And, We're back! But from where?

  Oh!  Hi there!  Still subscribed five years on? If you are - thank you! (even though it was probably just an oversight of internet subscription management) 

It’s been so long. So much as happened!   But why? Why did I abandon you to the world of better written travel articles across the world wide web? Why did I refuse you the delights and treasures of my meandering thoughts and oddly written stories?  Your questions are valid. Let me try to explain. 

My last entry was back in January 2016.  We had just returned from India after a year in Antarctica.  We were living in a friends house on Cape Cod and our plan was to return to Antarctica for the Winter season starting February 2016.  Unfortunately, Jamie had a medical issue and was deemed Not Physically Qualified (NPQ).  We decided that I would still go and Jamie would bump up his plan to get a Masters in Education - I’d work and make the money and he’d focus on getting into a Masters Program.   And so we did.  I left for Antarctica in February of 2016 and Jamie stayed in Boston and started researching and applying to Masters Programs. 

The year would have worked out great except that my mom died on March 24th, 2016.  I was stuck in Antarctica for two weeks before I was able to get home.  I came home for about 6 weeks (April to June)  and then I went back to finish my contract.  When I got home in October of 2016,  Jamie was ensconced in a Masters Program, had secured us housing at a frat house in Boston (that’s another story), and I was on a slow and seemingly endless journey of grief.     

While Jamie continued his Masters, I spent most of my time walking through Boston with tears streaming down my face and would occasionally try to think clearly about what I wanted to do.  I applied (and got accepted) to work for the Post Office but I turned it down. I started working at an office that hosted focus groups (so bizarre and interesting).  I registered with JobSeekers Massachusetts and went and did tons of skill workshops and resume advice sessions and other fun things like that. I flew out to Montana to visit my friends and then drive a school bus to Michigan.  Of course I had started medication and ultimately, as spring came around again  I was feeling better and I decided I would take a course with the International Tourism Management Institute (ITMI).  

In May I started my course, had a job offer on day two and when the course ended 14 days later, I packed my bags and went to DC to do student tours with World Strides.  Thus began my life as a tour guide.  In that role I did student tours in DC and Boston. I worked with Road Scholar in Boston. I worked with a tiny New England company that sent me all around NE, up to Quebec city and down to Charleston, SC. In the off months, I got back into English teaching and worked as a TEFL instructor at FLS on the Boston Common. Ultimately, as I am wont to do, I got restless so I applied to (and got) a job with Premier Alaska Tours in Alaska for the summer of 2019. 

Jamie applied to and go into the Boston Teacher Fellowship program. He did a one year masters in Education focusing on Science and middle school.  The program was INTENSE. He was doing work for his Masters and teaching full time as well.  To offset our housing cost, he got a job with MIT as a Graduate Resident Advisor and we moved into a frat house in Kenmore square.   Jamie finished his degree in 2017 and started teaching at Boston Green Academy.  Middle School turned out to be a very hard place to work and was a huge challenge to his kind and gentle soul. After struggling with the experience (and with his mental sanity) he decided to take a break from education to reevaluate. He quit in June 2019 and came out to Alaska with me - also getting a job with Premier Alaska Tours.  

We decided that Antarctica was the best next step. Jamie, having gotten an NPQ in 2016 was robbed of his last season and I was convincible. We applied and got accepted to work the winter of 2020. We both went to Antarctica and missed most of this shitshow year.  We had even extended our contracts through to February 2021 but I ruptured my Achilles on October 1st and within a week, both Jamie and I were back in MA -me recovering and him playing nurse. 

While I hadn’t been blogging these past five years, I was sending occasional emails about our travels and adventures. I’m going to try and hunt them down and post them there.  

Hopefully I’ll get some backdated content for our trips to: 

Iceland/Prague/Poland, Germany/France, Mexico, England, The Long Trail, Montana, New Mexico, Idaho, Alaska, Vancouver, and daily adventures. 

Thanks for sticking with me - whether it was patiently awaiting my next blog post or asking to get my email updates.  You’re great. 

Seward with KC - Alaska

This weekend was epic. It started with my having a fight with an asshole couchsurfer that checked into my previously sweet couchsurfing situation but that’s not an Alaska story so just suffice it to say: he was a jerk. AFTER that, amazing epicness started. I drove to Girdwood (about 45 minutes south of Anchorage) because my friend Katie Sismour had arrived in AK and was hosting a brunch. We ate, I met her delightful boyfriend, and we went for a hike. I continued down to Seward where I met my friend KC at his workplace in the middle of a wine tasting (oh, a glass of wine?! ok). As it’s off-season right now, we had a hard time finding a place to eat at 8:30 at night and settled on a place called Thorns Showcase Lounge, Home of the Butt (halibut). That place was a trip. Padded upholstery that looked like it came from a 70s casino. Every wall was fitted with display cases for various strange unique bottles of alcohol and there was ONE waitress for the entire restaurant. She did a great job and the burgers were spectacular.

The next day we had coffee in the hotel room - the windsong lodge where KC works generously gave me a room in the hotel for free as they aren’t open - and we took a leisurely departure as we needed to have coffee and appreciate the view.  On the way out we stopped for some hard boiled eggs at the cabin the employees are currently using as a hang out (soon to be an Air B&B) and as we left I heard some new noises so, of course, I go to investigate. It’s a man with a huge portable mill, milling these big old spruce trees.   We talked to him for a bit and watched the mill work (video in the photo album) before heading off down the road.

Our first stop was IRB Knives.  This place has a HUGE knife out front that is coated in old CDs for the silver part, a mannequin of a woman that, apparently, he dresses daily in his ex-wives clothes and then inside it’s a tiny cozy little shop. He currently had a visitor when we arrived so while he talked a bit about the knives, the visitor, Bob White, mainly dominated the conversation with a story about how dogs were always in his garbage so he set a snare trap. When he heard the rustle of the trap, he walked out there with his gun (to shoot the dogs) and saw a bear.  He promptly called Animal Control. At this point, there was a digression into the annoyance of Fish and Wildlife and regulations and yada, yada, yada. Anyway, he continues on with the story about darting the bear with lots of asides about how the wildlife guy was too tentative and nervous and slow.. Bear gets darted...and it ends there because once the bear was off their property they didn’t seem to care much.

At this point, the owner offered us a tour of the shop. OK! And off we go past the sign that says “men only” and back into the world of a knife maker. The owner was more than generous and polite and kind with his time and energy and explanations.   He showed us the furnace, the two hydraulic hammers and demonstrated the bigger one by smashing coins. (fun) He showed us his stash of handles that included various horns (moose, impala, musk oxen, bison), wood - some that smelled like burnt popcorn when sanded (we got a demonstration) and then sandlewood to clear the air. He made all custom knives and was even making one from someone’s medical piece of titanium that was in their leg. He put the screw in the handle.

Finally, he was telling us about his love of tequila with a chaser of oranges with cinnamon sprinkled on top. I mention that I had a tequila toast at our wedding and the next thing I know, he’s pouring us shots!

While we’re standing there a man from Utqiagvik, Alaska starts sharing pictures of the whale he and his village harvested.  As a subsistence hunter he’s allowed to shoot 17 whales. Well. more precisely, he can take 17 shots. If he doesn’t actually get a whale with one of those shots, he loses it. I've added photos he shared of the harvest. I'll put them at the VERY end. You have been warned.

Finally after pictures were shared and tequila was sipped, KC and I head off on our way to Homer, Alaska.   We stop in Soldatna, AK for lunch at the Kenai Brewing Company and detour into Ninilchik for a peek at the Russian Orthodox church.  Ninilchik is an old Russian settlement and the older people in this community are still speaking a version of Russian that was spoken when the Russians came over in the late 1700s. Pretty crazy!  

We finally arrived in Homer at 6pm and went for a ride out on the Homer Spit. The longest naturally occurring spit in the world.  A spit, for those of you that don’t know your natural coastal features - is a long stretch of sand that sticks out into the water and is attached on one side. This one is a very permanent feature and has lots of businesses and residences on it. Although, I’m not sure they are permanent residences. I think they are all just vacation homes.

After the Homer spit we wandered past a ridiculous looking restaurant with HUGE Alice in Wonderland cups on the top.  Aptly named “Cups Cafe” it had the best reviews on google and we went in to dinner. It was SPECTACULAR. My shrimp and scallops were perfectly cooked and KC said his steak was the best he’d ever had in America.  He went back to thank the chef and invite him to eat at the Roadhouse in Seward (where KC is the executive Chef). After dinner we were going to meet one of KC friends at a dance hall called “Alice’s Champagne Palace” where a band called “Rose’s Pawn Shop” was playing. I know. That’s a lot of names and nouns.  It was spectacular! We danced until the band quit - about midnight and went over to our hotel (just next door) for some much needed rest.

The next morning we went down to the local crepe place, Wild Honey, where they replaced the “crepe” with egg if we wanted and had a delicious breakfast before heading up to skyine drive to get spectacular views of the Katchemak Bay.  The peninsula is usually cloudy and raining but we had two gorgeous blue sky days!!

On our way out and back to Homer we saw 5 moose. All of which were just hanging out by the side of the road. Unfortunately that last one decided to dart in front of our car.  Terrifying! KC was driving at the time and successfully braked and missed it and we, thankfully, saw no more moose for our ride.

We got KC back to Seward by 4:30 and I set off to stay the night with Katie in Girdwood.  On the way, I saw all these people pulled over at the side of the road and standing in the water with nets.   I parked to go over and explore and they were all netting Hooligan! I had to wait around for about 45 minutes before someone caught one but it was pretty great! I mean, great and also a bit lackluster because it’s just a tiny little fish.  One of the guys was telling me that earlier today (when the river was higher) his friend had caught 2 bucketfuls! So cool! By the time I finally got over to Girdwood, Katie was having a hang with friends and they invited me to join them for hotdogs and smores. Never one to give up free food, I agreed.

Excellent end to a delightful weekend!

View across the docs in Seward, AK

Remember how I mentioned that titanium knife with the bolt in the handle?  

Tequila shots with orange and cinnamon. The man pouring is the knife maker. 

The river across from the WindSong lodge. 

The Russian Orthodox church in Ninilchik. 

Three cups restaurant - best steak in Alaska according to KC. 

A tiny little hooligan. 

My very annoying couchsurfing counterpart. He doesn't fully understand the "couch" thing. 

WHALE HARVEST PHOTOS BELOW.  CONTINUE AT YOUR OWN RISK. 

I’ve re-attached the photo link here and re-organized the photos so that the new ones are on top.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/wjwHxAoTKLhXXPSq8

All By Myself - Alaska

 My first week here was full of adventure and sighseeting!  Now that Jamie is gone, I've moved out of Jeremy's house and I'm more alone, things have really slowed down.    I'm spending a lot of time studying or pretending to study and not so much time touring. Part of that is my lack of car and while they do have busses here, I've been petulant about taking them.  For example, I wanted to go the library.  It was going to take- from the time I wanted to leave- about 45 minutes for me to get there via bus (most of that in waiting for the bus, not the actual ride. The actual ride would only be about 15 minutes).  If I walked it would be an hour and 15 minutes. So instead of waiting for the bus.  I walked.  My walk did take me through the woods, into the the Native Alaska Medical Center, past the University of Alaska, Anchorage and then finally onto a long strip of ugly road where I passed a RIDICULOUS real estate sign and ultimately stopped for lunch at the Turnagin Arm Pit BBQ Restaurant. (that's funny because the large body of water here is the "turnigan arm").  When I finally made it to the library where I was EXHAUSTED from my walking and probably more likely from by BBQ lunch, I napped for a while before I started "working".    Got about a solid hour of research in (currently on women during the gold rush) and then set back out again to meet Jeremy back at the UAA bookstore for a talk on "Hikes in South Central Alaska".    

The day before that epic walk (only 8 miles RT, really), I met with my "mentor" from my company. She came with all sorts of practical things about tour directing that I enjoyed looking at. Luggage tags, excursion paperwork, examples of all the tools she carries (blue tooth keyboard, file folders, best bag options) and, generally a lot of enthusiasm.  

We had our meeting at the local coffee shop, Kaladi Brothers. People LOVE that place here.  One of the women I met said that Kaladi Brothers made it onto her list of "pros" when thinking of moving to Anchorage.   They do have Starbucks here.  About 19, in fact.  There's about 10 Kaladi Brothers and then a whole bunch of other local coffee shops and roasters that I have seen around.  Infact, for as ugly Anchorage is - all strip malls- there's not too many cookie cutter stores.  I mean, don't get me wrong, there's definitely a Walmart, REI, home depot, etc but the little stores all around are more likely to be local little shops and I enjoy and appreciate that.   I'm still not sure what my schedule will look like. I was supposed to meet with her today and I was gonna have her give me the rundown on what her last June looked like for an example but she's sick today. If I figure anything out, I'll keep you posted. 

After our meetings, Jeremy picked me up and we went to visit our friend Sage. Another Ice Person.  She bought a house here (she's from here) and had a bunch of Alaska books for me to borrow.   She's also going to be letting me stay in her house in the month of May.  That'll be lovely.  Her house is a little two bedroom with a big picture window out the the big front yard and a huge back yard. She's going to let me stay in exchange for painting the inside of her house. I'm down! 

Yesterday was a total 'study' day.  I went to the UAA library and studied in their gorgeous green atrium. Incidentally, they also have a Foucault pendulum - that thing that swings in the MoS in Boston. They, however, don't have the little clay bobbles that it knocks over every hour.  that's a disappointment.  I'll make that recommendation.   After I lost motivation there, I moved over to the UAA bookstore and went to the café where I bought myself as much food as I could for as little money as I  could and ended up making a bagel with salami and melted cheese.  It was pretty awesome. After lunch, I was, of course, tired so I went and sat in the lovely, practically a greenhouse walkway, where I took a nap on a bench. I woke up to a whole bunch of dogs walking through and visiting people studying (technically to support students for finals but I got a little snuggle in too).   

After my afternoon of hard work, Jeremy picked me up and we went to his house where he had a bike all set up and ready for me to borrow!!  It was GREAT!  I feel so liberated!  I can go ANYWHERE!!!   Also, he had made pork chops and green beans for dinner and we watched a few episodes of The Good Place. Perfect night!  

I'm hoping to do some more adventuring this weekend.  Jeremy is going to visit his brother in Portland and will let me borrow his car.   I might drive down to Seward and Homer this weekend.  Nothing definite but a high possibility. 

Hope everyone on the other side of the world is doing well.  

This was on my walk. I love anything that makes noise.  It was a whole little park with noise makers.  Incidentally, when i was looking for the name of this park, I stumbled upon a website talking about how Anchorage is leading the nation in accessible parks! 

University Of Alaska, Anchorage

The library atrium. Isn't it spectacular?! 

The cuddle dog. So fluffy! 

Here's my Couchsurfing Digs

Couchsurfing Kitchen

Couchsurfing Hottub

End of the week and Jamie's Departure - Alaska

 Hi all!

This weekend has been a both a bit of a whirlwind as well as very mellow.

Jamie left on Friday. Jams and I sent him off with a delicious trip to a conveyor belt sushi bar.  We love a conveyor belt sushi bars! We dropped him off all together too early for his flight as he got through security in 5 minutes and was just sitting at the gate. Ah well.  He certainly didn’t miss his flight. Jams and I then spent the afternoon studying up. Me on Alaska and him on his Human Services degree. Around 6pm made dinner and ate while watching Roma.  Winner of the Foreign Film category at the Oscars. Spectacularly stunning film, very clear examples of class distinction in Mexico, overall uplifting but I’m not sure I’m interested in seeing it again.

The next day we lounged around for awhile before we decided to get Jams back on his training schedule for his Half Marathon on June 22.  We decided on a short 3 mile run along the Tony Knowles Trail. Tony Knowles was the democratic mayor of Anchorage for two terms in the early 80s and then Governor of Alaska from 1994 - 2002. The coastal trail is 11 miles and while we didn’t do all of it, our little 3 mile run turned into 5.63 so I’m really suffering today. After our run we called Jams’ friend Joe and went over to So Thai!

So Thai is the restaurant owned by the sister and mom of one of my students from the EFL school I teach at in Boston! Crazy coincidence, huh?  The mom came out to say hello and I sent the picture off to her daughter. The daughter/my student (Prae) will be out in Alaska in August and I’ll see her then.  

As you might have guessed from the restaurants we visited, Anchorage has a huge collection of international foods and restaurants and LOTS of thai food. Thus far, they have been good. I’ll keep you posted as I eat more.   

After our lunch we went home to freshen up for our night of music and dancing. The music started off at the Alaska Performing Arts Center.  The Anchorage Civic Orchestra, with their non-audition community orchestra with 70ish members- was performing their free concert! The theme was The Sounds of Futures Past.  They played some classics - Oklahoma, 2001, A Space Odyssey, The Blue Danube and the Star Trek Theme Song. It was pretty spectacular! Especially for a non-audition community orchestra!    The theater itself was pretty great too as it was designed specifically with Alaska in mind. The seats were upholstered with a Salmon Berry design and the carpet was of Alaskan Poppies. They tried to make the atrium mimic “big trees” with the tall columns and lighting (that effect was..ok).  Even the bathroom stalls had ferns painted on them.

After the show we went to the winter pop-up “La Potato” for a night of Djs and dancing. We met up with our friend Antarctica friend Sage, ordered some french fries (obviously as we were at a place named The Potato) and drank some beer while we waited for the DJs to start playing some actual dance music. Ultimately they did but by this time is was 12:30 and my ride was leaving. So off we went!

We woke up this morning to make Hot Cross Buns for Easter and by “we” I mean, Jams woke up, prepped the dough and then went out for coffee with a friend.  I slept until 10am and then rolled out of bed in time to pre-heat the oven for his return. And pack. I had to leave Jams’ house today as his roommate is coming back and so I found a couch to surf. I think you all know that couch surfing is a community online where people offer up space in their house for you to stay for free.  The place I found happened to only be 3 minutes from Jams’ house and here I am. I’m the only couch surfer. There’s two permanent residents, Wil and his daughter, and then there’s three renters. I’ve met most of them. The place is super communal. I’ve already been fed some Elk Chili, used the hot tub, met the massive Malamute dog and there appears to be a beer fridge - with keg.      I’m really glad it’s a chill environment because I am BEAT today. I’ve been drinking pretty much constantly for three weeks, have been trying to cram a lot of Alaska knowledge into my poorly organized brain and have been constantly networking. I spent most of today napping/hot tubbing/organizing photos. It’s been a nice break. Honestly, being surrounded by strangers had been surprising relaxing.  I’ll be moving into a friends house in May with the exchange being that I will paint the inside of her house for her. Ok! June is still up for grabs but I have a potential tiny house to move into.

As for spinning back up some studying, I’m back into the fray tomorrow as I meet with my company “mentor”.  I’m curious what she’s going to tell me. And I’ll try to get back to some touring as well. Maybe tomorrow will be my Museum day!   

Thanks for reading these guys!  I appreciate it when you let me know you like it or are, at least, reading it. It keeps me motivated!

Come to Alaska!  

here's some pictures:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/wjwHxAoTKLhXXPSq8

Also, don't forget that my phone works- just like a normal phone! 

Feel free to text!

AND!  Congratulations to Jess Rentsch for finishing her Masters of Social Work!!!  YOU DID IT!! 

Poppies!

Poppin' Dance Floor

Just snow.  

Wil and the Malamut puppy (who's name eludes me)

Day Six HOPE!

Back to the cabin for another charming night!   This time, instead of getting into the hot tub with four inches of cold water at the bottom, we resolved to stir it up every time we stoked the fire.  Success! The water was fully hot when I finally got in. Unfortunately for me it was 105 degrees. That’s a bit out of my comfort zone. So, I got in, promptly got out and then enjoyed the night sky while sitting above the steaming water.  Still overall fun.

We woke up to a snow covered view, and, honestly, I could have done without it. YES, I know I came to Alaska. YES,I know it’s cold here. YES, I know the spring and summer come later than normal. But that doesn’t mean I have to be happy about the snow! Fine, I’ll concede that it was pretty.

We set off around noon and went straight to the Alaska Conservation Center.  If only they’d had Dall Sheep I could have checked off all the Alaska “big five” animals! Dall Sheep, Moose, Bear, Caribou, Wolves.   I mean, I think it’s fine to have seen them in a rehabilitation center. It still counts. The Conservation Center was pretty fun. It’s a big space that most people drive through but we decided to walk.   

We started by visiting the wolves where I learned that a “pack” of wolves is usually just a family unit. Parents and offspring, usually 5-6, and in that context the idea of an “alpha” male is actually not correct. It's not stranger wolves that are fighting for supremacy - it's parents, co-parenting and annoying children. Next we saw the Caribou and was reminded of the fact that Caribou and Reindeer are the same animal. Reindeer usually refers to domesticated Caribou. Also, males lose their antlers by October. Females keep them until may. So either Santa used Christmas magic to keep the antlers on his sleigh pullers or all the dasher, dancer, prancer, vixen, coment, cupid, donner, blitzen and rudolph are actually female.  We strolled down to look at the Moose and we were lucky to see three of them hanging out in the shed. Moose are HUGE and their noses/mouths were even more so strangely huge. Like the width of a piece of paper. The 11’ side. Moose, as you may know, are aggressive and I learned that it IS ok to run from a moose (if you have a head start).   They will often just lose interest and wander off.   The moose here at the center are often used in filming for movies in Alaska. In fact, if you’ve seen Into the Wild you’ve seen an AWCC moose. Autographs weren’t allowed. After the moose we saw MuskOxen. They aren’t actually musky. Just so you know. They do, however, have some of the softest fur around - their winter under layers- called Quiviut. I’m gonna try to get some thing made with it. There's a great collective that makes clothing from them. It's a conglomeration of various native tribes. The women collect the fur (the harvest it from shedding muxkoxen), send it off to be spun and then the spun wool comes back to them they they make the garments. The designs are pretty specific to whatever community has made them so when you go into the store (in anchorage) the women there will tell you the place it was made from just by looking at the pattern. Check out the shop! Back to the animals and their habits - the males, when they are butting heads have the same impact of a car ramming a concrete wall at 17 miles per hour. Awesome.

Don’t worry, more animal facts coming your way.  We wandered over to the bear enclosure. On one side they had Black Bears and on the other, Brown and Grizzly.   Black Bears are the ones we have in New England. Kinda small, scavengers, generally prone to run away. They don’t always have to be Black. Apparently they come in lots of colors including "Glacial Blue".  I looked that up online...that color phrasing is a stretch. (It's like someone from Sherwin Williams was brought in to name it.) In a fight with a bear, the main thing is DON’T. Just don’t. "i started a fight with a bear" is something you should NEVER SAY. But if you do: fight back, don’t run. Let me repeat. FIGHT BACK AND DONT RUN. and then curl into a ball and cry while you wait for the bear to wander off.  Hopefully it’s just aggressive and not hungry. Brown and Grizzly bears are the same species but the grizzly is considered to be a distinct subspecies. Grizzlies don't get quite as big as Brown bears as they live in inner Alaska and don't’have access to the Salmon.  Grizzlies live outside of Alaska but Brown bears don’t. There you go.

After the Bears we we wandered past the Elk.  Elk are a bit smaller than moose, tend to be generally more skittish than moose and, in my opinion, just look like massive deer.  

At this point we were out by the Turnigan Arm (the big body of water out here) and took in the view from out there for a bit before circling back around and going to visit the Wood Bison.   The Wood Bison are an interesting story. There are no fully wild Wood Bison in America (yet). Canada has a herd of about 2000 but it took heavy management and effort to make it self sustaining. We have only 93 (originally over 115) that were released in 2015 from the AWCC making it pretty exciting to see the Bison at the AWCC as seeing them truly wild is impossible.  The process of "releasing" them seems like an incredible logistical feat. They flew the females and babies out to their release area, sedated and in a plane. The males, weighing in at 2,200lbs were barged up. They didn’t want any issue in flight should one decide to act out. When they brought the first group up, females and calves, it was spring and they weren’t in exactly the place they wanted them. They needed to move them across the river but getting them to do that quickly and with no problems could be difficult so they waited until winter when the river was frozen and they put some feed on the back of a snowmobile and had them follow it to the new location. And by “follow” i mean “thunder after at high speeds”. This video is pretty fun to watch.  I found it captivating! I really like the shots starting at 1 minute. As a side note, this was planned. This was a thing they were working on 'training" the bison to do at the AWCC to faciliate this process once they were released.

Wood Bison were followed by Sitka Black Tailed Deer.  Which, honestly, were deer...so...yeah. Most interesting fact, for me, is that they are the most hunted animal in South East Alaska with an annual harvest of 12,000 deer over a 20 year period ending in 2007. The numbers are still pretty high but that’s VERY intense.  And just in case you missed the key word, that’s an ANNUAL harvest number. Eek!

Finally we were getting down to the smaller animals, the Coyotes.  When you think of those howling sounds in the wild, ppl often think of wolves but really, Coyotes are the most vocal doglike creature out there. Singing all the time!   Next we saw Twix, the porcupine. I love porcupines. They are deceptively soft looking but DON’T HUG THEM! Also, the hang out in trees. And are obsessed with salt. They’ll eat anything with salt on it -your shoes,  the edge of a wooden bench that sweaty people have been sitting on, you get the idea. I mean, in reality, we’re pretty salt obsessed too..chips, pretzels, jerky. ANYWAY, I think it was just near feeding time so he was out strolling around.  

We saw a bald eagle who’s wing had been shot off. This eagle, incidentally, was also featured in “into the wild”.   I love how eagles look like they’re wearing pants.

Next was a great horned owl, an apex predator. Don’t think they’re just cute.

 And finally a lynx. And you should DEFINITELY look at this. It’s photos and video of a family of Lynx’s playing on a porch in Alaska.  Tots, presh, adorbs.

After the wildlife center we were a bit tired of touring so we booked it back to Anchorage and went for Pizza at the hugely popular Moose’s Tooth.  They brew their own delicious beer and make delicious pizza, pretty much all you need to be worth a 35 minute wait.  Jeremy’s friends Joe and Emily came out to join us and we had a lovely final evening with Jamie as he was only visiting AK for his April Vacation week.

The little cabin in Hope. So adorable! And set up so it gets sunlight almost all day!

Inside!  so many windows!

The hot tub!  note the fire pit on the bottom left. 

Hot tub and cabins (technically, two) in the background

We'd never seen this fun style of cap opening! 

Nighttim hottub. 

Brown Bears! (or maybe grizzly?)

Twix, the porcupine!

Day Five Alaska - Seward and Hope

 Wednesday Day Five in Alaska -Seward and back to Hope

We woke up when KC arrived at 8:15 telling us he wanted to take us out to breakfast.  OK! Don't need to tell me twice! I was up and ready and in the car waiting before Jams or Jamie were out of bed!  Take me to food!

We had breakfast at place in town called The Goldrush.  Pretty delicious and as they gave me an extra stash of hollandaise I was pretty pumped for my eggs benny.  Jamie had biscuits and gravy (spectacular), KC had corned beef and eggs (great!) and Jams had eggs benny with tomato and bacon (can't go wrong there).  Most importantly, the coffee was strong. We took a leisurely breakfast and then went down to the Sealife Center to meet the fiancé of an old college acquaintance who got us tickets.  (Matt Murphy was my acquaintance, for those of you from UMASS. Murph from Earthfoods)

The Sealife center was GREAT!  Started with some small exhibits of Alaska and commercial fishing, moving into some tanks with local fish and then it opens up to a great touch tank area.  Aside from poking the anemones, I love watching barnacles fan out and try to catch nutrients in the water. That's a gorgeous thing to see if you want to check it out.    By the touch tank, you can look out and see the animals that are being rehabilitated.  Two otters, a baby seal, a bigger seal and LOTS of birds. The woman who got us tickets told us they just got a 3 day old baby otter and a bearded seal!  (don't tell anyone, there hasn't been an official press release yet!) We didn't see either of those things but I enjoyed knowing they were there.

We wandered out into the aviary where there were puffins, cormorants, gulls, and eiders all just flying around.  Some of the gulls literally flew within striking distance of our heads. They look just like your everyday bird but Jamie says he overhead the guy talking about how they are a very rare species that only nests in three places in the world.  They looked like any run of the mill sea gull).

We wandered through the Salmon exhibit (mandatory in Alaska).  There's lots of types of Salmon here. Once the season starts (with King salmon), you can pretty much be fishing some sort of Salmon all the way through September.  The salmon life cycle, as you might know, is interesting. They are born, go out to sea (where we know very little about what they do) and then when they are about 5 years old, they come home to spawn. After which, they promptly die.   When they come back to spawn is when people are doing all the salmon fishing here. On their way home, they go through a crazy physical transformation. One of them develops a gonzo type nose. I'm not kidding - I think it's the sockeye.  Anyway, as they come back to spawn, they stop eating, they lose all the fat stores in their bodies and their meat kinda turns to mush. You can really only eat them as they begin their adventure. This surprised me because as they swim upstream they get redder and redder but, while salmon meat is red/pink you don’t want the salmon you catch to be that color.

After Salmon, we went downstairs to see the big tanks and watch the sealions, diving birds and seals from underwater. Dang-sealions are big! They are more closely related to bears than to dogs. They have ears, really long whiskers and are massive.   The male Stellar Sea lion (the ones up here) can get up to 2,200 pounds. THAT'S MASSIVE. It was captivating to watch them circle around. (also a little sad).

At that point we were just about at the end of the center and so after scoping out the smack of jellyfish (yes, a group of jellyfish is called a "smack") we wandered out.  At this point, we heard a story about a baby walrus that was brought to the Sea Life center and it was so young and sick and alone that they had to organize 24 hour cuddle sessions for it. For weeks!   How adorable! (and also sad).  

After our sealife center adventure we wandered around Seward a bit more. We stopped into the Seward hotel and met Robby, the manager.   There were lots of stuffed bears and Alaska things. The original was built in 1905, survived the earthquake and the fire. The new side was built in the 80s and they’re open all winter.  Mostly, it seems, because they house a lot of the railroad personnel. And they have little trinkets that tie them to the railroad too. The bell on the desk came from the railroad depot and the big bell on the floor was from the rail station and it used to ring when a train came into the station.   

Next, we went into a random gift shop that was Russia Themed but had lots of Alaska stuff.  Russian stuff makes sense as Russia was the first nation to claim Alaska but the small Peruvian dolls and Scandinavian keychains and Atlanta Georgia Jewelry - I had a harder time making the connection. Anyway, there were great carved stone figurines, lots of Russian dolls and various other trinkets. Smelled a bit like patchouli but looked like a swanky gift shop so that was another hilarious incongruity.  

Next, we crossed the street to the original Bank Building -Brown and Hastings. Those two came up for the gold rush and became good friends and opened some banks. They decided they needed a move and so went up to Turnagain arm and Knik arm areas and anchored themselves in the mudflats and opened a store/bank.  They called it "the Anchorage" or rather, people referencing where they were going called it the Anchorage and as they were the only thing around, it started to reference the whole area and the name for Anchorage was born. The bank then became the Bank of Alaska.

We had Gelato at the Sweet Darlings Candy Shop - Whiskey Cream, Brownie and Peanut Butter (KC had added in Vanilla).

I chatted with Cliff in the attached gift shop where he tried to pitch the "Men of Seward" calendar and then we went to Ray's Reusables and chatted with Ray.  He's trying to make a go of a reused retail store in Seward. His old shop burnt down 5 years ago and he didn't want to end on that note so he started anew! I hope he can make it work but unless he figures out how to sell things on the internet, he's not gonna get very far.

Continuing on our full adventure of Seward, we went down to the pier to see if Kenai Fjords National Park Visitor Center was open (it wasn't) so went to Kenai Fjords Tour Company.  It's owned by the same company that KC works for (Pursuit) and we took some time looking at all their wares and trinkets which included some crazy whale, walrus penis, walrus tusk and mammoth bone carvings.  

Afterward,  we stopped at the Visitors center where I got an absurd number of pamphlets about the Kenai peninsula. (I’m sure they’ll all just sit in a pile until I throw them out).   We finished up our shopping, dropped KC off at his work/house and then went back up the Kenai to spend the night in that little cabin in Hope.