RANDOM PHOTO OF...

a bee on St. John's Wort

ALASKA TRIP-MAY 2018 - SATURDAY, MAY 26TH, 2018 - ON THE MOUNTAIN AND BACK TO POTTER'S MARSH

On The Mountain and back to Potter's Marsh

Saturday, May 26th, 2018 

(The gondola can be found at the end of the hotel.  We took this to get up the mountain.)

9.36 p.m. We have just had a Facetime with our son and daughter-in-law.  How lovely it was to see them.  This is the longest in a long time that we haven't been together.  We have been playing catch-up all through the trip, but today schedules were aligned. Fantastic! It was fun to tell them what we had seen, and also to catch up on all their news.  We are getting together next week also.  Son will be picking us up at the airport, and then the four of us will have a meal together a day or two later.

We have had lots of texts from our niece letting us know that they are now home.  It was a very long journey.  They had to catch a train after they landed, and change to another.  Good to know they got back okay.  Her Dad picked them up from the train station.  They must both be exhausted.  

We are in our hotel room.  What did we do today?

(The photos above, the first as the gondola docked, another as we saw it coming down,

and the next two were taken out of the gondola windows, as was this one looking 

down to the hotel.)

We rode to the top of the mountain on the gondola. I didn't feel as nervous this time.  Weather was calm, no talk of not being able to get down the mountain because the wind was too high, no being packed into the gondola as tight as a sardine in a can, no talk about the caterpillar transport taking us down the mountain 10 at a time! It was a very nice, calm ride down.

It was also a very pleasant ride up. The driver told us that sometimes he looks below and sees bears and moose wandering the property, these in the lower elevations. As hard as we looked we didn't see anything. 

When we were at the restaurant a few nights ago, we noticed another building, the Roundhouse.  There is a gift shop on the second level (ground level for us) and a ski patrol office on the first level. I bought a few souvenirs, cards, magnets, that kind of thing.  There was also another restaurant nearby, one where we had lunch.

We walked out onto the snow with several other tourists first.  

It was incredible to be up there with all that snow .

And of course we took the obligatory selfie.

The views were absolutely stunning.

We had lunch in the Bore Tide Deli and Bar. 

The same scene in these two photos, cropping the one below to get a closer look at the sheep.

One more look at that gorgeous view before we made our way down the mountain.

After that we drove to Potter's Marsh again.  No eagles, a few ducks, a few Canada Geese, a few gulls.  Loved the boardwalk, pretty area and more posts ahead.  

Gregg wanted to drive up the hill at the back of the nature area and we saw a lot of very pretty houses.  

On the way back we stopped at an ice-cream shop not that far from the hotel.  We both had a milkshake.  A strawberry for me, vanilla for Gregg. This pretty dog was there.

  

Back to the hotel for a cocktail.  Tonight I had a raspberry mojito and Gregg a brandy and ginger ale.

It is 11.48 p.m. and there is still light in the sky.  Not bright, almost a twilight but I can definitely look out and see what is going on down there.  We are after all in the land of the midnight sun, and the days are getting longer already.  I am looking for bear and moose in particular. 

This is about it for today.  We are slowly winding down.

All is quiet, back to sleep I go. 

ALASKA TRIP- MAY 2018 - NIECE AND NEPHEW OFF TO THE AIRPORT TODAY

We are taking our niece and nephew to the airport today.  

Thursday, May 24th, 2018

5.04 p.m. We have recently returned from a birding nature reserve called Potters Marsh.  We had passed it many times and were curious. 

It was very cold and blustery and the birds were far away from the boardwalk.  Numerous gulls were sitting on their nests in the distance.  We saw them from the road but traffic, although not that busy, was enough that we didn't feel it was safe to stop.  

Pretty place though, loved walking the boardwalk and looking across the marsh.  I will put more photos of the place in another post.

We stopped at Turnagain Armpit Barbecue for lunch. 

 All kinds of positive signs on the walls. 

(Funnily enough, and we wrote this back in May, when we got back home we were watching a TV channel that was showing several restaurants we visited while on vacation, and this was one of them.  It was fun to see again.)

I forgot to take photos of our orders, but here are the menus.

This barbecue place was one our driver recommended when we were on the bus tour.  

One more photo.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a shopping area not too far away, and filled the car up with gas. We decided to browse around in a souvenir shop a few stores up from the gas station. A lady standing behind Gregg, when he was asked by the person behind the counter where he was from, laughed when she heard his answer.  It turned out that she grew up in the same town. It is such a small world at times. They had a great conversation about places they knew when they were kids. She was also on vacation but now lived in Alaska, and had been teaching here for many years.

This morning we had asked our niece and nephew where they would like to eat tonight.  It would be our last meal together for quite a while, and we would be taking them to the airport straight from the restaurant.

Our bus driver had also recommended The Double Musky Inn, which wasn't too far away from our hotel. Also it was on that TV show I mentioned above.

 Great place, lots of character...

and a great atmosphere. 

And then it was time to go.  

A young moose was seen chewing its way through small branches, just down the road from the hotel.  Its mother was nearby but tucked even further into the trees and hard to see, as this one was, a shape at least.  Not a very clear sighting but still a last parting gift for niece and nephew, who have fallen in love with all the wildlife they have seen. What a great time we have had with them, and I shall be sad to see them go.  

9.46 p.m. and the next phase of our holiday has begun.  We have just returned from the airport.  There were tears.  I told Gregg and nephew to stop blubbering.  Okay, so how can I joke about this?  My niece and I cried a bucket.  We hugged tightly and left quickly, to lessen the torture of a long goodbye.  And yes, we have already sown the seeds of when we will get together again.

I miss my babes, what can I say?