To Alaska for the Bears

Taking Off; Friday, July 5, 2019

We were up at 5:40am. Accent Limo was scheduled to pick us up at 6:30 – we were going to rent a car to drive to the airport as we used to do, but the AVIS pickup location was closed on July 4th so hiring a taxi/limo became the only viable choice. Our flight was at 9:55am but we always liked to be at the airport early, for our peace of mind.

All was smooth, very light traffic, we got to the airport before 7:30. Checked in, went through security, had breakfast at Legal, waited, boarded, our flight was on schedule and we got to Newark before 11:30am. It was another long wait for our flight to Anchorage at 3:45pm. We did not mind and did not have to use the AmEx priority club (which was too far any ways). The Newark airport for United was quite new and modern, and it was not that crowded being the day after July 4th. We had an expensive (and not so good) Ramen lunch at their new modern market place, waited, and got on the flight on schedule. Something was wrong with one of the seats in the first row of the econ plus section and it took them a while to have it repaired before the flight took off – I think we were late for a little bit.

The flight was a little more than 7 hours, long! Even though it was longer than some international flights but it’s domestic and had all the domestic services – no meal, meager snacks, etc. I am glad we were in the econ plus section, a little more leg room. And we were very lucky because we had the 3 seats row all to the two of us! Wow – very seldom had this kind of luck!

The plane touched down at Anchorage local time 7:45pm, i.e. 11:45pm EDT – we were up almost 20 hours with only a little close-eye time on the flights. The luggage took a while to arrive. By the time we got our AVIS rental car and started on the road, it was already after 9pm. This was the only airport car rental place that did not have a gate where they check your rental documents. Nice!

Our hotel, the Fairfield Inn & Suites Marriott was quite close – only less than 10 minutes drive. Even though it was after 10pm, the sun was still quite high and it was broad day light! We got to the hotel, checked in, got into our room, and immediately went out to look for some dinner. Bob read the book and there was a Vietnamese restaurant nearby that closed at 10. It’s called Pho Lena. Got good reviews. It was a hole in the wall place and it was still quite packed at 9:50pm! We ordered our noodles – soup noodles for me and Pad Thai for Bob. They were OK – not a repeater but edible. They started cleaning for the day at that hour and that did not get my appetite up.

After dinner, we went to the closest grocery store, Carr’s, to pick up some water and fruit. We got back into our hotel room after 11pm. Both of us were beat – already after 3am EDT, we were up for more than 24 hours! I started washing right away and got into bed before mid-night local time.

Heading to Denali; Saturday, July 6, 2019

I woke up and looked at my phone – 4:48. I did not know what time zone it was and it turned out the phone had self adjusted to Anchorage time. So I slept for 4+ hours only. But I could not sleep any more no matter what. So I started typing a msg to my sister, checking the Penair boarding location, etc. etc. And finally I got up to start repacking the two suitcases – want to bring only one to Denali.

Bob got up after 7 and we went down to have breakfast. It seemed that all the Fairfield Inns all had the same arrangement. We were very used to the one in Kennett Square. I looked for the oatmeal. But in that electric cauldron, there was some thick gravy like stuff that did not look like oatmeal. It was next to some biscuits, so I figured it might be for them. I asked the waitress. She insisted that was oatmeal. NO WAY! But I did not argue. I think the chef cooked the stuff and the service staff did not really know what is what.

Our plan today is to drive to Denali and check into the “Touch of Wilderness B&B” where we will stay for 3 nights. We booked the 12+ hour bus tour of Denali National Park for the day after tomorrow. Today we will do the leisurely drive over and scout things out. Bob read the book and told me there is the Denali National Park AND the Denali State Park, which are adjacent to each other. I pray we will see some wild life and good scenery! BTW there must be a heat wave here these few days! Today’s high is 82 degrees! Gee!

We checked out and left the hotel between 9 and 10am and drove directly towards Denali. The drive was about 4.5 hours long, but it was an easy drive since there was basically only this one highway. I am not sure how I would describe this place – it’s big, flat, spreadout; there were some high rises/buildings in Anchorage itself, but as we drove out of it (not sure when/where we were out of the city limit), there was not much along the highway besides trees/vegetation and occasional shabby buildings. Once we were totally out of any establishment, the wilderness looked nice, especially when the snowy mountain range appeared at the far front. We stopped at various places for me to get off and take some photos, mostly after we passed the Talkeetna town. We planned to find a place to have lunch at this T town. But after parking the car and walked around a little bit, beside going to the bathroom, there really wasn’t anything to our interest. If we were into hiking, white river rafting, biking or other activities, we might have enjoyed this little place. The various establishments in the town center were all nicely decorated, with lots of colorful flowers, etc.

From Yelp, we found a Thai restaurant nearby which had good reviews, so we headed that way. It was called “My Mom’s Thai Crusine” and on our way towards Denali. It turned out that it was just a wooden house on the side of the road, with tables outside under the eave. It looked clean and the menu looked appetizing, so we ordered and ate our lunch. Again – Pad Thai, drunken noodles, and a vege dish. The food tasted fine, but for what they were, quite expensive, almost $50. Oh well ….

We continued our drive, stopping at various points trying to take some photos with the phone. The weather was HOT!! It was painful to walk out of the AC’d car. But the scenery with the Denali snowy mountain and the mountain range in the background of the trees and rivers/brooks was indeed really beautiful!! Only if it were not so hot!! Our first destination today was Denali National Park entrance – wanted to find out about the tickets, etc. We got there before 5pm. The visitor center’s parking lot was quite full, but probably not as bad as it could be. So, we found out that since we’re seniors, our senior national park pass would do, and we will need to deal with the tour bus when we go to get our tickets – if their charge included the park entrance fee then they will have to refund us. We also scouted out where the bus depot was where we will need to go take the tour bus at 6am the day after tomorrow.

The final destination today was the “Touch of Wilderness B&B” that I booked back in January. It was 15 miles north of the Denali entrance. We got there around 5pm. This has got to be the biggest mistake I made for this trip!! The pictures on their website showed the rooms rather large, etc. But not only the room was SMALL, it had NO AC!!! The young girl on duty was polite and nice, but the room was really quite awful! Sink in the room outside the bathroom, room had only one chair, no desk, no nothing, and the bathroom was TINY! Ugh!!! Too late to do anything else so we will just have to suffer the three nights ….. Thinking that I paid almost $1k for the three nights, it made me even more unhappy!

The sun was still high at 6:30 and it was still quite hot. We will need to drive out to look for dinner. I think this B&B should be called “Middle of Nowhere B&B”.

We ate dinner at a restaurant in a strip mall close to the entrance to Denali national park

We were going to the place called 49th xxxxxxxx but missed it. This restaurant was owned by the same company. I had 2 small crab cakes,Bob had a burger, both were ok. After dinner we walked around that strip mall and looked at the various tourist trap stores, very uninteresting. It was almost 9pm and still quite hot, especially when the sun beat on you. Of course most stores had no AC, ugh! We did go into a gift store/gallery called Three Bears Gallery and chatted with the owner who was also the man that took all the photographs in the gallery. His name was Shane Lam (or something). He grew up in Alaska and made his living as a painter then a photographer, with 2 galleries, doing pretty well. I liked some of his work – those of the bears, wolves, etc. Very commercial. Alaska was the sole subject of all his works. He did not seem to know where Antarctica was. Interesting.

We came back to the B&B around 9:30 – still hot and miserable, despite the fact that all the fans were blowing. I will wash now and try to go to sleep – too little sleep for the last two days.

Our plan for tomorrow is to drive into Denali National Park in the morning to exhaust the 14 miles allowed for private cars. Scout out the bus depot and perhaps get our tour bus tickets which I paid already and the park ranger told me we must exchange the email document to real tickets. Then we will drive to the Denali State Park on the Denali Highway which is an unpaved road – supposedly we can get amazing views there. We will see. Then the day after tomorrow, our last day here, we will take the tour bus which will consume the whole day, hopefully we will get some nice views of the national park.

First Full Day at Denali; Sunday, July 7, 2019

It was a surprise and relief that I actually slept well last night!! I probably turned off the light and my iPad before midnight and when I woke up this morning and looked at the time on the iPad, it said 6:11 – I was afraid that the iPad still have EDT which would have been horrible! So, I slept for 6+ hours!! Hurray!!

We went to have breakfast shortly after 7am and met a few other house guests. Learned from the couple from Texas that they had stayed here 4 days already and that they saw moose right here by the parking lot almost everyday! And like clockwork, the mother moose with her two calves showed up right around 8! They came to lick the salt block put out for them. The moose is not a beautiful animal. Actually they are so ugly that they are cute! I of course took a bunch of pictures of them! By the time we left the B&B after 9am, they had wandered off.

The breakfast at this place was decent – fruits, yogart, burrito, juice, eggs, etc. Nothing to write home about but decent.

Our first thing to do today was to go to the Bus Depot to get our bus tickets for tomorrow, and we did that, also got our park entrance refund ($30). The lady said we don’t need tickets because the driver already had our names. We needed to be there 15 minutes before 6:05am departure time. Boy! That means we need to be up no later than 4:30, get everything done the start towards the bus depot ay 5:15am. Somehow this feels like work, not a vacation….

After the home depot, we drove the 14 miles into the park allowed for private vehicles, to the place called Savage River. The weather today was slightly cooler than yesterday, but just as hazy and warm. The weather forecast on the phone said poor air quality in Alaska. Some people said it’s because of some forest fires, but we did not see any news about the fire….

The 14 miles drive gave us an introduction of Denali’s surroundings. Beautiful to the eyes but we did not see any place that photogenic, especially since the sky and light were not that cooperating.

After the drive we went back to the bus depot and got some beef jerkey for tomorrow – not quite sure what the tour would give us for food and if we would like them. By that time it was almost noon and we decided to find some place to have a light lunch. There was the McKinsey Chalet and Resort not far from the park entrance. It was supposed to be associated with Holland America cruise line, so I thought we might be able to find a decent eating place in there to have a salad or something. We were right! It was a nice AC’d place, clean and not crowed. I had my salad and Bob had his burger. I think this might be the place that I tried to make a reservation for our stay back in January but they would not book. Very strange. Not that we will be back here again….

Our original plan was to drive on the Denali Highway to see some scenery as the book suggested, but Bob said he read the rental car contract that said if we drive on gravel road the car rental would be voided. So we only drove to where the paved portion ended, then turned back towards “home”. By the time we got back to the B&B, it was around 3:30pm. There really was nothing to do and nowhere to go. We rested for more than an hour – I watched my Chinese soap on the iPad (the internet connection is one good point of this B&B). We went out again after 5 to have an early dinner (and an early night after that).

The place for dinner tonight was the 49th State Brewing Co. quite close to us and it was very well reviewed. A very rustic and casual place, but the food was decent. I had my first Alaska King Salmon, grilled, quite nice! Bob had halibut fish and chips – so so. We both had beers – hope they will help me sleep!

Back around 7. Believe it or not, the moose mom and her two calves were back!! Lying in the grass, licking the salt block, etc. I took a few more pictures. The moose was definitely the highlight of the day!!

We did not have high expectations of Denali and apparently staying three nights was over generous. Like I said, tomorrow feels like a hard working day. But, coming to Alaska, how can you not see Denali?!

OK. Calling it an early night now. 8:15pm now and hope to get in bed before 10. Up at 4:30.

Denali 12-hour Bus Tour; Monday, July 8th, 2019

It was a very long day! And I was totally exhausted.

We were up at 4:30am in order to be there 20 minues earlier than the 6:05am, as the information desk ranger told us. Bob grabbed a yogart and half pastry and I ate a banana. We got to the Denali bus depot around 5:45am. There were different lines for different buses. Ours, the Kantishna tour bus line, already had 7 people ahead of us. We stood in line, in the slightly above 50 degree weather, and waited. It was quite chilly – thankfully we each brought a thin shirt. I even pulled my hood on, and that was not enough. And the bus was late. It did not come until after 6:15! We were each given a small green lined bag which contained an apple, a bottle of juice, some snacks, and our driver, Ryan, passed out some kind of wrap, for our lunch. Then we took off. The bus had 41 passengers. It was just a school bus – my first time on a school bus! It was not as uncomfortable as I expected, even though there was very little leg room and the windows were not designed for sightseeing, not to mention taking pictures.

This was the longest and most expensive tour bus ride, going the entire park road of 92.5 miles. The park road was quite winding at places and it was quite scary on a few cliff side. The scenery would have been very beautiful, IF it were not a hazy day like it was. We later learned that it was because of the many natural forest fires in the 600 million acres of the park land. There have been quite a few fires these few days even though we did not see any. Depending on the direction of the wind, the air could get very hazy. The weather got warm around noon time, but not as hot as the first day we were here. Ryan gave some basic introductions of various places. Then for the last 2 hours in the Kantishna area, a ranger named Doris came on the bus and told us more of the history of the Kantishna area. And we got off the bus walked a little to listen to her telling us about the gold mining stories, etc. While we were there visiting Fannie Quigley’s old house and listened to Doris talk, I got my first Denali bite on my arm, despite the fact that I was whipping around myself with a hat.

By the time we got back to the bus depot, it was almost 7pm. I was quite exhausted, with only a banana and a couple of small bags of potato chips. Not that we did not have food with us, mainly because I did not want to eat and then had to use the bathroom. I must commend the park for establishing the rest areas – they were as clean as one could expect in such an environment.

It seemed that all the people loved to see wild life. We did see a few, and whenever people spotted some, you could hear the excitement in the bus! People rushed to open the windows and take pictures. But the animals were SO FAR! Even with a real lens and standing outside I would have have been able to take any meaningful shots, not to say with only the Sony DS10 and my phone. But I am sure glad we saw them! A few bears, some caribou, moose, gold eagles, etc. Also a couple of Dall sheep! But they were so far up the mountain/rocks, I was not able to get the pictures at all. Sigh …. Did not see any wolf or fox, sadly.

We did not expect much from the tour, so we were not disappointed. Unless we wanted to do some hiking, this was the best choice for us. We’re glad we did it! It’s unlikely we would be back again, even though I do not rule out the possibility of coming back to Alaska in September some year, and hopefully to catch the bears in Katmail or some other places, and Denali in a clear day!

Our rental car showed the msg that its front left tire needed more air. We were afraid that we might have a flat after we came back from the tour. Fortunately we did not. Phew! But Bob wanted to make sure we had enough air the next day to drive back to Anchorage, so he found a gas station that had the pumping facility. After that, we went to the 49th Station Brewing Co. to have dinner. I thought since it was Monday it might be less crowded. WRONG! We had to wait for more than half an hour! I was so tired and hungry, and there was no other place to go that would be quicker. So we waited. The restaurant had a very weird managing style. I think they were short of staff, so the outside room was not full, but they would not seat customers. Strange ….

It was after 9pm when we were done eating and we drove back to the B&B immediately. The sun was still high, and hanging there in the very hazy sky, like a big salted egg yoke!

Back in the hotel I went immediately to the room, washed, and went to bed. Watched a little iPad and fell asleep.

Back in Anchorage; Tuesday, July 9th, 2019

I did not sleep as much as I would have liked and woke up before 5am. And I got up around 6. Packed, then we went to breakfast around 7. Even though I don’t quite like this B&B, I must admit that it was managed efficiently. For people who like B&B, it might not be a bad place. What I don’t like most was the small room, lack of AC and storage space in the room. This morning I met a different lady who might be the manager. She was courteous. Breakfast today was some sort of hash, plus the regular fruit which was apparently left over from the last few days. Oh well ….

We left around 9am – no need to check out since they already charged our card, just left the key on the door.

On the drive back, our original plan was to take a ride near mile 135, at K’esugi Ken where there was the most accessible and one of the best viewpoint of Denali. We went there, unfortunately it was another bad hazy day, Denali was not even visible! So it turned out that the first day when we drove from Anchorage to Denali had the best visibility, even though it felt a bit hazy to me and it was so hot. The next couple of days, we did not get to see the beautiful snowy Denali mountain. Everything was shrouded in the hazy smoke ….

We got back to the Fairfield Inn before 3:30pm. Back to civilization!! Even though it was not a luxury hotel, we’re very happy to be back, in the cool room, not to crammed, AND, we found out the hotel has a self laundry!!! Yea!! We were thinking we had to go look for a laundrymat, not we’re all set!! Just put things in the washer, back to the room to wait, then go back for the dryer, and did not have to wait in some outside laundrymat. Very happy! The small things that make me happy, haha!

Learned from Melissa at Brooks Lodge that our flight tomorrow got canceled and they rebooked us to a slightly later flight. I tried to call Panair the second time this morning, but could not get a human to answer the phone. I called Brooks. Branden answered the phone and said not to worry, if we cannot reach Penair, just go there earlier tomorrow in case their flight changed schedule. Then I got email from Melissa telling me the flight change. Now the only thing we can do is PRAY all will go smoothly tomorrow! The flight 2040 is our new flight, leaving at 11:20am. We will head there at 8am.

My stomach is not feeling great. We will go out to look for some Chinese comfort food and then back to call it a night.

We ended up having dinner at a Chinese restaurant called Charlie’s Bakery which was quite close to the hotel. It was a setup I had not seen before – it’s a Chinese bakery but also a restaurant. You order at the counter, then they bring your orders to your table. Review was pretty good. As one book said, the Chinese restaurants in Anchorage are mostly owned by Vietnamese. I think it’s true with this one, at least it’s some sort of a mix. Food was OK. Bob had Mushu pork with pancakes, I had a noodle soup with vege and shrimp dumplings. My stomach is not doing well, so eating less was good for me. Can’t be sick going to Brooks!

Back to the hotel before 8. Calling it a night and relax now, going to bed soon.

Arrived at Brooks Lodge, Katmai; Wednesday, July 10th 2019

Yes! We finally got here – Brooks Lodge at Katmai National Park! Definitely feeling the accomplishment of one bit item on our bucket list!

We set our alarms at 6:30am this morning but we woke up earlier and I was up before the alarm went off. Left the hotel around 8, after storing one suitcase and one duffle bag, plus my other Repartha shot – the front desk was kind enough to promise storing it in the frig for me until we return on 7/13. We got to the airport in less than 10 minutes, returned the car and went to PenAir checkin. All was smooth except that they said that because the plane was small we need to check out two camera bags at the gate. This really freaked me out! If the equipment got damaged, this whole trip would be in vain! They put fragile stickers on the two bags. There was nothing I could do but worry…. I even emailed Melissa at the lodge asking what I could do. She replied saying that all photographers had to deal with his because the planes were too small and the overhead space was too small…. There was NOTHING I could do. I started doubting if I would ever do this kind of trip again….

Our PenAir flight was scheduled for 11:20am departure. We waited for 2+ hours. It was the FIRST place that we did NOT have to go through security!! Wow!! It turned out that the flight first had to stop at Billingham, then onto King Salmon. A small plane, with 3 seats in a row. Thankfully I was able to beg and plea and got my two camera bags with me!!! And they actually fit in the overhead!! We were supposed to be in row 2. But one of guys in row 1 also had a big camera bag which did not fit in the overhead, so he put the bag under his seat from row 2. He offered for us to switch seats. Bob and I ended up sitting in row 1, the exit row, with ample leg room. I felt so relieved!! Now I just have to worry about the return flight ….

We got to King Salmon before 1pm. There a man from Brooks Lodge was waiting for us with a sign. There were 18 of us! He took us onto a bus, with all our luggage (carried by ourselves), then the bus drove us to where we would board the water plane, by the lake/river/water.

The water plane was quite small – same as the one we took at Churchill Wild, but without that propane tank inside. Each plane would only take 7 or 8, so we had to go in two batches. Before that, we first had to be weighed – each by him/herself, then each piece of luggage. This was so that they could balance the weight for the plane.

The first few got called and boarded the first water plane. Then we the second group got called. They took each carryon from everyone and stored them in the back of the plane, then each of us climbed into the plane. The pilot went through the safety stuff and was about to take off. After a few minutes, he turned around and said he had a broken starter and we had to deboard. At first I thought he was joking, but he was serious. So we all deboarded/climbed off and they had to move out all the carryons. In a short while, we boarded another plane. This time the plane was fine and we soon took off.

The flight was only 20 minutes or so, and it was an interesting experience. We got to Brooks Lodge before 4. The first thing we did after getting off the plane and obtained our carryons was to get a bear briefing. A park ranger did that. A nice video telling us all the important things we need to pay attention to in the bear land – 1. NO food anywhere except inside designated buildings; 2. ?; 3. ?. My memory failed ....

After the bear 101 talk, we went to the lodge office to register. We’re in cabin 223, the third one down the road from the office. Then one of the lodge staff helped us getting our big suitcase to our cabin.

I honestly did not expect much of the cabin, so I was not too disappointed. It was very rustic and basic. In a way I’m glad we’re here for three nights only, even though for bear viewing, I would have loved to stay longer. But it’s hard for me to deal with the heat and everything else in a crammed space.

As soon as we settled in the room, we started walking to the Brooks Fall bear viewing platform which was 1.2 miles from the lodge. A good portion of the walk was on wooden walkway, with multiple gates at the beginning and at the end. But probably half of the walk was a graveled trail, with trees/tall grass/shrubs on both sides. This was where one may encounter bears, which scared me a bit, as much as I love bears.

We got to the viewing platform before 5pm. There was no line, and it was not too crowded. After waiting for a short while I was able to get a spot. It was that famous fall where the water was rushing down and the bears were standing in the water. I was SO EXCITED!! Dream coming true!!

I did not take my real camera, only the Sony RX10, because I wanted to first scout out the place and environment. We saw less than 10 bears, a couple of large ones, rest were small/young ones. There were not that many fish, unfortunately. So the poor bears were patiently standing there, watching and hoping to catch an occasional fish. One young bear was close to us. He stood there for a long long time. A couple of times a few fish came by, but he did not catch them. I felt SO VERY bad for him!! Later on, the large bear decided he wanted the spot the young bear had and walked towards him. The young bear quickly ran away. Poor thing!!! One young bear stood in the water and dove in, he actually caught a fish twice! From afar we could see the red fish meat! After he caught the fish, he took it with him to the shore and consumed it.

We watched for an hour or so and decided to turn back. We had not had anything to eat since this morning (except Bob had an energy bar) and were getting really hungry. Dinner was only 5 – 8. On the way back, we met a couple of photographers – one lady from Israel and a man from Washington state. They both used Canon, with 500mm or 600mm lenses, 1DX camera. We chatted with them. The more I talk with these photographers, the more I realize I really cannot be a wild life photographer, because I am not able to endure the hardships. I feel bad – spending all this money but really cannot accomplish what I could have …. For example, here from the viewing platform one would NEVER be able to get a really good shot, because of the angle and level. The only way to get a good shot is to get into the water and see them at eye level. And for that you have to walk through the tall grass, and not be afraid of close encounters with the bears! They told me that we could easily walk to the beaches/shore, but I am not sure we are prepared for that ….

We came back to the lodge shortly after 7. Went to the cafeteria and had dinner – for $40 each, the food here was EXPENSIVE! But because they had to have everything shipped in, it’s understandable. Besides, there was no other choices!

Plan for tomorrow: get up early and get to the viewing platform by 7am, when it opens. Then go back around 7pm again. I will bring the 100-400 lens and another shorter one. The day after tomorrow I will bring my 500mm lens.

Bob is sitting outside the cabin now – we only have one chair inside. Our cabin actually faces the water and the beach, with trees/bushes in between. Bob saw a few bears walking on the beach. I rushed out and saw a bear mommy with three small cubs! Wish I could rush down and take photos. But …. Will try tomorrow!

Will prepare the cameras and then wash and call it a night!

First Full Day at Brooks Lodge; Thursday, July 11th 2019

We got up at 6am, as planned, hoping to get to the falls viewing platform by 7am when the place opened. But somehow it was almost 7am when we left the cabin. I was a bit concerned if there would be only the two of us on the trail and what the bear situation might be – as much as I really loved the bears, I was not sure how I would react if we encountered a bear in close range ….

Well I did not have to worry – there were plenty of people by that hour! Not too far after we got on the boarded walkway, we saw a few people standing there watching something. Bears somewhere there in the distance. We did not stop because the bears were too far. A few steps further, at the place where we ran into the two photographers last night, we saw people watching. Wow that was something! A mommy bear with her two very young cubs! They were walking on the road beneath our boarded walkway. And a guy with a long lens camera/unipod on his back. He was walking along side the bears and did not seem to be concerned at all! The bears were absolutely SO ADORABLE!! Apparently the mother was quite young. She was light brown and the two cubs were dark brown, almost black. I guess it’s because the cubs were only a few months old. The guy with the camera got on the boarded walkway. A ranger was scolding him for not observing the park regulations that we must be within X yards of the bear and must not get in the bears way. The guy was not listening. Um…. Yesterday I heard the two photographers talking about how annoying the park rangers were …. Well, I could understand both sides. As far as the photographers do not disturb the animals and are responsible for their own safety, we should be able to get a little closer to the animals….

By the time we got to the Falls viewing platform, there were a few people there already, but much better than last night and it was not hard to find a spot. It was probably around 8am, and the sun was already above the tree line. It was shining from the opposite side, making photographing more difficult. There were 3 or 4 bears in the water. The one we saw last night seemed to still be there, at the same spot in the water facing the water fall, just sitting there and waiting. I think it’s the same bear, but had no way of knowing if it really was. I felt terrible for them because there was NO FISH! Later we heard some rangers saying that because the weather the last week or so had been TOO HOT and the water was too warm for the salmons to come. There were a lot of fish jumping before that. The heat this year was unprecedented! Usually the salmon run does not start until July. This year it started in late June. So people who came in late June had good luck! Sigh ….. This is something NOBODY could predict or control! Just luck I guess!

After standing at the main platform (where no tripod was allowed), we decided to explore the side platform, a little away down the river from the falls. It turned out that was a better place this morning, even though there was not the dramatic effect of the water fall. We ended up staying there for a couple of hours, saw quite a few bears. Most precious was a mommy bear with three cubs! The cubs were light brown – color of a golden retriever. They were bigger than the first two we saw this morning. I took many many shots, hoping to get a few decent ones but I was not sure. Really need a longer lens! I was stupid that I did not think of bringing a unipod! Stupid me!! And carrying the heavy lens and camera was not an easy task, walking the 1.2 mile, even with Bob doing the heavy work!

People started to gather more after 9am. We left after 10. None of us had breakfast, Bob had an energy bar and he was dozing off at the platform. We got back to the lodge after 10:30. Went to the store and got a couple of diet coke (they ran out of it yesterday) and couple of water, got a T-shirt for Caleb – first souvenir I bought on this trip! We came back to the cabin, rested a little and I started looking at my photos. As I was afraid of, none of my pictures was that good. I feel very discouraged ….

The brochure in the cabin said there is a paid wild life boat ride and we asked about it. Turned out that they only had that in August. Now they have a river walk – i.e. they give you the overall and lead you walking through the river so you can see bears in the water. That would be IDEAL as you can photographer at eye level of the bears!!! But somehow I do not have the guts to do it …. Hate myself for that! Chicken!

We went to lunch at 11:30 when it opened. Quite a few people started lining up already. I learned that people from the camp ground may also eat there unless they want to cook by themselves. Besides the lodge, there was the camp ground which does not require the lottery to get in. It’s easier to get in, but also limited and required getting the permit. Not sure what it’s like. The two photographers we met yesterday were both staying at the camp ground.

Lunch was of the same level as dinner, expensive and so-so ($24/pp lunch $40/pp dinner). After lunch, we came back to the cabin. Bob started his nap and I started downloading the photos. Disappointment one more time! …. I got very sleepy after a while and took a nap as well. Got up after 2 and started my diary.

We will have dinner at 5:30 as soon as it opens, then go to the Falls around 7pm. This time I will bring the long lens and see how it works.

I started preparing my equipment – decided to use the same 1DX but change the lens to the 500. After all changed and got the tripod ready (will use as a unipod), I suddenly realized that I forgot the 500 lenshood!! Fatal mistake! I had to change the plan and put the 1.4x extender on the 100-400 and will just have to made do. I cannot remember if I would lose the auto focus or the ability to change focus point. But there is nothing else I can do. It’ll at least give me a bigger distance.

When all is prepared, we decided to take a walk on the boardwalk and see whatever we could see. It was before 4pm and it was hot. It’s probably a few degrees lower than yesterday, but still hot. Occasionally there was a little breeze making it comfortable. On the boardwalk, we did see a bear, a sleeping bear right beneath the boardwalk. A young one, probably tired from catching fish. It just slept on the pebbly dry beach by the river, not caring who was watching him. The park rangers were all over and we were not allowed to descend to get any closer.

When we first walked out of the cabin, I thought we would take a walk down the slope to the beach. Just when we were making the turn, the guy who was walking back said there was a bear there and it was walking towards this direction. We immediately turned around – too close for my comfort. A ranger rushed over and told us not to go there. We did not go to the beach.

It turned out that our cabin is very close to where we landed when we came, just that river beach! We hear the water plane taking off and landing all day long and can smell the fume.

We had an early dinner. When we walked out of the cafeteria, I felt the rain. Just some sprinkles, while the sun is shining. As I was walking thinking of the rain, we suddenly heard yelling from the window of the cateria – “To your right! Bear!” It took me a few seconds to understand. I was scared, almost ran back towards the cafeteria. I only got a glimpse of the bear. He/She walked between cabin 21 and 22, across our walking path, through the trees/shrubs, to the beach. This reminded me of the time we were in Africa, watching the big elephant walking through the lodge campus (and ended up breaking the pipe). I regret that I did not see the bear clearly!

We set out for our evening trip shortly after 6:30, got to the falls platform around 7. With the 1.4x extender, I was able to get a little better image of the bear, but my use of the tripod as a monopod needed a LOT more practice! Did not work out too well, I could not keep it steady, but it was a big relief for my left arm! Stayed there for more than an hour. Chatted with the photographer we met this morning – the guy who walked by the bear mom and her cubs. We both said that, without the fish swimming/jumping, we really could not get any really good photos, sadly.

Back to the cabin around 9:30. Called it a night. Tomorrow we will repeat the same plan as today, except with my 1.4 extender on the 100-400 lens. BTW with the 1.4x extender I did not lose any autofocus and focus point functionality!

Second Full Day at Brooks Lodge; Friday, July 12th 2019

Even though the living condition at the lodge was probably the worst so far on this trip, I slept the best, probably because of the walks to and from the Falls. When the alarm went off at 6am, we got up reluctantly. Today we were a little more efficient and got out of the door around 6:30. It was a cloudy day, believe it or not, and we had to wear our fleece! A pleasant change from the previous hot days on this whole trip!

We first saw bears on the Necnec river bridge. Quite a few people were there already, looking at the bears. There were at least 3 young bears there, splashing in the water trying to catch fish. They really were not very good fishmen and I felt really bad for them – lot of waiting or lot of exertion but only get very few fish. One bear got one! I was very excited for him. But the ranger told us that the fish was already dead …. Met the same photographer whom we met yesterday who walked along with the mommy bear and her cubs in the morning. He was from Germany. And he was brave enough to always get off the bridge and walkway to get to the ground level in order to take better pictures. He showed me one photo he got with a bear catching/eating a salmon. Nice! I was quite envious! He asked me if I had picture of him walking with the bear yesterday morning, I said I did and I would email them to him when I go home. He gave me his email: pegu123@web.de. I would have showed them to him but I formatted the card already yesterday after I downloaded them.

After watching the bears for a while on the bridge, we continued on to the Falls platform. Because it’s a cloudy day and it was cool, there were more active bears at the falls and there were a few more fish jumping! Around the Falls platform and the Riffles platform area, there must be a dozen bears, including the family of mom and three cubs we saw yesterday, near the Riffles platform. We stayed at the Falls platform for about 1.5 hours, hoping to take at least one decent picture with the bear catching the jumping fish. But it was not meant to be, or I just did not have the skill. Did not get even one picture with bear actually catching the fish, only a few with bear AFTER they caught the fish and eating them. Sigh ….

The rangers started taking names after we got to the Falls. And we were told our time’s up before 10, even though there were people there way before us but the ranger was not there to take names. Oh well …. We then went to the Riffles platform and got plenty of pictures of the cubs, so CUTE! The mom was extremely protective. She caught a fish and one of her three cubs took them and ran to shore to eat by himself. Another cubs followed. The third one, the smallest, struggled to follow as well and the mom went with him. Then she suddenly started charging ashore because she saw a male bear coming and walking towards where her cubs were going. A brief fight broke off and the male bear went away. Unfortunately we were not nimble enough to get the equipment out and take the video, and I could not maneuver my lens and camera well to capture it. Sigh ….

By the time we left the Riffles platform, it was close to 11am. We came back to the cabin quickly washed and then headed to lunch, then back to the room shortly before 12:30. I started trying to download the photos and was alarmed and distressed to find out that something is wrong with my disk and it could not be accessed! DISASTER!! Worst case is that I will have lost ALL the photos I took up to now ….OMG!!! Still working on it … And PRAYING!! Could the worst nightmare I feard really happening???!!!

Phew!! It turned out that the disk was NOT broken – at least not yet! The computer could not access the disk and LR just hung. I shutdown the machine and restarted it then was able to access it. Not sure if it’s the problem with LR, or the computer, or the disk. I decided to save today’s images on the card and started a new card.

No nap for me – I was so scared that I would lose all the photos and spent all the time trying to get it to work, then downloaded all the photos from the card, then started looking through the photos in LR. Nothing made me proud, even though a few photos were okay. I did catch a few with the salmon jumping at the Fall and the bears waiting, but the fish was not in focus. Sigh ….

After bob woke up from his nap, we decided to take a walk on the Necnec river bridge – there were always bears in the river by the bridge. Today the little wolf also showed up there – too far for any meaningful photos, but I did try to take some. By around 4:30, it started to rain – first few drops then the drops became more steady light rain. I do not want to shoot in the rain – don’t think I’d be able to get good shots, with the dim light. I guess this will be it! I will start packing.

Tomorrow will not be a fun day. We’re supposed to fly out of there around 2pm and we must checkout of the lodge by 9am. We’ll leave the big suitcase in the room and they will take it. But we must carry our camera and carryon bags with us, until 2pm. That means even if the weather is good, we won’t be able to do photos as we need to watch the camera bags. Yuk! …

At 8am, we went to the park auditorium by the visitor center where ranger Mo was giving a presentation about Katmai’s wild life. A nice talk and presentation – he showed us videos of bears, birds, etc. etc. After the talk we came back to the cabin and called it a night.

Last Day: Finally Saw the Jumping Fish!!! Saturday, July 13th 2019

I set the alarm for 6am thinking if the weather turned out to be good we would go to the Falls for the last time. But it pretty much rained all night and I could hear the rain when the alarm went off. It looked quite dim outside, unusual for Alaska, so we went back into the warm bed – first time since we got to Alaska that we felt a bit chilly. We got up at 7, it’s still raining off and on. I finished packing. We took a walk on the bridge and saw the wolf and a couple of bears, and people still walking to the Falls. So we went to the visitor center to check the videocam. The camera was not on, but the ranger was kind enough to let us look on his computer. WOW!! MANY MANY FISH JUMPING!!! We must go!!

We left the big suitcase luggage in the room as instructed. I reassembled my camera and stored the 4 pieces of camera bags/duffle bag in the unlock and unattended “gear room” by the visitor center. Even though the ranger said it’s not likely things get stolen, nobody was watching it. I could not care that much any more – would take the risk! We may not evern come back again and without seeing the salmon fish jumping, it would be a regret for my life!

We walked to the Falls. First time we encountered a line and we had to wait. Finally got in. WOW!! I could not believe my eyes!!! Even though I had seen this scene many times on the internet, it was not the same when I saw it with my own eyes!! It was simply unbelievable!!

And thinking about the fact that these fish worked so hard and tried so very hard to come here and jump up stream and up that high fall, just to die! To reproduce and die! It made me sad …. Feeling very bad for the fish …. I took videos with my iphone and shot I don’t know how many shots, hoping to maybe catch just ONE frame that might have a sharp fish! I haven’t looked at what I shot yet, kind of not dare ….

Sadly, there were so many fish, but only ONE bear! All the other bears gorged themselves last night and how were probably all sleeping somewhere. The shore was strewn with dead and torn up fish and nobody ate them, not even the seagulls! If it was yesterday, they would have been snatched away immediately!

Apparently since yesterday was a cool day, the fish started moving over. If we had come to the Falls last night in the rain, I would have caught bears WITH fish!! Now, I have only either bears and bears eating fish occasionally, OR fish jumping, NOT the most desired BEAR CATCHING FISH! Even if we had come early this morning at 7, I would have gotten that, perhaps. Regret! Sigh ….

We left the Falls around 10:30am. When we checked out at 9am, the office woman told us that because of the wind, we could not board the flight at the lake near us. We need to walk to the other end of the bridge and a bus would take us to Brooks Lake to board the float plane. And we must be at the other end of the bridge at 12:30pm.

After we got the camera bag reassembled, we took all the bags with us to the cafeteria to wait. Shortly after 12pm, we took all our 4 bags and walked to the other side of the bridge. Nobody else who appeared to be leaving was there, so Bob walked back to the office to inquire. It turned out that the plan changed! And nobody told us anything, nor was there any sign! So we walked back and boarded the floatplane around 1pm. I was really not happy that the office was so inconsiderate! But another lady who had been here before said that she was not surprised …. I guess being considerate to guests was not their long suit ….

So, the floatplane to King Salmon, then waited for a couple hours, then PanAir flight at 3:30 to Anchorage. All was smooth – no issue with my two camera bags carry on with us. We got to Anchorage before 5 – the flight was supposed to be only 51 minutes. As unpredictable as PenAir is, I found its people very nice.

BACK TO CIVILIZATION NOW!! And it feels so good to be in a hotel room that is adequate in size and comfortable! The relaxed portion of our vacation starts, I hope.

After settling in our room (for the next 4 nights), we did laundry. Now we’re waiting for the dryer to finish, then we will go to dinner. We did not have any meals today, only a couple of bars for Bob, and a little beef jerkey for both of us. I want some Asian food! Bob yelped and found an Asian/Fusion one called TOZAI, less than 5 minutes drove away. I was not that crazy for its menu – mainly Japanese. We went. Good environment – not a hole in the wall and professional service. I had some beef udon – was ok. Bob liked his westernized halibut and crab meat dish. We had some dumplings and poke. Enjoyed our dinner at a normal restaurant. Back to the hotel at 9 – too late a dinner. Calling it a night!

A Rainy and Leisurely Day in Anchorage; Sunday, July 14th 2019

Strangely, back into civilization and in a comfortable bed, last night I did not sleep as well as in Brooks. I went to bed after midnight and woke up before 3am, then drifted back to half-sleep and got up after 7. Went down to breakfast around 8 then started the day.

We had no plans for today, aside from visiting Anchorage downtown for a bit. It was a cloudy day and it started raining off and on. When we drove to downtown, the rain drops were still light and sparse. We first walked down 4th Ave, bought a few T-shirts (for myself and Caleb). Then we walked through an open market that’s probably only on weekends (today is Sunday!). There I bought a couple of small packets of smoked salmon – will bring back to try with my sister. Then we walked to the mall on 5th Ave. There in Eddie Bauer I got a couple of things for myself which were 60% off. No more shopping!

Next we went to the restaurant called Twin Dragon Mongolian BBQ for lunch. It turned out it was the BEST Asian food we had in Anchorage so far, and with very reasonable price! We got there when it just opened so all the dishes were very fresh – not the stuff sitting in the warming trays forever. The buffet included self-picked meat and vege which the chef would stir fry for you right there, on a big flat grill pan. I had not seen this kind of arrangement back home. Everything was very tasty, unbelieveable! I was SO HAPPY! Stuffed myself, thankfully it was lunch! I chatted with the waitress who said she worked there for more than15 years. She was Korean and this restaurant was owned by Korean. When they bought the Mongolian BBQ place they found out MSG was used heavily. Now they used a lot of garlic to flavor stuff, like the Koreans do. I loved it! We will definitely go back again in the next few days!

The rain got heavier right before we went into the restaurant and continued to rain. We were going to drive to a place where if we hike a mile or so, we could get to a place that would give us a good view of Anchorage. But we might not be able to do that in the rain. We would drive there any way, even if we could not do the hike. We came back to the hotel and Bob took a nap. I tried to not take a nap so it would not ruin my night. I watched my iPad/Chinese soap. What’s new!

After the rest, we set out to explore the Flattop Mountain trail in Chugach State Park which Bob found in the book. I thought the rain had stopped looking from the room, but it actually did not – still drizzling. It was a 20 minutes drive and we got there. Apparently it was a very popular spot. Besides tourists, a lot of local people were there with their dogs. It was really pretty – with the high mountains shrouded in clouds and the fireweed flowers blooming, really lovely! We were not prepared to hike up the 1+ mile trail to the top, just walked a little to the hill around the parking lot. It was quite chilly. Even though we prefer this kind of weather than the heat a few days ago, to hike in it we would need the fleece. We looked around, paid for our day parking, took some pictures with the phone, then left. Back to the hotel around 4:30.

We headed out again for dinner around 6. We decided to have some seafood, crabs specifically. Identified a place called Glacier BrewHouse. It was on 5th ave. And it was packed. We were able to find 2 spots at the bar. We shared an order of king crab’s legs and a salad. I was turned off from king crab’s legs after having had them at Costco in Hawaii years ago when we were there with all 4 sisters and families of ours. They were not that fresh – frozen then defrosted. But these here were SO GOOD! SO FRESH! It was just the right amount for the two of us. The guy sitting next to us at the bar happened to also came from Boston – he and his big family of 28 people cruised over on Princess to celebrate his grandma’s 85th bday. What a small world! He lives in Quincy and his company is opening up some plant in Hopedale. Gee!

We’re back at the hotel before 8:15. This has been a relaxing day and it feels good after the last few hard traveling/working days! Tomorrow we will drive to Girdwood.

Girdwood; Monday, July 15th 2019

Up at 7am even though a junk call from home woke me up at 5, very annoying!

Unfortunately it’s the same cloudy day as yesterday, and it will be raining part of the day. Even though we definitely prefer this kind of cool day than the hot days we had before, it’s a shame that there won’t be much picture opportunity.

We left shortly before 10am, it was drizzling and heavily overcast. We started towards Girdwood, without any expectations. The drive was about an hour or less, along the Seward Highway, along the water. The area is called Turnagain Arm waterway, or fjord, and the scenery was gorgeous! Layers of jagged mountains beyond the water, shrouded in clouds, unbelievable! Not sure what they would be like if the sun was out, but they were beautiful as they were!

We got to Girdwood – took us a few tries to actually locate the “town center”. There really was not a town center per se. We saw a post office in the so called town square park which was a very small area. And there were a few stores along the highway, and that was it. The interesting thing was that souvenir shop had a sign “Tourist Trap” – Bob said at least it was honest.

There was a rather large resort in Girdwood – we first drove there since we could not find where the town was. It’s called Alyeska Resort. We think it’s a ski resort in the winter. There was a cable car going all the way to the top – supposedly there’s a fancy restaurant there. We did not feel risk it, since it might be like the one we went to at Whistler ski resort. So this Girdwood town really was not a town worth visiting, besides the resort and the helicopter stuff.

There was nothing much we could do, so we decided to drive back to Anchorage. It was just in time to go to Twin Dragon for lunch, and that’s what we did. Again I really stuffed myself. Back to the hotel shortly after 1pm. Need to do some research to see what Anchorage has to offer.

It seemed that the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center at Portage Valley was the only thing I’m interested, besides the helicopter rides. And the rain stopped by mid afternoon, and sun poked out. Unfortunately the 5pm 10-people bear program was not on today, nor tomorrow, so we decided to go there tomorrow morning. I felt very tired and lazy this afternoon, so we did not get out until after 4pm. We decided to go to the Flattop Mountain trailhead again, to see what it’s like when the sun’s out. I really like that spot.

It was quite windy there, but from the lookout point, we could see Anchorage far out there. Regretfully, the mountains looked much more fascinating yesterday shrouded in the clouds than today with a clear view. We even ventured up the trail to the flattop mountain a tiny bit. I quite enjoyed it. But Bob did not want to go further. And without hiking poles, it was rather dangerous walking down, on the loose gravels.

We got back to the city around 6:30 and went directly to Charlie’s Bakery for dinner – could not think of a better place to have a simple light dinner without costing too much. What I really wanted was some good fresh seafood in a peaceful environment, but we could not find such a place. Oh well ….. Somehow I feel an obligation to have some fresh salmon in Alaska, even though I don’t like salmon.

Back to the hotel before 7:30. Will have a do-nothing evening, watch some iPad, and call it a night. Tomorrow – Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center!

Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center; Tuesday, July 16th 2019

We were up at 7am and out of the hotel around 9. Our destination was Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center (AWCC), which was a bit further than Girdwood but was in the same direction along the same Seward Highway/ Alaska Rt 1.

The weather today was much better than the last two days, no rain and there was blue sky behind the beautiful clouds. The mountain scenes along the way were even more beautiful! We stopped at Beluga pt for me to take a few photos without the car moving and behind the dirty windows. It started drizzling when we drove towards AWCC but it stopped when we got there.

It’s got to be THE BEST animal conservation place I’ve ever been to! It was set in an unbelievably beautiful environment, with surrounding mountains and rivers. The animals had ample space to roam around. And the animals were in separate pastures. There were bison, wood bison, musk ox, brown bears, a black bear, elks, moose, coyote, a porcupine, red fox, etc. etc. I tried to take as many photos as I could, even though it was not in a wild environment. We drove our car but stopped at all the places to walk around. They built various walkways – really nice! It was really well constructed and managed! I am happy for these rescued animals!!

We left the place before 1pm. Too late to go to our Mongolian BBQ place for lunch, so we stopped at the Girdwood visitor services strip mall place, and shared a scone and a coffee. Then we went to KatmaiLand office to meet and say Hello to Melissa before we came back to the hotel around 2pm.

I changed my mind about doing the laundry this afternoon – will do it tomorrow morning first thing, then pack. Our bus transfer to Whittier the ship boarding place is not until 3pm, so we have plenty of time.

We rested until around 4:30 then went out for dinner – Twin Dragon again what else?! Haha! We ate and came back before 6. Relaxed for the night.

Board the Cruise Ship; Wednesday, July 17th 2019

Up before 7 – couldn’t sleep any more. Put the laundry in the washer before going to breakfast, then in the dryer after breakfast. Laundry was all done shortly after 9 then I finished the packing.

The 3 T-shirts I bought for me and Caleb all shrank – the small for Caleb became too small and my medium would be right for him. I really liked those shirts – with the big face of a bear and a wolf on the front. Only $10 each. Since we had plenty of time, I asked Bob to drive me back to downtown Anchorage, to that same store, and I bought two large ones back. Haha, total less than half an hour.

We checked out of the hotel after 11:30, and went to a Vietnamese restaurant less than 3 minutes away from the hotel called XXXXX and it was in the same area as TOZAI which we went the other night. Ah! How I regret that we did not find this place before! It’s literally within walking distance of our hotel! It was clean and pleasant. The service was very good! And the food was very nice! Even though it was not the same kind of Vietnamese food as Pho Pasteur at home, it was tasty and good! If we had found it earlier, we would have never tried that Pho Lena or that Charlie’s Bakery!! Sigh …. Next time!

After lunch we drove to the airport, to return the car and to wait for our A.C.T. (Alaska Cruise Transportation) bus. By the time everything was done and we sat down in the area to wait for our bus, it was just past 1pm. Our bus was at 3pm, we had 2 hours to wait. We sat there and watched people from various cruise lines gathered there for different reasons. Some just arrived from flights and were heading to their hotels; some were boarding buses to go somewhere, etc. etc. All seemed to be well organized, and it was a busy spot. The lady with our names came around 2:15, telling us our bus would be #14 and would be here around 2:30. It was a nice big bus and was not full, only 35 or so. We boarded and our bus took off before 3.

The drive to Whitier took no more than an hour. Because we were early, the bus stopped before we got to the tunnel and everybody got out for about 25 minutes. Then we got back on. The tunnel was little more than a mile long and it was an one-way tunnel, so only one direction was open at a time. Vehicles all lined up and waited. We’re lucky that we did not have to wait long. We got to the cruise terminal around 4:45.

Getting on the ship was extremely smooth. We were in our room, D405, around 5. We really liked our room! It’s a mini suite and was very well designed. Even though it had no walk-in closet, it had a closet/storage area outside the bathroom, better than some others that had the closet facing the bed. It was spacious enough and very comfortable!

Our steward came in to tell us that we should go to dinner early around 5:15. It was around 5:25, so we went. Really not familiar with this ship, even though we sailed Princess a few times years ago. We went to deck 5 and were told that we did not need to line up and should go directly to the club area, to the right of the entrance. The club dining area was a separate area in the main dining room and we could go there for the three meals within its opening hours any time. Our waiter was from Thailand, his assistant was from Italy (I think) – I did not catch their names. The food was ok – I had salmon (somehow felt obligated to have salmon on this trip), but it was a bit too dry. Oh well, I did not care that much any ways.

After dinner, we walked up to deck 14 and 15 and explored a little bit. It felt there were lots of people. And the clientele was quite different from what we’re used to on Oceania or even Celebrity. Certainly a lot more kids and young adults, plus a lot of people in wheel chair, plus many heavy people ….

We wandered around a little then came back to the room. Our luggage was already there, so I unpacked. Then it was the security drill. It’s the first time that for the ship drill we did not need to bring out life vests! Our muster station was on deck 7. After the drill, we continued to explore the ship. Found that there were so many “lounges” and bars. I saw one called “International café”, on deck 7. But it turned out to be just like any other bars/café. Maybe this is the Princess style? I don’t remember it was like this before ….

Any ways, the ship started sailing shortly after 8. Now it’s almost 10pm and we just sailed past some gorgeous snow stopped mountains. Bob said tomorrow around 3pm we will sail by the famous Hubbard Glacier and we will be sailing by it for 4 hours! That is supposed to be the highlight of this cruise, I did not even know.

Oh we went to the internet café and purchased our up-to-4-device internet connection for $120 (the whole trip). But the internet is broken

The ship will be sailing for two days before reaching its first port – Skagway. We will have two lazy do-nothing days.

Off to bed now.

First Full Day of Sailing - Saw the Hubbard Glacier; Thursday, July 18th 2019

The room temperature and the bed were all comfortable, Bob slept like a log until after 6 but I had the same luck as all the previous days – woke up a couple of times and did not sleep well beyond 5am. We were up before 7.

Went to deck 14 to have the casual buffet breakfast – somehow I prefer to pick and choose my own instead of going to the club dining room and order. The food here was quite obviously a couple of levels down from Oceania, even from Celebrity, but I did not have any expectations and we were ok with whatever they had. They had good fruits so that was good enough for me. The clientele was again so different from what I was used to – I do not mean to be a snob but the kids population did not thrill me. Good thing was that at that time of the day, the cafeteria and the deck area were not crowded – the sunbathing whales and pool loving kids were not up yet. We had our breakfast, then walked around on the open deck and on the various indoor floors until around 10.

The internet on the ship was still down. We went to inquire at the internet café where there was a nice young man on duty who helped me to set up my phone last night. We were told that the system was down because the satellite did an update yesterday and it did not work, so they had to roll it back. Ugh – whoever did this should be punished! So we don’t know when or if the internet will come back.

Bob explained to me about the geography and our sail route. We went up to deck 14 to look at the only map the ship had. Now I have a better idea why we’re having 2 sail days and what the inside passage was like. At breakfast time, we could see the snowy mountains far away at shore, with a thick layer of clouds between the ocean and part of the mountains. Now we could see nothing beyond the ocean line. This afternoon should be good as we will see the glacier! Let me not get my hopes up too high though.

The internet came back around 11am! Slow but usable. We ended up booking the rather expensive excursion today – to get on a small ship and get closer to the glacier. It’s the Hubbard Glacier & Wilderness Exploration, which still had some openings. For the $270 each, we’re not sure if it’s worth it, but the ship would be quite far away from it, so we bit the bullet and decided to go for it. We will be getting on that ship around 4:10, be back to the ship around 6:30.

Bob went to the blackjack tournament at noon. He did not have much luck and came back around 1 and we went to lunch on deck 14, the buffet cafeteria. Today’s lunch was supposedly Asian themed, but it really was quite miserable. I think this is the worst food we’ve had on any cruise line, as far as I could remember. Not that it was not edible, just below expectations. After lunch we came back to the room and rested for a while – took a nap and watched some TV (some random movies were playing). Then I got my Canon camera and the 100-400mm lens ready before 4, and went to the gathering place on deck 6 for the glacier excursion.

The excursion did get us much closer to the glacier than the ship, but my hope of seeing any wild life that I could capture with the 100-400 lens was totally false. The scenery was beautiful though – with the snowy mountains in the background and the clouds like belts surrounding the mountains. The glacier was just glacier – it reminded us of the glacier we saw in South America back in 2014. If it’s just for the glacier, I probably would not have voted for spending the excursion $. But we did, and I don’t regret. Do it once is OK.

It was really cold! It felt colder than when we were in Antarctica or Svalbard! Probably because we’re not dressed right, even though we put on everything we could – the wool underlayer, the fleece, the gortex outer layer. Really needed a wool hat and gloves. Oh well! We came back to the ship before 6:30, chilled to the bones. We wore the fleece to dinner (at the club dining section). Started to warm up a little after dinner. We walked one round on deck 14, in the wind.

Learned that tomorrow morning we will sail by Glacier Bay, another gorgeous glacier wall. No excursions! Just watch from the ship. I won’t pack up my camera tonight – maybe tomorrow we get to see some animal! I can always hope! Oh, today we did see some seals, very far away even with the 400mm lens. Meaningless as far as photo goes, but there were quite a few, lying around by the glacier, in the icy slush water.

There’s really nothing much to do at night, so we stayed in the room and watched TV, until bed time. The internet is back, but slow to the extent of not working.

2nd Sea Day and the Glacier Bay; Friday, July 19th 2019

Up around 7am and had breakfast at the club dining room which was quite pleasant. From now on, when we’re able to have breakfast there, we will do that, much better than the buffet! Even though the food is pretty much the same, it was served better and much better environment.

It was a very heavily foggy/cloudy morning. We probably already entered the inside passage by breakfast time. When we were sitting at breakfast on the starboard side, we could see the cloud shrouded mountains, quite pretty. But in our port side room, there was less to see, just rounded top mountains with thick green forests.

We found out last night that today we would enter the Glacier Bay national park and sail through it. The park ranger would get on board and spend the day on the ship with us, explaining things when we sail along and answer questions, etc. They will exit when we leave the park late afternoon/evening. We would be seeing a couple of glaciers including the well known Margerie Glacier.

The park rangers came on board after 9am but I did not see them. At 10am there was a talk by one of the two rangers and we went to listen. It was a great presentation! That ranger was a very good presenter and I really enjoyed it!! He talked about the history of this park and his own experience. It must not be easy to be a ranger in such a remote wilderness park!! But if you can tolerate the living condition, it must be an enviable privilege!!

The fog lifted fortunately as we sailed into the park and approached the glaciers. But it was really quite cold! Bob was tired and started napping. I remained in the stateroom and stepped in and out of the room and the balcony, taking photos. Really beautiful! I must say that the glaciers themselves were not really photogenic – they’re impressive, but I did not find the right angles to make them photogenic. My biggest desire was to see some see otters! Unfortunately I did not see any! I listened to the ranger’s talk over the TV/broadcast while watching the scenery, all the way till after 1pm. That was when the ship stopped for a while in front of the margerie glacier. Bob and I then went to the buffet and had a quick lunch. We continued enjoying the scenery from our cabin.

Then at 4:30 bob and I went to learn/join the country line dancing for half an hour – a good way to warm up. I was so cold and kept my fleece on all the way through dinner. The dancing warmed me up a little bit, and the dinner finally warmed me up.

I was hoping to catch the rangers depart from the ship – they had to climb a rope ladder from their small ship up to/down from our big ship. Our ship slowed down and their little ship used the same speed to have a “controlled collision” for them to get on/off the ship.

Tomorrow we will be at our first port, Skagway. We have booked an excursion which was a train ride called “while pass rail bennett lake & Yukon adventure”. It will be an 8-hour excursion. Hope it’s worthwhile!

1st Port: Skagway, White Pass Rail, Bennett Lake, & Yukon; Saturday, July 20th 2019

We were up around 7am, down to the club dining room to have breakfast and back to the room around 8:40. Then went to disembark for our 9:45am excursion.

The excursion description said that we would board a motor coach to the train station to board the White Pass Rail, but it turned out that it was a 2.5 hours bus ride to the small town Carcross to board the train. But the bus ride turned out to be really fun, mainly due to our bus driver who was a 20+ years old girl (with Indian descent, my guess) and had a great sense of humor! She was the driver and our tour guide for the ride. She came from Florida. She was on the Alaska cruise once and fell in love with the place and decided to come back. Last year she applied for the tour bus driver position. She said they were desparate for drivers. She applied and got accepted. They flew her down, taught her how to drive a bus. That was it! I love that girl! Cannot imagine driving that big a bus, on the road zigzaging around the mountain, in such dense fog! The fog was so dense that we could not see anything beyond 20 meters! Unbelievable!! We were afraid that the whole day would be like this! But we were lucky! By the time we entered Yukon/Canada, the fog had lifted!

The driver casually told us various stories about the places we drove by. I cannot remember a lot of the historical ones such as the gold rush ones. A few funny ones I remember are: there was a bathroom by the side of the road which people call it international bathroom. You go in as Russian, inside and European, and come out as Finish. Haha! At the sign where we entered Yukon, there was a nice lady named Jackie selling nicnacs on the road side, with her sweet dog named Tashi. She was actually paid to be there and her duties included cleaning the international bathroom etc. At the Yukon sign, our driver asked us to line up and she used our cameras/phones to take pictures for us.

We got to Carcross shortly after 12pm. Our train was to leave at 1pm, so we had more than half an hour wandering in that little town. We watched original natives dancing, and I bought a small jar of fire weed honey and fireweed jam each. We boarded the train which took off at 1pm. So it turned out that the bus took us along the White Pass to Carcross, and the train took us back to Skagway! On the train ride back, we could see across the valley where our bus road was! The scenery was fantastic! Especially on the first 1/3 of the way from Carcross. After that, the fog started to fall and it was hard to take pictures.

The train made one stop, at Bennett Lake. It was a ghost town, with some remnants of old times. Bennett was a place where the gold miners stopped to build their boats for Klondike. The gold mining stories around here are certainly the focus. I did not pay too much attention and cannot remember too much. All I could remember was that it was a very hard time. Many people and many animals/horses died. Only very few found gold and became rich. Just like the lottery today, except you don’t have to pay such high prices for the lottery!

The train took us back to Skagway around 5:30. Bob and I did not take the shuttle back to the ship, as we would like to see a little bit of the town. We did not see much, came back to the ship around 6.

I was starved! The train provided us with a nice lunch box, but I did not like the sandwich, so I only ate the pasta salad and the piece of turkey in the sandwich. Tonight’s dinner was seafood. We had king crab legs, etc. I ate everything and finally warmed up after dinner! We took a walk on deck 15 before coming back to the cabin.

Tomorrow we need to be up no later than 6. I have booked us an excursion that’s called “Whale watching & Mendehall glacier photo safari”. It’s from 8am – noon, and we need to be down at 7:45. I will bring the real camera and lens. Won’t expect much, but better be prepared, just in case.

It is 8:40pm now and our ship sailed. Will rest early and prepare for tomorrow.

Oh, today is our 34th anniversary!!! I totally forgot until Bob reminded me!! A pretty good way to celebrate our 34th!

Juneau, Whale Watching & Mendenhall Glacier Photo Safari; Sunday, July 21st 2019

We were up at 6 when the alarm went off. Had breakfast at the buffet (wow! There were quite a lot of people there already!), then went to the dock before 7:30 for our 8am excursion which asked us to be there by 7:45.

This tour was supposed to a photo safari and took a max of 14 people. We had on 12, great! Out of the 12, only 1 other had a camera with a real lens, Canon 70-200. A few others had cameras, rest had phones. Our guide was Jim, from Gastineau Guiding. He was a seasoned guide and a photographer himself. The driver was Joshua. They first took us to a scenery spot which got us a fantastic view of the mountains and glaciers in the far background, water in front of them, and lovely fireweed flowers in the foreground! The light was just right. We all took some good photos. BTW when we woke up this morning the fog was so thick that I was afraid today would be a waste photo wise, but by the time we got on the tour bus, the fog had lifted exposing a nice day!

After the quick stop at the scenery spot, we headed to the harbor where we would board the small boat. The small boat was operated by Captain Jen, a youngish nice lady. She took us out to the ocean searching for whales, mainly humpback whales. And we DID see them!! Caught them spraying, fluting, etc. Unfortunately it’s still a bit far. I should have put on my extender but I did not. What I captured were far from what I did in Svalbard! But it was an exciting journey to watch the whales. These whales all have names and there was a whale book that had the image of all their flutes. Jim was helping us identify what whales we saw by comparing our pictures of their flute with the book. Along the way, Jim told us lots of stories.

The whale watching portion of the tour ended before 11. Then another small bus took us to the place where Jim would take us on a walk through the rain forest to where we could see the Mendenhall Glacier. Jim showed us various interesting plants and told us about bears, etc. It was not a long walk but we had a decent workout. And we got a good view of the glacier. I asked him what he thought about glaciers because I just don’t find them that interesting or photogenic. He said he found them very sexy! Ha! I guess to each of his own!

The viewpoint of the glacier was quite close to the end of our rain forest walk. We then boarded our small bus and headed back to the ship. We had the option of getting off the bus right in town, which Bob and I did.

We walked in town for less than an hour. Very crowded with people from all 4 cruise ships in port, including a huge one, the Royal Carribean Ovation of the Seas. Compared to the other cruise ships, that one was really huge!

We came back to the ship shortly before 2pm. We then went to the buffet and had a late light lunch, before coming back to our cabin.

Today the all on board time is 3:30pm, so the ship will probably sail around 4. Tomorrow is our last port stop, Ketchikan. We did not book any excursion.

I downloaded all the photos from the Canon and the Sony RX10 and started looking at them in LR before dinner. Even though I did not catch the epic kind of bears catching salmon, looking at what I took brought smile to my face! I DO love some of what I captured, even though I really could do better! I must enroll in the lottery end of this year and pray for 2021!! Must go again!

We went to dinner before 6 and came back before 7:30. My disk was no longer spinning, just like it did in Brooks lodge. I had to shutdown the machine, unplug and replug the disk, then restart the machine. Then it worked. Phew!! I just back up that disk when I get home and will not use it again after tonight!! Don’t know if it’s the issue of the disk or the laptop ….

Ketchikan, a Leisure Day; Monday, July 22nd 2019

Today was our last port of this cruise, Ketchikan. We did not sign up for any organized tours. We were up at 7 and had a leisurely breakfast at the club dining room – chatted with the restaurant staff whom we got to become quite friendly with. I must say, the serving staff on this cruise is better than oceania in the sense that they’re more personable, reminding me of the first few cruises we had years ago, on celebrity etc.

The ship did not dock until around 9:30. We went on shore around 9:45. Ketchikan was called the salmon capital of the world. It was a small town and got quite crowded when there were 4 cruise ships in town! Creek street was the most popular place and there were shops all over the small town center. We were going to take the short cable car/tram up the little hill then walk down, but did not want to wait in line, so we just wandered around and poked into the various tourists shops. The one thing I really liked was a pendant in the shape of a bear, made of turquoise and some animal marble, very pretty, designed/made by an Alaskan woman who used to be a school teacher. But it cost $495 and I did not want to spend that much $. Did not see anything else. One thing we were looking for was the crepe that Echo raved about and we found it. It was the Alaska crepe company which we also saw in Anchorage. We had one with smoked salmon and another with BLT. I bought a third one for our waiter and brought it back to the ship. Unfortunately the dining room on deck 5 was not open for lunch today so I had no way of finding him. Oh well! I said I would bring one back for him, but it’s going to be wasted. The crepes were very tasty. I bought 2 small pack of smoked salmon for gifts, also a locally made wool/silk felted scarf for my sister.

Back to the ship around 1:30. The weather was quite warm – what a difference between today and 2 days ago! We’re in T-shirts and did not want to walk under the sun. From now on, we can pack up our warm clothes. Also I noticed last night that by 9pm, it was getting dark outside – no longer those midnight sun any more. This reminds me that we’re almost home!

I really did not have anything to do so I decided to plug in my portable disk and edit my photos. It was a risk but when I leave for dinner I would shutdown LR and unplug the disk, which seems to be safer.

I did the editing for 2 plus hours, enjoying some of the bear photos and regretting that I did not use a longer lens and a unipod because many of the pictures I like were not sharp! Oh I regret so much!!! Next time we will have to use the 500mm lens with the 1.4x extender!! Need to bring a unipod which is allowed on the falls platform!

We went to dinner before 6, which was actually before 7 – tonight we need to set the clock forward an hour and 6 becomes 7! Back to the room around 7:15/8:15. I will start packing tonight, but not until we take a walk first. I am too stuffed! I ate seafood most of this cruise, more seefood than I normally eat in the whole year! And I had steamed veges every night!

When we wanted to walk outside on deck 7 which had a covered walkway, the doors were all blocked because it had been raining and the wind was quite strong. So we wandered into the auditorium on deck 7 and found out that the movie “The Mule” was playing. It had not started for too long. We sat down and watched it till the end. Even though this was our second time watching it, we loved it just the same. Clint Eastwood was such a great actor and the story was very touching.

Back to the room and I finished packing one suitcase. It’s 10:30pm the new time now. We should get up at 7am.

Last Day of the Cruise, Sea Day; Tuesday, July 23rd 2019

Up at 7:30, later than I wanted but due to the time change it’s not surprising. Went to breakfast around 8, back to the cabin after 9. Then I finished packing the 2nd suitcase.

There was a cooking show at 10am with the executive chef and the pastry chef demonstrating 3 dishes – gravlax, some sort of shrimp dish, and tiramisu. It was entertaining. And I hope I learned a little bit of cooking the fish and the shrimp.

After the cooking show, we wandered around the ship and sat near the library a bit so we had better internet connection – this cabin simply does not have decent reception and I’ve been annoyed. The internet guy (a nice guy!) said he would refund us 50%, not sure if he would really do it. I would rather not get the refund but get better connection! Need to write this on the feedback form.

Around 11:30 we had an early lunch at the beffet, then walked around the ship on deck 7 for less than a mile – will go out to walk again later. Deck 7 was the only deck that had an uninterrupted walkway around the ship, and it was covered. Regret that we did not know that before. This ship’s layout was quite different from the ships we’re used to.

I am hooking up my disk again to continue editing my photos, as disappointing as it has been, hoping to find maybe a few surprises ….

Did editing for a couple of hours – no happy surprise, only disappointment …. Then we went for a walk, before going to dinner at 5:30. Took a 1-mile walk on deck 7 (3 rounds), then sat at the library to enjoy decent internet (signals in the room equals to none). Came back to the room before 9.

We need to leave the ship by 8am tomorrow morning – our 2 big pieces of luggage already taken away. We won’t go to bed too late tonight and will get up around 5:30.

Vancouver, Canada; Wednesday, July 24th 2019

We were up at 5:45 and went to club dining for breakfast at 6:30. We’re the silver 1 group which was scheduled to debark at 8am. We went down before 8. The whole thing was really smooth and well organized! We picked up our two big suitcases then got in a taxi without a glitch! The taxi cost only $40/Canadian and it took us to the airport car rental place as we requested. We got our small Toyota Corolla and got to the hotel around 9. Wow!

Our room was ready so we were able to settle in right away. Then we went out for our tour of Vancouver for the day. Looking around the hotel, we saw Chinese and Asian eating places all over! We’re in the Richmond area which is the where the new Chinese immigrants took up their residence. The hotel had many Chinese – the girls at the front desk spoke perfect Cantonese and English.

Our first target today was the Capilano suspension bridge. I have seen pictures of Caleb at that bridge when his dad took him here to visit his friend Peter and family. Then I saw pictures Echo took when they were here a few weeks ago. I decided we should visit it. It was about 45 minutes drive from our hotel. I did not know that there was actually a park where the suspension bridge was. And it had the most expensive entry fee I’d ever seen - $50/pp for seniors. Wow! Surprised but we bit the bullet.

There were so many people there! Today was Wednesday, middle of the week, I cannot imagine what it would be like on the weekends! Besides the bridge, there were tree bridges high up between those tall spruce trees, and there was a cliff walk, also on bridges high up among trees. We did them all. But we did not take the time to listen to the stories, etc. It was a nicely built park. I could imagine how much it must have cost to build it, so spending the $50/pp was not that bad. The tree bridges reminded me of the park in Singapore, but that was on manmade trees, and here they’re on real trees.

The suspension bridge was not as scary as I thought it might be. I did have to hold the railing, especially when there’re lots of people and the bridge swayed. I no longer had the good balance to walk without the help of the railing.

There were many Chinese visitors – I felt I was in a park in China, hearing the Chinese talk and all the picture taking.

I was glad that we went to the bridge early. The weather was still cool because it was cloudy. By the time we left before noon, the sun had come out and it became warm immediately.

Our next target was the Vancouver Chinatown which was a mistake on my side! I don’t have any idea what restaurants there were good or where to go – my only memory of that place was many many years ago I went to Seattle for a conference and stayed over the weekend. Mark Ku and I decided to go to Vancouver so I rented a car and drove there. Mark directed me to drive to Chinatown and we found a restaurant, had a meal (or two?) then drove back. I had a decent impression of Chinatown.

So this time we found the Chinatown. We first found a parking meter and tried to put in coins, but it took the coins and did not work, so I said let’s find a parking garage. We followed googlemap but the parking place it took us to no longer existed. On the way we saw a garage called “EasyPark”, we had to circle a couple of times before getting to it. We parked the car and paid the one day fee of $13.40 (Canadian). The garage was in the Chinatown vincinity but we really did not know exactly where Chinatown was, even though we saw the gate. As we walked the dirty streets towards where we thought the eating places may be, we saw many many homeless people, disabled, self-talking, smoking, lying on the streets …. A quite scary scene! Finally I went into a Chinese store and asked where the restaurants were. The nice lady told me where to go and told me that area we walked was the bad druggie streets. OMG!! By this time I said to myself I really did not want to stay in this area any more!! We ended up having dimsum in a Chinese restaurant which served so-so food. We spent more than $50(US) and bought a lesson – never come back here again!!

After lunch, Bob looked at googlemap and we walked to the water front (where Coral Princess was docked!) and then back to the parking garage without going through the really bad streets! Phew!!

When we were in the taxi as he drove us from the airport, I had a really good impression of Vancouver! But the trip to Chinatown really ruined it!

Before we drove back to the hotel, we wanted to find the Thai restaurant where we had the Singapore crab a few years ago. Bob actually found it – Banana Leaf, 1043 Davie Street. The surrounding has changed since we were there 5 years ago – the landmark grovery store across the street was no longer there. More importantly, the restaurant does not have the crab dish! Oh well!

We drove back to the hotel to take a break. We will find a Chinese/Asian restaurant near the hotel for dinner – that’s a decision!!

We went out around 6pm, wandered around the neighborhood, looking for a chinese restaurant that might be good. Oh boy! There were SO MANY!!! It was very hard to make a decision and even Yelp did not help. Finally, I decided on a SiChuan restaurant right across the street from our hotel – ChengDu Spicy Restaurant (what an original name!). When we opened the door, we could smell the Sichuan pepper! And the restaurant looked pleasant enough. The waitress was not warm but not rude either. We sat down and ordered a bunch of dishes. And they were all so good! So authentic!! We’re very very happy!! The best meal we had on this trip!! I need to write a review on yelp!

After dinner, we walked some more – went into the nearby mall which had a grocery store and bought a couple of fruits and a coke. The grocery store was quite amazing because it had so many Asian food/vege and other stuff, almost like a chinatown grocery store, but had the western store’s cleanliness. I was impressed! One can tell this area must have so many Chinese residents!

Back to the hotel after 8. I like this hotel, better than the Fairfields. Even though it’s near the airport and we can hear the planes, it’s not too bad! It’s not in downtown, but as far as we have a car, I am happy here.

Tomorrow our flight is at 8:45am, directly to Boston. We’ve been away from home for three weeks! Thanks to my sister for taking care of our two four-footers! Can’t wait to get home!