{"id":973,"date":"2018-12-29T11:51:43","date_gmt":"2018-12-29T19:51:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/?page_id=973"},"modified":"2019-01-04T19:29:46","modified_gmt":"2019-01-05T03:29:46","slug":"alaska-2000","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/hovorka.org\/index.php\/trips\/alaska-2000\/","title":{"rendered":"Alaska 2000"},"content":{"rendered":"<pre class=\"trip-date\">Aug 31 - Sep 15 2000\r\nLast updated: 11\/5\/00 5:30pm CT<\/pre>\n<p>In September of &#8217;00 we went to Alaska.<\/p>\n<div class=\"content-body\">\n<div class=\"table-header-text\">Wildlife Log<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>Grizzly Bears &#8212; 10 close, 8 distant<\/li>\n<li>Black Bears &#8212; 0<\/li>\n<li>Bald Eagles &#8212; 3 close, 5 medium range<\/li>\n<li>Moose &#8212; 2 close, 3 distant<\/li>\n<li>Caribou &#8212; 7 distant<\/li>\n<li>Orcas &#8212; 11 close, estimated 35 distant<\/li>\n<li>Sea Otters &#8212; too many to count<\/li>\n<li>Puffins &#8212; too many to count<\/li>\n<li>Harbor Seals &#8212; 1 distant<\/li>\n<li>Steller Sea Lions &#8212; too many to count<\/li>\n<li>Cormorants &#8212; too many to count<\/li>\n<li>Foxes (type unknown) &#8212; 2 distant<\/li>\n<li>Polar Bears &#8212; 0<\/li>\n<li>Gray Whales &#8212; 0<\/li>\n<li>Beluga Whales &#8212; 0<\/li>\n<li>Humpback Whales &#8212; 0<\/li>\n<li>Dall Sheep &#8212; 0<\/li>\n<li>Marmot &#8212; 1 close<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<pre class=\"trip-date\">Day 1 - Aug 31, 2000\r\nLast updated: 8\/31\/00 9:30pm AKDT<\/pre>\n<p>The daily travel reports probably won&#8217;t be updated til the end of our day. 9:00pm Alaska time is midnight Central time. For those of you who live in paradise, I&#8217;m not sure if Hawaii follows daylight savings time or not, so you&#8217;re on your own. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p>Limo driver was 20 minutes late. Not a good start, but with some aggressive driving, we actually ended up at the airport at a reasonable time. We were in a &#8220;shared&#8221; limo (pay about half if you let them pick someone else up). The someone else was the first pickup. The limo was 20 minutes late to pick up the first person. The first person had an 8am flight. We got to the airport at 7:45. Didn&#8217;t look good for her. We had a 9am flight. No problem.<\/p>\n<p>Flew out on Alaska Airlines. Departed the gate on time, but sat on the runway for a half hour before becoming airborne. Must have taken a short cut however because we landed 15 minutes early! Got exit row seats, plus only four people in a row of 6. Plenty of leg room at coach prices. 6 hour flight (actual air time, not gate to gate). Breakfast was served, some egg-like substance with rubber potato wedges. Toward the end of the flight, they served a tiny little sandwich, which was needed really bad. I looked around and it seemed like we were all trapped on Survivor Island and we were given a scrap of real food. Everyone seemed to devour the sandwich rather quickly. Maybe it was because the sandwich was only 2 inches long.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/plane.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1063\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/plane.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Hopefully this won&#8217;t be the only view we get of the tallest mountain in North America. (Mt. McKinley). According to many guidebooks, usually you don&#8217;t get a chance to see it very often due to weather.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/mckinley.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1042\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/mckinley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Checked in to the Super 8. No pictures. Its rooms are rather small, but freshly painted and quite clean.<\/p>\n<p>Dinner was at Pike&#8217;s Landing. Skip the fancy restaurant ($$$$) and eat at the bar. Actually they have a nice outdoor deck on the Chena River. We had the Fish &amp; Chips (fresh Halibut). Very tasty. Way better prices.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/chena.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1014\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/chena.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>After dinner we went to Alaskaland. No where near as exciting as Disneyland. It&#8217;s pretty much a bunch of old log cabins that existed from the early settlement of Fairbanks. These cabins were restored and relocated to this park that was built in 1967 for Alaska&#8217;s centennial (100 after becoming a territory of the US, as they didn&#8217;t become a state until &#8217;59). These cabins are now food stands or gift shops.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/alaskalandsign.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-982\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/alaskalandsign.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In Alaskaland was the Civic Center. It houses some art, but was closed. This steam shovel helped build the Panama Canal, did some time in Hawaii and helped dig sections of the Davidson Ditch, which brought water to operate huge hydraulic gold dredges in the interior of Alaska.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/alciviccenter.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-984\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/alciviccenter.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/alciviccenter2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-985\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/alciviccenter2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/steamshovel.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1073\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/steamshovel.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Oh No, a Bear!!!<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/bear.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-992\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/bear.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<pre>Day 2 - Sep 1, 2000\r\nLast updated: 9\/1\/00 10:00pm AKDT<\/pre>\n<p>Obviously that was a stuffed bear. He was inside a gift shop at Alaskaland. Things that I forgot to mention yesterday. The weather was gorgeous, 71 F and sunny. After dinner we stopped at Hot Licks Homemade Ice Cream. Today the weather was mostly rainy and about 54 F. It stopped raining for a while during our hike, but as you&#8217;ll see, we had come prepared with waterproof coats and pants.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/hotlicks.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1035\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/hotlicks.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This morning we had a hearty breakfast at the northern most Denny&#8217;s in the world. I had reindeer sausage, tasted like sausage. For the youngsters reading this who might not be familiar with reindeer sausage, reindeer sausage gets its name because it is made by Santa&#8217;s reindeer during the summer. They&#8217;ve got nothing else to do while Santa and the elves are making toys all year, so they cook.<\/p>\n<p>After breakfast, we went to see the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. The pipeline, which opened in 1977, goes from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez (Prince William Sound). It takes 6.2 days for oil to travel the entire distance. The oil temperature at the start is 116 F, and cools to 82 F when it reaches the end of the line. The walls of the pipe are about 1\/2 inch thick. It was built to withstand large earthquakes and extreme temperature changes. The structure it is on will allow the pipeline to move as necessary.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/pipeline.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1062\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/pipeline.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I can&#8217;t believe how close they let you get to it. Here&#8217;s a picture of me touching it. Didn&#8217;t feel warm.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/edpipeline.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1029\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/edpipeline.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Next it was a drive down Chena Hot Springs Road to the Angel Rocks Trail. We went on a two hour hike into the middle of nowhere USA. Here&#8217;s Denise in action. The peak in the background was at the highest elevation, which is hard to really tell from the picture, but we had quite a hill to climb. The guidebook called it &#8220;strenuous&#8221;.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/dangelhike.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1016\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/dangelhike.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/peak1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1060\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/peak1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In the pictures below, we are at about 1335 ft elevation (according to the GPS unit). The peak is a bit closer but still at about 1750 ft. There was a magnificent view overlooking a branch of the Chena River and a valley full of trees. The fall leaves are beginning to show their colors. We did not get over to the peak shown below but we did climb up to another peak which was at the same (highest) elevation.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/peak2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1061\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/peak2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/overlookvalley.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1059\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/overlookvalley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>On the road back we saw some wildlife. Here&#8217;s Ms. Moose wading in a shallow pond. I can&#8217;t believe I spotted this guy. If the pictures look fuzzy, it&#8217;s because he was a bit off the road. We were driving at about 45 mph, I looked over as we passed the pond because one of our guidebooks says to watch for moose. I noticed something that was an odd color and threw the car into reverse (the road was empty &#8211; remember nowhere USA).<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/moose1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1045\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/moose1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/moose2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1046\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/moose2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/moose3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1047\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/moose3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/moose4.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1048\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/moose4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Lunch was at about the only place serving food on the way home. A dumpy little general store\/restaurant called Tacks&#8217;. We had hamburgers. Think Prime beef (My relatives will know this one, for the rest of you, think really bad food). They say things are bigger here in Alaska, the only thing big at this place was the price. If you&#8217;re up this way ever, pack a lunch.<\/p>\n<p>One thing we did notice on our drive. There were <b>some<\/b> houses as we got a little closer to Fairbanks, and it seemed to either be a contest, or a status symbol to have as many junked cars on your front lawn as possible.<\/p>\n<p>Last stop was the University of Alaska Museum. Here is some art which was cool. The rest of the place looked like a museum.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/museumart.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1053\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/museumart.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Dinner was at Pasta Bella (Italian) in downtown Fairbanks. I thought parking in downtown Chicago was rough. There&#8217;s plenty of parking in Fairbanks, you just can&#8217;t use it. Everything seemed to be private lots. Dinner was very good and reasonably priced.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;re still hoping to see the Aurora, but today it&#8217;s too cloudy with the rain. Yesterday we couldn&#8217;t take it anymore and went to sleep. Maybe tomorrow.<!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<pre class=\"trip-date\">Day 3 - Sep 2, 2000\r\nLast updated: 9\/3\/00 8:00pm AKDT<\/pre>\n<p>Today was our side trip to Barrow. It was a long day, but very interesting. We dropped off the rental car in the morning at the airport before our flight to Barrow, the northern most village in North America. Weather in Barrow was mostly cloudy and 40 degrees.<\/p>\n<p>Flying in looked very desolate. Mud and quite a few ponds of water. The water never seeps into the ground because the ground is frozen (permafrost). Mud everywhere. No green anywhere. The nearest tree is 250 miles south. Extremely flat landscape, no hills. Officially it is a desert. They only get about 6 inches of snow a year. The problem is the drifting. Since there are no trees, mountains, hills or gullies, there is nothing to stop the wind from blowing the snow into town. They installed snow fences around the town and can get drifts up to 20 feet high.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/flatland.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1032\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/flatland.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>About 4500 people live here. About 1500 are children. Evidence points to civilizations living here for 25,000 years. Past civilizations lived in &#8220;mounds&#8221; or sod houses, homes semi-below ground. They used whale bones to support walls and ceilings. Here you can see some old whale bones sticking out of the ground.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/moundbones.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1051\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/moundbones.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Modern buildings are built on stilts. This is to avoid melting the permafrost (frozen ground a few feet below the top layer of mud) from the heat of the house. If the permafrost melted, the houses would sink. All houses have unique numbers, so it doesn&#8217;t matter what street you live on, no two houses in the village have the same house number.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/barrowst.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-990\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/barrowst.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We spent an hour or so at the Native Heritage Center. The local Inupiat people put on a dance and craft demonstration. Here is a little girl being catapulted during the blanket toss. In the lower left corner of the first picture you can see the back of Denise&#8217;s head.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/blankettoss1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1003\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/blankettoss1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/blankettoss2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1004\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/blankettoss2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Here we are at the Arctic Ocean, which is frozen all but 3 months a year. No icebergs today, but the water was EXTREMELY cold.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/earctic.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1027\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/earctic.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/darctic.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1018\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/darctic.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/usarctic.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1081\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/usarctic.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>They get an occasional polar bear, but we did not see any today. School buses have had police escorts in the past when the polar bears are in town. Here is the sign at the end of the northern most dead-end in North America. You could hike about a mile (or pay someone $80 to take you out) to the very tip, but this was close enough. It was raining at this point in the day, windy and about 40 degrees.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/topofworld.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1077\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/topofworld.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Native Alaskan&#8217;s (Inupiat) hunt twice a year for bowhead whales. They caught a 67 foot bowhead whale earlier this year. All public buildings have skull bones from bowhead whales in front of them. Not sure how old this one is, but this is the jaw bone of a bowhead whale, these are not tusks.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/jawbone.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1037\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/jawbone.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Other useless facts: Gas was about $2.80, 12 pack of Pepsi was $7 on sale, eggs 2.50. Not sure how, but they are tricking a lot of teachers to move here. They can&#8217;t possibly pay that much to make up the difference in the cost of living. 1 bedroom apartments cost 1200-1500. And judging by the outside, the apartments probably aren&#8217;t that nice on the inside either. Our tour bus driver is a teacher, driving a tour bus on weekends and in summer. Do you think he makes enough to live on? Maybe there&#8217;s just nothing else to do for fun around here. \ud83d\ude42 Other jobs are mostly government.<\/p>\n<p>No need for license plates on cars. The police don&#8217;t even have them. No roads lead here, so if someone steals your car, you&#8217;re bound to find it.<\/p>\n<p>Our tour guide explained something that I mentioned earlier about people accumulating junk cars in their yards. At least in Barrow, it&#8217;s hard to get parts for things, so when one car breaks, they save it for parts.<\/p>\n<p>Last week they received their last supply of oil until next summer when the ice breaks.<\/p>\n<p>Igloo means house, doesn&#8217;t necessarily mean the stereotypical ice structure. The ice structures are used only in emergencies when out hunting and get caught in a storm.<\/p>\n<p>Lunch at Pepe&#8217;s. Not great Mexican food, but that&#8217;s where the tour bus stopped.<\/p>\n<p>Arnold Schwarzenagger was here two days before us.<\/p>\n<p>Here I am standing in front of the Barrow sign that shows how far away from home I am. The other picture is of the black sand beaches here in sunny Barrow. Notice no one out in lawn chairs sunning themselves. This is NOT Hawaii.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/edbarrow.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1028\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/edbarrow.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/nothawaii.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1054\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/nothawaii.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Then we returned to the Super 8 for one last night. Flight time between Fairbanks and Barrow is a little over an hour. Tomorrow it&#8217;s off to Denali.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<pre class=\"trip-date\">Day 4 - Sep 3, 2000\r\nLast updated: 9\/3\/00 9:40pm AKDT<\/pre>\n<p>Today started out with a bright and early check-out of the Super 8 in Fairbanks, and a taxi ride to the train station. We rode the Princess Midnight Sun Express down to Denali National Park. The train ride between Fairbanks and Denali is about 4 hours. Princess has a hotel just outside the park, which is where we are staying. Our seats on the train were the best. We sat all the way in the back in the upper deck. There were windows everywhere.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/midnightexpress.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1044\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/midnightexpress.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/dtrain.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1024\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/dtrain.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>On the first floor of the train car, they have an open air viewing platform. Here&#8217;s a shot out the back.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/backtrain.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-989\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/backtrain.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The sights along the way were very scenic. Here is a shot of our train making a turn. Since we were in the last car, we got a great shot of the front of the train. Yes, that is the front of our train!<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/ourtrain.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1058\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/ourtrain.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>When we arrived at the Denali train station, we were greeted by another moose. Thanks to young Carrie and Chrissy for pointing out that on a previous page I had said &#8220;Mr. Moose&#8221; when in fact it is &#8220;Ms. Moose&#8221;. Female moose do not have antlers. Here is another &#8220;Ms. Moose&#8221;.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/moosedenali.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1049\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/moosedenali.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Lunch was at The Summit, a restaurant at the Denali Princess Lodge. We ate so much, and a little late, that we skipped dinner. We shared a seafood nacho platter, which was outstanding &#8211; and huge. We thought that it would be an appetizer, but it could have been a whole meal for both of us. Denise ordered the salmon bisque, and I ordered a turkey sandwich. My sandwich was good, on really fresh bread, but the bisque tasted a little funny. Here&#8217;s the view outside our door.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/princesslodge.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1066\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/princesslodge.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Late in the afternoon we boarded a shuttle bus into the park. It took two shuttles actually to get to the dog sled demonstration. We got to see and pet the Alaskan Huskies that are used during the winters in Denali by the rangers to patrol the park. 5 dogs were hooked up to a sled and the ranger went for a ride. Rides were not available to the public. \ud83d\ude41<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/dogsled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1021\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/dogsled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The weather was nice, slightly chilly, very little rain. Tomorrow we take the Denali Park Shuttle Bus in to the heart of the park for an 8 hour round trip tour. (I should mention that it is a school bus &#8211; not very comfortable).<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<pre class=\"trip-date\">Day 5 - Sep 4, 2000\r\nLast updated: 9\/4\/00 9:00pm AKDT<\/pre>\n<p>Happy Anniversary to us! What a great day it turned out to be. We discovered late last night that Denali is one of those places where you are disconnected from the world. (or at least disconnected from the Internet). I&#8217;m writing this page on 9\/4, but it won&#8217;t be posted until at least tomorrow when we get to Anchorage.<\/p>\n<p>Another early wake up. Had to try to get down to the little cafe to get a pre-packaged sandwich to take on our bus ride. The Princess shuttle bus left at 7:00am for the Denali Park visitor&#8217;s center to catch the Denali Park school bus that travels in to the heart of the park. This is about an 8 hour round trip tour. Did I mention it was on a school bus? \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p>On the way in to the park it was cold and snowy. The drive hits heights of 4000 ft. Here we are probably in the 2500-3000 ft. range.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/snow1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1072\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/snow1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/dsnow.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1023\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/dsnow.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Along the way we stopped to see wildlife. So far this morning, things didn&#8217;t look too promising. Below, the first picture is of two ptarmigans, the state bird of Alaska. The picture may be fuzzy, the windows kept steaming up and it was hard to keep them clear. The second picture is of a grizzly bear. The black dot in the very center of the picture is it. It was very far away, climbing up a mountain. On the video, when you can see motion, you can tell it is a bear. Yeah, I know, you&#8217;re not impressed. Us neither. We saw two more bears climbing up a different mountain a little later. I have pictures, but it looks exactly the same as this picture.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/ptarmigan.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1068\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/ptarmigan.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/blackdot.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1002\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/blackdot.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>When we reached the Eielson Visitor&#8217;s Center (4 hours into the trip, the turn around point for us), we got zero view of Mt. McKinley.<\/p>\n<p>Our our way back, the weather went from cold and snowy to cold and sunny. The clouds started to break and we got some pictures of Mt. McKinley. The two peaks in the background are the north and south peaks of McKinley. The south peak is actually the taller of the two (it&#8217;s the one on the left). The south peak is still a little cloud covered in this picture.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/mckinley2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1043\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/mckinley2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s some other mountain. We also saw about 5 caribou on the way out, but they were as far away as the bears climbing the mountains, so no pictures.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/mountain.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1052\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/mountain.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t worry, the day got much better. One of the things we saw on the way back was&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<p>BEARS!!!<\/p>\n<p>About an hour into our return trip, we came across a mom and two cubs along the side of the road at the Toklat River. The bears were on the opposite side of the bus from where we were sitting, but headed to cross the street to our side. In a mad dash to get the window open and stick my head out (remember, school bus) I banged the top of my head on the window frame. In reaction to that, I banged my chin on the bottom of the window frame (school buses have small windows, and I have a fat head). Very little blood loss &#8211; can&#8217;t even find where the blood came from, but there is a tiny bump on my chin. Well worth it for these pictures. I thought they would be frightened by the bus and continue walking, which is why I rushed. But they decided to hang out and put on a show. They were digging for roots, or something that may live under the roots of the shrubs you see. We actually left the bears while they were still there so other buses could get good views. We were probably there for 15 minutes.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/bear31.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-997\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/bear31.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/bear32.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-998\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/bear32.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/bear33.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-999\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/bear33.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/bear11.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-993\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/bear11.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/bear12.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-994\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/bear12.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/bear21.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-995\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/bear21.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/bear22.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-996\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/bear22.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/bearfam1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1000\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/bearfam1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/bearfam2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1001\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/bearfam2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We hiked back from Denali Park (about 1\/2 hour) instead of waiting for the Princess shuttle bus. It was cold, but felt good to not be sitting (again, school bus). Dinner was at Princess&#8217; Summit restaurant. I had the seafood sampler, which had halibut, Alaskan king crab, crab cakes, and some shrimp. Denise had seafood fettuccine loaded with shrimp, scallops, salmon and mussels. Both meals were excellent. We had warm apple pie (a-la-mode) for desert. Also top notch. We got a window seat with a great view.<\/p>\n<p>Tomorrow we check out of the Denali Princess Lodge, board a train at about Noon for an 8 hour train ride from Denali to Anchorage. We are truly having a great time.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<pre class=\"trip-date\">Day 6 - Sep 5, 2000\r\nLast updated: 9\/5\/00 10:00pm AKDT<\/pre>\n<p>No pictures today. Spent 8 hours on a train, didn&#8217;t take many pictures. More views of trees and mountains. Although the train cars were extremely comfortable, 8 hours of travel is 8 hours of travel. If you ever decide to take the train between Fairbanks and Anchorage, go Princess. They have the largest train cars with the most windows. It was interesting to see the difference in fall foliage colors as we made our way south. When we were in Fairbanks, about half the trees were yellow. By the time we left Denali, almost all the trees were yellow. In Anchorage, the trees appear to be just starting to turn.<\/p>\n<p>Lunch and dinner were in the dining car on the train. For lunch, I had the reindeer sausage chili, which wasn&#8217;t very spicy and Denise had the shrimp pasta salad. Both were OK, but nothing special. For dinner, I had the buffalo meatloaf and Denise had the pineapple chicken, again both OK but nothing special. However, when it comes to desert, Princess knows how to please. Denise had some multi-fruit pie, which had raspberries, apple, rhubarb, and strawberry, and I had a chocolate cake with hot fudge dripped on it. Both of the deserts were outstanding. YUM!<\/p>\n<p>We met some nice people on the train rides. Some were following roughly the same itineraries as us. We kept running into each other over the last few days and expect to see them again.<\/p>\n<p>Tonight, we stay at the Ramada, which looks like the nicest room so far, which is a surprise since it is also the cheapest. We pick up a rental car tomorrow, which we will keep for the duration of the trip. Unfortunately, the Ramada shuttle bus won&#8217;t be able to take us to Alamo until 9:30am, an hour later than we originally planned. So tomorrow will get off to a later start. That&#8217;s OK, the Ramada has a free breakfast buffet.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<pre class=\"trip-date\">Day 7 - Sep 6, 2000\r\nLast updated: 9\/6\/00 8:45pm AKDT<\/pre>\n<p>Today began with laundry. We didn&#8217;t want to end up carrying around 8 suitcases, so we packed light and found hotels with washing machines. It didn&#8217;t take more than an hour and a half. The free breakfast was, well free. Eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, toast, nothing special.<\/p>\n<p>Took the shuttle bus to the airport to pick up our rental car. You&#8217;ll remember from previous episodes that we traveled by train to Anchorage. The train depot is nowhere near the airport where the rental cars are. Our shuttle bus driver is stationed at the Air Force base in town. He builds and repairs computers. He isn&#8217;t in to hunting and fishing so he got a job as a shuttle bus driver to fill his free time and make a little extra cash.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s downtown Anchorage from the rail depot last night.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/downtownanc.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1022\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/downtownanc.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>After picking up the rental car, we drove to the Alaska Native Heritage Center. There were some craft making demonstrations, people telling histories of their individual native group, and artifacts. There were 5 different groups of Alaskan Natives, Athabascan, Yup&#8217;ik &amp; Cup&#8217;ik, Aleut &amp; Aluthq, Inupiaq, and Eyak, Tlingit, Haida &amp; Tsimshian. Here is a reproduction of a house from the south east region of Alaska (Eyak, Tlingit, Haida &amp; Tsimshian people). It was pretty incredible. Very roomy considering the era these were used. That big pole in the front of the building on the left has a hole in it which is the door. The building on the right is the garage.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/houseseak.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1036\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/houseseak.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>After a quick lunch at KFC, it was up to Thunderbird Falls, which is about 20-25 miles northeast of Anchorage. The hike was listed as an easy hike (which it was). The hike was 2 miles round trip. Here is a view of the Thunderbird Falls from a viewing platform at the end of the trail.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/thunderbird.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1075\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/thunderbird.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>There were a couple of steep hills to climb if you chose to go down to the bottom of the falls (which we did). Here&#8217;s the view from the bottom. This is as close as they allow you to go.<\/p>\n<p>The weather was nice today, low to mid 50s with a brief shower in the early afternoon.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/thunderbirdbot.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1076\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/thunderbirdbot.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s a picture for all you people who have mini-dishes. I thought you might appreciate the look angle up here. They have to point their satellite dishes down to see the equator.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/dishdown.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1020\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/dishdown.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Dinner was at the Moose&#8217;s Tooth. It&#8217;s a brew pub with exotic pizza. Not being drinkers, we had the home brewed root beer, which was good. As for the pizza, I thought about having the halibut, kung pao chicken, or gyros pizza &#8211; I&#8217;m pretty opened minded about food in my old age &#8211; but something inside says &#8220;it ain&#8217;t pizza without pepperoni&#8221;. So we went with &#8220;normal&#8221; stuff on our pizza. Not a bad pizza for outside Chicago, I would recommend it. The place was packed. This is one of those places that you need to get to early if you don&#8217;t want to wait for a table. They don&#8217;t take reservations.<\/p>\n<p>Tomorrow it&#8217;s out of the Ramada and off to a boat tour of Prince William Sound and on to Seward. We actually didn&#8217;t have the boat tour planned for tomorrow, but before we left for Alaska, we received a letter telling us that the original day had been canceled. So we shuffled a couple things around and now we&#8217;re going tomorrow.<\/p>\n<p>Hopefully, I won&#8217;t have the same problems in Seward that I had back in Denali. If you don&#8217;t here from us for a couple of days, it&#8217;ll mean more Internet problems.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<pre class=\"trip-date\">Day 8 - Sep 7, 2000\r\nLast updated: 9\/8\/00 9:30pm AKDT<\/pre>\n<p>Welcome to Seward. Another place where I can&#8217;t connect to the Internet. We checked out of the Ramada and drove for about 1 to 1 1\/2 hours to Portage Glacier. For some reason, the scenery seemed prettier on the drive out of Anchorage. Maybe it seemed that way because the whole view was in front of us in the car vs. the left side view or the right side view on the train.<\/p>\n<p>We stopped at the visitor&#8217;s center for Portage Glacier because we were supposed to get on the shuttle bus to Whittier for the Prince William Sound boat tour. Turns out the shuttle bus wasn&#8217;t running today. So after checking out the visitor&#8217;s center (you can no longer see the Portage Glacier from the visitor&#8217;s center because it has receded out of sight) we decided to drive through the brand new tunnel to Whittier.<\/p>\n<p>The tunnel to Whittier was just completed and opened this summer. The train has had a tunnel since World War II when Whittier was built as a military base. The tunnel was widened and had &#8220;safe rooms&#8221; built into the sides of the mountain in case of an emergency. The train tracks have been embedded in a road to allow cars to drive on them. It&#8217;s a one lane road and there are strict time schedules for each direction. This summer there is no toll, but I think it will normally be $20.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/tunnelhead.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1078\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/tunnelhead.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/whittiertunnel.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1082\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/whittiertunnel.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s not much to Whittier. It is an abandoned military town that was built during WWII because the Japanese had invaded a couple of the Aleutian Islands. The military wanted an alternative rail and shipping port to Seward. About 30,000 people lived here at one time. There are now a lot of fishing vessels, a few tour boats, and not many people. Here&#8217;s our tour boat.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/princewboat.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1067\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/princewboat.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We went out on a 6 hour boat tour from 11:30 to 5:30. The weather was very nice (they predicted mid 50s in Anchorage before we left), except it got really windy and quite cold by the glaciers.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/dglacier.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1019\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/dglacier.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/eglacier.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1030\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/eglacier.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Here is a sequential shot of a glacier calving. It looks better on video. When I get home, maybe I&#8217;ll put together an mpeg file so you can watch a short movie.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/calving1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1010\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/calving1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/calving2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1011\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/calving2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/calving3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1012\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/calving3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/calving4.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1013\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/calving4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/morecalving.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1050\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/morecalving.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>On the boat tour we got to see a lot of wildlife. One of the easy things to see is salmon. We cruised past a hatchery. Since salmon always return to where they were born to reproduce, someone came up with the idea of taking some salmon eggs and letting them be born at the hatchery. So when the fish grow up and return home, they return to a place that makes it easy to be caught. Here&#8217;s one jumping out of the water.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/jumpingsalmon.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1038\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/jumpingsalmon.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We found what is called a &#8220;raft&#8221; of otters. There were too many to count.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/otterraft.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1057\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/otterraft.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/twootters.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1080\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/twootters.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The grand prize of today&#8217;s tour was spotting orcas, aka killer whales. Actually they are killer dolphins because they are members of the dolphin family and are not whales. They got the nickname killer whale because they sometimes kill whales.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/orca4.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1055\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/orca4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/orcablow2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1056\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/orcablow2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/twoorcas.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1079\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/twoorcas.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We also saw two eagles, but I couldn&#8217;t get a picture. It was a very good trip. Lunch on the boat was quite impressive, lightly breaded halibut, pasta salad and cookie. Not your typical airline (or boat) food. After the tour, we completed our drive down to Seward, about another 2 hour drive. We stopped in Moose Pass for dinner at the Moose Pass Inn for a couple of very large, but overpriced burgers.<\/p>\n<p>Road construction was weird. They ripped up the whole road, not just one lane in each direction. They stopped traffic and only let one direction go at a time over what is left of the road, mostly gravel.<\/p>\n<p>We arrived at the Hotel Edgewater around 9pm, the heads hit the pillow at 9:05 and we were unconscious by 9:05:01.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<pre class=\"trip-date\">Day 9 - Sep 8, 2000\r\nLast updated: 9\/9\/00 8:30pm AKDT<\/pre>\n<p>Another day, another boat tour. We originally intended to space these two tours out by 6 days, but that wasn&#8217;t meant to be. The one we went on yesterday was the rescheduled one. This trip was out of Seward on Resurrection Bay. The bay was originally named Easter Bay by the Russians, but the translation got messed up when the US bought Alaska from them.<\/p>\n<p>This boat tour was also 6 hours, but it was from 8am to 2pm and we had to arrive at the dock at 7am. The boat looked exactly the same as yesterday&#8217;s boat, except for the logo. It was owned by the same company. This tour was suppose to see more wildlife where yesterday&#8217;s tour was to see more glaciers.<\/p>\n<p>We saw two eagles on the way out of port.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/eagle1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1025\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/eagle1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/eagle2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1026\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/eagle2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s a group of steller sea lions. We also saw a lonely harbor seal, many puffins, cormorants, and other birds I was unable to identify.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/sealion.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1069\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/sealion.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Lucky us, today we saw more orcas. The captain estimated that there were about 35 orcas in the pod (group).<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/closeorca.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1015\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/closeorca.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/fourorcas.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1033\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/fourorcas.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/threeorcas.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1074\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/threeorcas.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Then the trip got ugly. The wind started to blow big time, kicking up big swells, and rocking the boat something fierce. One of the crew members said there were sustained winds of 60 mph, with gusts up to 85 mph. The captain called it a little breezy. The winds started just as we made it out to the one glacier we were suppose to look at, but we didn&#8217;t stay there long.<\/p>\n<p>The boat was rocking so much that even I got a little queasy, and I don&#8217;t have a problem with motion sickness (no, I didn&#8217;t hurl). It was straight back to port for the boat (which took 2 hours). Good thing there was a heated cabin. Some crazy people were sitting on the bow (front) and getting soaked as the boat rocked up and down, splashing very cold water onto them. Denise said it was cold, because she was headed to the little girls room (which has outdoor access, not cabin access), and as she opened the door, a huge wave rushed over the side and soaked her. Made her laugh.<\/p>\n<p>Made it back safe and sound. Weather was great in Seward. The bank sign in town said 60 F when we went out to dinner (Ray&#8217;s Waterfront &#8211; seafood restaurant). Here&#8217;s a view from our hotel balcony.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/sewardfromhotel.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1071\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/sewardfromhotel.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<pre class=\"trip-date\">Day 10 - Sep 9, 2000\r\nLast updated: 9\/9\/00 9:00pm AKDT<\/pre>\n<p>Happy birthday to our nephew Bobby, who is 2 today. Not much exciting happened today, which is good. Most of the day was spent driving. We checked out of the Hotel Edgewater in Seward and drove 172 miles to Homer. We left at 9am and arrived at our cabin in Homer at about 4pm.<\/p>\n<p>We stopped for about an hour and a half at Exit Glacier, which is just outside of Seward. You can walk right up next to this one. Watch out for falling ice! Denise is in this picture, look for a red coat.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/exitglacier.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1031\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/exitglacier.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m not much for roughing it or socializing, so the words &#8220;cottage&#8221; and &#8220;B&amp;B&#8221; scare me, obviously Denise picked this one. The Wild Rose Cottages are home for the next 3 days. This is no longer a B&amp;B, it&#8217;s just a B now. And it is far from roughing it. It&#8217;s better equipped than a hotel except for one of the most important things when you are trying to keep web pages up to date, no phones! The view is pretty spectacular across the bay to the mountains. This picture was taken looking out one of our windows.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/wildroseview.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1083\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/wildroseview.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Tomorrow, we are off to see more bears, weather permitting.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<pre class=\"trip-date\">Day 11 - Sep 10, 2000\r\nLast updated: 9\/10\/00 9:00pm AKDT<\/pre>\n<p>Well, the weather is not permitting our bear flight-seeing adventure. This is the first day that we&#8217;ve had a lot of rain. Usually it has been just a light rain that never lasted too long to cancel what we had planned. It rained lightly during one of our hikes, but we put on the waterproof rain pants and jackets and we were fine. The company we were going to go out with said that it was very windy at the bear viewing location, about a hour and a half flight in a puddle jumper plane.<\/p>\n<p>So what to do when it&#8217;s raining? Go sea kayaking! We went down to the docks to try and collect a refund on our bear flight, but no one was in their office. Across the street was the office for the kayak outfitter we were using tomorrow (True North Kayak Adventures), so we thought we&#8217;d check in. Good thing we did. Kevin, co-owner and our guide for the day, said that they probably wouldn&#8217;t go out tomorrow because the winds would be up around here and that would make kayaking difficult. He said that the animals are easier to see in the rain because the sound of the rain drops muffles out the sound of the kayaks and we wouldn&#8217;t scare the animals away. Animals like sea otters are already wet, so a little rain doesn&#8217;t bother them. If there were high winds, there would be high waves (see day 9) so the animals would be seeking shelter under those conditions.<\/p>\n<p>I did not take any pictures because it was raining pretty heavy at times and I do not have a waterproof camcorder. We were completely dry inside the kayaks in our rain gear. It was actually a great day, even though it rained almost all day. The water was extremely flat. Only when the rain let up right at the end of our trip did the waves start to kick up, and the waves weren&#8217;t that big. We were out from 11am to 3:30pm which included a 15 minute boat ride to Yukon Island each way. We also took about a half hour break for lunch. We landed on a beach that had a small cave, which protected us from the rain while we ate (True North provided sandwiches)<\/p>\n<p>We saw 3 bald eagles, bunches of sea otters, sea lions, and various birds. We got very close (too close really) to a mama sea otter with her baby. We didn&#8217;t know it was a mom when we approached. She was floating on her back and had her baby on her stomach. I felt like we were totally invading her space. I think she thought so too, she looked us over a couple of times, then she started to paddle her feet and slowly swam away.<\/p>\n<p>It was an amazing day. Kevin from True North was extremely friendly and knowledgeable. Getting a close up view of a baby sea otter, a few more bald eagle sightings, and it was so relaxing just sitting in the kayak, floating on the water, looking out at mountains, seeing no signs of civilization, and watching some birds fly by.<\/p>\n<p>Dinner was at Captain Pattie&#8217;s. We had the Alaskan King Crab legs. They were huge. The size of one leg was from the tip of my fingers down to the inside of my elbow, I&#8217;m not kidding. Two legs weighed in at 1 pound. They were mighty tasty too.<\/p>\n<p>Tomorrow we will try to fly out on our bear viewing trip. Based on our kayak guides prediction of the weather, I&#8217;d say it doesn&#8217;t look good.<br \/>\n<!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<pre class=\"trip-date\">Day 12 - Sep 11, 2000\r\nLast updated: 9\/11\/00 8:00pm AKDT<\/pre>\n<p>It was slightly windy, but we went on our bear sightseeing adventure anyway today. So we actually got to do everything we planned in Homer, just not exactly when we planned it! The first day we were here, we didn&#8217;t think anything was going to happen.<\/p>\n<p>We boarded the plane at 8:30am for what turned into a 2 hour flight, due to strong head winds, in a single engine puddle jumper (the yellow one below). The ride home only took 1 &amp; 1\/2 hours. I got to ride shotgun. Not sure if that was a good thing. It was very cool to see things from the pilot&#8217;s eyes, as opposed to looking out the tiny side windows of a 737. But our pilot made me a little nervous when he would take his hands off the &#8220;wheel&#8221; to look at his watch. The other thing that made me nervous was the fact that we were flying at about 2000 ft. and there were mountains that we had to go over which were considerably higher than that. It&#8217;s definitely a different perspective, being able to see the ground so clearly while flying so low.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/daplane.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1017\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/daplane.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/planeview1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1064\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/planeview1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>On the flight over, we saw 3 bears, 3 moose, 1 eagle, and 2 caribou. We flew to Brooks Camp, which is on the Alaska Peninsula (about 150 nautical miles from Homer)(Have you guys been following along on the maps page?). This is a feeding ground for bears because the salmon come here to spawn. Easy pickings for the bears because after the salmon spawn they have no energy left and are about to die. At first I was scared walking down the trail to where the bears were. I kept picturing some mischievous bear hiding behind a bush waiting for a human to walk by so he could jump out and yell &#8220;trick or treat&#8221; \ud83d\ude42 But I relaxed a bit once I saw how fat, slow and lazy these bears had become. The bears are in the tail end of fattening up for winter. We saw 7 bears up close here at Brooks Camp. One guy was just sitting on the beach, others were wading around a pond that had salmon in it, and one guy was hanging out at the falls (about a mile hike from the pond). (That&#8217;s not blood on the fish, this type of salmon turn red during spawning).<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/beachbear.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-991\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/beachbear.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/brooksbear1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1005\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/brooksbear1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/brooksbear3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1006\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/brooksbear3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/brooksbear4.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1007\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/brooksbear4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/brooksbear5.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1008\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/brooksbear5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/brooksbear7.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1009\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/brooksbear7.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The temperature was a little chilly in the morning, but warmed up by noon. It rained for about a half hour, but nothing like yesterday on the kayaks. It still was a nice day.<\/p>\n<p>Dinner was halibut fish &amp; chips at Boardwalk Fish &amp; Chips. I really like halibut. We&#8217;ve had it a lot. It is a thicker white fish, not as thick as chicken, but not real flaky.<\/p>\n<p>Tomorrow is a driving day. It&#8217;s 190 miles from Homer to Girdwood and the Alyeska Resort, where I&#8217;m hoping to have a phone again! We are never in our room long enough to enjoy a view or a &#8220;cozy&#8221; space. The Wild Rose was nice, has an oven, refrigerator, microwave, TV, plates and silverware, so how can it not have a phone?<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<pre class=\"trip-date\">Day 13 - Sep 12, 2000\r\nLast updated: 9\/12\/00 7:00pm AKDT<\/pre>\n<p>Today was a driving day. We checked out of the Wild Rose Cottages, which has no phones (have I mentioned that yet). That really screwed up my plans to update the web pages daily. I had a dial-up phone number in Homer, just no phone. The fall foliage is following us. The drive away from Homer gave us better colors than on the way down.<\/p>\n<p>We drove 190 miles today from Homer to Girdwood. Girdwood is about 40 miles southeast of Anchorage. It is a ski town. The Westin Alyeska Prince Hotel is extremely nice. (and they have a phone). The rooms are very nice, have high ceilings, heated towel rack, mini-fridge, we have a king bed and a great view of a mountain. This hotel is first class.<\/p>\n<p>Dinner was at the Double Musky, a Cajun restaurant. I had jambalaya and Denise had the crawfish pie. Both were very good and very filling. The Musky Pie desert looked so good, and we were so full, we ordered a piece to go.<\/p>\n<p>Uh-oh, I think I&#8217;ve acclimated. I was wide awake at 10:30 last night (1:30am central). When we went to dinner tonight, we were walking around without coats, the thermometer outside the restaurant said 40 F.<\/p>\n<p>Not sure what we are doing the next few days. We are going to try and take it easy a bit, compared to the hectic pace we&#8217;ve been keeping the last week. We will check out the town of Girdwood, hike, maybe rent bikes, go to the top of Mount Alyeska (on their tram), maybe watch the bore tide (high waves, rushing water, very fast incoming tide), and if we&#8217;re lucky, we left instructions with the front desk to wake us in case the Northern Lights make an appearance.<br \/>\n<!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<pre class=\"trip-date\">Day 14 - Sep 13, 2000\r\nLast updated: 9\/13\/00 8:00pm AKDT<\/pre>\n<p>Took the day off. It was nice to do nothing today. I guess we did something, we went to the jade factory, but we didn&#8217;t see them cutting jade, and we went to the candle factory, but we didn&#8217;t see them making candles, neither place was active today. We ate food and walked around the hotel grounds some. It rained almost all day today, so it was a good day to take off, high was in the low 50s.<\/p>\n<p>When we were in Seward, there was an earthquake north of Anchorage. Today there was an earthquake 40 miles from Homer, now that we are up by Anchorage. Too far away to feel anything.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<pre class=\"trip-date\">Day 15 - Sep 14, 2000\r\nLast updated: 9\/14\/00 8:00pm AKDT<\/pre>\n<p>Did some hiking today, the weather was mostly sunny, not sure if we hit the predicted high of 51. We hiked to an elevation of 2800 ft. Of course we hitched a ride for the first 2300 ft. We rode the tram (aerial cable car) to near the top of the mountain behind the hotel. Then we hiked. Those last 500 vertical feet were tough. We had to stop every so often to catch our breath. This was on a trail too, we were not mountain climbing. Here&#8217;s the hotel from the front, you can see the tram building at the top of the hill behind the hotel. The other picture is of the hotel looking down from the tram building.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/alyeskafront.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-987\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/alyeskafront.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/alyeska2300.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-986\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/alyeska2300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s a view of the tram building from 2800 ft.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/alyeskatram2800.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-988\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/alyeskatram2800.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>More wildlife. Here&#8217;s a marmot we saw hanging out by the tram building.<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/marmot.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1041\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/marmot.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This has to rate as one of the nicest hotels we have ever stayed at. I have never seen a hotel that has door bells for the rooms. Tomorrow we check out and travel back to Anchorage for a day of milling around downtown and some shopping.<\/p>\n<p>Up until we hit Girdwood, I did not think I could live in Alaska, a little too rustic. But Girdwood is pretty nice. Close enough to Anchorage, but a very small community, surrounded by mountains, and tons of great smelling evergreen trees (pine? spruce?). Tune in tomorrow to see if we are coming home. \ud83d\ude42<br \/>\n<!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<pre class=\"trip-date\">Day 16 - Sep 15, 2000\r\nLast updated: 9\/15\/00 8:00pm AKDT<\/pre>\n<p>Today we strolled around downtown Anchorage. Usually the workers at the gift shops asked where we are from. We usually say &#8220;outside Chicago&#8221;. One woman today said that she has a niece that works with the children&#8217;s theater in Chicago and asked if we were familiar with it? They must not have a clue as to the size of Chicago, as I&#8217;m sure there is more than one children&#8217;s theater, not to mention that we live 38 miles west of the city.<\/p>\n<p>Lunch was a quicky at the A&amp;W. Dinner was at a place called Gwennies. It was pretty bad. Skip it if you&#8217;re ever up here. Our last hotel is the Spring Hill Suites by Marriott. It&#8217;s pretty nice.<\/p>\n<p>The big question of the day is, are we coming home? I guess since we&#8217;ve already purchased the return tickets, we might as well use them.<\/p>\n<p>Tomorrow is a flying day. So unless something interesting happens during the flight, this is the last report. At some point I may add a trip summary, like best place to stay (Alyeska Resort), best place to eat (Pike&#8217;s Landing, Fairbanks; any dessert from Princess; the nacho platter at the Denali Princess Hotel; Double Musky, Girdwood), best adventure (kayaking, Homer; bear viewing, Brooks Camp; Angel Rocks trail hike, outside Fairbanks; Prince William Sound Tour, Whittier), well I guess that&#8217;s a summary \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<p>Alaska<a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/alaskamap.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-983\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/alaskamap.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"502\" height=\"524\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/kenai2map.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1039\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/kenai2map.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"651\" height=\"468\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/kenaimap.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1040\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/kenaimap.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"391\" height=\"273\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/homer.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1034\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/homer.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"274\" height=\"250\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/seward.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1070\" src=\"http:\/\/hovorka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2000\/09\/seward.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"172\" height=\"361\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Aug 31 &#8211; Sep 15 2000 Last updated: 11\/5\/00 5:30pm CT In September of &#8217;00 we went to Alaska. Wildlife Log Grizzly Bears &#8212; 10 close, 8 distant Black Bears &#8212; 0 Bald Eagles &#8212; 3 close, 5 medium range Moose &#8212; 2 close, 3 distant Caribou &#8212; 7 distant Orcas &#8212; 11 close, estimated &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hovorka.org\/index.php\/trips\/alaska-2000\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Alaska 2000&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":499,"menu_order":9,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-973","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hovorka.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hovorka.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hovorka.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hovorka.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hovorka.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hovorka.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/973\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hovorka.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hovorka.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}