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I’m an official member of the 30% club – I just need my membership card and a ceremonial pin.  You’re probably scratching your head and wondering what I’m talking about.  Well, I saw Denali in all of its splendor as we were on the train north.  Since you’re likely to have only a 30% chance of seeing the mountain, I got lucky on my first try.  Let me tell you a little about this day.

We started out from Anchorage about 8:15 in the morning.  As the day dawned, we hoped for the best but didn’t expect too much.  There are fires burning to the west and north of Denali and smoke has been in and out of the area.  Besides being bad to breathe, smoke can also obscure vision, and each one of us wanted to see “The Great One” – Denali.  The best viewing of Denali is from the Talkeetna area since the mountain is toward the southern portion of the park.  So as we were going up, we all looked from time to time.  Once I looked out, there was nothing and then before you knew it, someone was calling out, “There it is!”  Sure enough, Denali (or Mt. McKinley) was visible, gleaming white in the brilliance of the sun.  I was lucky and persistent enough to be positioned well to get some pretty good shots of the mountain.  This is my first time (and may be my only time) to come to Denali and I was lucky enough to see the mountain.  Others have come numerous times and have not been able to see it.  We were extremely lucky that day!

The trip to Denali was completed by train on the Alaska Railroad.  This train takes about 7 hours to travel from Anchorage to Denali.  You can travel the route faster by car, but you don’t get to see and focus on the same sights.  You’d be worn out from about 5 hours of driving instead of having the luxury to read, converse, sight-see or just sleep as you travel.  Knowing me, I was sight-seeing all the way, baby!  The train trip was great and relaxing, allowing us to see a part of Alaska that’s not available from the road.  The rail cars have assigned seating but you are able to travel to other cars that have observation seats in them.  There are also open areas between the cars that make for excellent picture taking. The train also has a sit down dining car as well as a snack or bistro car.  Since we left shortly after 8 AM, we had breakfast at my sister’s place, but had lunch on the train – pretty good buffalo chili.  As interesting as the trip is, it can get a bit monotonous, so we all dozed off at least once.  I found myself standing for much of the trip in between the cars.  Here, you have the entrance to the car when it is stationary, but when the train is moving this gap creates a partial opening that allows you to see what is going on outside and allows you to take a look up and down the length of the train.  I found this to be exciting as well as a great way to enjoy the warm sun on my face.  I would recommend the method of travel to others who are thinking about heading to Denali.

So the comfortable train service and the clear skies that allowed me to see Denali made this a day to remember.  I hope to someday be able to make this trip again with my family but if not, I know that I have see the Great One and have stared upon its rocky face.

On Monday, I was on my own since my sister and her boyfriend had to work. I had known that before my flight up, so I booked a seat on the Phillips 26 glacier cruise out of Whittier, Alaska. After a good night’s sleep, I said farewell to my sis and headed off down the Turnagain Arm to Portage and the tunnel that connects it to Whittier. As I drove along the Turnagain Arm, I stopped and snapped some photos. As I was nearing Portage, I noticed a car that was parked on the shoulder. A person was standing on the shoulder and was looking at the water. Curious, I stopped and peered out at the water also. To my surprise, I saw a pod of beluga whales swimming up the main channel. I was able to get a few images on my camera – the belugas only look like white or gray humps in the water, but they were special none-the-less. I knew then it was going to be a good day.

The only way to get to Whittier is by boat or car. Boats arrive via the Prince William Sound. Cars have to come through a one-way tunnel. At the top of the hour, cars can go from Portage to Whittier for a $12 toll. At the half hour, cars can go from Whittier to Portage. Oh, by the way, trains use the same tunnel, so your schedule could be screwed by a train either arriving or leaving. I was able to make the 9:30 AM tunnel with no problem and I was shortly in Whittier, which gave me plenty of time to explore the town since I had never been there. Once I parked, I started my explorations around the town which isn’t really that big. I visited the local museum and took in the exhibits. I investigated the abandoned Buckner building (a former military barracks) and noted some of the graffiti. I walked up the roads on the hillside to find a great view of Prince William Sound. Lastly, I hiked some trails that led to several melt water streams merging together to form a creek. Once I followed the creek to where I parked the car, I saw that it was boarding time for the boat.

The Klondike Express is a powered catamaran that plies the placid waters of Prince William Sound, giving tourists a close up view of wildlife, glaciers and the overall majesty of the sound. Once on board and underway, we were served a fish and chips meal while a forest ranger narrated the opening segments of our excursion. We soon understood the differences between suspended, hanging and tidewater glaciers, and we were ready to view. It was a beautiful day on the sound, temperatures in the 60s and full sun, but the ship moving across the water at 46 mph creates a very cool breeze to say the least. As I walked outside, I donned my hoodie and set my camera to capture the sights I would see. There was plenty to look at – we saw birds, lots of sea otters and seals. The glaciers themselves were also very interesting. We got to see some of them, specially the suspended and hanging glaciers from a distance, but the tidewater glaciers were the coolest. We visited two different tidewater glaciers and you could tell when you were getting close, even if you couldn’t have seen them. Small icebergs and brash ice were in the water, signaling that a tidewater glacier was near. As we got closer, the boat slowed down and then finally stopped. As the engine sound died away, you could hear the ice groaning. Since a glacier is simply a river of ice, it is in constant motion even though it might not be apparent to us. It became clearly apparent when a section of the glacier fell away, calving off from the main glacier. With a groaning crack and a crash of ice into the water, the glacier became a little smaller. The visit to the tidewater glaciers was the highlight of the cruise. Soon we were heading back to port in Whittier. After the cruise I headed back to my sister’s place and rested for a few minutes before heading out for dinner to one of my favorite Anchorage establishments, Humpys. If you ever get then chance to to a glacier cruise, take it! It’s too great of an opportunity to let slip through your fingers.

Just got back into Anchorage from a weekend in Homer, Alaska. While Homer’s a little town, it has some big activities. You can hike, kayak, flight-see and fish. After arriving in Homer, my sister, her boyfriend Rusty and I cruised the pier looking at all of the little shops and service huts along the way. As we finished out the day, we were wondering what we wanted to do on Sunday before we headed back to Anchorage. Well, we figured out that you only live once, so we decided to try our hands at halibut fishing.

On Sunday, we got up at 5 AM to get ready and to be at the dock for 5:45. We made it and were soon on Born Free, a fishing charter boat. Our day was just starting. After about a 90 minute run into the Cook Inlet, we were able to drop anchor and start to fish. Now wrangling a fishing pole with a three pound lead weight on the end might sound easy, but in practice it’s a different matter. We dropped our lines overboard and let them descend down to about 250 to 275 feet. We then waited for the nibbles. Soon, fish started appearing on board as one person after another started to reel them in. I caught 8 fish total, and kept three of them (we could keep six total since each angler could keep two). It was quite the experience and I’m having some of the catch shipped home.

Once finished fishing, we had lunch, saw a few more sights and then headed back to my sister’s place in Anchorage. I have the start of a gallery for this trip started here. Take a look and leave a comment!

Yesterday I flew to see my sister in Anchorage, Alaska.  I had purchased my ticket more than a month previously and got the best price that I could, even though it wasn’t a non-stop.  I was slated to fly on Delta to Salt Lake City and then onto Anchorage.  I also grabbed window seats for each leg of the flight so I could enjoy the view – I was actually looking forward to seeing the Rockies from the air.  But you know what they say about the best laid plans.

On my way to the airport, I get a call from Orbitz TravelAlert telling me that my first flight has been delayed 15 minutes.  I now begin to wonder about that 35 minute window I have in SLC.  Then I get a second call telling me the flight is now delayed 75 minutes.  I’m now starting to urge all the other cars on the road forward so I can get to the airport.  Once at the airport, I hit the Delta counter and soon find that my itinerary has been changed – changed so much in fact that I’m not even flying on Delta anymore.  They’ve booked me on an Alaska Airlines non-stop to Anchorage.

So, I go to the Alaska counter and get my temporary boarding pass and head for the gate.  Once at the gate, I notify my family at home and in Anchorage about the change and then wait.  I knew it was a long-shot, but I put in a request for a window seat thinking about all the cool pictures I could take out the window.  Alas, that was not to be.   Instead I got the aisle seat in the last row of the plane, next to the lavatories – yay!

Overall, the flight was good and I have nothing really to complain about, except there were no condiments left for the cheeseburger I bought on-board the flight.  I  had fun watching people come back and forth to the lavatories – there was one kid who came down about every ten minutes and then there was the little girl who got stuck inside and came out with big teary eyes (cuz her father didn’t stay there and make sure she got out OK).  My row mates were an odd sort.  I think a German woman sat next to me and she was  putting spray up her nose and trying to sleep and just generally fidgety and not too friendly.  The lady with the window seat hardly even looked out the window as she read her book and then played a small electronic Yahtzee game.  My photo-shooting finger was feeling mightily frustrated!

But in the end it was worth it – I got to Anchorage 2 hours earlier than planned, met my sister at the airport and then headed to her place.  Now I’m set for some fun and adventure.

Photos courtesy of NASA

We can argue about it today, but yes Neil Armstrong’s quote wasn’t as all-inclusive as we’d use today.  For his time though, it worked.  It conveyed the awesome scope of the occasion.

Today, July 20, 2009 marks the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.  This feat marks the highlight of mankind’s scientific achievement to date.  The sheer effort involved in pulling the moon landing off consumed lives and treasure while captivating the minds of the world.

The success of this endeavor made instant heroes of the men who made the trip to the moon.  Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins will forever be tied to this event.  Over time, they have capitalized on their notoriety and made names for themselves or they have let the fame that they gained for just performing their job affect their lives and relationships.  Who can say how the rest of us would have performed.  I don’t know how my life would have been affected by peering into the black void of space, setting foot on an alien body and then looking back onto the blue marble of Earth.

What I do know is that it didn’t take too long before moon landings were viewed as commonplace; where we thought more about the products that came about as a result of Apollo – like Teflon – than the actual feat of the lunar landing itself.  Once we had “been there, done that” we lost interest and thus killed the dream that we strived so hard to achieve.  You have to wonder what Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins think privately about the lack of effort, the lack of will.  So, what happened, what diverted us from the course that we had charted for ourselves once JFK stated that we were going to the moon?  There were many issues but I think the most important are:

• Lack of leadership – what passes for leadership in this country is fairly poor.  We’re better emulating the Romans (make sure they have their read and circuses) than making people see that there are tough choices to be made in life.  Leadership in this country failed the country, became embroiled in wars that had no lasting difference and pandered to the basest desires of the populace.

• Willingness to be taken for the ride – the American populace failed in their obligation to be informed and educated.  We have sunk to new lows in this country when it comes to education.   Other countries now are hurriedly taking up where we left off – Indians, Chinese and others are looking not only to return to the moon but are also talking about colonizing it.  They have the critical systems in place to do it too.  They value education, they encourage students to learn and grow and they capitalize on the investment.  America should learn this lesson and stop settling for public school systems that simply pass students through.  Education is not a cost, it IS an investment.

• No sense of purpose – I’m probably going to get reamed for this but the Baby Boomers have left us a legacy of individualism.  An individualism that is so strong it borders on national narcissism.  These were the people who rebelled in the 60s, fueled the 70s with sex and drugs, made excessive greed popular in the 80s, and fostered the over-the-top 90s.  They gave us the “I’ve got mine, you can get yours” attitude, with no thought about the better good, sacrifice or the future.  The Baby Boomers have had their run, now it’s time to turn our attention to giving America a vision, correcting the course of the ship – it’s time to get back to the business of America.

So what can be done?  Well, nothing simple, that’s for sure.  It’s going to take a lot of work, none of it easy.  It’s going to involve hard choices and difficult decisions.  First off, we have to recognize that now matter who we are – the color of our skin, the language that we speak, our economic class, our orientation – we are first and foremost Americans.  We can no longer afford to be divisive.  The politicians and the pundits have made this the easy route because that takes the heat off of them.  Instead we need to see the future of our children and work now to make it better.

We need to look out for ourselves and our families without a doubt, but it should be tempered with the realization of our need to invest in coming generations.  We are providing the foundation for them to learn, grow, and succeed.  We cannot take it for granted that they will have good lives just because that’s the way it’s always been.  We have real competition out there, people and countries are aiming for our standard of living and they are gaining ground fast!

Lastly, we need to be united and aligned.  We need to hold our politicians to a higher standard.  We need to expect more out of ourselves.  We need to understand that we can make a difference and work toward changing our country and society at every chance we have.