Tag: Alaska

Going Home

On By rrainefioreIn Beautiful Things, Travel2 Comments

What a wonderful trip, but I am extremely ready to go home.   I have a theory that no matter how long I travel, I am done and ready to go home 1 to 2 days before actually going home.  Once again, this theory has turned out to be true.  This is great because it also means I live in the right place, a place I look forward to going home to.  I have a husband and furry kids I look forward to going home to.  I had help packing this morning from Hannah’s furry kids, but I miss mine.  Now, I also have a new career to go home to.  I left an engineer and I go home an artist.

There is only one commercial airline that flies to and from Valdez.  Yesterday, my tour guide said there is one flight a day and a 50/50 chance it flies.  Mild panic.  I tried not to think about it.  It will fly because I’m on it.  Her comment did ruin my sleep last night.  As much as I knew I could manifest a timely flight, my dreams were frantic with me losing things or getting lost.

I learned you could buy salmon in a jar in a vending machine.

The flight took off fine.  Only one person on the incoming flight and 6 of us on the outgoing flight.  They gave us a drink and cookies.  The attendant was so cheerful and all the staff at the airport was delightful. 

I was not on the harbor side of the plane.  I would have liked to see the harbor, Prince William Sound, and whatever else could be seen in that direction.  But, I did get to see a glacier, then another and another.  Glacier after glacier and steep white capped mountains.  It was breathtaking.  I got my glacier flight after all.  The view was through the distorted tiny window while peering under the wing, but it was still amazing.  I sat for half the flight with my head pressed up against the window, crying at the wild beauty of it while shoving cookies in my mouth.  Then we flew into a cloud, and all the mountains disappeared in the blanket of white.

Got to Anchorage, had some lunch, and borded a less delightful but good enough flight to Seattle.

Froze but butt off from Anchorage to Seattle.  Got to Seattle and exhaustion set in, but multiple gate changes helped me pass the time before my next flight.

Got into Denver around midnight.  So good to see my husband!  After one more hotel room tonight, I’ll be home tomorrow.

Icebergs

On By rrainefioreIn Beautiful Things, Travel1 Comment

Today, I was supposed to go to Columbia glacier to kayak around the icebergs. It was a 10 hour tour, but there was also the chance of seeing whales, sea lions, and seals. After the Aurora tour when I felt so exhausted, I called the company I was kayaking with and asked if I could change to the shorter kayak tour that went to a nearby lake and kayaked around the icebergs in the lake.

It would have been nice to see Columbia glacier, but it was also nice to have a shorter day.  There were no whales in the lake.  Although the lake is 600+/- feet deep.  There were only 5 of us plus the guide.  That was a nice sized group.  We paddled around the lake.  Made a shore stop for lunch and then paddled some more. 

The clouds finally lifted.  It’s nothing but steep mountains everywhere.  It’s impossible to tell that this is a port town as every finger of land has mountains on it.  It looks like you are in a mountain-locked bowl.  The mountains rise straight up from sea level – nothing gradual here.  It really is so stunning.

Our tour guide raved about some of the food trucks in town, so I had some ginger chicken from the Thai food truck after we got back.  Later, I went for a walk around the neighborhood with Hannah and Colin and the dogs.  Saw a mamma and baby moose in their backyard. 

I am so in love with ice.  I’m completely drawn in by it.  I’ve seen glaciers and ice before, and it still feels like my first encounter with it.  I love the shades of blue, black, white, and clear.  It has so many textures.  Some ice is smooth, clear, and glistening, like ice cubes in your glass.  Some of the clear ice has beautiful patterns of cracks and bubbles trapped below the smooth surface.  Other ice is dimpled, opaque, and looks fuzzy like a stuffed animal from afar.  There are black streaks where the glacier wore down rocke into a fine black dust.  Some icebergs still have rocks in them, or the ice above the rocks melted, leaving a roof of black rocks.  These icebergs look like the shoreline, but they aren’t.  There are holes, caverns, ice bridges, and mini waterfalls.  We kayaked through open water and mini canyons of ice. 

Alaska

On By rrainefioreIn Beautiful Things, TravelLeave a comment

Days 11 and 12 of my roadtrip were mostly driving. I left Whitehorse and got to drive past Kluane National Park again. It was just as beautiful. The road was quite bad most of the way. There were giant potholes and undulations in the pavement that almost threw you into the air, or maybe they did. So there was quite a bit of speeding up, cussing and slowing down.

I got to the Alaska US border. The border guy was way less enjoyable than the guy when I entered Canada. He started off with an accusatory tone like how dare I try to come into the US and just kept going.

Border Dude: “Where are you going”?

Me: “Valdez”.

BD: “Why”?

Me: “To visit my friends that just moved there and bring them their truck”. [In my head: To see Alaska, duh]

BD: “Why are you driving it”?

Me: “Because they just moved there”. [As I just told you]

BD: “Why didn’t they drive it”?

Me: “Because 2 people can’t drive 3 vehicles. [in my head: haven’t you ever moved?]

BD: “What are their names”?

Me: “Hannah and Colin” [You know them?]

BD: “How are you getting home”?

Me: “Flying” [This is not the job for you].

He did let me through, but I still don’t understand why he had such a chip on his shoulder. The rest of the drive to Tok was beautiful as was the next day to Valdez. The leaves were even more yellow than the Yukon. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see much of the mountains in Valdez because it was cloudy and raining. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. The clouds were stunning. They engulfed everything around them or they outlined other things. It was a quiet, heavy, and beautiful. Also so fun to see Hannah and Colin’s new home!

One Girl, One Truck, 3118 Miles

On By rrainefioreIn Travel4 Comments

I haven’t written in a long time! But, this might be interesting to write about.

My friend moved to Alaska. A couple of weeks before she had to leave, the company that they were going to ship their truck through canceled on them. She posted on Facebook, “Does anyone want to drive our truck to Alaska”? Um…. yea…. I do. Several of my friends had the same thought, but I guess I had the thought sooner. As luck would have it, I happened to retire from my engineering career yesterday so I have some time on my hands. I leave tomorrow on a sure to be delightful road trip, just me, the mountains and the road. I have some fun excursions planned for the trip. This seems like a wonderful way to celebrate the end of a career and the beginning of a new life unknown. Goodbye to the old me and hello to whatever is to come, whatever is already here that I haven’t discovered yet.