Trip to Alaska

June 16 - July 1, 2005

Wednesday June 15 Alaska has been on my list for travel ever since I retired. (There were a lot of A’s on the list - I have one more A left - Attu.) In March Nancy contacted me telling me that the Cheesemans had an opening for two on their sponsored Alaska trip. I thought about it for a couple of hours and decided that I would use the money set aside for new kitchen appliances and go to Alaska instead. So we signed up. I also was lucky to be able to use United mileage for a “free” ticket from San Francisco to Anchorage. Nancy and I went a day early in order to have some time to explore Anchorage. Walt drove us to the San Francisco airport about 4:00 and we arrived in Anchorage about 11:00 - (10:00 their time). It seemed so strange that it was fully daylight. The flight wasn’t too bad. United now “sells” box lunches for $5.00 and I bought one for my dinner. It was all right but bringing your own sandwich is probably a better choice. My suitcase was almost the last suitcase to arrive and I thought it was déjà vu from my last trip when my suitcase did not arrive. But it finally bounced off the belt. We hired a taxi to take us to the Copper Whale Inn Bed and Breakfast in downtown Anchorage. It was a good location to stay in as we could easily walk downtown or to the shoreline of Cooks Inlet. But it was a very noisy location and the rooms were not set up well for two people to sleep in separate beds. Fortunately our room had just enough room to install a roll away bed so we both slept just fine.

Thursday June 16 We met our fellow travelers during the breakfast as they had also arrived early. Besides Nancy and me, our group included: Bårbel and Karl-Heinz Müller, a German couple who have lived in Cape Town, South Africa for the last 30 years. Anne & Manfred Recksik who live in Essen, Germany. George Yee who lives in Menlo Park (in Ruth Casto’s old house - she is a former birding friend of ours.) He also works for Rob Colwell - another birding friend of ours. Those five had all traveled in December 2004 together on the Cheeseman’s Antarctica trip. We visited briefly and then went in different directions. Nancy and I walked to the Art-History museum and enjoyed that very much. We were on time to join a docent led tour and learned a lot about the early culture of Alaska. We also learned that Aleut was pronounced Al-e-ut. I had always thought it was pronounced A-leut. We started our souvenir shopping at the Museum store. It is hard to decide what to bring home for others - most things would mean more to me than them so I tried to buy useful things rather than just decorative. We were hungry for something but didn’t want much so we went to the downtown mall. It is a four story enclosed building about a block square. There we found a sub sandwich and ate there. We finished up our shopping in the mall at some souvenir shops and also at J.C.Penney’s (sounds like we still are in America! - oh that is right we are!). George had told us about an Aurora Borealis slide show so since we would not be seeing that ourselves (wrong time of year) we decided to go to the show. George was there too. It was a beautiful show and it is amazing how many colors the sky can be during that time of year. I’d love to see it in person but it is mostly during winter. After that we walked a different way back to our Inn. Anchorage is a clean, plain, and fairly new city. Much of it was destroyed in the 1964 earthquake so most of the buildings are new. They do decorate it in the summer with thousands of flowers and hanging baskets of flowers so it is very colorful. The traffic is like any large city - lots and busy but it is also a good city for walking - at least for the main part of downtown. There were a few other places we would have enjoyed seeing but we didn’t have time and they would have required a taxi. After returning our shopping bags to the Inn we did walk down and along the path following Copper Inlet but there were no birds and the bike traffic was pretty busy so we came back. That inlet and extending out to Turnagain Arm has very high tides. The tide will go from minus 50 feet to plus 30 Feet. It produces what is called a bore tide and surfers wait for it and are able to surf it for a very long distance. I’d love to see that. Back at the Inn we met our leader Ken Whitten. This trip was supposed to be led by Hugh Rose but he had an emergency appendectomy followed by an infection so at the last minute Ken stepped in. He turned out to be an excellent leader. He is a retired biologist and had worked for the Park service for years. One of his jobs was to track the caribou. He was very familiar with all the places we visited and he was an absolute store of knowledge and interesting stories. We certainly learned a lot. He could even predict which hill the bear would come over so we had good close ups when we had a bear sighting. We all visited for a while and then went out to dinner - at 7:45 PM. That was the earliest reservation we could get - Anchorage is very busy in the summer. We had a delicious dinner and a nice visit. Walked back in full daylight and went to bed at 11:00 at night. Good thing we had some curtains that darkened the room a little.

Friday 6/17/05 We left at 9:30 to catch our flight to Deadhorse (Prudhoe Bay). When we arrived at the airport Alaska Air told us the flight had been canceled! “Maintenance” problem. They had notified no one - several other people were more inconvenienced that we were. They rescheduled us for the afternoon flight which left around 4:00. Fortunately Ken was able to rent a van for us and we went sight seeing. We drove to Potter’s Marsh on Turnagain Bay. We had a good visit there with lots of birds and ducks, many with young. Saw the first of our many Bald Eagle - hard to believe that eventually a Bald Eagle sighting was just a “oh yes” response - we saw a lot. Then as we continued sightseeing we stopped at a place that had public restrooms. There they had an older train that had been used to blow snow off the tracks. In there a native group was just opening a gift shop and they had a grand opening party with free lunch! They invited us and we accepted - hamburgers, hot dogs, soft drinks, chips. It was a delicious lunch and a lot of fun. Soon a family group came and performed a dance for us. It was a grandmother and her four grandchildren - she was passing along the native traditions to her grandchildren and they did a wonderful performance. They had beautiful outfits on and were a pleasure to watch. So the canceled scheduled plane brought us some fun experience. By then we had to go back to the airport where we used our vouchers for a sandwich for our dinner on the flight. Instead of a two hour (or less) trip to Deadhorse as originally scheduled, this trip took 5 hours. We flew from Anchorage to Fairbanks to Barrow (the northern most settlement in Alaska and therefore in the US) and then to Deadhorse. But we had a treat as we approached Fairbanks. The pilot came on the loudspeaker and told us that he would have to circle as the airport was not ready for him to land. So he said that instead he would circle around the top of Mt. McKinley which at 20,320 feet is the tallest mountain in the United States. So he proceeded to do so - first for the right side of the plane and then for the left side. We were only 4000 feet above the top and we could even see the climber’s camp. It was one of the few days of the year that the mountain was not covered in fog and the view was awesome. We could see glaciers, vivid blue mountain lakes and all the sides of the mountain. What a treat that was.

Finally we landed in Fairbanks where I was surprised to see how many people came aboard. We left with a full load for Barrow and Deadhorse. Barrow’s population is only about 5000 and has one of the worlds largest Eskimo population. The two women sitting next to me were going home to Barrow after the wedding of the son of one of them in Anchorage. It was interesting to talk with them. They said Barrow had 3 schools, elementary, intermediate, and high school. They also had a community college. They said the young are staying there - or going away and then coming back. Their economy is oil and gas so they are eager to have more development of the oil field so that they will have even more money. Everything in Barrow has to be flown or shipped in. There is no road to Barrow. In the winter they still use dog sleds but increasingly they use snow mobiles. I wish we could have gotten off to see more of Barrow than we could see from the air. Again I was surprised how many people got off the plane and then how many people got back on. They were not all going to Deadhorse as the plane continued on back to Anchorage. The woman I sat next to was an engineer in the oil field and was going to work. She would be working on a rig guiding the drilling in directions off the vertical. The oil workers in general work 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off but she thought her shift would be shorter because she just worked until the job was done. She worked as a team with 2 other engineers. She lived in a small area called Hope near Anchorage and had one child. Her husband stayed home with her daughter because she was able to earn more with less time away from home than her husband did - he was also an oil field worker. It is interesting to see how things were arranged for workers in the place far from anything. The scenes from the plane of the Arctic were fascinating - it is hard to describe it. The patterns on the tundra must have included every shape of polygon you can imagine. They are formed on the tundra from the freezing and thawing so these are like cracks in the landscape. It was fascinating and then to see the oil fields as we arrived - what a contrast. We missed our “flight seeing” ride over Prudhoe Bay area because of our late arrival and the windy weather but we did see a lot from this plane. Finally we arrived at Deadhorse about 10:00 where it was very cold. Someone said it was 30 degrees with a wind chill making it 7 degrees. All I know is I wore all my clothes. We then drove to our “Inn”. It was a former barrack for the oil field works so the rooms were small and functional but we were very comfortable and had a private bath. There were a lot of people there from some other large group so it is a popular place. Bed at 11:00 felt good.

Saturday 6/18/05 We drove to the hotel next door (it was too cold to walk) for breakfast which was a buffet. We also fixed a bag lunch for ourselves and then we joined other tourists for a quick tour of the Oil fields. We were on a big bus and drove rather quickly through the working field. We stopped once and got out but we were not close to anything important. We didn’t get much more than a superficial look at the place - security is very tight. I would say it looked like you would expect an oil field to look like - rigs, some buildings and so forth all set up on the tundra with snow and lakes around. The tundra is frozen but has melted to a deeper depth where there are structures. We got quite a PR talk about the oil fields, many locals want more development because it mean more money for them. All Alaskan residents currently get about $1000 a year from the permanent fund dividend. It is from interest earned on oil pumped from the Prudhoe Bay oil fields which sit on leased state lands. It has varied over the years from $300 to $2000 per year. They really talk a lot about how environmentally friendly the oil company is - ha! Then we returned to our van and started looking for birds and mammals. One of the special birds we wanted to see was the Spectacled Eider - Maryann really wanted us to see it because she had always just missed it on her trips. Well by golly we saw a pair almost right away! What fun. Some people got some good photos - I hope they share them with us. We ended this day with two pair of King Eiders - right across the road from our Inn - another colorful duck. In between we drove down the “haul” road - the only road there is. It is the road built for building the pipe line and goes to Fairbanks where someplace it turns into asphalt. The haul road is also called the Dalton Highway. Most of the traffic was huge trucks that kicked up a lot of dust - many do not like tourists on their road. But we survived and managed to see lots of birds, ducks, caribou, and an Arctic fox. The fun thing about the birds and ducks is that they were in breeding plumage. We had already seen these birds in California but in the winter in their drab colors. Boy were some of these birds colorful. The caribou were smaller than I expected but then I found out they are the same as reindeer! They call the ones that are raised reindeer and the wild ones caribou. Previously some had been imported from Finland to help the starving Eskimos. We spent most of the day looking from the van as it was very windy and very cold. We had a buffet dinner and then retired for the night.

Sunday 6/19/05 Today we saw our first grizzly bear and our first moose and our first Dall’s Sheep - what fun. These weren’t our best looks but they were our first. We drove down the haul road - about 250 miles to Wiseman. We looked for mammals, birds, and wildflowers along the way. Some of the wildflowers blooming on the Tundra were just spectacular. It is surprising to see so much beauty growing on the frozen ground. One bird that was especially fun to see was the Smith’s Longspur. Ken thought he knew spot where they might be - in some tussocks along the river. So Nancy, Ken, and I got out and walked in a line from the road to the river and when we got there up popped a Smith’s Longspur and we got very good looks. It is a very secretive and uncommon bird so that was fun. We continued driving up over Atigun pass which at 5000 feet makes it the highest road in Alaska! We also crossed the Continental Divide here. In Alaska the Continental Divide, running along the Brooks Range and into Seward Peninsula separates the watersheds draining north and west into the Arctic Ocean from those draining west and south into the Bering Sea. Our views were not great because of the smoke from fires - there were about 100 lightning fires throughout the state and some were near and along our road. Finally we reached the town of Wiseman. There has only been a road to Wiseman since the completion of the Dalton Highway (which was built for the pipeline construction in 1977). When we first arrived I wondered where we’d be staying as the “town” consistent of many abandoned log cabins and the ones in use looked pretty primitive. We drove down a very dusty driveway to the Arctic Getaway (or Igloo #8) where we were going to stay and I wondered even more. The main house was an old log cabin and there were several other out buildings (including an “out house”) and there was a lot of junk around the yard. There were some dog houses with sled dogs chained to them and sitting on top of them. Going inside the main cabin was even worse - it was dark with a low ceiling and filled with a collection of books, children toys, animal furs and other animal parts. But our hostess, Uta greeted us with a friendly smile (while her husband sat eating his dinner and not saying much). After a while she took us across the way to a more recently built log cabin that was very pleasant inside. But we were all staying there and there was only one bathroom. But the beds were clean and comfortable and we managed to share the bathroom just fine. George slept in the kitchen next to the bathroom door so he had a steady line of traffic going past his bed all night and early morning - but he was a good sport about it. We had an excellent dinner and then went to bed instead of taking a walk - the mosquitoes were pretty bad.

Wiseman was founded in the early 1900 by people coming to look for gold. Many of the buildings are from the period - some in use, some abandon. The houses were not on cement foundations so many of them have sunk into the ground. Our hosts’ house has been recently jacked up and had a new foundation installed. They are north of the Arctic circle so the ground under the house stays frozen. They do not have a refrigerator - keeping their food under the house in a “cellar”. The beer was as cold as you would want it. They use solar power for electricity with a generator for back up. We had plenty of hot water and lights. Wiseman currently has between 20 and 30 residents so there is no school. There two children are home schooled with supervision from the education department. The back area of the main house was used as a public room in the early 1900’s. Nancy had brought a book to read by Margaret Murie: “Two In the Far North”. It was about her early years with her husband Olaus Murie who studied the caribou in this area and she traveled with him. After Nancy finished the book I read it - The Muries stayed in Wiseman and danced in this room of our host’s home. It was fun to read about a isolated place we had visited. Anyway we had a good stay here and learned a bit about another type of life. I can’t imagine what it is like in the winter when they are so very isolated.

Monday 6/20/2005 We had a delicious breakfast of pancakes and then Berni (the father) took us on a walking tour of Wiseman. An interesting little town. Then we drove back to Atigun Pass where we walked up the hill enjoying the many wildflowers and some birds. It was cold and windy but not too bad. It was interesting walking on the Tundra as it was very spongy. It was not frozen but dig a foot or so down and the ground would be frozen. On the way back we stopped to look once again for the Arctic Warbler but we did not find it. But we did have fun seeing some more moose. A note about the pipeline. This whole road - the Dalton Highway follows the pipeline which goes from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez - 800 miles long. At Fairbanks the pipeline branches off from the road we took to Anchorage. The pipeline was mostly above ground because it would melt the frozen ground if buried and then would “float” on the water. In areas where there was gravel underground to hold the pipeline stable it was buried. The problem as I see it - is while you are driving along you cannot see how it is affecting the environment. There is so much land beyond the pipeline that has nothing on I’m sure many people think it is no problem. What they don’t see is how the road and pipeline have cut through the animals land. Also when we were in Prince William Sound we were told how reduced some of the wildlife was because of the 1989 oil spill. Another spill will be equally devastating. After our hike we went back to Wiseman where we had another excellent dinner - fresh salmon - very good.

Tuesday 6/21/05 We continued on the Dalton Highway stopping first at Coldfoot. Coldfoot too was a gold mining town until the miners left for Wiseman. Coldfoot was one of the pipeline construction camps with as many as 450 workers at one time. It isn’t much now but it does have a gas pump and a small restaurant with some rooms for rent - at a very high rate. There is also some kind of a maintenance shed and that is about it. It gets very cold here - 55 miles north of the arctic circle. The winter of 1989 it was minus 84 degrees or colder for 16 days. The thermometer didn’t go any lower than that. The record high was in 1988 at 97 degrees. That is a spread of 179 degrees. Hard to imagine. In Colorado Springs at 10 degrees I couldn’t go out to the mailbox without putting on heavy winter clothes! We continued on to Fairbanks noting several fires and the smoke. Along one stretch of road the embers were still glowing and hot on both sides of the road. Yesterday the road had been closed. We crossed the Arctic Circle and stopped here for our photos. We also crossed the Yukon River, a mighty river. It is 2300 miles long and with the Mississippi and the Missouri ranks as the second longest rivers in North America. The Yukon drains into the Bering Sea. We crossed on one of the four bridges spanning the Yukon.

Then to our Bed and Breakfast, the Grand View . It was a new building and very elegant - hot tub, sauna, beautiful view (except for the smoke). Only problem was we didn’t have enough time there to take advantage of it all. We cleaned up for dinner and then Ken and his wife Mary took us to downtown Fairbanks for dinner. Fairbanks was having an all night street fair celebrating the summer solstice. We walked around after dinner to see what was going on. By that time there were a lot of teen agers plus all kinds of people and all ages. I found it interesting to notice what a variety of people there were - in dress, in looks, in culture, in behavior. It was fascinating. We had a wonderful dinner at one of the better restaurants. We were joined by some of Ken’s friends who had also traveled on the Antarctic ship plus Hugh Rose who was looking better but still not able to lead this trip.

Wednesday 6/22/05 This morning Ken had arranged for us to visit Mary Shields. In 1974 she was the first woman to finish the Iditarod (a 1049 mile race) and she currently raises sled dogs. I wasn’t sure what to expect but when we arrived we were greeted by Mary who was working in her garden. She had a fence around it to keep the moose out and she raised both vegetables and flowers. She talked a bit about her sled dogs and then brought us to their “pen”. Each dog had a dog house and was chained to it (by a very long chain). They were all sitting on top until they knew she was coming in. She explained about the dynamics of the dogs personalities and how she had to treat them all equally. People who wanted to (not me) wandered among the dogs and petted them. Then we went outside and she released each dog and we watched them play and wrestle together - it was clear which dog was the top dog - she stood apart from the rest and watched. They were very well disciplined and obeyed her verbal commands. Then we sat in a circle and she told us the details of sledding and showed us her sled and camping tent. She still goes out each winter to enjoy some time alone in the “wilderness”. She had us all howl at the dogs and they howled back and all stopped exactly at the same moment. Then we were invited into her charming home for tea and brownies. She lives in a log cabin that she and her former husband built, including much of the furniture. It is small and cozy and so comfortable. We sat around her table and visited and she told us more about her life and showed us part of the video that the PBS had made several years ago. I found the whole visit very moving. Here was a woman who had a dream and lived it. She had a beautiful outlook on life and nature and spent much of her time alone and in the wilderness. She was a very gentle soul. I bought three of her children’s books - stories of her dogs but they have an additional message in them. I’m giving one to Vincent, one to Sophia, and one to Kenneth and Judy. Each is age appropriate for them. Finally we had to leave feeling like we were saying goodbye to a friend.

Ken’s wife, Mary had invited us to their house for lunch and it was delicious. She served us moose burgers (Ken hunts and got this last hunting season.) They were very good - but just tasted like a high quality hamburger. We had a nice lunch and visit and enjoyed seeing the bowls Ken makes from burls - they are beautiful. We left and continued on towards Denali staying near Healy at the Earth Song Lodge. This was at the eastern edge of Denali Park. These were individual log cabins, charming and very tiny. Nancy and I had to rearrange the furniture in order to open up the hide-a-bed. We walked to another building and had dinner, ordering downstairs and going up stairs to wait for dinner. This was a 2 man operation with a limited menu but nicely done. As usual we went to bed while the sun was still shinning. I never did get used to this during our time in Alaska. But I still managed to sleep soundly.

Thursday 6/23/05 Today we drove to Denali National Park. Cars are not allowed to drive in this park unless they are staying in Kantishna - just outside the park on the west side. We were staying in the Skyline Lodge there so we had a vehicle permit with very strict rules - we had to stay next to our car at all times and could not get out at all if a bear was near. In addition we could only go forward - no u-turns for something we missed. That was fine - better than the big busses which shuttled people through the park. Of course if we saw something good they all stopped too and blocked our view. But then we waited and after they left we had the views to ourselves. We saw lots of birds and moose, and a bear - very close. Ken saw the bear walking and correctly guessed where he would be coming over the hill so it was beside us on the road and crossed in front of our van for very good looks. We also saw a Mother bear with two cubs. We saw a Moose in a pond with her two young ones on the shore. In addition we saw a beaver and a fox and a marmot and a pika. Plenty of wild life. I won’t even begin to list the birds but my list has about 90 species of birds for this trip.

We arrived at our lodge and it was a little different than I expected. The main building was three stories. The top had two (or three) bedrooms, a full bath, and some overflow space in the hall. The main level was the lounge and office with a half bath. The bottom floor had the kitchen, dinning area, and a full bath. From there you go outside and down three flights and there is another building with some bedrooms where the two couples stayed. Up another flight of stairs were some other bedrooms where Nancy and I stay. Ken and George slept on the floor in the main lodge! But the outside buildings had no bathrooms. Those bathrooms in the main building were it - for all the guests and employees to share. So in the middle of the night Nancy and I had to go down one flight and up three for the rest room (Nancy counted 35 steps) - this in day light even in the middle of the night - so you either get dressed or go in a nightgown. And it was very cold! It was not my favorite accommodation arrangements, but then we did at least have beds. But the compensation was being able to drive at our own speed in the park and the dinners. The cook here was absolutely marvelous. She was a professionally trained chef and has cooked in several places starting in New Orleans. Now she cooks here in the summer and Hawaii in the winter. She was marvelous. (I ended up gaining 8 pounds on this trip - but I lost them in a week.)

Friday 6/24/05 We started today with air flights - four of each in a single engine plane. We had an absolutely wonderful flight - Mt. McKinley is hidden by clouds as much as 60% of the time but we had clear views as we flew very close to the mountain. We could see many glaciers, the places where hikers climb the mountain, and very blue lakes. As we were flying back we encountered the start of the rain so we were treated to some wonderful rainbows. We lounged around the lodge and read and/or talked while we waited out the rain. We did go look at the last home of Fannie Quigley - a prospector from about 1900 to 1944. She continued to live in the area alone after her husband retired to Seattle. What a strong woman she must have been. Then the rain stopped enough for Nancy, George, Ken and me to go down the road a bit and walk up the ridge looking for birds and enjoying the wildflowers and the views. It was invigorating. Then we went back to the lodge and got the other four people and drove up to another ridge which we climbed up and enjoyed more birds, wildflowers, and views. Then back for another excellent dinner and the scramble for a turn in the bathroom!

Saturday 6/25/05 We left the lodge by 7 AM and drove back through the park. There were not a lot of mammals, but we did see two of the birds I wanted to see: Willow Ptarmigan and a Gyrfalcon - good looks for both. We continued driving to Anchorage with beautiful scenery along the way. There we had time to clean up before dinner and walked to another wonderful restaurant for a great dinner. We again stayed at the Copper Whale Inn.

Sunday 6/26/05 We left at a civilized time of 9 AM (what kind of birding trip is this!) and drove along the Turnagain Arm to Whittier. We stopped along the way to look at an American Dipper at a known spot and then we enjoyed the rest of the scenery. Whittier has only had a road to it since June 2000 when the railroad tunnel was converted to accommodate cars. Every half hour one direction is allowed while the other waits. Except for when trains go through then everyone waits. We waited at a visitor center near the start of the tunnel until it was our turn. The toll for the tunnel is rather expensive - $12 for a passenger car - more for bigger vehicles. ($35 for us.) Whittier is a small town which only recently started to cater to more tourists. But it is almost completely shut down in the winter and there is one large apartment type building where the permanent residents live. Here we boarded our boat - the 12 passenger 65 foot Discovery. It was a small boat with very small cabins (not spacious as described in the brochure). But the cabins were adequate even though we had to take turns getting dressed and packing or unpacking our suitcases. There were two bathrooms to share and we managed just fine. There were three other passengers besides our group. We met our captain Dean and his crew, Chris, Sarah, and Sam, and his daughter Hannah and his black lab puppy, Happy. We also had aboard four of Dean’s friends, their four children, and 3 kayaks. He was taking them to an island where they were going to camp for a week. Our first stop was a Black-legged Kittiwake colony with hundreds and hundreds of birds on beautiful cliffs. We also saw some Bald Eagles. We continued on and stopped to drop the campers off. We, too went ashore and walked a bit on this island, a beautiful green upland bog with some gorgeous wildflowers. We used zodiacs (small rubber boats with a motor.) Then we came back and had a wonderful dinner. Our chef, Chris was a very talented woman and all our meals were delicious - all three meals a day. Then to our very small bunks.

Monday 6/27/05 The days on board sort of run together. Each day we traveled covering a lot of distance, and each day we got out some and walked. Sam was with us on our hikes and she knew a lot about the flowers and history. Sarah was always ready and willing to help with anything you needed. They were a great crew. Dean was also a good captain. We had excellent meals three times a day. Today we first went close to a large glacier and watched it “calve”. The sound was like fireworks and the spray from the water very high. We enjoyed watching the “action” and just looking at the ice formations. The ice floes were covered with harbor seals who seemed unaffected by the calving. Then we continued on until we met “our” Humpback Whale. This whale was very interested in us and spent over an hour with us - performing dives, coming very close to the boat and obviously looking right at us. I have never seen a whale so aware of us and spending so much time with us. It was a thrilling adventure and very special. In the afternoon we walked on another island - an upland bog. Everything in this area was affected by the 1964 earthquake. This island was raised on one end by the earthquake and lowered at the other end. We had a beautiful walk with lots of wildflowers again. Back to the boat and another wonderful dinner followed by more whales.

Tuesday 6/28/05 The highlights of today were many - we saw Tufted Puffins - the best I have ever seen - very good looks. We also saw a place where Steller's Sea Lions were hauled out. Then we walked around another lovely island and saw more shore birds and hundreds of Surf Birds and two majestic Bald Eagles. Back on board some of the people did some fishing and Ken and Chris caught our lunch and dinner - halibut, and rock fish (snapper). There is no fish so good as truly fresh fish - never even been refrigerated. I should mention about the food supply - lots of it, including the soft drinks and beer is kept in coolers on the deck and up above the cabin. When we were at the glacier the crew used a net to get enough ice chunks to keep our stuff cold. Today we also saw lots of sea otters. They were so cute and many were lying on their backs with the babies on their stomachs. Some of the babies were as big as the parents. As many sea otters as we saw we were told the numbers were way down for them and for the puffins because of the 1989 oil spill at Valdez. An outsider would come in and think that everything had returned to “normal” but the long time residents know it hasn’t. And the oil company has still not paid all the fines they were supposed to pay. The most fun today for me was being joined by Dall’s Porpoises who “rode the bow” for quite a while. They would keep switching sides always staying in front of the boat. I always find this behavior a very special time - it seems like such a close connections with another one of God’s creations.

Wednesday 6/29/05 Today we went to a oyster farm and met the woman who is running it and heard about how she does it. She is trying to promote them as a delicious food and a good income. All of her buildings, home, processing and so forth is on the water. She was a very interesting lady and we all enjoyed her. She exchanged some fresh oysters for some other produce. Several people enjoyed eating the oysters raw but I wasn’t brave enough for that. I had tried raw oysters once and that was enough for me. But later that afternoon Chris cooked them so I did try one. It was all right and I could eat it but the taste was wasted on me. People who eat them said these fresh ones are so much better than others but I wouldn’t know. We had another walk on an island, saw another glacier calving that had a lot of otters in front of it then dinner and bed.

Thursday 6/30/05 Some people went kayaking early in the morning but unfortunately I didn’t. Having only done it once and that was in Baja in warm weather I was afraid I would have trouble on the three mile journey through the ice floes. But the ones who went had a good time and I’m sorry I didn’t go. Oh well - next time. We had lunch on board and then headed for port and our goodbyes to our new friends. It was a good journey. We made the 3:00 tunnel so we got back to Anchorage at a reasonable hour. We had time to clean up and then walked to dinner where we once again had a delicious dinner. We spent a long time talking during our last dinner together. It was pleasant.

Friday 7/1/05 We all met for the Copper Whale’s good breakfast and then went on our various ways. Ken with his wife Mary started driving to Fairbanks - home and to return the Van. George left for the airport. The other four were spending an extra day in Anchorage so they went sight seeing. Nancy and I spent some more time in the shopping area buying a few more souvenirs and then at noon we left for the airport arriving in San Francisco about 8:00 where we were picked up by Nancy’s husband, Walt.

It was a good trip and I’m glad I saw Alaska on this kind of trip where we covered a cross section of the state. We saw a variety of habitats and hit the main areas you read about. It would take a very long time - to cover all of the state - it is really huge. I saw 90 species of birds - the group saw about 10 more. I saw 9 new “life” species, 7 of which were new to the ABA (American) list. We saw 18 mammals.

Written from my notes on 7/9/05 Penelope Bowen