(Johns Hopkins Glacier)
THE BIG VACATION:
Day One Tues 9-12:
Up at 1:30am …friend Kim drove us to Nashville airport. Had to re-arrange bags due to one being overweight. Boarded Frontier at 600am and had a good flight to Denver. Swapped planes in Denver and had another good flight to Seattle. Checked into Holiday Inn and walked across street and bought lunch at a ‘Sunshine’ type grocery. Came back and sacked out for a couple of hours.
Taking a tour of Seattle this evening….Space needle, docks and market on Puget Sound (where we will eat)…drive down Magnolia Blvd (big homes section). Had a smoked salmon sandwich for supper. Took some good pictures of Mount Rainer.
Day Two Wed 9-13:
Left Seattle via charter bus on way to Vancouver going north on I-5. Stopped at a few places like Bellingham and at a duty-free store on the USA/Canadian border, riding a twenty-one year old bus with grinding gears and a funny driver. Approach to and through Vancouver was awesome…all the building were white…looked like they were all made at the same time and out of the same material…two million population. Vancouver nestled in an inlet valley with houses up the mountains on each side. A port city with a diverse population lot of Chinese and East Indian.
Boarded our ship here, Holland America Line--Ms Volendam--and sailed at 5:00pm for Juneau Alaska.
Day Three Thursday 9-14:
Sailed all day today and finding our way around on the ship. We are eating and talking to people and getting our sea legs on. Australians are very friendly folks.
Day Four Friday 9-15:
En-route to Juneau where we will arrive around noon local time. This morning was so cool. Took trip up Tracy Arm, a fjord with much ice in the water and two glaciers at the end of it. Took pictures of the glaciers. Saw mountain goats way up on top of mountains.
Walked all over Juneau, which is on the side of a mountain. Went to the capitol building and saw the Governor’s home. Juneau is the capitol of Alaska. Nedra plays with the cabin safe a lot. She feels secure with her $5 locked up in there. We eat about every 2 or 3 hours-- seems like anyway. Juneau is kind of run-down looking. A good handy man could make a decent living here. They get about 120” of snow every winter and all the shops have major close outs cause we are one of the last tourist boats coming for the season.
We are departing here tonight at 9:30pm for our next destination, Skagway.
Day Five Saturday 9-16:
This a.m. we sailed into Skagway under clear cold skies. Awesome scenery with very tall snow capped mountains surrounding the town. This was the starting point for the Klondike gold rushers of the 1890s taking off into the Yukon either through the Chillkoot pass or the White Pass. Both very hard treks, as the railway was not in place at that time. You hoofed it. At one time it was the largest city in Alaska with over 30,000 inhabitants. ‘Twas a rowdy place. Now have only 800-900 folks who live here year round. It’s pretty neat, as the whole town has been restored back to what it looked like then including wooden sidewalks. It’s a National Historic Site. Nedra found a lot of bargains in the shops and did Christmas shopping. So much that we had to go find a post office and ship it home. We toured a neat museum with lots of original artifacts. Came back to ship and had lunch and Nedra went shopping again and I took a nap. Dinner tonight with our newly-made friends at our designated table, then to a stage show with lots of dancing girls.
We sailed out from Skagway at 8pm for the Glacier Bay; Park Rangers will come on board and tell us about them and perhaps we will see one calve.
Day Six Sunday 9-17:
Today we sailed up Glacier Bay, a National Park. Took a left at an inlet and went into the end and viewed John Hopkins Glacier. This point is directly west of Juneau. Classic glacier about sixteen miles deep back into the mountains, 150-200 tall and about 1-1/2 miles wide. We saw about six ‘calving’ drops…ice breaking off and falling into water with the sound of thunder. Don’t see this in Pulaski very often. Very impressive site. We wanted to go bludgeon some seal pups on the ice, but had misplaced my clubs. We were on whale watch also as this area is the summer home of many whales. They take off to Hawaii in the winter. Can’t blame them; the mountains are already topped with ice and snow and the temp is in the mid thirties; and its only the middle of September. Tonight, of course, another formal five-course dinner in the big dining room. This meal will have a twist…the serving crew, mostly Indonesian, Thai and Korean will entertain us with song and dance and juggling at the tables. After dinner we went to see a piano player, John Pappa, Greek from Fargo, North Dakota, and he also had a six-piece band backing him. Good show with medleys of popular songs and he did a lot of solo work also. Nice Beethoven piece, Pathotique or something like that. We arrive tomorrow morning in Ketchikan.
Day Seven Monday 9-18:
Toured Ketchikan today. Rode horse drawn wagon around town doing our tourist thing. Went to post office and mailed home stuff bought on trip plus some dirty clothes. Again this town could use some handy men with lots of paint. Guess the rough weather and high cost of material keep painting and repairs at a minimum.
Had a big deal dinnertonight with tuxes (or shirt and tie as I forgot my tux) and went to see another show of dancing gals and guys in the auditorium.
Ship sailed at 5pm for return journey to Vancouver.
Day Eight Tuesday 9-19:
Sailing hard and fast today for Vancouver rocking and rolling on the high seas.
Took in a lot of good shows today. Magician taught us ten tricks to amaze friends.
Paul Pappas played piano again for us. Last big dinner with three of our bus riding companion couples. Weather has been terrific. No rain on us any of our port days.
Day Nine Wednesday 9-20:
Docked in Vancouver this morning and debarked on bus in the rain for Penticton BC. Went through some pretty rain forest country and over the Coast Mountain Range and the Cascade Mountains into Penticton in the Okanagon Valley of British Columbia. Big berry growing and fruit growing area. Stopped at Minter Gardens, a beautiful landscaped garden spot. . Spent night in Penticton., our only night in Canada.
Day Ten Thursday 9-21:
Left Penticton and drove southeast still in the Okanagon Valley.
Left BC and re-entered the USA in Washington…still driving down the Okanogan Valley (the spelling changed in the US) and was in a semi-arid area kind of like the desert. In this area we saw lots of apple trees and other kind of fruit trees--cherries. Saw the Grand Coulee Dam and the Dry Coulee Dam. Headed east on I-90 and the agriculture changed to wheat fields. Stopped in Spokane where we will spend the night. We ate supper at the Old Spaghetti Factory with Dale and Patricia from Kingston TN.
Day Eleven Friday 9-22:
Left early this morning for Butte Montana. Came through the beautiful Bitterroot Mountain Range of the Rockies and did a little touring of Coeur d’Alene in Idaho and went then through the Fourth of July pass and Lookout pass in the mountains and stopped at largest silver mining town in the world…Wallace, Idaho…. very pretty and quaint old town on historical directory. Driving through National Park and into Montana.
Stopped at an antique car display and and old territorial prison (vacant) in Deer Lodge Montana.
Stopped at Butte Montana for the night.
Day Twelve Saturday 9-23
Departed from Butte Montana early headed for Yellowstone Park.
Saw lots of wildlife on way…bison, elk, moose, deer, and geese.
Rode through Yellowstone and saw lots of geysers, Firehole Lake and saw Old Faithful erupt. Saw groves of aspen trees that have already turned to yellow. Heading on south we saw the Grand Teton range of the Rockies on the right as we headed to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The Tetons are the tallest range of the American Rockies with the tallest mountain at over 13,700 feet. We are at 6200 feet above sea level here in Jackson Hole and the mountains are already snow capped. Took a covered wagon train on Sat night up to the T-Bar Five Ranch here for dinner and entertainment…was fun. Tomorrow we head out toward Idaho Falls through Grand Teton Pass, altitude there is 8391 feet above sea level.
This area with the snow covered Tetons was one of the most impressive sights of the trip. They are just so magnificent and huge and beautiful with snowcaps.
Day Thirteen Sunday 9-24
After sleeping in a little longer than most days in Jackson Hole, we walked to the town square, attended the Lady of the Mountain Catholic Church service. No ceiling or wall cracking and no columns shifted. Left Jackson Hole, Wyoming at noon. We drove though the Grand Teton Mountain Pass over to the Teton Valley in Idaho. The view of the Tetons is fabulous from Idaho. Southern Idaho produces a lot of wheat along with their famous potatoes. We saw miles of each.
Mid-afternoon we stopped at the Yellowstone Bear World where an Idaho native opened a zoo of the animals he was accustomed to seeing in Yellowstone when he was a young man. About 20 years ago visitors began feeding the bears and they became dangerous once they got in the habit of eating from visitors. The bears being dangerous, the Yellowstone policy was adopted to move the bears—black and Grizzlies farther into Yellowstone where they did not see people. In this Bear World we saw all ages of bears and was entertained by them when they approached the visitor trucks where kids were throwing out bread for them to eat. We saw elk, deer, bison, a white deer, moose, as well as farm animals. From there we traveled into Idaho Falls, Idaho… where we saw a Mormon temple and the impressive Idaho Falls that is famous for the sitting geese . The water was scarce due to lack of rainfall. Their public park alongside the Snake River had a paved walkway from which to observe the waterfall.
Day Fourteen Monday 9-25
Left Idaho Falls and drove down to Salt Lake City, Utah where we will spend our last night on this fabulous vacation. More Idaho farmland early and then into Utah…. saw the Wasatch Mountain Range of the Rockies and lots of mines and desert…. Utah is not our favorite state--too brown and desert like. We toured Salt Lake City and saw the Temple and Tabernacle of the Mormon Church and saw the statue of the Archangel Moroney on top blowing his horn. Toured The Great Salt Lake also. We will be leaving early in the morning for the airport to fly home. We are both ready to be home. The Great Salt Lake was more impressive (huge) from the air!
Day Fifteen Tuesday 9/26/06:
Flew to Denver and had a three-hour layover for flight home. Good flight to Nashville at 600 mph at 40000. Kim met us at airport and drove us home and it sure is good to be here.
Already planning next world tour…anyone for Australia? , Ireland?
(The Grand Tetons )
All photos are on line at: http://picasaweb.google.com/gnibert
JANUARY 5--A Tennessee man who kept 114 dead cats and a dead German Shepherd named Snowy in three freezers is suing police for seizing and destroying the frosty animal carcasses, which, he claims, had "emotional value" to him and were destined for a pet cemetery he was building. William Davis wants $1.5 million from the Murfreesboro Police Department and other defendants, according to a complaint filed last week in Rutherford County Chancery Court. A copy of the lawsuit can be found below. According to the 75-year-old Davis, police and animal control officers raided his home twice in December 2003 and took the frozen animals, along with 46 cats, one dog, and assorted "wild game meat." Included among the cats removed from his home and later euthanized, Davis charges, were Pixie Bob, Miss Patchwork, and Big Duke. The searches resulted in animal cruelty charges being leveled against Davis since conditions in his two residences were deplorable. A veterinarian estimated that carpeting had a half-inch layer of animal feces ground into it and that the stench was so overwhelming it was hard to breathe through your nose without gagging (Davis pleaded guilty to a single animal cruelty count and was placed on a year's probation). The Davis lawsuit, which was, amazingly, not filed pro se, notes that he was keeping one of the frozen cats so that he could submit the animal to the Guinness Book of World Records. The lawsuit reveals that the cat was exceedingly large at birth. Davis, who's pictured above in a 2006 Rutherford County Sheriff's Office booking photo, contends that he has suffered "emotional pain and suffering" as a result of the government seizures.
