Skagway!

Here comes Skagway....Sparky sees an excursion for a hike on the Chilkoot Trail combined with a river float ending with hot chocolate and cookies...The Chilkoot Trail was the trail blazed by the Gold Rush stampeders to the Klondike in 1897 and 1898. Two mile hike? Piece of cake (er, cookie!). She really really wanted to do the hike, but Eldy was not up to it. So bless his heart, he says, "You go on ahead and do it! I know you will like it." Sparky reads the description--a two mile hike (some of it on uneven ground, they said)  ending with a river float downstream w/cookies and hot chocolate waiting for you," to the tune of about 116.00 a person. COOKIES!? Sparky gets a food reward for her efforts?Awesome! Sign her up! So she went....


And it was terrific! The first mile or more of the hike was STRENUOUS! Sparky felt this was downplayed in the trail description. It might have been preferable to state something about being fit in there somewhere. Definitely uneven ground, and strenuous because of the steady elevation climb. Lots of roots, narrow places to twist an ankle, and Sparky realized very quickly how out of shape she was. She hadn't hiked in over a year. The trail was a lot alike the ones in Acadia National Park that we USED to do. Sparky's heartbeat was going faster than it ever had pumped before. But the guide stopped often, as the group was collectively no spring chickens in the bunch.

Chilkoot Trail selfie

Sparky did her best to appear NOT winded, and was careful not to talk to anybody while she waited for her heartbeat to come back down, as if she did this all the time. Well, heck! She used to! But boy, oh, boy, that was a wakeup call to try and get back into better shape. Riding a bike 10-15 miles a couple times of week is NOTHING in the way of aerobic compared to hiking. And besides that, it's been too hot lately in Florida so Sparky hasn't been riding. However, the legs were no problem, the breath was!

But the hike was amazing...the forest was amazing, so beautiful....We learned some interesting things from Chris, our guide who was relatively new to the area. Did you know sphagnum moss has the same PH as the human body and native Americans used it for women's personal hygiene needs and also for diapers for their babies?  Along the way, we saw evidence of a bear marking his territory by HUGE claw marks on the bark of a tree.....They rake their claws on the bark to keep other bears away....At least that's what the guide said!

Speaking of our guide, check out his feet. He was hiking in Teva sandals.

We saw a tree that had been drilled with a bunch of holes by red breasted sapsucker woodpeckers. We could hear the little baby birds inside the tree fussing for food. We stopped for a moment, and here comes the mama to feed her babies. In and out she went for several trips. That was cool!

from the internet

After climbing the elevated part of the hike, finally, it smoothed out and we hiked about another mile to the river's edge where we were given rubber boots, a life vest and down the river we went. There wasn't really any whitewater, just some little rapids now and then. Sparky happened to mention that she really likes to row. The guide says..."Wanna row for awhile?"  Sparky said, "SURE!"

You should have seen the look on the faces of some of the people in the boat. They were like, "WHOA! This is not good." Some guy actually said, in a half joking sort of way, "I don't recall signing anything in the waiver about somebody other than the guide piloting this boat!" But Sparky rowed, sort of, and guided the boat downstream for about ten minutes, having the time of her life.  Cool!

The scenery was gorgeous. Sparky highly recommends the Chilkoot Trail and raft ride back. And the chocolate chip cookies were AWESOME!

On the drive back to the dock, we stopped at a funky little homestead, no longer occupied. It sure cemented Sparky's opinion that some people who choose to live in Alaska all year round are a little on the quirky side....

And finally,  we checked out the view from an outlook landing on the drive back. Here is Skagway from higher up, with two cruise ships in the harbor.....

And before getting back on the ship, Eldy met up with Sparky and we explored the little town of Skagway briefly. There's a national historic park called the Klondike Gold Rush Historical Park run by the National Park Service. It's got some nice trails and terrific history to explore if you have the time.

We checked out this rotary snowplow that was used to clear the rail lines in Alaska in the early to mid 1900's.

And all too soon, it was time to get back on the ship.....Our next port and last port, Glacier Bay! See you then.....

On to Juneau!

Up the inside passage we went....Juneau was our next port stop.....the capital of Alaska with no dome, just an ordinary looking office building. The area of Juneau is almost as large as the states of Delaware and Rhode Island, yet the population is small for the area, about 32,000 people. Steep mountains 3500-4000 feet high surround Juneau. At the top of the mountains is an ice field and 30 glaciers flow from this ice field. Yep, THIRTY glaciers! The Mendenhall Glacier is here, one of the more well known glaciers that the rest of the world is familiar with.

We were surprised to hear that the town likes to blow up snow. It fires Howitzer cannons at the mountains in the long winters to break up snowfall in order to manage avalanche flows. We were even more surprised to hear that there is a gated community in Juneau. Really? Yeah, it's the Lemon Creek Correctional facility.  Haha!

We took an excursion tour at this port--a whale watch....The bus ride out and back was really fun with a funny driver from Hawaii (!) who cracked a lot of jokes and made the ride extra enjoyable. He told us a lot of eagle facts and tidbits which we had not heard of before. Like the male eagle's talons lock when they catch prey. If the prey, like a salmon, is heavier than what the eagle thought he could handle, he literally sinks like a rock to the water and has to swim with his prey to where he can manage it. Guess sometimes the eagle drowns. The driver also had a story to tell about a woman naturalist who was rescuing a bald eagle and she had to transport it in her car. The eagle went crazy in the back of her car, ended up in the front and dug his talons into her leg while she was driving. She couldn't get the eagle's talons to release. She had to drive herself to the vet/ hospital to get the bird released and get treatment. Painful, for sure! She made it, but the eagle didn't. The driver told us more interesting facts about the eagles.

They have polarized eye lens. They can see a mile away and extremely far down into the water. They also have a 270 degree field of vision. Those poor little turtles, ducks, or whatever the eagles are eating, don't stand much of a chance! Especially since bald eagles can dive up to 100 m.p.h.!  Females are larger and stronger than the males--that's something different in the usual species traits. Their nests are HUGE--about 13 feet deep (!) and about 8 feet wide, and over a TON in weight. WOW! A group of eagles is called a kettle.  And, eagles mate for life....Gotta share the juvenile eagle photo once more time in case you missed it the first time....

(Hey, Sparky, what about the whale watch?) reminds Eldo.  Well...we didn't see a whole lot, but we did learn a few things. The humpback whale, the most common whale in Alaska, has a throat the size of a grapefruit. When they are feeding, they eat 1500 pounds of fish a DAY, and they feed for 23 hours straight!

They are just beginning to return from their long migration from Hawaii back to Alaska starting in June and through July. They mate and have their babies in Hawaii.  Stored blubber from eating in Alaska allows them to nurse their calves for about 8 weeks in the warm Hawaiian waters. The babies gain 7 pounds per HOUR while nursing! Then, when the humpbacks are ready to migrate back, they do it WITHOUT EATING all the way back to Alaska. Alaskan waters have the perfect environment with all the plankton, plant life and long sunlit days for optimal feeding for the whales. So the whales are starving when they get here, and all they care about doing is eating and gaining weight. They don't play early in the season, they are not showing off--no breeches, no playful fin slaps, just a gentle curve of their backs and down they go again. We saw two on the trip....We are thinking that this is really not the best place but more importantly, NOT the right time of year to be seeing any great whale action out there on the water.

Downtown Juneau is basically a one main street deal....The same in Skagway, the same in Ketchikan. Walk up and down the main street a few blocks and you've seen the town. LOTS of jewelry shops--guess they think you will fall for Alaska being the gem state (it's not, it's Idaho,) or that you associate Alaska with gold and great jewelry prices. Actually, the gem stores in all these towns hope you'll buy from them from the time cruise ships start arriving in May and stop coming around September, and then they close their storefronts, pack up and head to the Caribbean to sell down there when the cruise ships change their sailing patterns. The prices of tourist items in the ports really wasn't bad at all, but we didn't check jewelry prices. There really were some great deals on stuff like tee shirts and other things. Sparky did however, buy a cool scarf that had the look of native American Tlingit artwork on it and a tee shirt for a tee shirt quilt she's going to make from all the shirts from the national parks and travels we did as RVers. Sparky was also tempted to buy this bikini, but NOT for herself...as a gift, maybe? (Well, phooey! says a disappointed E.) She didn't see how much it was.

She DID, however, have a close encounter with a bear....

We decided to check out the Red Dog Saloon, supposedly a famous saloon back in the day. It's been redone, of course. But it looked just like an old bar/saloon from the gold rush era and just like the ones you see on old western shows---girls dressed in off the shoulder "madam" outfits, deer heads and antlers all over the place, lots of funky junky stuff on the walls, etc. etc. The staff was a really fun bunch and appeared to enjoy their jobs and interacting with the public.  Eldy liked the beer here.....He said it was one of the best beers he's ever had.

The menu was amusing....

And so was the entertainment...The Great Baldini....about 80+ years old and he still could sing!

Every time someone walked into the bar, he'd yell..."WELL, LOOK WHO'S HERE!" Then, "WHERE YOU FROM?" The crowd yelled, "WHO CARES?"  He'd say, "Where you goin'?" The crowd yelled again..."WHO CARES?" He says, "Who's buyin'?" The crowd yelled one final time, "YOU ARE!"

in the port of Juneau

The scenery was getting more and more amazing. It was so wonderful to have a veranda cabin where we could step outside and watch the mountains go by....and the temps were now down to about 58 degrees during the day. It felt so refreshing!

We have two more stops, and they are Sparky's favorites....because a HIKE and a raft float were on the ticket and the final port, a glacier....See you in Skagway!

Ketchikan, Alaska

Sparky and Eldo were in Alaska two weeks ago...Just now catching up with all the bazillion photos and memories we have of our wonderful trip. We took the 7 day Holland America inside passage one way cruise that was entitled "Glacier Bound". We loved it!

Our first port of call was Ketchikan, the "salmon capital of the world". All the Alaskan ports have small populations, but BIG areas to explore. Ketchikan has a population of about 8,000 and is an island surround by the Tongass National Forest. When the cruise ships come in, the town swells in population, of course, and the small downtown bustles with lots of shoppers. Tourism along with fishing and government services are the main occupations for the town. The native American Tlingit (Klinkit) tribe's influence can be seen in the many cool drawings, totem poles and carvings that abound in the area.

Ketchikan has the world's largest standing totem pole collection in several parks, here's one that we visited, Saxmen Totem Park.

If you take a certain shore excursion, you can see a world famous carver working on a pole in the carving shed in town. (The AVERAGE prices of shore excursions were about 200.00 a person on up). We bypassed the carving excursion and found a great land/city tour for less than 90 dollars. The totem park was on that tour, so we decided that was a good value.

It was a typical early summer day in Ketchikan, raining off and on, so that made it difficult to get some nice photos. The carvings on the poles tell quite a lot of stories, cautionary tales, etc. We really enjoyed hearing about them. We also saw a master carver inside a carving shed as we passed by showing a group of people how he works. Many of the totems are reproductions as they last only 70-80 years, but that's ok, the history behind them is very interesting and we're glad that more attempts are being made to preserve these remarkable poles.

The history behind the poles and the illustrations are fascinating. The Tlingit tribe's rich history of its matriarchal society made Sparky want to learn more. The totem pole carvings and illustrations on clothing, boats and other items are used to identify the mother's family, clan, and relatives through the raven or the eagle. It's more complicated than that, but to keep things simple, it's a start. The order of the carvings can range from the most important on the bottom, or the other way around. Ever feel like you are the low man on the totem pole? Sparky used to feel that way at work some times.....

The native Americans had a tradition called the "potlatch", a celebration usually to mark the creation and erection of a totem pole reflecting your family's wealth, clan and prestige. Sometimes the totem was a carving to preserve an oral legend. The potlatch was the original pyramid scheme! You would throw a big party once a year, invite all your relatives, and your relatives would invite their friends and the party would get bigger and bigger. You were expected to buy gifts for anyone and everyone who showed up. You never quite knew how many people would arrive. Once you had entertained your company with lavish gifts, livestock, song and dance or whatever else you deemed a worthy gift for your attendees, it would be their turn next to throw a party and invite you back. If for some reason, you insulted a guest or your gifts were not worthy enough, sometimes a shame pole would be carved in your "honor" or vice versa. It really wasn't an honor. You should be ashamed of yourself and you have embarrassed your family, your clan. And conversely, if your guests did not invite you back, that was an insult and an excuse to construct a "shame" pole with their offense and likeness carved on it. It would be a very plain pole with only something at the top, perhaps a caricature of the person who had offended you or your family.

One of the most famous shame poles is the one we saw in Saxmen park. It depicts William Seward, the statesman--U.S. Secretary of State who was responsible for the purchase of Alaska at at time when people thought that was a crazy idea--"Seward's Folly", they called it. Apparently, he failed to reciprocate a potlatch, not knowing the custom, and so this "shame pole" is a reminder for all future generations to not stiff your party host! His ears and nose are painted red to represent his stinginess. The rest of the pole is totally plain all the way down to the bottom.

Sparky LOVED the Tlingit artwork. It has a very distinctive look to it....Here are a couple of examples of the raven.

On this same tour that took us to the totem park, we stopped by a waterfall, and a rocky outcrop. The waterfall was nothing too spectacular, we'd seen lots bigger ones with lots bigger water volume, but the interesting thing about the waterfalls is that NO rivers or lakes feed many of the waterfalls, it's just groundwater that comes from the melting of the glaciers. 

There were seals showing their noses in this pond, but you can't see them

Our young tour guide driver stopped by the rocky outcrop and BAM! There were some bald eagles. At least EIGHT of them sitting on the rocky outer walls.

Most were the immature, young bald eagles with brown heads, but we looked up, and there were at least four to five more mature bald eagles with the white heads right above us. All of a sudden, people shouted, "WHALES!" Two separate pods of Orca whales swam by just beyond the rocky outcrop. Sparky saw them and managed to catch one pod.

She was crouched down by a retaining wall when Eldy said, "Jeannie, there's an eagle right by you. He's less than 3 feet in front of you." HOLY MOLEY!

"Go away, kid, you're bothering me."

Sparky had been so busy trying to catch the orcas, she hadn't seen the juvenile eagle perched right in front of her! This was NOT taken with a zoom, folks!

The eagle didn't move one inch. More people came and took his photo. He still didn't budge. The guide thought perhaps he might be injured and unable to fly, so he called the wildlife service. But what a thrill to see one so close! And the whales! When your guide starts taking photos, you know this is a special moment. He said that was the first sighting he'd seen of the whales this season and he couldn't stop saying, "Wow, this is amazing! You guys are really lucky to see this all at once!" This was our first tour off the boat, and we were in LOVE with Alaska!

We had a marvelous time in Ketchikan...there were more excursions offered, but this one met all of our expectations, and you know how Sparky loves nature! So she was thrilled! If we didn't see anything else the rest of the week, Sparky would still be one happy camper!  Stay tuned, we did see more.....

Oh, the Places We Go! How About Alaska?

Sparky and Eldo were getting cabin fever....It's hot in Sarasota now, and the summer muggy season is here. Eldo especially was getting antsy.....He started looking....and looking, and looking..."How about a cruise?" he asks one day...."How about one? Are you finding some good deals?" responded Sparky.

"Yep...How would you like to go to Alaska?" was the million dollar question Eldo came up with.
"HOW WOULD I LIKE TO GO TO ALASKA?" shouted an excited Sparky. "OF COURSE I'd like to go to Alaska!!!!!" That's only been on her bucket list for years and years. Thought it was way too expensive and pretty much had chalked it up to reading about it in other people's blogs. WELL! Eldy, the master researcher, came up with airfare, a BALCONY cabin and all expenses paid there and back, for 1500.00 a person....THAT was terrific and doable! And a fantastic early birthday present for Sparky whose birthday is in July. Next question, "How soon can you be ready to leave?"   "Uh, how about in two days?" Sparky says excitedly. So, he booked it three days before the ship left....He booked through Holland America, on the "Oosterdam", (christened in 2003) and the trip was called the "Glacier Discovery Northbound". Here is our itinerary.

We were going to see three ports--Ketchikan, Skagway, and Juneau, and then a stop in Glacier Bay to see the glaciers! Sparky was SO EXCITED!  She was going to get to be in cooler weather! Woo hoo! We packed and were on our way!

We flew from Tampa to Vancouver....Sparky loves looking out the window and seeing the changing landscapes as you fly over the country. The above photo is as we are leaving Florida. Isn't it gorgeous from above? And then, later, the mountains take your breath away....

The cheapest flight Eldo found was a United flight to Tampa with a stop in Chicago, then Chicago to Vancouver...Sparky doesn't mind layovers at all, as long as they aren't the fast, get to the next gate in less than 10 minutes kind! She LOVES to people watch.....

Once we got to Vancouver, the ship lines had taken our suitcases directly to the ship. All we needed to do was find transportation to the dock. We took a train from the airport right to Waterfront Station to the docks, which was a lot cheaper than taking a taxi. It was 6.75 each as opposed to $45.00 for a taxi. We boarded the "Oosterdam".

The Oosterdam was a nice ship, although it appeared to be a little dated and needed some fixing up...the patio door curtain was dirty, the toilet seat finish was coming off, and the shower curtain was threadbare at the bottom. Minor stuff...The ship had some beautiful areas to it--the atrium/bar area....

Some interesting bench/seating areas...

Beautiful bar stools...

Nice outdoor pool and hot tub...As we traveled further north, these were not used as much.

The indoor pool had a retractible cover to let in fresh air and sunshine or to keep out the cold and rain as we traveled further north.

Even the elevators were something else!

Beautiful floors....You hated to walk on them!

The staff was EXCEPTIONAL---very friendly, the service was amazing! And the best part? The food! Sparky is here to report that the food was----FABULOUS! It was EXCELLENT! Every day, it was wonderful!  Since we booked at the last minute, we did not have assigned seating like you do on some cruises. We could eat whenever we decided, whether we wanted to head to the buffet or the dining room. Every day the food was excellent.

One thing we noticed is that there weren't as many on board activities to choose from on this trip. The highlights of the ports and the glaciers perhaps took precedence over offering more onboard things to do. Exercise classes were expensive---12.00 per class, so Sparky abstained from doing any. She walked the ship decks a few times in the brisk air instead. Temperatures steadily dropped  as we traveled....Most of the time it stayed right around in the high fifties at sea, and low sixties in port. It sure felt great!

Oh, the scenery....WOW!

Lots of seaplanes, of course. Someone told us that 1 in 20 people living in Alaska need one to get around. We believe it!

See you in Ketchikan, our first port in a couple of days....Sparky is spreading out the Alaskan blog just a bit. It takes awhile to sum up the best parts and choose the best photos from a wonderful experience!

Nature Abounds in Our Backyard and Here in Sarasota/Bradenton

Sparky loves it when it rains hard. All the birds come out to play in the little lakes and streams formed right by the golf course. The land is fast draining, so the birds are only there for a short time. They are right back along the edge of our lanai. We've seen flocks of cranes come in…And always the ibis….They feed so fast they are like little jackhammers, and they move along quickly!

Those ibis are so funny to watch! Sparky watched one butt another one out of the way while they were eating, more than once. Like there weren't enough bugs to go around after all the rain!? They look a little bedraggled, don't they?

They squawk at each other, just little squawks….

We had a fox come through at the same time, it's not the first time he's been seen….He rolled around and around on the grass after the rains, just thoroughly enjoying himself until Sparky showed up with her camera, then off he trotted. See ya, Mr. Fox!

And immediately after the ibis strolled quickly through our backyard, along came a pair of black bellied whistling ducks.

Sparky has been over to the Celery Fields in Sarasota, near Sun 'n' Fun,  a couple of weeks ago… The fields are the county's primary storm water collection. A 300+ acre site of wetlands, grasslands, two boardwalks and an observation hill is there to climb where you can get a beautiful view of the surrounding habitats. It exists for everyone's pleasure, particularly birders. Over 100 acres of wetlands has been restored with over 20,000 plants established. The Audubon Society is really amping up the place for better bird viewing. A new visitor center is going to be built there, they are adding restrooms and the big hill has had lots and lots of trees and palms planted for the more than 200 bird species that have been spotted in the wetlands and grassy fields of the former celery fields.

Sparky likes to walk the boardwalks or sit at the gazebo and see what's happening…Today, a lot! She spotted a female limp kin with a nest of babies! Four babies to be exact, but here you can only see two.

Sparky watched for quite awhile….And chatted with some serious birders who had some amazing camera equipment. But Sparky is satisfied with her little Canon powershot.

It's always amazing to see the little babies doing what they need to do instinctively.

The mother was out a little ways from the nest, but not too far. She seemed to be keeping an eye on the little ones as she fed.

Purple gallinules were in sight….at least one, anyway…

A tri color heron was watching and waiting for fish….

And, there was a family of ducks. The babies appeared just about to be grown. They were having a ball sloshing through some serious muck. You could hear them slopping through the mud and they had no trouble finding enough to eat, with their little ducktail fannies repeatedly bobbing up and down as they ate.

When Sparky got closer to the action, the mom moved away from the babies to distract, and posed in the late afternoon sun…..Looks like a mallard?

The last thing Sparky saw was a good sized black snake…ugh!

But, that's a part of nature….Just not Sparky's favorite thing to see! Sparky stamped on the ground and it boogied out of there. Good thing it did, or Sparky would have boogied….It was getting late, time for one more last shot, the mom limp kin hopped up onto the boardwalk railing and made sure we weren't bothering her little chicks on the other side.

Sparky will definitely be back to the Celery Fields again soon!  Bye for now…..