Well, for the first time in many years, I got together enough stuff and know how to go hunting this year. I don't have a bow, so I stick to gun season. When a co-worker, Frank McPherson, said he wanted to go, I quickly jumped at the opportunity. We decided on a location in East Fork Lake State Park that was open to the public. Frank decided to scout the area a little during bow season (he bow hunts). The morning of opening day came and we were out of the house by about 5:30 a.m. to arrive at our location about 6:30. Sunrise was set for about 7:30. As we started to pull up on the spot he had picked out, we found about 20 cars parked in the lot with about 2-3 hunters per car. This is for hunting an area only a couple square miles. Lets see..... 20 cars times 2.5 hunters = 50 hunters for this area. There was no way for that many people to hunt without watching each other hunt (not safe)! They would be on top of each other. We decided to go further down the road and see if we could work our way in by the lake away from most others. Few cars were down that far, so we gave it a try. After about an hour of working our way through thick woods in the dark, we tried to settle in a thick area before daylight was completely on us. Nothing happening. We heard about 6 gunshots all morning. On our way out, we found a much more open area that didn't look like it was over run with people.....but it was time to go home to go to work.
The next morning, we went to the more open area. All morning, I had a good feeling about the day. We drove past the parking lot that was over run the day before to find about 7 cars (less than half). A good sign. As we passed our planned trail entrance, we see a doe take off into the woods. Another good sign. We suit up and enter with our tree stands on our back. 20 yards into the trail, we spook a doe which goes running away (mind you it's pretty dark, so you can only see the white tail and the crash through the brush. I decided to get Frank into a tree in the nearby area in case the doe came back around that morning. He set up looking into the start of a deep ravine. I kept going down the trail about 1/4 mile hunting the same ravine, but around a corner from Frank. After I worked my way up my tree, I realized that I could just see Frank's orange hat if I stood. Perfect distance from each other to be hunting the same ravine. No gunshots all morning. We went into the woods at 6:30 that morning. All morning long, I heard movement in the woods and continued my good feelings. I kept telling myself we were getting a deer that day. Around 8:30 I heard the sound of a running deer coming down the ravine from Frank's location. All at once it stopped.....and BANG!!!. As I was thinking, yeah....Frank got one.....BANG!!!. He must have missed, so I got ready as I heard the crash of deer running again. Then I heard the sound of a deer bleat, the sound stop....BANG!!. Then I could hear it crash to the ground. I sat for a few more minutes, till I knew it was okay to come down, and worked my way down my tree. I headed to Frank who showed me where the doe was that he had missed twice, but got on the third shot. It was across a very deep raving with very steep walls. We left our stands, and headed for it. After a few snapshots on camera phones, we field dressed it and attempted to figure out the easiest way out with it (no easy one). We attempted to drag it a little ways, but it wasn't working well. Frank decided to get it on his back and work his way up the ravine slowly. After about an hour we were able to get out of the ravine (with many rest breaks). We loaded her up and checked her in at the local check-in station.
Frank knew how to skin one (which I didn't), and neither of us had ever quartered and butchered one. So...as any country boy does...we took it back to my house and strung it in a tree after stopping by the local butcher shop for butcher paper. Frank began showing me how to skin it, which I joined in. It was remarkably easy, just time consuming. Then, we had a skinned deer. So we went online (technological country boys) to get directions on quartering and butchering. After a lot of hack sawing and butcher knife work, we got into a routine that worked well. About 4:30 that afternoon, we finished. Frank gave me a bunch of the meat, which I gladly accepted.
After a long day of work, we came out with a sense of pride and the ability to fill our stomachs. Although Frank is the one that shot it, I can't help but be just as happy as if it were mine. Quite an accomplishment to scout, stalk, hunt, kill, drag, load, check, hang, skin, saw, butcher, clean, and package a deer. I haven't filled my tag this year, but feel just as accomplished as I had. Think I may be done for the season.....or at least a while, till I run out of meat.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Police Unity Tour 2009
I am preparing to do a 4 day 300 mile bike ride with the Police Unity Tour in May 2009. It is a fundraiser/remembrance ride in honor of all the line-of-duty deaths that have occurred to police officers over the years. Every year this event grows. In 2008, they had 1000 riders as well as more than 100 support staff. The event rides from NJ to downtown Washington D.C. where there is a candlelight vigil at the Police Memorial. All of you who know me can understand why this means a lot. I have to collect a minimum of $1700 to be allowed on the ride as well as the first $500 within 2008. I am going with 4 other riders from my department, but we each have to raise $1700 a piece. We are doing various fundraisers (i.e. a softball tournament which was held in the fall and a basketball tournament that will be coming up called Springdale Madness). For all of those who wish to contribute or know someone who may please forward this cause on to them. I created a website to make donations easier at
Also, a quick widget on the right side of my blog makes donations simple. Any help you are willing to give would be greatly appreciated. For those who can't give monetary contributions, please keep me in mind as I train and make this 300 mile ride. Thanks to all.
Also, a quick widget on the right side of my blog makes donations simple. Any help you are willing to give would be greatly appreciated. For those who can't give monetary contributions, please keep me in mind as I train and make this 300 mile ride. Thanks to all.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Alaska Day 8; Whittier to Kenai Lodge
September 13 - Whittier to Kenai Lodge
Nov. 9th, 2008 at 6:23 PM
We grabbed a quick breakfast this morning and waited to disembark. That whole process went fairly smoothly. We were docked in Whittier, a tiny town about an hour from Anchorage. It's a very strange place. They only have 300 residents during tourist season and a population of 100 in winter. Most of them live in the same apartment buiding ("Begich Towers") off the lovely Prince William Sound. We boarded a coach bus with about 50 other people and got a quick (and I mean really quick) tour of the town. We had to kill time because traffic can only leave the city on the hour, and traffic can only come into the city on the half hour. Trains can come through whenever they want.
Why such a strict schedule? Because Whittier is only accessible by a single lane road that runs 2.6 miles through a mountain. The railroad tracks run on that same road. The tunnel is only open from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. in the summer and 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the winter. Apparently animals take refuge in the tunnel if it isn't closed. But this also means NOBODY can get in our out of Whittier during the closed hours. Including ambulances. Or women in labor. And there's no hospital in the town. A little backwards, no? Apparently the residents are also extremely resistant to any change or growth, so they fight to keep the status quo. Weird as it is, there's something to be said for a town that refuses to be over-industrialized or controlled by chain conglomerates and Wal-Mart.
We enjoyed a gorgeous ride through the Chugach mountains. So many fall colors on the mountains right now. The only bad thing about the ride... was that it definitely smelled a bit funky. Either someone had drenched themselves Eau de Olde this morning or the close quarters just amplified the natural scent. I mean no disrespect -- I'm sure I don't smell like roses. It was just... unpleasant. Probably exacerbated by the fact that I was really beat from our week of constant activity. Anyway, we got to Kenai Princess Lodge around 12:45. What a change from our cruise week! This place is SO mellow. We're in a cabin with a wood burning stove/fireplace and a deck view of aspen trees and a mountain.
We walked the nature trails around the lodge and probably saw 10 different types of mushrooms and lichens and fungi in just one mile.
We used the spotting scope at the main lodge to watch a mama bear and her 3 baby bears on a nearby mountainside. After that, we grabbed some lunch (bison chili and a corn muffin for me and salmon sliders with pineapple and green onion aioli for Justin), then walked around the grounds for awhile. Definitely kept our eyes peeled for bears.
After that, we came back to the room and watched Wedding Crashers until it was dinner time. So very relaxing. Dinner made us miss the ship, as we now have to pay for food. Ouch. We're uesd to "free" five course meals and endless snacks at our beck and call. Oh well, this is probably a good detox from our gluttonous lifestyle. Dinner was good, though - Justin got a monstrous & meaty pecan crusted halibut steak and I got thai salmon. We had berry cobbler and ice cream for dessert.
Chatted with the very friendly table of people next to us for awhile and from what they said, we're going to really enjoy the upcoming week. They are heading south and start their cruise portion this week. So now I'm finally caught up on the journaling, and I am going to kick back in my leather chair and watch the crackling fire. Life is darn good!
Nov. 9th, 2008 at 6:23 PM
We grabbed a quick breakfast this morning and waited to disembark. That whole process went fairly smoothly. We were docked in Whittier, a tiny town about an hour from Anchorage. It's a very strange place. They only have 300 residents during tourist season and a population of 100 in winter. Most of them live in the same apartment buiding ("Begich Towers") off the lovely Prince William Sound. We boarded a coach bus with about 50 other people and got a quick (and I mean really quick) tour of the town. We had to kill time because traffic can only leave the city on the hour, and traffic can only come into the city on the half hour. Trains can come through whenever they want.
Why such a strict schedule? Because Whittier is only accessible by a single lane road that runs 2.6 miles through a mountain. The railroad tracks run on that same road. The tunnel is only open from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. in the summer and 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the winter. Apparently animals take refuge in the tunnel if it isn't closed. But this also means NOBODY can get in our out of Whittier during the closed hours. Including ambulances. Or women in labor. And there's no hospital in the town. A little backwards, no? Apparently the residents are also extremely resistant to any change or growth, so they fight to keep the status quo. Weird as it is, there's something to be said for a town that refuses to be over-industrialized or controlled by chain conglomerates and Wal-Mart.
We enjoyed a gorgeous ride through the Chugach mountains. So many fall colors on the mountains right now. The only bad thing about the ride... was that it definitely smelled a bit funky. Either someone had drenched themselves Eau de Olde this morning or the close quarters just amplified the natural scent. I mean no disrespect -- I'm sure I don't smell like roses. It was just... unpleasant. Probably exacerbated by the fact that I was really beat from our week of constant activity. Anyway, we got to Kenai Princess Lodge around 12:45. What a change from our cruise week! This place is SO mellow. We're in a cabin with a wood burning stove/fireplace and a deck view of aspen trees and a mountain.
We walked the nature trails around the lodge and probably saw 10 different types of mushrooms and lichens and fungi in just one mile.
We used the spotting scope at the main lodge to watch a mama bear and her 3 baby bears on a nearby mountainside. After that, we grabbed some lunch (bison chili and a corn muffin for me and salmon sliders with pineapple and green onion aioli for Justin), then walked around the grounds for awhile. Definitely kept our eyes peeled for bears.
After that, we came back to the room and watched Wedding Crashers until it was dinner time. So very relaxing. Dinner made us miss the ship, as we now have to pay for food. Ouch. We're uesd to "free" five course meals and endless snacks at our beck and call. Oh well, this is probably a good detox from our gluttonous lifestyle. Dinner was good, though - Justin got a monstrous & meaty pecan crusted halibut steak and I got thai salmon. We had berry cobbler and ice cream for dessert.
Chatted with the very friendly table of people next to us for awhile and from what they said, we're going to really enjoy the upcoming week. They are heading south and start their cruise portion this week. So now I'm finally caught up on the journaling, and I am going to kick back in my leather chair and watch the crackling fire. Life is darn good!
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Alaska Day 7; College Fjord
September 12 - College Fjord
Nov. 8th, 2008 at 2:16 PM
Woke up today feeling quite icky. I recognized the symptoms of seasickness after taking a shower, and things went downhill pretty quickly. Add a monstrous caffeine headache and you've got a most unhappy Kate. I actually curled up in bed and slept until noon. Dragged my butt out of bed after that and got some lunch before going to the final naturalist talk. We stuck around and talked to Rob the Naturalist for a long time after his presentation. By the time we parted ways, we were entering College Fjord, so Justin and I ran back to the room to put on warm clothes suitable for the chilly glacier valley. As we were getting ready to head out to the deck, I remembered that we hadn't packed yet... oops! So after hastily packing up our "travel with me" and "meet me in Fairbanks" bags, we hurried up to 14 aft. Made it up there just as we were entering college Fjord.
Wow.
What a cool glacial system. Lot's of that famous "glacier breath" and crazy silty blue water. We saw a couple of calves off the Harvard Glacier, but nothing too dramatic - mostly just small cascades. The Harvard was insanely long and wide. I'll have to find out exact measurements. It's nuts how far you can see out there.
I really felt the Glacier Presence in College Fjord. It's hard to describe, but they're like ancient living creatures that have been there long before me and will still be there long after I die. They're so ridiculously huge, just unbelievably massive. Their size and age and slow, deliberate movement and breath makes being in their presence almost spiritual.
Spiritual or not, though, it got really freaking cold really freaking fast, so we went inside to the Skywalker Lounge. Managed to snag a seat next to the window with an aft glacier view. Nothing like warming up with a cup of hot chocolate and a view of such an awesome earth-altering force of nature.
We decided to eat dinner since it was our last night on the boat, and we went back to the Santa Fe restaurant. Justin got a chicken and mushroom puff pastry, Pepper Pot soup, caesar salad, medium rare prime rib and dark & white chocolate mousse dessert. I had a tres delicious seafood salad in an avocado, pureed asparagus & tapioca soup, herb crusted halibut and vanilla-honey icecream with crunchy almonds. After such a decadent feast and an exhausting week aboard the Sapphire Princess, we crashed.
Nov. 8th, 2008 at 2:16 PM
Woke up today feeling quite icky. I recognized the symptoms of seasickness after taking a shower, and things went downhill pretty quickly. Add a monstrous caffeine headache and you've got a most unhappy Kate. I actually curled up in bed and slept until noon. Dragged my butt out of bed after that and got some lunch before going to the final naturalist talk. We stuck around and talked to Rob the Naturalist for a long time after his presentation. By the time we parted ways, we were entering College Fjord, so Justin and I ran back to the room to put on warm clothes suitable for the chilly glacier valley. As we were getting ready to head out to the deck, I remembered that we hadn't packed yet... oops! So after hastily packing up our "travel with me" and "meet me in Fairbanks" bags, we hurried up to 14 aft. Made it up there just as we were entering college Fjord.
Wow.
What a cool glacial system. Lot's of that famous "glacier breath" and crazy silty blue water. We saw a couple of calves off the Harvard Glacier, but nothing too dramatic - mostly just small cascades. The Harvard was insanely long and wide. I'll have to find out exact measurements. It's nuts how far you can see out there.
I really felt the Glacier Presence in College Fjord. It's hard to describe, but they're like ancient living creatures that have been there long before me and will still be there long after I die. They're so ridiculously huge, just unbelievably massive. Their size and age and slow, deliberate movement and breath makes being in their presence almost spiritual.
Spiritual or not, though, it got really freaking cold really freaking fast, so we went inside to the Skywalker Lounge. Managed to snag a seat next to the window with an aft glacier view. Nothing like warming up with a cup of hot chocolate and a view of such an awesome earth-altering force of nature.
We decided to eat dinner since it was our last night on the boat, and we went back to the Santa Fe restaurant. Justin got a chicken and mushroom puff pastry, Pepper Pot soup, caesar salad, medium rare prime rib and dark & white chocolate mousse dessert. I had a tres delicious seafood salad in an avocado, pureed asparagus & tapioca soup, herb crusted halibut and vanilla-honey icecream with crunchy almonds. After such a decadent feast and an exhausting week aboard the Sapphire Princess, we crashed.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Alaska Day 6; Glacier Bay
September 11 - Day 6
Oct. 12th, 2008 at 10:00 AM
Glacier Bay
Woke up very early for our scenic cruising day in Glacier Bay National Park. Park rangers joined our boat first thing, and we headed into the looming fjord.
The temperatures dropped noticeably as our boat entered the narrow channel surrounded by steep slopes. We dressed accordingly. As you can tell by my ensemble, warmth trumps dignity.
(salt water ends, fresh glacier water begins)
There's just no describing the immense presence of a mass of ice thousands of years old and hundreds of feet high. The jagged bluish spikes of ice don't look THAT big...
...until you see a speck perched on the tip of one and realize it's a bald eagle (and they grow 'em big here). This bergy bit was about the size of a small car.
These glaciers are MASSIVE. We were lucky enough to see some spectacular calving. I'll never forget the sound of it - first the crackling snaps and thundery rumbling, followed by bits of snow trickling from the face. Then the dramatic detachment or lazy slide of ancient compacted ice. The falling mass hits the water, creating a very distinctive boom that can be heard after a slight sound delay. All told, we spent a few hours watching Reid, Lamplugh, Johns Hopkins and Margerie glaciers
We also saw a seal swimming alongside our boat and looking up at the boat like "Um, hey guys? You're kind of interrupting my lunch."
We went back to our room for the ride out of the park. Justin sat out on the balcony (again, SO worth it) to watch our departure. I casually asked if him if he'd seen any animals along the shoreline, to which he responded, "No, I haven--- HOLY CRAP! GIVE ME THE CAMERA!"
We did some more whale watching that afternoon and saw a few pods - one pod of 3 whales was having what looked like a lovely time waving their flukes and smacking the water. We snacked throughout the afternoon, and that, combined with the boat's increased turbulence, meant we weren't hungry for dinner.
I don't have a lot of words for today because the pictures say it all. The boat observed a moment of silence at noon to remember 9/11, which added the gravity of the day and this whole trip. I feel incredibly lucky to be here. We've experienced so many different things - radically different plantlife, animals, weather, culture and landforms. I look forward to every single day, and I can't think of anywhere else in the world I'd rather be.
Oct. 12th, 2008 at 10:00 AM
Glacier Bay
Woke up very early for our scenic cruising day in Glacier Bay National Park. Park rangers joined our boat first thing, and we headed into the looming fjord.
The temperatures dropped noticeably as our boat entered the narrow channel surrounded by steep slopes. We dressed accordingly. As you can tell by my ensemble, warmth trumps dignity.
(salt water ends, fresh glacier water begins)
There's just no describing the immense presence of a mass of ice thousands of years old and hundreds of feet high. The jagged bluish spikes of ice don't look THAT big...
...until you see a speck perched on the tip of one and realize it's a bald eagle (and they grow 'em big here). This bergy bit was about the size of a small car.
These glaciers are MASSIVE. We were lucky enough to see some spectacular calving. I'll never forget the sound of it - first the crackling snaps and thundery rumbling, followed by bits of snow trickling from the face. Then the dramatic detachment or lazy slide of ancient compacted ice. The falling mass hits the water, creating a very distinctive boom that can be heard after a slight sound delay. All told, we spent a few hours watching Reid, Lamplugh, Johns Hopkins and Margerie glaciers
We also saw a seal swimming alongside our boat and looking up at the boat like "Um, hey guys? You're kind of interrupting my lunch."
We went back to our room for the ride out of the park. Justin sat out on the balcony (again, SO worth it) to watch our departure. I casually asked if him if he'd seen any animals along the shoreline, to which he responded, "No, I haven--- HOLY CRAP! GIVE ME THE CAMERA!"
We did some more whale watching that afternoon and saw a few pods - one pod of 3 whales was having what looked like a lovely time waving their flukes and smacking the water. We snacked throughout the afternoon, and that, combined with the boat's increased turbulence, meant we weren't hungry for dinner.
I don't have a lot of words for today because the pictures say it all. The boat observed a moment of silence at noon to remember 9/11, which added the gravity of the day and this whole trip. I feel incredibly lucky to be here. We've experienced so many different things - radically different plantlife, animals, weather, culture and landforms. I look forward to every single day, and I can't think of anywhere else in the world I'd rather be.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Alaska Day 5; Skagway
Previous Entry | Next Entry
September 10 - Day 5
Oct. 8th, 2008 at 11:00 PM
Skagway
Will the beautimousness never end?!? Seriously. This place is crazy. Today was no exception. We ate breakfast a little later than usual, and the crowd was noticeably thinner (a good thing - usually it's packed). The boat actually got into the Skagway port at 6 a.m. We got off the boat right away at other ports, typically around 8. But since we had an entire day onshore (boat doesn't leave until 8:30 tonight) and no excursions booked, we took our time.
Spent the morning meandering around historic Skagway in the first real rain we've had. It's a very cute town. They've maintained a lot of their original buildings, constructed when the city grew to accommodate gold rush prospectors. Of course, we had to walk through the obligatory row of diamond and foreign gem stores squeezed in with local historic buildings and places like the Red Onion Saloon, a renowned brothel.
We wandered wetly through town for a few hours before taking refuge in a little bar/brewery (they seem to have a lot of breweries up here...). Wrote some postcards and warmed up with coffee and hot chocolate. The weather improved a little bit, but we decided it would probably be more fun to book a tour with one of the local companies than continue to wander. A lot of the Princess tours had been cancelled due to fog and rain, so we heard a lot of those people changed to the White Pass Railroad tour. In an attempt to avoid that crowd, we decided to take the Yukon Adventure Tour with the Skaguay Tour Company.
Instead of packing into a coach bus or cutesy train with 1,000 immobile people, we joined one young couple from Utah and our guide in a eight-passenger van (sidenote: I mean no disrespect to the old and/or handicapped. I love old people - ask Justin. I always point the cute ones out. They're all wonderful, friendly, sweet people... just aaaagonizingly slow).
Before we could go, I had to run about a mile back to the boat from town to get our passports. I got through security (they x-ray our bags and we have to walk through metal detectors to get back on the boat. I feel secure), grabbed the passports and hoofed it back to the pier where I caught a shuttle back to town... enter our Elderly Friends. With lots of bags and canes and coats and walkers and slowly-counted exact change for the fare. Getting on and off at every stop on the way downtown. Justin is waiting at the tour company. Our tour leaves at noon. It's 11:56. Slow.people.are.killing.me. Anyway, I made it back right at noon, and we got started on the 65 mile drive.
Holy. Cow.
Talk about a once-in-a-lifetime kind of trip. We passed through four ecosystems on our way up the coastal mountain between Skagway and the interior valley. I can't remember the official ecosystem names, but they were all distinct. Skagway gets a ton of rain, so it's pretty lush in this area. As you move up the mountain, the evergreen trees begin to radically morph. They start to shrink so much that by the time we reached the (very foggy) summit, we couldn't see any trees over 3 feet tall. Hundreds of years old, but smaller than a yardstick. An intense wind blows over the mountain for weeks at a time in winter, so the midgety trees have actually adapted to the brutal conditions up there. Natives called the wind "skagua," which turned into the town's namesake. Not only are the trees tiny, but their branches also face the same direction - another evolutionary response to the skagua.
The fog got so thick at the top of the mountain that we literally couldn't see more than 3 feet in any direction. We stopped at one point where the fog wasn't as dense so we could feel the climate (collllld and damp). Our guide also told us the wild mountain blueberries were good this time of year, so we picked a handful and ate them...
HOW COOL IS THAT??! I ate wild blueberries off the side of an Alaskan mountain. You just can't do that on the Railway Excursion. We stopped several times as we ascended into the Yukon. Once for this contortionist Sitka Black Tailed Deer:
We actually went into Canada (hence the need for passports), and the weather in the valley was completely different - sunshiney and only partly cloudy. That area (I'll just refer to it all as The Yukon) is definitely in autumn mode. The aspen trees are ridiculously golden, and a ton of red and orange foliage also set the mountains on fire. You can see it all creeping up the land.
The water is also this crazy neon teal color - a result of glacier dumping their silt in the watershed.
We followed the Klondike Highway around Tutshi ("too-shy") Lake, an enormous body of water that wraps around the mountains. Natives had this belief that Tutshi Lake holds a gigantic Fish Father and hugenormous Fish Mother who are responsible for spawning all of the smaller fish of their kind. Oddly enough, science actually backs this theory up -- it's estimated that an 80-year-old fish has spawned 70% of the local population. Cool how culture and science mesh.
We made a few stops, notably at Lake Bennett and Bove Island. These pictures say more than my words ever could, and even these images don't do the experience justice.
The tour usually ends at Bove Island, but we had a little bit of extra time. Our guide, Matt, asked if we wanted to continue into the Yukon. We all did, so we got to visit Carcross (short for Caribou Crossing).
This tiny community barely dents the sprawling valley. We visited their visitor's center and general store and took in the view. It's kind of a weirdly still town. People were probably at work and kids in school, but it seemed so... I don't know, 'still' is the best way to describe it. They're not terribly far from 2 major towns, so I'm guessing most people commute. Just another example of life slowed wayyy down to a very deliberate pace. Can't help but appreciate that. We spotted a couple of sheep on the side of a far-off mountain and took a few minutes to look at them through our guide's high-powered binoculars. Very cool.
On the way back, our guide pulled over when he spotted something he thought was a mountain goat. I have NO IDEA how he spotted it - said goat was about a billion feet up on a cliff side. Sure enough, upon further inspection we saw Mr. Goat staring us down like he owned that rock. Pretty cool goat (as goats go).
We stopped again at Bridal Veil Falls (totally original name, right?) with a bunch of people on a biking tour. I don't know how the bike tour operates without regular biker injury. It's perpetually foggy up there, but they still do excursions down the windy, wet road. Where the cars drive. In the fog. With medians ending in cliffy drops. Glad we biked in Juneau instead of Skagway!!
While stopped at Bridal Veil Falls, we saw the White Pass train cross some falls.
We got back into Skagway around 4:30. Weather had improved a little bit - I mean, it was no Yukon Valley, but at least the rain had stopped. We got a late lunch at Starfire, a Thai Place Matt recommended. WOW. We got spring rolls and fresh rockfish. Possibly the best Thai I've ever had. Good enough that Justin, who's had unimpressive experience with Thai before, decided Thai is his favorite food.
We wandered through town a little bit longer and made our way back to the boat.
We ate dinner at the Santa Fe Restaurant later in the evening. Not as impressed as the other nights (or maybe Starfire spoiled us). I had venison loin, and Justin had crab legs. He also had a hearty caribou sausage stew and I had a chilled berry soup. Like every other night, we pretty much crashed after that. These long days in ports are definitely exhausting!
September 10 - Day 5
Oct. 8th, 2008 at 11:00 PM
Skagway
Will the beautimousness never end?!? Seriously. This place is crazy. Today was no exception. We ate breakfast a little later than usual, and the crowd was noticeably thinner (a good thing - usually it's packed). The boat actually got into the Skagway port at 6 a.m. We got off the boat right away at other ports, typically around 8. But since we had an entire day onshore (boat doesn't leave until 8:30 tonight) and no excursions booked, we took our time.
Spent the morning meandering around historic Skagway in the first real rain we've had. It's a very cute town. They've maintained a lot of their original buildings, constructed when the city grew to accommodate gold rush prospectors. Of course, we had to walk through the obligatory row of diamond and foreign gem stores squeezed in with local historic buildings and places like the Red Onion Saloon, a renowned brothel.
We wandered wetly through town for a few hours before taking refuge in a little bar/brewery (they seem to have a lot of breweries up here...). Wrote some postcards and warmed up with coffee and hot chocolate. The weather improved a little bit, but we decided it would probably be more fun to book a tour with one of the local companies than continue to wander. A lot of the Princess tours had been cancelled due to fog and rain, so we heard a lot of those people changed to the White Pass Railroad tour. In an attempt to avoid that crowd, we decided to take the Yukon Adventure Tour with the Skaguay Tour Company.
Instead of packing into a coach bus or cutesy train with 1,000 immobile people, we joined one young couple from Utah and our guide in a eight-passenger van (sidenote: I mean no disrespect to the old and/or handicapped. I love old people - ask Justin. I always point the cute ones out. They're all wonderful, friendly, sweet people... just aaaagonizingly slow).
Before we could go, I had to run about a mile back to the boat from town to get our passports. I got through security (they x-ray our bags and we have to walk through metal detectors to get back on the boat. I feel secure), grabbed the passports and hoofed it back to the pier where I caught a shuttle back to town... enter our Elderly Friends. With lots of bags and canes and coats and walkers and slowly-counted exact change for the fare. Getting on and off at every stop on the way downtown. Justin is waiting at the tour company. Our tour leaves at noon. It's 11:56. Slow.people.are.killing.me. Anyway, I made it back right at noon, and we got started on the 65 mile drive.
Holy. Cow.
Talk about a once-in-a-lifetime kind of trip. We passed through four ecosystems on our way up the coastal mountain between Skagway and the interior valley. I can't remember the official ecosystem names, but they were all distinct. Skagway gets a ton of rain, so it's pretty lush in this area. As you move up the mountain, the evergreen trees begin to radically morph. They start to shrink so much that by the time we reached the (very foggy) summit, we couldn't see any trees over 3 feet tall. Hundreds of years old, but smaller than a yardstick. An intense wind blows over the mountain for weeks at a time in winter, so the midgety trees have actually adapted to the brutal conditions up there. Natives called the wind "skagua," which turned into the town's namesake. Not only are the trees tiny, but their branches also face the same direction - another evolutionary response to the skagua.
The fog got so thick at the top of the mountain that we literally couldn't see more than 3 feet in any direction. We stopped at one point where the fog wasn't as dense so we could feel the climate (collllld and damp). Our guide also told us the wild mountain blueberries were good this time of year, so we picked a handful and ate them...
HOW COOL IS THAT??! I ate wild blueberries off the side of an Alaskan mountain. You just can't do that on the Railway Excursion. We stopped several times as we ascended into the Yukon. Once for this contortionist Sitka Black Tailed Deer:
We actually went into Canada (hence the need for passports), and the weather in the valley was completely different - sunshiney and only partly cloudy. That area (I'll just refer to it all as The Yukon) is definitely in autumn mode. The aspen trees are ridiculously golden, and a ton of red and orange foliage also set the mountains on fire. You can see it all creeping up the land.
The water is also this crazy neon teal color - a result of glacier dumping their silt in the watershed.
We followed the Klondike Highway around Tutshi ("too-shy") Lake, an enormous body of water that wraps around the mountains. Natives had this belief that Tutshi Lake holds a gigantic Fish Father and hugenormous Fish Mother who are responsible for spawning all of the smaller fish of their kind. Oddly enough, science actually backs this theory up -- it's estimated that an 80-year-old fish has spawned 70% of the local population. Cool how culture and science mesh.
We made a few stops, notably at Lake Bennett and Bove Island. These pictures say more than my words ever could, and even these images don't do the experience justice.
The tour usually ends at Bove Island, but we had a little bit of extra time. Our guide, Matt, asked if we wanted to continue into the Yukon. We all did, so we got to visit Carcross (short for Caribou Crossing).
This tiny community barely dents the sprawling valley. We visited their visitor's center and general store and took in the view. It's kind of a weirdly still town. People were probably at work and kids in school, but it seemed so... I don't know, 'still' is the best way to describe it. They're not terribly far from 2 major towns, so I'm guessing most people commute. Just another example of life slowed wayyy down to a very deliberate pace. Can't help but appreciate that. We spotted a couple of sheep on the side of a far-off mountain and took a few minutes to look at them through our guide's high-powered binoculars. Very cool.
On the way back, our guide pulled over when he spotted something he thought was a mountain goat. I have NO IDEA how he spotted it - said goat was about a billion feet up on a cliff side. Sure enough, upon further inspection we saw Mr. Goat staring us down like he owned that rock. Pretty cool goat (as goats go).
We stopped again at Bridal Veil Falls (totally original name, right?) with a bunch of people on a biking tour. I don't know how the bike tour operates without regular biker injury. It's perpetually foggy up there, but they still do excursions down the windy, wet road. Where the cars drive. In the fog. With medians ending in cliffy drops. Glad we biked in Juneau instead of Skagway!!
While stopped at Bridal Veil Falls, we saw the White Pass train cross some falls.
We got back into Skagway around 4:30. Weather had improved a little bit - I mean, it was no Yukon Valley, but at least the rain had stopped. We got a late lunch at Starfire, a Thai Place Matt recommended. WOW. We got spring rolls and fresh rockfish. Possibly the best Thai I've ever had. Good enough that Justin, who's had unimpressive experience with Thai before, decided Thai is his favorite food.
We wandered through town a little bit longer and made our way back to the boat.
We ate dinner at the Santa Fe Restaurant later in the evening. Not as impressed as the other nights (or maybe Starfire spoiled us). I had venison loin, and Justin had crab legs. He also had a hearty caribou sausage stew and I had a chilled berry soup. Like every other night, we pretty much crashed after that. These long days in ports are definitely exhausting!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Alaska Day 4 ; Juneau
Sept 9, 2008 - Alaska Adventure
Oct. 5th, 2008 at 7:48 PM
Juneau
Days are still getting better and better. Woke up at 6:30 as we entered the Juneau area. Justin ran to top deck to watch our entry. I, however, was still slightly exhausted and took my time getting ready. He saw some huge moutainy waterfalls as we came into port.
We met up for breakfast before heading into town. Our long anticipated Bike & Brew wasn't until 2, so we decided to spend some morning time getting to know Juneau. We saw the state capitol building, which was fairly unimpressive. It's one of the only capitol buildings in America without a dome. Apparently a lot of government meetings are held in Anchorage anyway, even though Juneau is the capitol. Later on we saw the governor's mansion, too. Palin doesn't live there, much to the chagrin of Juneauites (Juneauans?)... we could tell by the plethora of Obama signs in the neighbor's yard. We gave our legs a pretty good workout by walking around historic downtown, visiting the famous Red Dog Saloon and dodging the numerous jewelry stores.
(the dinky capitol building)
Juneau is the second largest city in the world. It's over 3,000 square miles in area. Still, by about 9:30, we'd seen as much of Juneau as we could on foot. We stretched out things and just sort of wandered around more until finally sitting down at a local coffee shop for coffee, hot chocolate and "Mt. Juneau" Gelato. Made our way back to the boat for lunch before our afternoon excursion...
The Bike & Brew was TOTALLY the highlight of today. I feel like we really saw Alaska. We had 8 riders in our group -- us, a middle-aged couple from Orlando, an old couple from England and an old couple from Australia. Most of the bike ride was smooth, cool and serene, always with lush mountain views and often with postcard panoramas of the Mendenhall Glacier. We stopped briefly on the banks of Auke Lake, which is right below Mendenhall. Big chunks fo ice (bergy bits - that's actually the technical term if I haven't already mentioned it) floated in the weirdly teal-ish lake. Got some cool glacier pictures, drank hot apple cider and just marveled at the wonders that we're privileged to count as part of our country. Awesome.
After our brief stop on Auke Lake's beach, we continued riding to a wooded dirt trail. I can't possibly describe the incredible beauty of this ride (I have a feeling I'm going to run out of words pretty quickly when detailing this trip). It's like something out of a dream, and I can honestly say it's the most beautiful thing I've ever experienced in my entire life. As one guy put it, it wouldn't be entirely surprising to see hobbits and fairies coming out of the forest. Everything was covered in moss, making the trees and boulders look soft enough to sleep on. The trees let in this storybook kind of light that just soaked into the moss. Saw a few well-placed waterfalls within the woods, making it even more unreal. This is my new "happy place," a picture of such natural serenity and comfort that I will remember forever. No wonder the bears like it!
Once the riding portion ended, we got to walk around the Mendenhall visitor area to look for bears (they're very active lately since the salmon run is in full swing). Saw lots of tourists and no bears... until we were walking back to the bus and a HUGE black bear ran across the road less than 100 yards ahead of us. I'll be the first to admit that my initial instinct told me to run at the bear to get pictures. Thankfully, millions of years of ancestral evolution quelled that stupidity before I had a chance to act on it. My species didn't survive by running at 400 pound animals with nothing but a (heavy, yet insufficiently dangerous) camera as weaponry. I tried to get a picture from a safe distance, but he lumbered into the woods before I could adjust my settings. Still... we've been here FOUR DAYS and we've seen salmon, whales, sea lions, dolphins and a BEAR. This vacation is officially exceptional.
(Can you see the bear?)
After the Big Ass Bear encounter, we loaded into the van for a visit to the Alaska Brewing Company for free beer samples. As in 6 ounce glasses of all-you-can-drink beery goodness. I tried their Summer Ale, Winter Ale (made with spruce tips), Alaska Ale, Alaskan Amber, Oatmeal Stout and Smoky Porter. I shared some with Justin, as they packed a pretty good punch. All actually tasted quite good, even the kinds I wasn't sure I'd like. The brewery tasting tour is free to anyone who wants to partake. Alaska law won't let them give it away if it's too much like a bar, so the Brewing Co. doesn't have any seats and doesn't serve food. (After a few of the tasty beverages, though, nobody cared that we had to stand). Sadly, we had to leave.
Justin and I went to dinner with the Florida couple at Taku, and amazing fish smokery / restaurant. Got salmon tacos, salmon croquettes and clam chowder. Also picked up some hot smoked salmon for eating tomorrow. Mmmm. Most people have tried the cold smoked variety, but hot smoked seems to be the preferred local method. Little pinecone looking things from alder trees smoke and allow the salty brine to preserve the salmon. Good stuff.
We made it back to the boat and decided to take photos of our departure from Juneau. Grabbed the tripod and headed up to top deck as we pulled away to port.
We decided to take advantage of one of the ship's many hot tubs that evening, so we suited up and went to 14 aft. I've heard sitting in a warm, bubbly pool in cold weather is actually quite enjoyable. I don't doubt this, but the 15 seconds between disrobing and submerging... not so pleasant. The tub wasn't as warm as we'd hoped, so I took one for the team and ran across the deck to test the other tub. I managed not to slip and break my face (which would have frozen to the deck like a tongue on metal...okay, maybe I'm exaggerating), and frostbite didn't damage anything important. Not sure if it was actually warmer than the other tub, but it sure felt better than the 40ish degree air. I told Justin to come on over, and we relaxed for about 15 minutes before it started raining on us.
Inevitably, we had to walk through the open air to get back into the ship. I chose to ignore the possibility of people walking by and giving me weird looks... Re-clothing on the inside of the entrance door/hallway just seemed smarter than standing in the wind. Dignity schmignity.
After tubbing, we headed back to the room to crash. Another long, fabulous day in paradise!
Oct. 5th, 2008 at 7:48 PM
Juneau
Days are still getting better and better. Woke up at 6:30 as we entered the Juneau area. Justin ran to top deck to watch our entry. I, however, was still slightly exhausted and took my time getting ready. He saw some huge moutainy waterfalls as we came into port.
We met up for breakfast before heading into town. Our long anticipated Bike & Brew wasn't until 2, so we decided to spend some morning time getting to know Juneau. We saw the state capitol building, which was fairly unimpressive. It's one of the only capitol buildings in America without a dome. Apparently a lot of government meetings are held in Anchorage anyway, even though Juneau is the capitol. Later on we saw the governor's mansion, too. Palin doesn't live there, much to the chagrin of Juneauites (Juneauans?)... we could tell by the plethora of Obama signs in the neighbor's yard. We gave our legs a pretty good workout by walking around historic downtown, visiting the famous Red Dog Saloon and dodging the numerous jewelry stores.
(the dinky capitol building)
Juneau is the second largest city in the world. It's over 3,000 square miles in area. Still, by about 9:30, we'd seen as much of Juneau as we could on foot. We stretched out things and just sort of wandered around more until finally sitting down at a local coffee shop for coffee, hot chocolate and "Mt. Juneau" Gelato. Made our way back to the boat for lunch before our afternoon excursion...
The Bike & Brew was TOTALLY the highlight of today. I feel like we really saw Alaska. We had 8 riders in our group -- us, a middle-aged couple from Orlando, an old couple from England and an old couple from Australia. Most of the bike ride was smooth, cool and serene, always with lush mountain views and often with postcard panoramas of the Mendenhall Glacier. We stopped briefly on the banks of Auke Lake, which is right below Mendenhall. Big chunks fo ice (bergy bits - that's actually the technical term if I haven't already mentioned it) floated in the weirdly teal-ish lake. Got some cool glacier pictures, drank hot apple cider and just marveled at the wonders that we're privileged to count as part of our country. Awesome.
After our brief stop on Auke Lake's beach, we continued riding to a wooded dirt trail. I can't possibly describe the incredible beauty of this ride (I have a feeling I'm going to run out of words pretty quickly when detailing this trip). It's like something out of a dream, and I can honestly say it's the most beautiful thing I've ever experienced in my entire life. As one guy put it, it wouldn't be entirely surprising to see hobbits and fairies coming out of the forest. Everything was covered in moss, making the trees and boulders look soft enough to sleep on. The trees let in this storybook kind of light that just soaked into the moss. Saw a few well-placed waterfalls within the woods, making it even more unreal. This is my new "happy place," a picture of such natural serenity and comfort that I will remember forever. No wonder the bears like it!
Once the riding portion ended, we got to walk around the Mendenhall visitor area to look for bears (they're very active lately since the salmon run is in full swing). Saw lots of tourists and no bears... until we were walking back to the bus and a HUGE black bear ran across the road less than 100 yards ahead of us. I'll be the first to admit that my initial instinct told me to run at the bear to get pictures. Thankfully, millions of years of ancestral evolution quelled that stupidity before I had a chance to act on it. My species didn't survive by running at 400 pound animals with nothing but a (heavy, yet insufficiently dangerous) camera as weaponry. I tried to get a picture from a safe distance, but he lumbered into the woods before I could adjust my settings. Still... we've been here FOUR DAYS and we've seen salmon, whales, sea lions, dolphins and a BEAR. This vacation is officially exceptional.
(Can you see the bear?)
After the Big Ass Bear encounter, we loaded into the van for a visit to the Alaska Brewing Company for free beer samples. As in 6 ounce glasses of all-you-can-drink beery goodness. I tried their Summer Ale, Winter Ale (made with spruce tips), Alaska Ale, Alaskan Amber, Oatmeal Stout and Smoky Porter. I shared some with Justin, as they packed a pretty good punch. All actually tasted quite good, even the kinds I wasn't sure I'd like. The brewery tasting tour is free to anyone who wants to partake. Alaska law won't let them give it away if it's too much like a bar, so the Brewing Co. doesn't have any seats and doesn't serve food. (After a few of the tasty beverages, though, nobody cared that we had to stand). Sadly, we had to leave.
Justin and I went to dinner with the Florida couple at Taku, and amazing fish smokery / restaurant. Got salmon tacos, salmon croquettes and clam chowder. Also picked up some hot smoked salmon for eating tomorrow. Mmmm. Most people have tried the cold smoked variety, but hot smoked seems to be the preferred local method. Little pinecone looking things from alder trees smoke and allow the salty brine to preserve the salmon. Good stuff.
We made it back to the boat and decided to take photos of our departure from Juneau. Grabbed the tripod and headed up to top deck as we pulled away to port.
We decided to take advantage of one of the ship's many hot tubs that evening, so we suited up and went to 14 aft. I've heard sitting in a warm, bubbly pool in cold weather is actually quite enjoyable. I don't doubt this, but the 15 seconds between disrobing and submerging... not so pleasant. The tub wasn't as warm as we'd hoped, so I took one for the team and ran across the deck to test the other tub. I managed not to slip and break my face (which would have frozen to the deck like a tongue on metal...okay, maybe I'm exaggerating), and frostbite didn't damage anything important. Not sure if it was actually warmer than the other tub, but it sure felt better than the 40ish degree air. I told Justin to come on over, and we relaxed for about 15 minutes before it started raining on us.
Inevitably, we had to walk through the open air to get back into the ship. I chose to ignore the possibility of people walking by and giving me weird looks... Re-clothing on the inside of the entrance door/hallway just seemed smarter than standing in the wind. Dignity schmignity.
After tubbing, we headed back to the room to crash. Another long, fabulous day in paradise!
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Alaska Day 3; Ketchikan
Day 3 - September 8, 2008
Sep. 27th, 2008 at 3:10 PM
Each day keeps getting better! Woke up at 6 a.m. and opened my eyes to look out our balcony door at Ketchikan's mountains and a gorgeous blue sky. That view, combined with the cool Alaska morning air (we slept with the door cracked open) made a wakeup experience I will likely think about (with envy) every remaining Monday morning of my life.
We grabbed a quick breakfast before leaving the boat for our first excursion - the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show, which we enjoyed. The lumberjacks... lumberjacked (springboard, boom run, log rolling, chopping contests, etc) and injected a fair bit of comedy and audience interaction. One lady got to take home a tiny log chair carved with a chainsaw in front of our very eyes.
The show lasted about 45 minutes, giving us almost an hour and a half before our next excursion. This was good timing, since we had to be back on the boat by 1:30 p.m. for a 2 p.m. departure. We used the time to meander around Ketchikan. Most notably, we visited Creek Street, which runs along Ketchikan Creek.
The Coho (silver) salmon and pink salmon are still running, so we got to see thousands of big fish stuffed into this tiny river. Watched them traveling upstream... such a weird phenomenon.
They work so hard to jump up waterfalls and crazy obstacles just to lay their eggs and die. I wonder if they realize they're going to kick the bucket soon. I think the hundreds of already-dead fish might clue them in. That's a lot of work with a morbid payoff. Other than seeing the salmon (who aren't on the cruise company's payroll), we found Ketchikan surprisingly touristy. And I don't so much mean that local people were the ones trying to make a dollar on we vacationers -- I would expect and even support that. Tons of jewelry stores selling tanzanite and diamonds and amorite and Guess watches and "gold in quartz" clogged the streets. They all bail in winter season, leaving boarded up stores all over the city. Kind of sad. Ketchikan did seem like a cute town, though, once we got past "cruise city." Definitely wish we had more time to explore the park behind Creek Street. The region is literally a rainforest. I always equated rainforest with heat, but I now understand how cooler temperatures and such a lush, verdant environment can coexist.
We got back to the boat around 11:20 since our "Totems Traditions Tour" met to leave at 11:35. Found the tour lady after a few minutes. She seemed a bit frazzled - checked our tickets and told us to sit on a bench until the second bus came (first was apparently full). Flash forward 40 minutes.... still no bus, and tour lady is hiding in a van somewhere while 8 frustrated tourists sit on a bench waiting... Finally one of our fellow benchmates found tour lady, who had apparently FORGOTTEN ABOUT US. She ended up just piling us into the van and driving us to the totem park. Once we got there, the mood lightened considerably. Our actual tour guide was great - very mellow, knowledgeable and subtley quite funny. The totem park was lovely. We walked through the slightly chilly forest until it opened up to a big lake. Several tall totem poles stood around the like like they were watching the water.
We didn't have time to do any more sightseeing after the totem tour since we had to be back at the boat by 1:30. Our forgotten gang of 8 went straight to the tour desk to complain about our unpleasant tour lady and missing part of the excursion. They ended up comping half of the price (yay!). Justin and I went to the Princess Theater for another naturalist talk after that - this one about Alaska's geology and glacier science. Cool stuff. Afterwards, we joined Rob the Naturalist and others in the Wheelhouse Bar for post-presentation discussion. Topics of conversation ended up ranging from Palin again to climate change to healthcare. All really interesting and surpringly not too controversial. We went up to 14 aft after that for more whale watching. Not long after we got there, we saw what looked like "lensing," an effect that happens when whales are bubblenet feeding. Sure enough, whales started diving in those areas! Got some excellent tail photos. Seeing humpbacks that close is just beyond amazing.
The whales eventually left (or the boat left them), but we got to watch a gorgeous sunset.
Once it got dark, we changed into our "smart casual" ensemble again and went to dinner, this time at the Italian-themed Vivaldi Restaurant. Our ridiculously decadent dinner included:
Justin - shrimp cocktail, eggplant parmigiana, a WEIRD jellied beef consomme (aka clear cow jello), a spinach salad, aged NY strip steak and the previously-mentioned Love Boat dessert.
Kate - Proscuitto crudo with melon (I could have died happy right at that table. SO GOOD), rustic minestrone, spinach salad, rabbit with homemade noodles / brown gravy / bell peppers, and tiramisu.
Yeah, after such gluttony, we just went to bed. The boat hit some rough water as we did, but exhaustion and the food coma quickly overruled that sensation. We passed out, so in love with Alaska already and looking forward to another port day!
Sep. 27th, 2008 at 3:10 PM
Each day keeps getting better! Woke up at 6 a.m. and opened my eyes to look out our balcony door at Ketchikan's mountains and a gorgeous blue sky. That view, combined with the cool Alaska morning air (we slept with the door cracked open) made a wakeup experience I will likely think about (with envy) every remaining Monday morning of my life.
We grabbed a quick breakfast before leaving the boat for our first excursion - the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show, which we enjoyed. The lumberjacks... lumberjacked (springboard, boom run, log rolling, chopping contests, etc) and injected a fair bit of comedy and audience interaction. One lady got to take home a tiny log chair carved with a chainsaw in front of our very eyes.
The show lasted about 45 minutes, giving us almost an hour and a half before our next excursion. This was good timing, since we had to be back on the boat by 1:30 p.m. for a 2 p.m. departure. We used the time to meander around Ketchikan. Most notably, we visited Creek Street, which runs along Ketchikan Creek.
The Coho (silver) salmon and pink salmon are still running, so we got to see thousands of big fish stuffed into this tiny river. Watched them traveling upstream... such a weird phenomenon.
They work so hard to jump up waterfalls and crazy obstacles just to lay their eggs and die. I wonder if they realize they're going to kick the bucket soon. I think the hundreds of already-dead fish might clue them in. That's a lot of work with a morbid payoff. Other than seeing the salmon (who aren't on the cruise company's payroll), we found Ketchikan surprisingly touristy. And I don't so much mean that local people were the ones trying to make a dollar on we vacationers -- I would expect and even support that. Tons of jewelry stores selling tanzanite and diamonds and amorite and Guess watches and "gold in quartz" clogged the streets. They all bail in winter season, leaving boarded up stores all over the city. Kind of sad. Ketchikan did seem like a cute town, though, once we got past "cruise city." Definitely wish we had more time to explore the park behind Creek Street. The region is literally a rainforest. I always equated rainforest with heat, but I now understand how cooler temperatures and such a lush, verdant environment can coexist.
We got back to the boat around 11:20 since our "Totems Traditions Tour" met to leave at 11:35. Found the tour lady after a few minutes. She seemed a bit frazzled - checked our tickets and told us to sit on a bench until the second bus came (first was apparently full). Flash forward 40 minutes.... still no bus, and tour lady is hiding in a van somewhere while 8 frustrated tourists sit on a bench waiting... Finally one of our fellow benchmates found tour lady, who had apparently FORGOTTEN ABOUT US. She ended up just piling us into the van and driving us to the totem park. Once we got there, the mood lightened considerably. Our actual tour guide was great - very mellow, knowledgeable and subtley quite funny. The totem park was lovely. We walked through the slightly chilly forest until it opened up to a big lake. Several tall totem poles stood around the like like they were watching the water.
We didn't have time to do any more sightseeing after the totem tour since we had to be back at the boat by 1:30. Our forgotten gang of 8 went straight to the tour desk to complain about our unpleasant tour lady and missing part of the excursion. They ended up comping half of the price (yay!). Justin and I went to the Princess Theater for another naturalist talk after that - this one about Alaska's geology and glacier science. Cool stuff. Afterwards, we joined Rob the Naturalist and others in the Wheelhouse Bar for post-presentation discussion. Topics of conversation ended up ranging from Palin again to climate change to healthcare. All really interesting and surpringly not too controversial. We went up to 14 aft after that for more whale watching. Not long after we got there, we saw what looked like "lensing," an effect that happens when whales are bubblenet feeding. Sure enough, whales started diving in those areas! Got some excellent tail photos. Seeing humpbacks that close is just beyond amazing.
The whales eventually left (or the boat left them), but we got to watch a gorgeous sunset.
Once it got dark, we changed into our "smart casual" ensemble again and went to dinner, this time at the Italian-themed Vivaldi Restaurant. Our ridiculously decadent dinner included:
Justin - shrimp cocktail, eggplant parmigiana, a WEIRD jellied beef consomme (aka clear cow jello), a spinach salad, aged NY strip steak and the previously-mentioned Love Boat dessert.
Kate - Proscuitto crudo with melon (I could have died happy right at that table. SO GOOD), rustic minestrone, spinach salad, rabbit with homemade noodles / brown gravy / bell peppers, and tiramisu.
Yeah, after such gluttony, we just went to bed. The boat hit some rough water as we did, but exhaustion and the food coma quickly overruled that sensation. We passed out, so in love with Alaska already and looking forward to another port day!
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Alaska Day 2
Day 2 - September 7, 2008
Sep. 26th, 2008 at 7:51 PM
10:56 Vancouver Time / 9:56 Alaska Time
It's almost Ketchikan (AK) time. We had a relaxing but full day at sea today. But first I'll recap the rest of last night. We got to the show about 25 minutes before it started. Got good seats in the surprisingly large theater.
The show was decent once it started. My eyelids were verrrry heavy leading up to it, though! First the ship's entertainers sang and danced -- great choreography and mostly great singing. The cruise entertainment director introduced himself and the rest of the "specialty" directors. The comic came on after that and was quite funny. A considerable feat considering a) the crowd was uber-tired and b) he himself had been up since 3 a.m. Eastern. Came back to the room after the show ended and crashed most blissfully. I later heard that a lot of people thought the singing/dancing weren't very good. Maybe it was my exhaustion evaluating their performance...
Back to today! I woke up around sunrise and glanced outside at a gorgeous day. Went back to sleep until the alarm went off at 7:45. Look out the window to an impenetrable fog so thick there was absolutely no horizon. Weird.
Took a shower and was pleasantly surprised by the water temperature and pressure. Shower is barely big enough to turn around in, and the toilet sounds like an airplane potty, so I didn't have high hopes for the shower experience. After freshening, we headed for breakfast.
I guess they're catering to an international taste since we have travelers from all over the world -- U.S. of course, a lot of Aussies and Brits, Germans, French, Japanese, Korean and Chinese. So the breakfast buffet had a ton of unfamiliar options. They had your standard American selection of sausage, bacon, eggs, cereal, pancakes, hashbrowns, oatmeal and bagels. They also had lots of fresh fruit, yogurt, boiled tomatoes (which I'm coming to love), rice pudding, Muesli mush, fried rice and baked pears. Good stuff.
Following breakfast, we headed back to the theater for a presentation given by the ship's "local shopping expert." Yeah... We thought it was going to cover good local places to visit, maybe include some detail about our port city histories and cultures. Turned out to be a realllly long infomercial for chain jewelry stores that, incidentally, have some ties to our cruise company. By the end, we were sick of hearing about Diamonds International (sounds totally local, doesn't it?). I think the "local shopping expert" gets a commission from them.
Once that presentation finished, we stuck around for the naturalist's talk about Alaskan wildlife. Having just sat through a painful infomercial, we were worried that he would be discussing canary diamonds or something. He was awesome, though. Funny, engaging and super informative. And not selling anything. That presentation lasted about an hour, after which we headed up to the Calypso Deck for a SUSHI BUFFET! It was a step above grocery store sushi, but not quite as good as restaurant sushi. Some rolls were better than others. Can't go wrong with salmon, but the ones with royal purple rice and picked veggies weren't so fabulous. Overall it was decent and very filling. A very nice older couple joined our table, and we chatted for about 15 minutes. I love how friendly everyone is on this boat! Joining strangers' tables isn't something you usually see back home. It's just easy to talk to people here.
Justin and I went to the naturalist's 3:00 show about whales after finishing lunch. Again, hilarious, interesting and educational. Aaaand Justin and I got to be on TV. All the presentations are taped and played back on the ship's channel on all our room TVs. The naturalist, Rob, asked for 4 kid volunteers. There was ONE KID under 15 in this room of 200ish people. So he asked for people 25 and under... Justin and I slowwwwly raised our hands when it became evident that there weren't going to be many other U25ers. We joined the little kid and another kid who looked about 18 onstage.
Me & the 2 other guys got to play the role of krill (tiny shrimp that whales eat). Justin played the whale. Our newly assembled troupe did a Broadway-worthy rendition of whales casting bubblenets to corral and eat krill. In nature, whales will swim in tight circles to out the less-than-brilliant krill, who bunch together in their panic... creating a tasty krill meatball for said whales to easily eat. I'll let you imagine this scene onstage. Justin "swam" around us and made some awesome bubble noises into the mic while we screamed in tiny shrimp voices. Needless to say, our performance garnered laughs, compliments and a horde of devoted admirers. One guy told Justin, "I took a picture of you onstage, and you might be the only whale I see on this trip!" I wish we'd thought to ask him to email the photo to us, as we have no lasting evidence of our epic moment in the limelight.
Once the show finished and our 15 minutes of fame concluded, we hung out in the lobby with Rob the Naturalist for awhile. Conversation ranged widely, and we discussed the politics of native whale hunting, ANWR drilling and Sarah Palin.
Got all gussied up after that for our first formal dinner. Went to the Savoy tonight and sat very near a window this time. The two couples next to us ended up being very nice, and we had a great time chatting about travel, families, etc. Not long after we sat down, a large pod of tiny dolphins started playing next to the boat. Like RIGHT outside our window! They were incredible - leaping over waves, flipping and generally being happy. Food was quite delicious tonight. We started with a free bottle of wine, courtesy of our travel agent (thanks again, Cruise Holidays!). We picked an Italian red that was surprisingly awesome (usually we drink white -if any- wine, but tonight we thought we'd go for something different).
The first course included the MOST AMAZING crab quiche on the face of this beautiful planet and sliced duck with a raspberry saucy drizzle. Our soup course: lobster bisque with big lobstery chunks and a chilled yogurt & tamarind soup with lemon zest. Tasted like a melty lemon creamcicle. Dinner course: grilled Ketchikan silver salmon in dill butter for moi (I'm eating all the fish I can fit in my face) and a crawfish dish with a light tomato base & saffron for Justin. Dessert: Justin got an assortment of petit fours - fudge, compressed nut, cream puff and a weird chocolately liqueur ball covered in sprinkles. Our waiter, Yves, ROCKED. Just pleasant and really funny. He gave one of our table friends a trick spoon for his souffle. I also got the souffle, which was a decadent chocolate and hazelnut creation. So light and super moist, plus the million calorie buttery vanilla cream sauce that came on the side. I drowned mine in the vanilla goodness and devoured every bite. I thought about eating the rest of the creamy sauce with my spoon, but I managed to resist. Though in our defense, we've been taking the stairs instead of elevators, so I'm sure we're working off all this lard (hah).
After dinner, we went to 7-aft to whale watch. Saw a sea lion or seal (he was only viewable with binoculars) playing in a floating kelp bed.
And very briefly, we saw our first WHALE! He was fairly close, and we could see him spraying water at the surface. Suuuuper cool. Hoping to see more this week. We hung out in a hot tub after that - there are four tubs to choose from in various outdoor locations. We stayed until it started to sprinkle on us. All the hot tubs and pools are heated, of course, but that doesn't make getting out any easier. Ouch, my friends. Ouch.
We're up really early tomorrow for our first port day in Ketchikan. I'm exhaustified and very glad we gain an hour as we pass into the Alaska time zone tonight!
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Alaska..first day
As aformentioned, here is the start of our trip. Kate is the author of this, so you are reading her writing. Just easier that way.
Without much ado, here is the first of many trip chronicles.....
THE ALASKA ADVENTURE
September 6, 2008
5:31 a.m. Eastern Time
The year-long anticipation is over! We're on our way to Alaska... Just ate a Clif bar, and the world is a lovelier place :) For the record, 3:10 a.m. is an ungodly hour to wake up. But it's worth it to be well on our way!! Okay, not many coherent sentences in my head, even with 1.5 cups of coffee under my belt. Just wanted to say VACATION HAS OFFICIALLY STARTED!! WOOHOO!!
12:01 p.m. Vancouver Time
After many hours on airplanes, we're finally getting ready to land in Vancouver. Had a rude awakening about how far we're really going. After a 2 hour and 22 minute flight to Houston in a plane scarcely larger than my Honda Fit, I was like, "Ah, now for the vacation part after our brief flight to Vancouver." Looked at the itinerary... "brief" was actually about 4.5 hours. The flight has gone by surprisingly fast, though. Probably a combo of my confused-woke-up-at-3-a.m. brain, the constant goodies/water/drinks from our flight attendant, the considerably roomier plane and... all the cool sights we saw! Flew over Yellowstone NP; Grand Junction, CO; the Rocky Mountains, Mt. Ranier and what's left of Mt. Saint Helens. Can't wait to deplane and head for ze boat!
3:35 p.m. - Vancouver
Things I think I'm going to do a lot of for the next 2 weeks:
* Pee my pants with excitement/awe
* Pick stuff up when old people drop it
Off to dinner!
7:35 p.m. - Northwest of Vancouver @ Sea
I'm so at a loss for words when it comes to describing how incredibly amazed I'm feeling. It's our first time on a cruise ship, and anybody who has cruised understands that sense of awe when you first realize how ridiculously HUGE the ship actually is... how strange it feels to glance out a window (and they're everywhere) and see water flying by. Add that shock to the gorgeous Pacific Northwest.
I'm currently sitting on our balcony (yeah, SO worth the splurge) watching the sun set over the mountains. Like, real mountains, not just overlarge rolling hills like we get in the Midwest. We're talking some craggy peaks. Justin is next to me, reading info about our floating city, a.k.a. the Sapphire Princess.
After finding our room, we headed to our "muster stations," or where we'll assemble if there's a ship emergency. I won't make any jokes about hitting icebergs because um... yeah... too close to home (literally). After our muster exercise wherein we learned to correctly don life jackets, Justin and I hung out on the windy top deck for awhile to witness our departure from port.
I have something to admit, friends. I, like most people my age (which would be about 5 on this boat, Justin and myself included)- did have the urge the urge to reenact a number of Titanic scenes when the top deck breeze ruffled my hair (i.e. gales that blew so strongly they almost blew the straw out of my soda). However, you'll be glad to know that I stifled said urge in the name of dignity (Justin's).
Anyway, it's an incredible day to set sail. 80 degrees Fahrenheit (that's 25 degrees Celsius! I learned how to do that today -- subtract 30, then half that number). Sunny outside and just gorgeous. After watching the port disappear, we wandered around the boat for a bit, discovering cool stuff like the heated pools and jacuzzis outside, the tennis court, a big chess board and shuffleboard.
We eventually made our way back to the room and changed for dinner. Dress code on most nights is apparently "smart casual" ... so I guess I'll be wearing the one skirt every night, as jeans aren't permitted in dining rooms. Oops. Missed that memo. Glad we're not doing the "traditional dining" option where you sit with the same people nightly.
We went to Pacific Moon for dinner tonight. There are four main "anytime dining" restaurants that serve the same menu. The dining rooms do offer one specialty item unique to each place. We got a lobster, crab and scallop appetizer that looked like Fancy Fish Spam. A little weird, but not bad. We also got a spring roll appetizer, which was pretty tasty. Came with an odd sweet and sourish mustard sauce. Justin ordered the "Cajun crockpot with spicy shrimp." Kind of a pot pie filled with shrimp, mussels and crab in a cajun tomato-based sauce. Looked awesome and he said he enjoyed it muchly. I ordered salmon ("lemon scented") that came with carrots, a hunk of zucchini, a boiled potato and what seemed to be a boiled tomato (which was actually SO GOOD). All garnished with a grilled lemon. Very light and tasty. I do love me some fish.
I was feeling pretty good about our eating so far. We haven't been guzzling booze or consuming every non-toxic item in sight... but then I thought about it and laughed at myself. We've been on the boat for less than one day. Four hours in fact. I'm sure things will change.
And they did! The dessert menu came out. Justin got an apple strudel with hazelnuts, raisins and a vanilla sauce. Muy yummage. I got "The Love Boat" - an incredible dark chocolate mousse with bittersweet Swiss chocolate and a little chocolate cruiseline logo. Also awesome were the chocolate covered strawberries waiting for us in our room when we arrived (thank you, Cruise Holidays of West Chester!).
Yeah. We've been eating realllly healthy. Hey, the strawberries count as fruit...
After dinner, we came back up to the room for a bit. I think we're planning on going to a comedy show at 9:30. It's currently 8:06. I'd be perfectly content to go to bed now and sleep until the sun rises in whatever time zone we happen to be sailing through. But we're on VACATION! I won't let the fact that being awake / alert / remotely focused is a monumental task keep me from experiencing every second of this trip. I want to see stars tonight. I want to watch for Northern Lights. I want to enjoy every ounce of this surreal adventure. Maybe I'll splurge on espresso before the show. Off to watch the rest of the sunset!
Monday, September 22, 2008
Alaska
Well, I'm home from Alaska. So much to write about. I plan to write in pieces so you wont get a huge story all at once...so standby within the next couple of days.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Theft: "A" for effort
So we recently responded to a large nationwide retailer for their security watching someone that they know to have stolen from them before. The complainant said that the subject had picked up a lot of DVD's and gone into a restroom. We waited outside ready to pounce when he tried to make his escape. The retailer stated that he had run from them before...so we were ready. An hour and 45 minutes later the subject came out of the restroom with no DVD's visible. However, he had a kind of funny walk when we stopped him to see what the deal was. It took only a quick pat-down to figure out what he had done. The subject had taken 25 DVD's ( a couple at a time) into the restroom. He had taken three rolls of tape and a box cutter as well. He had spent that almost two hours cutting security tags off of the boxes with the box cutter he had taken, then began taping the DVD's directly to his body using the tape he had taken. He had taped them 2-4 DVD's thick from his neck to his knees. He then left the knife in the bathroom and attempted to leave. We were kind of all over him when he hit the exit, so he didn't have much of a chance. I took a bunch of photos for court of how he taped them to himself. That will look good. After giving him his rights, he began telling me that he sells them on the street to get money for his heroin habit. He then gave me as much info as I could want about where he gets the drugs, how much he uses, and so on. I give him an "A" for effort in trying to steal that way. To no avail. Little did he know, he stole just enough for it to be a felony. Maybe he'll get help with his drug habit while in jail.
http://www.wcpo.com/content/news/fresh/story.aspx?content_id=a9a267c4-4f48-452a-9978-ad9fe7ad3bfa
http://www.wcpo.com/content/news/fresh/story.aspx?content_id=a9a267c4-4f48-452a-9978-ad9fe7ad3bfa
Tactical Driving School
Went to a week long tactical driving school in London, Ohio. It was excellent. The facility had a very large test track that was basically a road course with marked intersections. I don't want to get into too much detail of what they taught us, but we mainly worked on how to take corners at higher speeds under control with new steering techniques and pedal management. It was a lot of fine tuning that turned us into much better drivers in the week that we were there. A lot of the week was spent working with cones and maneuverability around them, but we also worked on a skid pad (learning to control an out of control car)and did emergency response drills. We ended the week in mock pursuits suited up with 5 point harnesses and racing helmets chasing a rabbit car who was an extremely good driver. All in all it was one of my favorite classes I've been to. If you want to know more, ask. I'm not going to post details on an open forum.
Show-Me State Games: Soccer
Well, once again I participated in the Show-Me State Games (2008) soccer tournament. As usual the boys got together a bunch of old high school friends and friends made since to play a little soccer. Unlike last year, we entered the recreational league, hoping that we could do a little better. This year we also took on a little different format. It was 8 v. 8 on slightly smaller fields. We hoped this would relieve some of last years complete exhaustion within the first 5 minutes. It almost did. We lasted till halftime before we were all pooped this year. Our first game was on Friday night. We kept up with the team through the first half both teams scoring a couple, but they pulled away in the second half (we are completely out of shape) and ended up winning something around 8-4. Sounds worse than it was. I played a little keeper and a little field. Second game was in the morning of Saturday. The other team came with 15 people (almost two teams worth). We were doing just fine again till around halftime when their extra players became much more noticeable. We lost that one around the same score something like 8-5. After that we went to chill/sleep/eat at the mall in the air conditioning. Our last game was in the afternoon of Saturday. We had heard from other teams that we could beat this one, and we did. After a little work we came away with a victory of 6-4. Better than last year. We all wanted to win at least one and we did just that. So it was a slight improvement over last year. But no matter, it was good to go and play ball with the boys who I don't see nearly enough. I always forget the fun I have in the country. We ended by going out to Hooters and then a county fair watching a tractor pull. Great way to end the weekend. Now back to Ohio for training.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Shayne Graham Charity Race-Off
Well, as many of you know I got to race in a celebrity charity race off with high speed go-karts. It was an hour long enduro-race with 4 team members including one celebrity/athlete/personality with each team. Josh was on a team with Greg, Jungle Jim, and Shayne Graham (kicker for the Bengals). My team consisted of some people from Mercy hospital, Kenny Irons (running back for the Bengals), and me. It was a very fun time. Very intense racing that was pretty exhausting. My team ended up getting third place...yeah! I got along with Kenny Irons pretty well (he is hilarious). Those of you that haven't heard of the place we raced can check out their website to get a feel for what they do. We were running 9 horsepower karts that got us to speeds of 50-60 mph. Their pro racers race karts that are 50+ horsepower and go 90+ mph on the track (could go faster, but they run out of track. It was a blast, though.
http://www.mccofcincinnati.com/
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Kayak: Chicago River
Kate an I went up to Chicago last week. When we got to town, the first thing we did is go kayaking. Kate set us up with a kayak place called "kayak Chicago". We got there and it started to rain as we were pulling in. Anybody that's been to Chicago knows their rain is pretty chilly. We set up a 3 hour, 5 mile "architectural tour" on the Chicago river. After a short postponement due to a heavy downpour, we got in our boats and started our journey. There were about 15 people kayaking of all different skill levels (very apparent). I never realized that people would not understand how to turn, stop, go in a kayak (I grew up with them). Some people were pretty bad, constantly running into each other/me. The tour started off going by the Morton Salt Factory, then one of the Chicago newspapers. We then worked our way into downtown. It was pretty cool when we turned a corner and all of a sudden were engrossed in skyscrapers while paddling. Our journey started on the north fork of the river but we quickly joined up with the main part of the Chicago River. There was some tour boat traffic to contend with, but nothing too bad. It is good to go with a guide your first time on the river as the waterway "rules of the road" were unknown to me. And it is good to go in numbers. The tour boats are less likely to run you over. We went all the way to Michigan Ave where you could begin to see Lake Michigan. We then worked our way back to the launch point. The river was slow moving, so going"up river" didn't feel any harder that down river. Hopefully I will post some pics as soon as I get them developed (from our disposable camera).
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Why did the chicken cross the road?
Shortly after the previous incident involving go-karts I get dispatched to a better run. Here is how I got dispatched (mind you it's in cop talk over our radios).
Dispatcher: Springdale Unit available to respond to the area of Tri-county Parkway and 747 I.D.
Me: I I.D.'d myself as available to respond.
Dispatcher: Attempt to locate a chicken crossing the road.
Are you serious? Do you know how bad I wanted to ask "Why" or "Does the complainant know why it is crossing the road?" Of course I am not afforded that opportunity. My supervisor apparently had already checked on the chicken and attempted to catch it to no avail. I thought it had to be a prank call until the supervisor called up on the radio to advise. Never did see the chicken, but how classic a run is that?
Dispatcher: Springdale Unit available to respond to the area of Tri-county Parkway and 747 I.D.
Me: I I.D.'d myself as available to respond.
Dispatcher: Attempt to locate a chicken crossing the road.
Are you serious? Do you know how bad I wanted to ask "Why" or "Does the complainant know why it is crossing the road?" Of course I am not afforded that opportunity. My supervisor apparently had already checked on the chicken and attempted to catch it to no avail. I thought it had to be a prank call until the supervisor called up on the radio to advise. Never did see the chicken, but how classic a run is that?
Bumper Car Fight
Well, my job gets better and better. What is the deal with people. I've decided that people are willing to fight anybody for anything as long as they think they or someone else has been wronged in some way. I get a call for 7-8 people fighting at a local amusement area inside a large enclosed shopping area in our town. Show up and find two different groups of people. Apparently they were all riding the go-kart/bumper cars at the same time. While driving the bumper cars, one guy bumped into a girl from the other group (bumped......bumper cars.....right?). Guy riding around in the girls group goes up to the guy that bumped her and says..."you bumped into my daughter kind of hard, didn't you?" He then hits the guy in the face. Anybody sees something wrong here. Bumper cars!!!!!!!!!. Ever hear the term "Rubbin is racing", or thought about the term "Bumper Cars". Is it just me that understands what that entails? People are ridiculous.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Law Enforcement Torch Run
Well, today was the Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics (the Cincinnati stretch). Myself and 6 co-workers bikes from the PD to downtown where we met up with the runners at their starting point...in front of Cincinnati Police District 1 headquarters. It was around 16 miles on the way down. Apparently....thanks to many of your donations....law enforcement officers and family raised enough money for the 2008 Special Olympics by themselves. Thanks again to all who donated. The ride back was very slow paced as we were going the same speed as the runners were running. They had police escorts shutting down all the intersections allowing us to continue on without stopping. We had support crew that traveled in vans and would go ahead of us to set up a checkpoint with water, Gatorade, and bananas that you grab on the way by. Harder to eat a banana on a bike than I thought. You kind of need two hands to open the thing. The whole way back was very slow. Very, very slow. I'm pretty sore because it took so long. It was pretty far too. I'm thinking it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 32-34 miles total which is my furthest ride to date. One step closer to the Police Unity Tour next year. We ended at Springdale Recreation Center for a cookout that was waiting on us. All the support staff were very good and it was well organized. All for a good cause. Good stuff. Now we'll see how long it takes to recoup.
picture courtesy of channel 5 news
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Kate and I went to Cuyahoga Valley National Park to do a little hiking the day after the concert. There are so many trails to choose from there. We hiked to see Brandywine Falls (one of the more major attractions). It was a very short hike, but pretty falls. Kate then also found on backpacker.com that they mentioned a trail called the ledges. It was a pretty hike, only a couple of miles (about what I wanted). The whole hike is along rock ledges with lots of spaces in between rocks and fun things to explore.
Justin's New Bike
Well, I did it. I bought a new bike. I dropped a whole bunch of cash on lots of equipment for the bike. I've been thinking about it for a while, and finally went for it. I have lots of work friends that ride a lot, so I plan to do some riding with them. I bought an intermediate level bike from the brand "Giant" which is a very good, very large manufacturer. I bought the bike at a place called Montgomery Cyclery . I bought from the West Chester store (because its close). Myself and the store manager spent a lot of time making the bike do exactly what I wanted (i.e. adjusting the brakes to the tension I wanted, adding a couple accessories). We spent a lot of time going over equipment and how parts of the bike worked (much more complicated than I thought before this trip). My bike has clip pedals, which for those that don't know, work kind of like skies, clipping you into the pedals with special shoes. It is hard to get used to clipping in and out. So after doing all of that, I had to take it for a ride. I suited up and went out to the Little Miami Bike Trail . I rode about 8 miles one way ending near the city of Morrow. On my way back, I slowed to check my phone which was ringing. I unclipped the right pedal, and then the bike leaned left. It was too late. I had a minor crash. No damage except a scraped, bloody knee. Luckily nobody was around to see it. I remembered at that moment that the store manager had warned me that I would crash a couple of times before getting used to the clip pedals. Only once so far. I rode the 8 miles back at a much faster pace. It took about an hour 10 min to do the whole thing, which I think put me at about a 17mph pace (with stops). Not bad for my first ride. It was the best work out I've had in years, but also the most fun. It is a very nice bike path that winds along a river and old towns, so it seems rather scenic.
Concert
Well, as a big surprise, Kate had a two day trip planned for the two of us. I had no idea what we were doing or where we were going till the day of the event. I was simply told not to have anything planned. The day of...she announced that we were going to an Eric Clapton concert (pavilion seats) in Cuyahoga Valley National Park. So we go...set up camp when we first got there, and then explored some of the park (which is very large). We didn't do any hiking, but stopped by a vineyard called "Sarah's Vineyard" across from the concert grounds and did some wine tasting as well as grab a bite to eat before the concert (sarahsvineyardwinery.com). After we finished we went across the way to the concert grounds (the Blossom Music Center). The whole concert pavilion area was really cool looking, but we got no pics (as cameras were not allowed). We found out that the opener was a group called Robert Randolph and the family band. I didn't realize until he starting playing, but I knew exactly who he was. For those of you that don't, he was a major part in the Crossroads Concert of Eric Clapton's. He plays a sit down steel guitar and is absolutely awesome. Most people there appeared not to know him, as most of the seats were empty. He was fun to listen to (robertrandolph.net). Then Clapton came on and started getting the seats filled. At the beginning-middle, he played very little that I knew, but didn't make me care much. Every song was like a blues jam out session with long solos in the middle of them where he would just rock out on his guitars. He played several of his classics toward the end (i.e. Hoochie Coochie Man, Layla, Cocaine, Wonderful Tonight). We got the best of all of it. Then for his encore, both Clapton and Robert Randolph came out and played together, absolutely rocking out. It looked like they were trying to show each other up, both of them smiling like crazy while doing it. They both looked like they had a blast playing with each other. The audience,I thin, got the best of it though. It was a mini Crossroads Concert. We stayed for a long time after the concert waiting on the thousands to meander out and let traffic die down. Too many drunk people driving away for my likes. The concert was absolutely awesome.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
New Camera
Well, we finally got our new camera. Played with it a tiny bit tonight and so far it seems fantastic. It's a Nikon D80 with a 18-135mm Nikor lens, case, couple filters, 2G card, an extra battery and a 59" tripod. Like I said, I have played with it very little so far, but the picture clarity is far better than I figured it would be. Alaska, here I come. I was trying to figure out how to take a photo of my new camera (with my new camera). Guess I could use a mirror, but I'll save that for later.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Structure Fire
Think I may have made the news very briefly at a large structure fir that happened in one of our apartment complexes. The fire burned about 8 apartments and damaged several others. It took 6 fire departments to help put out the blaze. Felt bad for the people living there. Red Cross did come to help them though.
Roll over accident
Do you remember being stupid when a juvenile. I do. I didn't think I was as stupid as I do now looking back. Young kids and fast cars should not go together. We had a roll over accident the other day that was a one car accident on a 25 mph street. The Mazda Miata took out a fire hydrant on its excursion on the shoulder of this street. Both occupants were fine. Being out of crash class so recently I did a few measurements and looked at some tire marks/other evidence. The car was still accelerating into the turn when the driver lost control of it. Interesting looking at that small of a car on its top. The underside looks funny. I felt like I could put my arms around the whole thing. The car also had sport tuned suspension, racing tires, and special brakes. Guess all that wasn't enough to help him out. Looked like he was testing it to find out what it could do. He found out what it could not do.
Aggravated Robbery
Why would anyone rob someone at gunpoint for a piece of jewelry? I don't get people. We had this happen a few days ago in broad daylight at a busy shopping area. The guys got away for the time being, but guess what...they are now behind bars. We found the first guy a few hours later and the second the next day. All for about $600. Now they are looking at 10-20. Even if they weren't...I hate people that steal, especially by force. Who do they think they are? I think that is my biggest pet peeve. Thieves. Hope they get the max, punks.
The parking spot
Well, this call did it. I seriously had to respond to a 911 call about someone stealing their parking spot. Both parties agreed that it was stupid for me to come, but one of them had to call me before I did. I told both parties I didn't care and they should walk away. They did. I have better things to do with my time than crap like that.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Crash Investigations
Well, finished the crash class. Good stuff. Liked the whole thing. Was told today that I will be going to the next level of crash investigations as soon as a class is available. Hooray! Our department had a bad crash recently, so my instructors of the class went to our PD to take a look at the evidence. I got to be there to help out (stand there and provide go to work). But I just like being around the investigation of these crashes, so it was cool. Not the crash....but the part about piecing the pieces of evidence together to reconstruct the entire event prior to crash and during crash. Anybody get the math done on those last problems to come up with my answers?
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Crash Investigation class
Well, this week, as usual, I am again not actually "at work." I am taking a one week crash investigation class put on by the highway patrol. I haven't been at work in quite some time, but plan to be back on Saturday. The crash course is fun, its definitely my cup of tea. Just finished the second day of it. We did all formulas (math) on obtaining measurements, speeds, drag factors, coefficient of friction adjustments, critical speeds, airborne speeds, and a little more. This course is just the first level of many, but most cops don't even get this one. Most cops go through the academy crash hours and that's the end, so this starts getting more in depth. I will probably go through all the crash courses to reconstructionist, which I hear is pretty hard. For now, having fun with this class. Just for fun I'll give you one of the problems we worked out today (all classroom, so some information given instead of us taking the measurements).
Ex: A vehicle departs the roadway and enters a yard where it becomes airborne off of a flower bed. Grade measurements were taken on the flower bed where the vehicle left the ground. Using a four foot level, the uphill grade produced 5 inches of rise. After departing the ground, the vehicle traveled 34 feet 5 inches horizontally and dropped 2 feet 11 inches. Determine the speed of the vehicle at take-off.
Another for kicks?
Ex2: A car strikes a pole at 49 mph. Prior to impact it skids an average distance of 82 feet on asphalt with a drag factor f= .69 and grass for a distance of 13 feet 2 inches with a drag factor of f=.33. What was the speed of the vehicle at first braking.
Answers:
Ex: 37.058MPH (true speed)
Ex2:65.028MPH (lowest possible speed)
Ex: A vehicle departs the roadway and enters a yard where it becomes airborne off of a flower bed. Grade measurements were taken on the flower bed where the vehicle left the ground. Using a four foot level, the uphill grade produced 5 inches of rise. After departing the ground, the vehicle traveled 34 feet 5 inches horizontally and dropped 2 feet 11 inches. Determine the speed of the vehicle at take-off.
Another for kicks?
Ex2: A car strikes a pole at 49 mph. Prior to impact it skids an average distance of 82 feet on asphalt with a drag factor f= .69 and grass for a distance of 13 feet 2 inches with a drag factor of f=.33. What was the speed of the vehicle at first braking.
Answers:
Ex: 37.058MPH (true speed)
Ex2:65.028MPH (lowest possible speed)
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