Off to Alaska--FINALLY

I had no idea when making the last post that it would be over 2.5 years until the next post would appear.  So much and so little has happened in the interim.  

Covid hits.  Covid-19 spread worldwide and caused everything to come to a halt, making it to our area in March, 2020.  Nearly all businesses were closed except those considered essential such as grocery stores and hardware stores. We needed to make a trip to Dallas and the highways were nearly deserted.  Kids in LISD went home for Spring Break and never returned to school.  Major school events such as prom were cancelled and graduation was held outside at Texas Motor Speedway with families isolated in their cars. Much of school continued online for a significant period of time.  Even outside activities such as LLELA were closed.  At the beginning the only known defense was masks, but they were nearly impossible to find.  Fortunately Gwen made us some beautiful ones that were custom fitted.  

To avoid being infected we tried to avoid contact with other people and nearly became hermits.  We picked up groceries in the parking lot after ordering them online.  Almost our only activity initially was walking the neighborhoods, then hiking at LLELA after it reopened.  When the weather was not cooperative for outside activities we read, did jigsaw puzzles, and I learned to crochet.

Masks were required initially even at LELA as seen here on Beaver Pond in April 2020.

 

Travel plans delayed.  We had initially been scheduled for an adventure cruise to Alaska on the UnCruise ship Safari Endeavor in summer 2020.  That was cancelled and rescheduled for summer 2021 as all cruises were shutdown in 2020. 

 UnCruise tried to startup in 2021 with COVID protocols in place, but that did not work out.  Our cruise was again rescheduled, this time for summer of 2022.  The year delay turned out to be fortuitous since the Frog fell at LLELA and tore his left quadriceps tendon in May, 2021.  That required surgery and an extended period of rehab.

 

Fortunately science came to the rescue with vaccines and improved medicines for treatment.  They are not perfect, but life is returning to normal or at least a new normal  We continue to be extremely cautious and---knock on wood---we have not been infected to date that we know of.

Off to Alaska  After all of the delays we finally made our long awaited trek to Alaska this summer.  We packed a LOT of adventures into our 12 day trip and had a fantastic time.  It will require multiple blogs to do it justice. Below is an intro to what I will try to get posted in the next days and weeks.

Alaska is a BIG PLACE  By any standard Alaska is huge.  Even knowing that it is so large, I thought the comparison to the lower 48 states was pretty amazing. 

Of course Alaskans are very proud of being the largest state.  One of the restaurants we ate in listed their larger portions as "Alaska size" and their smaller portions as "Texas size".

We  were only in the southeast portion of Alaska, the set of islands near Juneau known as the Alexander Archipelago.  

All of the waterways in and around this inner passage along the coast were carved out by glaciers in the last ice age.  Although lots of the ice is gone, much of it remains.  Juneau is completely cutoff from the mainland and is accessible only by plane or ship.  Construction of any type of road is impossible due to the remaining ice fields.

Below is a picture I took from the plane when we were almost directly over Petersburg.  

Thomas Bay and Baird Glacier from above Petersburg on our approach north towards Juneau

I think the body of water off the main channel is Thomas Bay (yes, really!). The glacier coming towards us into the left side of the bay is Baird Glacier. It is flowing out of a large permanent ice field on the top of the mountain.  BTW, you can also see the lighter color of the water due to all of the silt being drug down by the glaciers.  We ended up getting a lot of that on our boots when we were wandering around in front of another glacier later in the week...but I am getting ahead of myself.

Here is a map the covers the area where we were traveling.

Map of the region where we were traveling.  We started in Juneau (#3) and ended up in Sitka (#4).

Here is a map with the gps tracks while we were traveling. It does not align perfectly with the map above, but I tried to get it as close as possible.

Gps tracks for our trip by day.  Note scale of miles at lower right. It is a little small, but the bar indicates 30 miles.

Here is an outline of what we did and when.  I will add links to additional blog entries as i get them added, although it may be a slow process. Colors starting with July 29 indicate the corresponding tracks on the map.

1. Wednesday, July 27, fly to Juneau via Seattle from DFW (Click here for blog post)
   
2. Thursday, July 28, activities in Juneau: Alaska State Museum and Macaulay Salmon Hatchery (Blog post)
   
3. Friday, July 29, Mendenhall Glacier and Mount Roberts Tramway (Blog post)
   
4. Saturday, July 30, embark on Safari Endeavor (the beginning of this track starting in Juneau is missing) (Blog post)
   
5. Sunday, July 31, Inian Islands, skiff ride; Idaho Inlet, kayaking 101; whales in Icy Strait (Blog post)
   
6. Monday, August 1, Glacier Bay National Park: Lamplugh Glacier and Johns Hopkins Glacier (Blog Post);  Gloomy Knob, South Marble Island and Gustavus Visitor's Center (Blog Post )
7. Tuesday, August 2, Fern Harbor, skiff ride and meadow walk (Blog Post)
   
8. Wednesday August 3, Corner Bay, sawmill; Basket Bay, skiff ride (Blog Post); Chatham Strait, THE whale show (Blog Post)
   
9. Thursday, August 4, Deep Bay, bushwhacking lite and skiff ride (Blog Post)
   
10. Friday, August 5, Sukoi Inlet. bears, bushwhacking lite and beached pontoon boat (Blog Post)
    
11. Saturday, August 6, disembark at Sitka, Fortress of the Bears and Alaska Raptor Center (Blog Post)
    
12. Sunday, August 7, fly to DFW from Sitka via Seattle (Blog Post)
    

Lots more to follow.  Don't worry, I will show more detailed maps for the individual days.