAAAA!

I did go in Spring but stayed through to the next one. Some would say it was better than 'Nam, but at least there were some women there. We used to say that stopping by the NCO club was like going into a gay bar, not that there's anything wrong with that if that's your thing. Friday nights were devoted to serious drinking. Oh yea, and there weren't any egg sammiches; who the hell would want one made from powdered eggs anyway :-(

Welcome back bro!! You were sorely missed! What a beautiful state!! I should plan to visit there sometime!

Welcome back to the real world Cory...while yuz was gone I bought myself a fixer upper speedy :)

Welcome back Cory. What did you think of the Mosqutio's up there? Nice place to visit ...I'll let you answer the rest. Surprised you did see any Brown or Grizzly Bear.

Sh*t you were gone?... Damn, I thought you posted recently? Hope it was a good trip. Did I see you on the Deadliest Catch?

Hey, guys. Yeah, that's one helluva state up there. One detractor on the whole thing, and that's that I don't know where my one, lonely, solitary suitcase ended up.
I'm not one to point fingers, but there's an airline out there (rhymes with FourthBest) that lost my suitcase both on day one of my re-routed, screwed-up, re-routed again return leg from Vancouver and on day three of that same return trip. I have stamps in the old passaporte from both ends of Canada(eh?) -- the English- AND the French-speaking parts! Two days apart!
And no suitcase. If you see it, it'll be the one that looks sad and is holding a blanket, sucking its thumb in a corner.

Enough grumbling. I had a blast, and so did my son. No bears, I'm afraid, but plenty of fish and game. Reindeer, salmon, dungeness crabs, whales, sea lions, harbor seals, bald eagles and mosquitoes.
Joe, man, I don't know how you survived. They're like little biplanes. Little Spads and Nieuports, Camels and Fokkers, nose-cannon blazing away. I think those are the ones that got me the worst; the Flying Circus of those little Fokkers.
Lots of history, lots of culture, lots of sunshine and a really good chance to get away from everything. No cell coverage, no wireless internet, no traffic, no alarm clocks, no ... well ... noise.
What a chance in a lifetime opportunity. I'm completely recharged.
Anybody need some positive vibes? I'll bottle 'em up and send 'em to ya!

They must warn the mosquitos not to bother the cruise tourists or something. Pam and I never saw any during our forays into the countryside.

Cory,
My wife and I did two weeks of touring in Alaska last August, during the rainy season. We got stranded at the lodge near Mt. Mck, and had to charter a flight to Denali for the next leg of the tour (that was billed as white water--but it was pretty brown from the heavy rains), since the railway and the highway from Anchorage to Fairbanks had been covered by floods and landslides. Later, we flew to Deadhorse (Prudoe Bay) and took the two day trip back on a Ford van south. Watching miles of the pipeline and endless tundra for hours (oh, did I mention mud?). The highlight was the stay at the "Lodge" in Coldfoot. Sorta like staying at a formerly abandoned mobile home park and it was only $150 per night. We did meet Guido Pothoven, a BMW GS rider from Florida who was then on his way to Tiera del Fuego. You can see some of his photos at www.gpadventure.com Sounds like a mis-adventure, but I'd return in a heartbeat.
Cory, do you still want the taillights? They remain on the shelf here at the office ready to ship.
John W

Yes, I'd love the tail lights. The coupe could use them.
Re: McKinley; they say it's only clear a couple days each year. We had FANTASTIC weather the whole time!

We too also just got back from our 2nd Alaskan cruise. Boarded on June 23rd in Whittier Alaska (60 or so miles east of Anchorage)
and cruised through the 30th. on the Sapphire Princess.

We spent 3 days in Vancouver after departing the ship

Great place to visit as evidenced by it being our 2nd trip.

Dang, Larry! We were on the Diamond Princess. I think you were in Skagway, Juneau and the reat of the ports when we were ...

I spent several weeks running around in Alaska about 5 years ago. Started off in Juneau, spent time in Anchorage, then went off to Willow, and finally spent some time on a little island called Honnah, about 60 miles off the coast from Juneau. Also went to Sitka, and Ketchican, Beautiful country to say the least..King crab legs to kill for....but as on of my local friends pointed out that I needed to keep in mind..."there are 3 things around here that will kill you, the terrain itself, the weather, and the wildlife". Shortly there after a good sized bear went strolling by about 30 feet away.... and that was at the glacier about 7 miles from the Juneau airport....and my friend forgot to mention the air transportaion system that can kill you too!!!! Bush pilots everywhere, but the only way to get to many of the locations

Jim, more licensed pilots in Alaska than anywhere else.

Cory,

2 years ago, we did the inside passage on the Diamond Princess. Started in Seattle and ended in Seattle. We cruised Tracy Arm and stopped in Juneau, Skagway and Ketichan.
We were supposed to stop in Victoria on Friday but they wouldn't let them tie up due to high winds so we anchored in the harbor until 2100 hrs and the next morning we were in Seattle.

This time, we flew to Anchorage and the the next day they bussed us to the port town of Whittier, approximately 60 miles east of Anchorage.
We cruised to College Fjord, Glacier Bay then the 3 tourist cities of Skagway, Juneau and Ketchian.

We disembarked in Vancouver and spent 3 nights there. Flew from Vancouver to Seattle then to Ontario Airport in Calif.

The Diamond and the Sapphire are exactly the same ship both were built within a year of each other by Mitusubishi Heavy Industries.

The Diamond is about 6 months to a year newer than the Sapphire. It made it nice as we alredy knew our way around the Diamond so negotiating the Sapphire was a snap. The only difference between the 2 ships is the carpet color...and that didn't confuse me LOL

The barman in the Diamond's Churchill Lounge was a Brit named John. Used to be Royal Navy. We (he, I and my father) talked a bit about the design philosophies of naval architecture and cruise ship design; they think of dang near everything.
He said, and it was the most noteworthy comment of many while I drank coffee and smoked my Dad's Fuente cigars (and Dad drank their Talisker and smoked his Onyx), that the casino carpets are little islands surrounded by sharks designed to psychologically keep you planted on the chair you sat down in. ...
Hmmm. ...

Isn't Skagway just gorgeous? When we were there we took the narrow gauge train up to the Yukon border on the old gold rush trail. We also took the helicopter ride out onto the glacier. Absolutely spectacular!

I agree with the statement regarding Skagway. If you ever go there, the train ride is a must. You can see the exact trail that gold miners folowed during the gold rush era of 1898 and an abundance of scenic wonder.