And now, the rest of the story...

We woke up that Wednesday morning, hoping to get on the ferry to Valdez and get on with our trip.  This little hiccup was not wanted, but we were dealing with it, even though it was taking a day out of our honeymoon.

Around 9 am we found out that, no, the ferry wasn't going anywhere.  And the other ferry going to Valdez from Whittier that day was booked solid.  No room for us.  Well, we had the day to kill as the train would leave from Whittier to Anchorage after 6 PM that night.  Pia, who was helping Jeff get things scheduled, got us tickets on that train as well as a glacier tour leaving from Whittier.

***Warning***  

From here it gets a little ranty.  Should you wish to avoid said rant, go straight to the pictures.  Thanks.

We had found that tour on a pamphlet in the lobby of the hotel.  That should have been a red flag, but we didn't pay attention.  Getting on to the internet via the hotel's connection was spotty, so we weren't able to check out reviews before booking.  We went and had an unmemorable lunch, and got on the cruise.  I only give you the link so you can avoid it.

We were asked if we wanted lunch or dinner and what we wanted to eat.  There were hoards of people (remember all those people from the cruise ship?) there waiting to get on the Catamaran - which was huge - and get into their assigned seats.  We didn't get a window seat.  Our views were of other people.  Since we had said we wanted dinner, when they were bringing out lunch we went outside.  It's the one time in Alaska I was truly cold.  Weather was crappy, drizzly, overcast, but they said that it was perfect weather!  The overcast skies would make the glaciers even bluer!  They are all salesmen.  Oh, did I mention that they only served lunch, not dinner, so we paid for but did not receive a meal?

It took forever to get to any glaciers, we were told we wouldn't be going into College Fjiord because it was overcast, and ended up seeing about 10 (max) glaciers.  It was supposed to be a 26-glacier tour.  And I guess that was part of the problem.  I wanted a wildlife tour.  A glacier is a glacier is a glacier in my opinion.  I don't need that many.

In Anchorage I had heard the term "Combat Fishing."  It's where people are all lined up along the shore.  There are more people fishing than there are fish to be caught.  Well, on this tour, it was Combat Tourism.  You had to fight for a view.  And it was too cold and rainy outside to claim your spot and never give it up.  It got to the point where I was so over all of it, I didn't even try.  Apparently at one point there were some porpoises, but heck, the boat could have tipped over with all the people clamoring to that side to see them.  No thanks.  I don't want to have to fight for 5 hours just to see something that they had claimed would be up close and personal.

I don't know.  It was just really disappointing.  I wished we had been able to get to Valdez.  I wished we had given up and left Whittier that same day we got there.  It was the only real disappointment I felt on the entire 15-day trip, so I guess that's a good thing.  Luckily we did get some good pictures, even though I would have liked a less-overcast day, so enjoy...

sea lion

otter

As soon as we were off that cruise I called ahead to Varley's and ordered a Greek Pizza (minus the olives) to pick up.  Jeff made his way to the train to confirm that we had tickets.  Seriously, the pizza was the number one part of going to Whittier.  Best.  Pizza.  Evar!

On the trip back to Anchorage, the engineer saw some Dall Sheep and actually stopped the train for a good 5+ minutes so we could watch them.  Apparently at that time of year (we were there in late June), the males go high up in the mountains and the females and young come down farther.  So we know that these are females and babies.  Look how cute!

these guys have no fear, just jumping around from rock to rock looking for a bite to eat...

awe, baby sheep!  

check out the exposed roots to the left of the sheep.  how do they walk around up there?

See the full itinerary here...

Next up - Whittier

After arriving in Anchorage that Sunday night in June, we spent 2 nights at the Anchorage Grand.  I'm pretty sure I told you about that hotel in my last entry about our honeymoon, so I won't bore you again.

However, I'm not sure what we did for the full day there in town.  I know we went to the Ulu Factory, saw all the gray hairs, and didn't stay long.  I know that at one point we mailed a package back home from the post office that was a couple blocks away.  Oh, and we went to the not-even-worth-it Alaska Earthquake Experience movie.  I had read some reviews online that said that wasn't worth it, but Jeff wanted to and it didn't cost much because we had a 2-for-1 coupon.  There's a lot of great photos and historical information in the hallway and entrance to the theatre which I would recommend over paying for the video.  Wanna know why?  The host of the video has a thick accent.  The seats that move to give you the "experience" of the earthquake are just ridiculous.  But, hey, it cost us less than $6.

On Tuesday morning, June 26, we hopped back on the train to go to Whittier to catch the ferry over to Valdez.  We were so excited.  You see there is this cruise tour in Valdez on the LuLu Bell that Capt. Fred Rudolf has captained every one since he started back in 1979.  Cruises can last 5.5-7 hours because if Capt. Fred thinks there's something to see, he'll take you to it!

On the train ride to Whittier we had some crappy weather, but still got some nice pictures...

The train tracks and the highway, follow along the Turnagain Arm - the body of water that Capt. Cook explored, and kept getting stuck!  The water is very shallow because of all the glacier silt that has washed into it.  Apparently when his ship would get stuck, Capt. Cook would yell, "Go back and turn again!"  Hence the name.

A lot of the way had steep mountains on one side and then the water on the other.

In 1964 there was a huge earthquake on Good Friday.  9.something.  Huge.  Parts of the earth were swallowed up.  There were multiple tsunamis.  Massive destruction.  The trees above were killed by the earthquake because the tsunami brought in a bunch of salt water.  Not only did the salt water kill the trees, it also preserved them, which is why they haven't decomposed.  They're called Silent Dogwoods, because they've lost their bark...
:-)

Not only did the water kill the trees, but it also changed the land.  Much of the area became bogs, or marshy, or just plain under water.

Before going through the longest tunnel in North America that is used by both trains and cars, we saw this glacier.  See it?  Where all the snow is - kind blue?  The tunnel takes 25 minutes to get through, and it was the darkest we ever saw in Alaska.

Once we got to Whittier, we hoofed it across town to the Alaska Marine Highway ferry station.  The plan was to catch the ferry to Valdez.  We had tickets but were considered walk-ons because we didn't have a car.  When the ferry was a half hour late getting in to port, Jeff knew something was up.  When they unloaded and didn't have us embark, he knew something was wrong.  Then, the announcement.

Something was definitely wrong with the ferry.  Broken.  To the point where they weren't allowed to run.  There wouldn't be an outgoing ferry that day.  Try again tomorrow.  We were stuck in Whittier.

Jeff had used a service out of Homer called Alaska Ferry Adventures to plan this little 3-day trip.  They used to handle all the ferry scheduling and they know how the train and ferry schedules work together.  He worked with a woman named Pia who was very helpful.  He said that he would definitely go back and use their services again.

So, since the trip was getting screwed up and we didn't have anywhere to go (we were getting kicked out of the station) or anywhere to sleep, he called Pia.  She was able to get us the last room at the Inn at Whittier.  The new plan was to wait until the following day to see if the ferry was fixed.  She changed hotel reservations and changed the date for our cruise with Capt. Fred.

Since we were stuck in this itty bitty small town where most residents live in one building...

this is where the Whittier-ites live

...we found a great pizza parlor ice cream shop called Varleys and had the best kraut pizza ever!  Checked in to the hotel and took a few pictures...

the (zoomed in) view from our hotel room

Do you remember the stories from last winter where so much snow fell in Alaska that they had a snow-shovel shortage?  Whittier really got slammed with snow.  Above you see the melting snow rushing down the mountain.  And, it may look like sky above the highest rocks, but that's just more snow...

Whittier is an open water winter port, so it's very busy with boats year round.  Here a fisherman is headed out to work...

 

Whittier is also a port of call for a lot of cruise ships.  This one dwarfs our hotel (to the very left) and the marina.  We counted at least 13 floors* on this behemoth.  And you know what happens when a cruise ship comes in to town?  People.  Lots of 'em.  Shuttled off to various places.  Using special trains that cause traffic jams - traffic jams in towns that only have one road in or out.  That's what happens.

Next up, the conclusion to the drama surrounding our trip to Whittier....

*Editted to add...
Dad e-mailed me to let me know that it's decks, not floors.  Oops, my bad.  Thanks Dad!

See the full itinerary here...

Around the House - FAIL

Just like everyone else, I have been known to have plans go wrong, maybe once or twice.  This story is about such a time...

Back in the day when I sold Cookie Lee Jewelry, I had bought one of those clear plastic magazine holders for my display.  Once I no longer needed it for a business, I started using it for bills and such.  At that time, I lived along, had 3 bedrooms all to myself, and that magazine holder lived in the bedroom that I only used for bill-paying and pizza making (my sister's toaster oven lived in there since the kitchen is the smallest ever).

Now that I'm no longer a single lady but a wife and step-mom (!), the room with the bill-paying supplies gets used for hours each day.  And that magazine holder is always either in the way or getting knocked off.

Exhibit A:

pay no attention to how messy it all is...

Shall we see how I decided to fix it in this episode of Around the House?

I still had a bunch of magnets and my little thing of super glue after turning that Alaska ornament into a magnet, so I decided that was the solution!  The Magnet Solution!  I could then magnetize the magazine holder onto the side of the filing cabinet it had been sitting on!  Whoo hoo!  Great idea!

Here it is after being magnet-ed...

Now just to wait overnight for the glue to cure and stick it on its new home.  This is gonna be great!!!

Until...

I put the magazine holder on the top half of the side of the filing cabinet, and it slid down.  Well, I can't even say that it slid down because I grabbed it off before it could crash to the ground and break.

You see, that holder is really heavy.  It's not made of light flexible plastic, but of heavy rigid plastic.  Not something I thought of when I came up with the Magnet Solution.

So, until we can figure out another solution, or decide that the current state is good enough, that magazine holder is sitting on the floor, magnetized to the filing cabinet.  I guess it can't get knocked off anymore.

Any suggestions?

Any Around the House FAILS you'd like to share?  Put your story in the comments!

When you take the train in Alaska, splurge on the Gold Star Package.

Jeff planned the honeymoon.  And it was pretty awesome that I didn't have to stress about it.  Especially since when I stressed about whether or not he liked his boutonniere for the wedding, Jeff didn't hide his laughter very well...  :-)

Luckily, Jeff took his job very seriously and planned an amazing honeymoon.  I really got the royal treatment.  For our train trip from Fairbanks to Anchorage, we were in the Gold Star cars.  It's a two level car where you sit up top, with a bubble top, and the dinning room is downstairs.  There is a large outdoor observation deck upstairs, and each car has its own bartender.  And it was closed to those who hadn't paid for the Gold Star Package.

I credit any good pictures we got on that trip to the outdoor observation deck.  I probably spent half of the 12-hour trip out there...

Jeff tried to tell me that this is our new house...  I don't think so!

It seems like you could be anywhere in the state and look around and say, "Oh, hey, look.  Mountains."

It was a very long trip.  And when we got to Anchorage we were ready to get to our room and relax.  We stayed at the Anchorage Grand - it's a short enough walk (uphill, though) from the train station so we never had to worry about a cab.  All the rooms are either efficiency apartments or 1-bedroom apartments.  For this stay (we stayed again later in the vacation) we had a HUGE efficiency with a king sized bed.  What's weird is that the room was very handicapped accessible, but the hotel itself isn't.  You walk in the front door and have to go either up or down stairs.  I give it 47 out of 53 Gold Stars.

Thanks for sticking with me so far.  We're only 9 days in to our 15 day trip so far on this blog.  I know posts have slowed down - I blame the Olympics.  Go USA!!!

See the full itinerary here...

Happy Birthday to my Mommy!

Today is my Mom's birthday.  I would tell you that it's her 60th birthday, but you're not supposed to tell a woman's age, so I won't.  Ha!

So, if you have not yet sent Mom a Happy Birthday text/e-mail/Facebook message/call, do so now.

Happy Birthday Mommy!  Love you!

photo by