Copper10-8

Day 5 - 08/08/2023; Scenic cruising Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve After departing Hubbard Glacier yesterday, Nieuw Amsterdam has basically been following the Alaska coast line, about 50 miles off, in a south-easterly direction. This morning, she entered Cross Sound, in between Cape Spencer and Cape Bingham, changing course to the east. Cross Sound leads into Icy Strait where we made a ‘left turn’ into Sitakaday Narrows and up to Point Gustavus and Bartlett Cove. There, Captain Baijens slowed his ship down in order to pick up two U.S. Park Rangers and one Naturalist, arriving via small boat from their Headquarters at Glacier Bay Lodge, who would be with us pretty much the entire day until 7:30 pm. One ranger goes up to the bridge to provide play-by-play commentary while the other, plus the naturalist, set up shop in the Crow’s Nest. The National Park regulations allow for two large cruise ships in the Bay and they are required to have park rangers on board. They are on board both for the education of the guests, as well for ensuring that the ships keep to the rules of the road and do not go sightseeing where it is not allowed. There was a much smaller explorer ship, the 84-guest Safari Endeavour from UnCruise Adventures inside the bay with us. Glacier Bay runs north northwest to south south-east for about 65 miles between two pinchets of Alaska. It ranges from 3-20 miles wide. Glacier Bay and the surrounding land is the site of the Glacier Bay National Park. The explorer Captain George Vancouver found Icy Strait, at the south end of Glacier Bay, choked with ice in 1794. Glacier Bay itself was almost entirely iced over. In 1879 naturalist John Muir found that the ice had retreated almost all the way up the bay. By 1916 Grand Pacific Glacier was at the head of Tarr Inlet, about 65 miles from Glacier Bay's mouth. Glacier Bay contains sixteen glaciers, twelve of which reach shorelines and calved to produce icebergs. The area around Glacier Bay was first proclaimed a U.S. National Monument on 25 February 1925. It was changed to Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, a United States National Park, on 2 December 1980 by the Alaska National Interest Land Conservation Act. The park covers 5,130 miles and most of it (4,164 miles of the park) is a designated wilderness area. Despite the lack of roads, there are over 300,000 visitors per year to the park, mostly on cruise ships. Today, Nieuw A’s older sibling, m/s Eurodam, under the command of Captain Joost Eldering would be ahead of us. She was up Tarr Inlet viewing Marjerie Glacier, while we would first go ‘next door’ into Johns Hopkins Inlet viewing the glacier of the same name as well as Gilman, Hoonah and Lamplugh Glaciers. Glaciers descending from high snowcapped mountains into the bay create spectacular displays of ice and iceberg formation by ‘calving’. With that said, we proceeded northbound into the Bay, passing Strawberry Island, Willoughby Island, Francis Island, Drake Island, and Queen Inlet. Next up was our first look at Lamplugh Glacier. Lamplugh is eight miles long and is named for English geologist George William Lamplugh who visited Glacier Bay in 1884. Thirty minutes later, we were at Johns Hopkins inlet for a look at Johns Hopkins Glacier. Johns Hopkins (don’t forget the first “s”) fills the end of the fjord, stretching about 1-mile wide and reaching 250 feet high above the waterline. The ice front extends under sea level, to a depth of approximately 200 feet, where an underwater moraine protects the deepest extent of the glacial ice like armor against the warm ocean water. Formed from numerous tributary glaciers, the length of Johns Hopkins glacier is about 12 miles from the source in the Fairweather Mountain peaks. While this was all happening, we had a lunch reservation inside the Pinnacle Grill at 12:45 and we had invited Susan (poster AV8rix), an aeronautical engineer and licensed pilot to join us. We had met Susan on Koningsdam for the 2022-2023 new year’s cruise. We were once again served by Edy. Maria chose the Spinach Arugula Salad: Avocado orange, organic seeds, creamy lemon dressing, Gorgonzola, air-dried apples, Roasted Jidori Chicken with Porcini Mushrooms: Cider vinegar jus, quinoa-forbidden rice cake, mâché salad, toasted pistachios; and Strawberry Pavlova: Strawberry consommé, basil, while I had the Tomato Broth with Spicy Lemongrass Chicken: Kaffir lime, cilantro; Pinnacle Burger: Bacon jam, garlic chipotle aioli, Beecher’s cheddar cheese, cabernet red onions, avocado, French fries; and premium ice cream. At around 1:00 PM, we swapped placed with Eurodam and proceeded up Tarr Inlet and the majestic Marjerie and smaller Grand Pacific Glaciers, where we arrived around 1:30 PM. Marjerie Glacier is a 21-mile-long glacier. It begins on the south slope of Mount Root, at the Alaskan-Canada border, and flows southeast and northeast to Tarr Inlet, one mile north of the terminus of Grand Pacific Glacier and 87 miles northwest of Hoonah. It was named for famed French geographer and geologist Emmanuel de Marjerie, who visited Glacier Bay in 1913. Access to Nieuw A’s bow was once again provided, allowing all of us to witness several ‘calving’ occurrences from Marjerie, both small and larger, accompanied by lots of cracking and splashing, always an awesome experience! The park ranger from his position on the bridge provided play-by-play of what we were seeing as well as historical and general information while the captain maneuvered his ship in close proximity to the big glacier so that those with cabins on both port and starboard side could get a good view. After a good hour of viewing Marjerie, Captain Baijens at about 2;30 PM or so, back-tracked Nieuw Amsterdam’s earlier course through Tarr Inlet. When we got back to our room, we found a box of goodies, courtesy of Nieuw A's executive chef Bitta Kuravilla, someone who I have worked with in the past on different dam ships, a very nice and much appreciated gesture! So, basically if you find yourselves “doing” Glacier Bay National Park, count on a full day of looking in awe at these natural wonders. What’s nice is that you don’t have to spend the entire day outside because it can get cold out there. Like they say, dress I layers! You have plenty of time to have a lunch, hang out somewhere, take it easy, jell, you name it. Cruising at its very best! To be con't

Extra! Nothing is free on the train except the incredible view

I agree and no HAL ships will not be calling at Israeli ports while that country is at war. The HAL situation/control room and the duty officer(s) in Seattle have been/are no doubt working overtime on this since yesterday morning! As far as being on non-ship sponsored private tours, please ensure the front desk has your individual cell/mobile phone number and that you, as the person taking that tour, have working cell phone service while abroad. In addition, if you're taking that private tour, please ensure that the front desk has the phone number of a contact person for that tour company. When circumstances like what sadly has been happening in Israel since yesterday occur, one of the captain's priorities will be to get his guests, as well as crew on shore leave, back onboard ASAP and then to leave port. Doing that with ship organized shore excursions is fairly easy because the ship's shorex manager, with the assistance of the tour company representative who is always on or near the ship, is able to get a hold of the bus driver(s) and/or tour guide(s) on the buses. For those of us who have been to Israel on HAL ships. you know tours travel extensively from the port to places like Jerusalem as well as other locations not close to he port. Under the circumstances currently present in Israel, those buses will be instructed to turn around and return to the ship ASAP. Private tours will be given the same orders provided the ship's pax and/or the drivers/guides on those tours can be reached via mobile/cell! My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Israel under these extremely difficult circumstances!

Day 4 - 08/07/2023; Scenic cruising Hubbard Glacier (con't) Dinner at 7:30 on what HAL now calls a “Dressy” night was yet another specialty restaurant, this one known as the Asian Fusion Tamarind restaurant all the way up on Deck 11 midships. If you’ve never been to Tamarind on the five Holland America Line ships which have one, you’re missing out! The service is gracious and the food delicious! Our server was Dayanti from Indonesia. The Tamarind manager is Eka and the host Sareat, both also from Indonesia. We started out with the Satay (Sate) sampler (Thai chicken, Malaysian lamb, Chinese Beef, Indonesian pork, and Vietnamese shrimp that come with green mango, yuzu kosho and black bean powder), followed by Wasabi and Soy crusted beef tenderloin and Mongolian Barbecue Lamb Chops with Jasmin rice on the side as the main. Desert for this one with Passion Fruit Cloud and a selection of ice cream for dessert. Lilly, another Tamarind waitress from our May Nieuw A cruise, and who we had run into this morning at the PG, had ordered a small anniversary cake for us. A very nice gesture! Post-dinner, we did a fast walk from Deck 10 aft to Deck 2 all the way forward where the six dancers from the Step One Dance Co. were performing in one of their brand-new shows “Move”, a wave of sight, sound and motion, and a really good one. Great move by HAL to start replacing the older shows by the Step One dancers who were getting a bit long in the tooth. We finished up this first full day on Nieuw A by going to the BB King’s Blues Club where we watched the last set of the BB King’s All-Star Band and burned some calories on the dance floor. They were without their horn (trumpet) player who had been the subject of last night’s “medical response” call. Hope he’s doing better! As stated, tomorrow (Tuesday) is more scenic cruising, this time inside Glacier National Bay and Preserve. See ya then!

Day 4 - 08/07/2023; Scenic cruising Hubbard Glacier Only one cruise ship at a time is allowed near the glacier’s mouth. Captain Jeroen B. got us as close as possible to Hubbard turning his ship so that both port and starboard cabins/balconies got a good look at her. We encountered a fair amount of floating ice. From a distance, the glacial path looks like a long, gentle ski slope. We left Yakutat Bay around 6:00 pm and headed south for our next destination, Glacier Bay National Park. To be con't

Perhaps, give the Pinnacle Grill a try for lunch on one of your upcoming sea days! Warning alert! There is a charge for the PG! It is not comped! Hoping the remainder of your cruise is without anymore K-9 nourishment

Day 4 - 08/07/2023; Scenic cruising Hubbard Glacier Woke up to pretty smooth seas (just a bit of gentle motion) as we’re making our way southeast in the Gulf of Alaska. The rain from last night was outtahere! After Nieuw Amsterdam left Whittier on Wednesday, a south-easterly course was set in the Prince William Sound, after which we entered the Gulf of Alaska proper from in between Montaque Island and Hinchinbrook Island. Nieuw A has a nice gym up top and we took advantage of it, as dis several other pax One of the perks of a Neptune Suite is the ability to have breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill Restaurant on Deck 2 midships, so that’s what we did. On sea days, the PG is open for breakfast until 0930 hours. The new manager in there is Omar from Turkey. One of our waiters from our May cruise on Nieuw Amsterdam, Edy, is still here. Maria had scrambled eggs, while I had Eggs Benedict. After breakfast, we walked over to the Music Walk where there was a 11;00 AM suite welcome gathering. There, we ran into Twinkle, the asst. beverage manager, a former shipmate of mine when I was working for a living, and a real nice lady. Lunch was inside the Lido Market where they were serving an Indonesian lunch of, among other items, fried rice, beef Sumatra, chicken sate with peanut sauce, krupuk (shrimp crackers), etc. Around 2:00 pm today (Monday), we picked up our pilot, Captain Gary, from his boat “Ocean Cape” at the, believe it or not, Ocean Cape pilot station inside Yakutat Bay. We then proceeded into Disenchantment Bay at Point Latouche, sailed another ten nautical miles up the Bay of Disenchantment, where one reaches the mouth of Russel Fjord and Hubbard Glacier. Hubbard Glacier, a tidewater glacier, is physically located in both Alaska and in the Yukon Territory, Canada, off the coast of Yakutat, some 200 miles northwest of Juneau. Hubbard is certainly gigantic: it's more than six miles wide where it meets the ocean. It is named after Gardiner Greene Hubbard (August 25, 1822 – December 11, 1897), an American lawyer, financier, and community leader. He was a founder and first president of the National Geographic Society; a founder and the first president of the Bell Telephone Company which later evolved into AT&T, at times the world's largest telephone company; a founder of the journal ‘Science’, and an advocate of oral speech education for the deaf. In 1890, Mount Hubbard (and subsequently Hubbard Glacier) on the Alaska-Yukon border was named in his honor by an expedition co-sponsored by the National Geographic Society while he was president. The longest source for Hubbard Glacier originates 76 miles from its snout and is located at approximately 5 miles west of Mount Walsh with an elevation of around 11,000 feet. A shorter tributary glacier begins at the easternmost summit on the Mount Logan ridge at about 18,300 feet. To be con't

Good eye! Yes, that's a Neptune suite 😉

Hi Sir; yes, Kaptein Jeroen Baijens is back assigned to the dam ships, Nieuw Amsterdam, as we speak however, there are still several HAL captains serving with Seabourn at the moment: Tim Roberts, Joost Eldering, Sijbe de Boer and Bart Vaartjes come to mind. Take care and be safe in beautiful Kiwi land and please say hi to the Mrs. for me!

Day 4 - 08/06/2023; Enroute Whittier, AK (con't) Whittier cruise port is located at Passage Canal's entrance in Prince William Sound. The port is approx. 60 miles southeast from Anchorage. Once inside the Whittier terminal building, which is a very short walk from where the train stops, we followed the line for security like a slinky. We were told along the way to remove everything from our pockets, belts, plastic bottles, big watches, and be prepared to remove jackets to go through airport-like screening (metal detector for humans and X-ray machine for carry-ons). Apparently, HAL through their contract security, is now really cracking down on bringing any plastic bottles containing water, soda, or anything else liquid-wise inside. I had purchased a couple of 20 oz. Coke Zero bottles in Denali which were still unopened. The guard manning the X-Ray machine was on his game, spotted them, and advised his colleague by the security table. She had no sense of humor, and out my two bottles went post haste into a large trashcan. Maria had purchased a 16 oz. aluminum bottle of H2O and, imagine that, got to keep it. Note to self; don’t buy anymore plastic bottles of soda for a cruise! The only thing left to do inside that terminal was the obligatory welcome aboard pics by Nieuw A’s photo staff before boarding the younger sister of HAL’s Eurodam via a shoreside gangway to Deck 3 where ship security scanned us on. Our cabin is on Rotterdam deck, port side mid-ships, caddy corner from the Neptune Lounge where concierges Aiko and Mike (her relief) “reside” and do one heck of a job keeping their guests happy. Also met our lead cabin steward, Kus who will be taking care of our home away from home, along with his assistant, Raja. Our valises successfully made the road trip from Denali and were already waiting for us to unpack them which meant no more living out of a suitcase for a week! First order of business was to stroll to our muster station (Boat 08), where we checked in electronically with our boat captain which was followed by a short and sweet safety brief from a crew member consisting of instructions to watch the onboard “Safety at Sea” video and to listen to the captain’s safety speech over the P/A. This is the current post “Covid-style” muster procedure on HAL which eliminates large groups getting together and standing in very close proximity to one another. Btw, your TV channel is set to that safety brief, and one is unable to change channels until after you watch/listen to the entire brief, good idea! At around 7;25 PM, Nieuw Amsterdam let go of her lines and shoved off her berth with Captain Jeroen Baijens taking his big ship out of the Whittier harbor. It was around 8 PM now, so next up was dinner which we chose to partake in inside the Lido Market, as opposed to our table in the main dining room. As expected on embarkation day, the place was pretty packed but we were able to come up with a table where Maria had the New York strip steak, while I chose the salmon. During the dinner, the dreaded “Medical Response” alert was transmitted over the ship’s P/A system. The location was the BB King’s Lounge on Deck 2 midships and we learned later on that the BB King’s horn player was the one experiencing a medical episode. Consequently, the 8:00, 9:00 and 10:00 PM sets of the band were cancelled for tonight. All the best to that musician! With that unfortunate event, tonight’s entertainment became limited. Inside the Mainstage was “We are Alaska” however, it had already started at 8:00 PM. The only other live entertainment was the Billboard Onboard piano duo which had two shows left at 9:00 and 10:00 PM. We decided to walk over to the Ocean Bar on Deck 3 where music trivia was just finishing up. The guy who ran it, Simon, returned at 9:30 PM and brought Rose with him for a game of “Majority Rules” which we played only to discover that we were lousy at it, oh well. We decided to call it a night around 10:30 PM since it had been a long day. Tomorrow is scenic cruising of Glacier Bay, see ya then!

Thanks a bunch for the trivia! We liked your Glitter Gulch! 😉

Day 4 - 08/06/2023; Enroute Whittier, AK (con't) Around 4:00 PM, we pulled into the Anchorage Rail Deport after having passed Elmendorf Air Force Base. It would be another short stop before continuing our way for two hours or so, passing Cook Inlet and travelling adjacent Turnagain Arm and the Seward Highway. As stated, we had a new conductor who had joined us in Wasilla and his name was Vern, a funny guy! He paid our car a visit and played his harmonica to “North to Alaska” by Johnny Horton. Also in Wasilla, two to three HAL agents had boarded who would be checking all of us in via their handheld computers. All they needed to accomplish that were your passports and boarding pass. If they didn’t have your most recent photo on file, they would take a new one on the spot. Just like on land, their computer would spit out a paper boarding pass with your name, your ship’s name, sail date, cabin #, etc. on it. It would save us a lot of time inside the Whittier terminal! You get your actual /ship's I.D./room keys from a sealed envelope in the mail slot outside your cabin once on the ship. At one point, the train tracks left the Seward Highway behind because, unlike 2010, we were not going to the port of Seward, our destination today was Whittier, AK and its port, so we began to follow the Portage Glacier Highway/Road. The town of Whittier, AK can only be reached via road by going underneath a tunnel, more specifically, the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, often called the Whittier Tunnel after the town itself. This is a dual-use ("bimodal") highway and railroad tunnel that passes under Maynard Mountain, part of the Chugach Mountain Range. At a length of 13,300 feet, or 2.51 miles, it is the longest highway tunnel and longest combined rail and highway tunnel in North America. The tunnel originated as a rail-only tunnel excavated in 1941–42 during World War II and was upgraded to bimodal use between September 1998 and mid-summer 2000. The tunnel can accommodate either eastbound traffic, westbound traffic, or the Alaska Railroad but only one at any given time. Tunnel traffic is regulated by overhead lights as to how many cars and at which time, can enter at one time. Prior to traversing that tunnel, there is a shorter 0.9 mile tunnel for trains only, called the Portage Lake Tunnel. Upon exiting the second and longer one, the aforementioned Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, our ship, Nieuw Amsterdam, came into view, although it was by now gray, dreary and raining. The entire rail trip from Denali to Whittier had taken nine hours and twenty-six minutes, our second longest rail trip ever. We said our goodbyes to the incredibly efficient and professional crew of the Kobuk rail car and entered the Whittier cruise terminal building for the second part of our vacation. Did I say yet it was raining? Remember; adapt, improvise and overcome!

It's a nice one Rich, highly recommended for a bit of a different look at Alaska! You just have to get used to early morning wakeups in order to put your valises outside your door 😛

Like Bryan / POA1 said! That's the best way to go! The Neptune concierges have standing orders not to give out their email address to guests/passengers since it's for internal use only

Nice, outgoing young lady and very good at her job!

Day 4 - 08/06/2023; Enroute Whittier, AK (con't) A bit before reaching our stop at Talkeetna, the train slowed as we crossed the 918-foot Hurricane Gulch trestle, towering 296 feet above the creek below. This was followed some 45 minutes after by another stop at “The Wolf’s Sighting” near Willow, AK, the site of a 2019 wildfire, still very evident. Here, we met a northbound McKinley Explorer which also stopped. Apparently, this is a routine thing for the trains which gives the conductors of both trains an opportunity to swap out supplies before each continues on their way. We subsequently met our conductor, David, who came by to chat with his passengers and would be leaving us at our upcoming stop at Wasilla because he was above his federally regulated time limit by that time. Both David and our train’s two engineers would be swapping out in Wasilla sometime after. No, we didn’t see the former Governor and we also couldn’t see Russia from Wasilla, but we tried! 🙃 Lunch for us was around 2:45 and we were seated by ourselves at a booth and resulted in both of us selected a bowl of Reindeer Chili; hearty Alaska-style chili of reindeer meat , diced tomatoes, and a secret blend of spices simmered in an Alaskan Amber Ale base. Topped with cheddar cheese and chives. Very tasty! For dessert, Maria had an Alaska ice cream bar, while I had a chocolate brownie Sunday. Each car has their own galley where meals are prepared by hard working crew. To be con't

Correct on the make and type of the model hanging from the ceiling in the bar of the Westmark Fairbanks! That is in fact a DeHavilland-Canada DHC-2 Beaver with floats. They are tough old ladies and you still see quite a few of them flying in Alaska, especially in places like Anchorage and Ketchikan. Nowadays, you see quite a bit more of the Beaver's younger sister, the DeHavilland-Canada DHC-3 Otter flying around, most having converted to turbo-prop engines I too, was lucky enough to have flown in one - next to the pilot seat "Don't touch anything and keep your feet off the pedals, Yes sir" 😃 - back in 2011. The Beaver on that flight belonged to Promech Air out of Ketchikan with tail # N64393. Great flight with a landing on a lake and the ability to get out of the aircraft and take in scenic Alaska while standing on the floats. Unforgettable experience!

Funny how that happens, eh? 😉

Day 4 - 08/06/2023; Enroute Whittier, AK Sunday, once again, started bright and early! We are used to it by now! 0500 hrs. wakeup call for the child bride and 0545 hours for me. First order of business was to get the luggage positioned outside the door for pickup. The only bag tags that now have to be on it are the HAL ship tags with your room # and ship’s name on them. We decided to go sans breakfast and purchase it on the train. So, the buses taking folks to us to the Denali train depot actually arrived early around 0710 hours and started loading up. The front desk area of the McKinley Chalet was zoo-like with lots of people congregating but everyone seemed to be on their best behavior. The little coffee bar in the lobby was humming like those little birds with spinning wings and was doing one heck of a business this morning selling coffee, muffins and scones. We wound up being the last two on the nus for the very short ride to the depot where our train was already patiently waiting. You are pre-assigned your particular car as well as seating assignment. Ours turned out to be the caboose which today was a car with the name of “Kobuk”. "Kobuk" is an Inupiaq Eskimo word meaning "big river." It is sometimes spelled "Kowak" or "Kowuk." The car in front of us was named "Chena" which in the Tanana Athabascan language Ch'eno', literally translates to “river of something (game).” This is a reference to the importance of the land surrounding the water and how beneficial this location is for large game hunting. These cars are all double-deckers with us passengers sitting on top, and the lower level reserved for dining, the restrooms, the kitchen/galley, a small lounge and an aft viewing platform. Our seats were 1C and 1D all the way up front by the bar. For our particular train, there would be six cars and one big locomotive pulling the parade. Our assigned crew for the Kobuk car was Julia from Alabama, our very energetic guide and an aspiring radio broadcaster at home during the winter, Sam from Ohio, our bartender, and Marco, from Croatia, as well as Genevieve, our restaurant waiters. Seating is comfy on the train, but they don’t recline manually. They appeared to have been pre-positioned at a slight reclining angle but not by much. Each passenger section has side-by-side seating for 88 guests (dining capacity is for 44 seats.) The top portion of the passenger section, except for a center strip with airliner-type lighting and speakers, is “all glass” for exceptional viewing of the exterior scenery. Each car has a covered outdoor viewing platform. There is no overhead luggage compartment because of the glass dome, a nice trade! Your carry-ons/hand luggage has to fit under your seats and, oh yeah, no internet on the train unfortunately! We pulled out of the Denali Depot at 0810 hours to start our trek south. The ride was a comfortable one while seated. Walking felt a bit like too many Wang Wangs due to the back and forth motion of the car, hence the warning by Julia to maintain a “three-point contact” (two feet and one hand) while walking during her safety brief. It didn’t take long to get used to. A bit after departing Denali Park, we passed though Broad Pass, the highest point on the Alaska Railroad at 2,363 feet. The train makes many stops on the way for various reasons; some are to allow another train going the opposite way on a single track; some are for provisions, others are for crew changeover, etc. Most, if not all, turned out to be for short duration. The first such stop was at Cantwell, AK. Right after the Cantwell stop, we were invited down for brekkie. If you are a party of two, you sit opposite someone you’ve probably never seen before with a table in between you. That was the case with us with a nice couple from Wisconsin. Breakfast was scrambled eggs, potatoes, Rudolf the reindeer sausage and toast. Tasty! So, as already stated, this would be a looong ride so what does one do? Well, you read, listen to music on your iPad, work on your travel blog on your laptop, look at the scenery, take a nap, listen to your very good guide tell you about Alaska, get up to stretch your legs and go downstairs where there is a commercial aircraft-type moving map letting you know where in Alaska the train is, you name it! It was a relatively comfy ride with just enough motion to realize you’re on a moving train and, of course, the scenery is intriguing. To be con't

Day 3 - 08/05/2023; Denali National Park (con't) Back at the Chalet, we both had a craving for, believe it or not, a sandwich from Subway, since we had seen a Subway Restaurant across the street. Took a little bit of an uphill hike but we made it for a tasty lunch of a six-inch turkey on multi-grain bread which hit the spot, thank you very much! The 3-month old pups, Raven and Chickadee, from the DogGoneIt Kennel in nearby Cantwell, AK were out at the Chalet once again inside their little pen, ready to be held. We love puppies! Our evening excursion was something called Black Diamond wagon adventure and dinner which left by black painted school bus from the Chalet at 6:15 PM. An approx. 15-minute ride took us to their property near the community of Healy where the option was an ATV ride of “follow the leader” (we did that in Puerto Vallarta once which was very cool, but we also got very dirty) so tonite we chose the other option which was to ride along with nine other pax in a pioneer-style covered wagon pulled by two very big draft horses, Rex and Turbo for our wagon. Our “teamster”, the person that “drove” the wagon and guided those two big boys was Sophia and our guide Isabella, who hailed from Oxford, England. We learned that there are lots of European college students here in Alaska for the summer season from countries like Croatia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Poland, etc. There were two other wagons in our group and our destination, after an approx. 50-minute ride, was a rustic pavilion at Dry Creek riverbed where we had a family-style/home-cooked dinner of macaroni salad, potato salad, pasta salad, coleslaw, corn on the cob, vegetarian chili, salmon, chicken, ribs, followed by a desert of a berry cake. After dinner, there was time to meet and pet the big horses, and/or take a pic with them Here's the kicker! On our particular wagon, there were three wagons in total for our group from the Chalet, was a retired police dispatcher from my former department, Chelly, along with her husband Steve, also a former city employee. So, counting my lovely wife, here are four retired employees from the same city in L.A. County, meeting up in Denali, Alaska! What are the chances of that happening? Too funny! Chelly and Steve arrived in Fairbanks on Friday, took the bus ride to Denali, will take the train to Whittier tomorrow with us, and will also embark Nieuw Amsterdam there to take her to Vancouver! Again, what are the chances? Upon our return to the McKinley Chalet around 9:00 PM., we got ready for our big day tomorrow which was the 8–9-hour train ride on the McKinley Explorer domed train to Whittier, Ak. So, tonight, we had to repack our three valises to have them ready to be placed outside our cabin at 0600 hours Sunday morning. They, and all the other Nieuw Amsterdam luggage then be collected and will make their own way south to Whittier in cargo trucks, to be delivered to our staterooms onboard. We will see you tomorrow (Sunday) for a report on that journey!

Day 3 - 08/05/2023; Denali National Park Saturday morning for us started with a 0600 (Maria) and 0700 (moi) alarm clock to get ready for breakfast at the Canyon Steakhouse with a 0800 reservation. Reservations were recommended by our waiter last night and it was good advice since the place was hopping! We were whisked to our table for two right away were Maria ordered eggs, toast, yoghurt with berries, and I had oatmeal with yoghurt. We then got ready for our 0910 hours Tundra Wilderness tour which would take us into Denali National Park and Preserve proper. We met our driver/guide Chris who took roll while 51 of us boarded his Blue Bird bus. We would be with Chris for a total of almost five and a half hours. Waiting on our, and everyone else’s seat, was a snack pack containing a bag of cheese curls, a bag of trail mix, a jerky stick, a bag of brownie brittle and a nutrition bar. The word "Denali" means "the high one" in the native Athabaskan language and refers to Mount McKinley itself. The mountain was named after U.S. President William McKinley in 1897 by local prospector William A. Dickey, even though McKinley had absolutely no connection with the region. The name, however, is only used by those outside of the State of Alaska. How did the National Park get its name? Sheep! Charles Alexander Sheldon took an interest in the Dall sheep native to the region and became concerned that human encroachment might threaten the species. After his 1907-1908 visit, he petitioned the people of Alaska as well as Congress to create a preserve for the sheep.). The park was established as Mount McKinley National Park on 26 February 1917. However, only a portion of Mount McKinley (not even including the summit) was within the original park boundary. The park was designated an international biosphere reserve in 1976. A separate Denali National Monument was proclaimed by President Jimmy Carter on December 1, 1978. Mount McKinley National Park and Denali National Monument were incorporated and established into Denali National Park and Preserve by the Alaska National Interests Lands Conservation Act of 2 December 1980. At that time, the Alaska Board of Geographic Names changed the name of the mountain back to "Denali," even though the U.S. Board of Geographic Names maintains "McKinley". Alaskans tend to use "Denali" and rely on context to distinguish between the park and the mountain. The size of the national park is over 6 million acres! Chris was soon off (the bus came with seat belts because it’s federal law that they shall be worn on all federal property!) chugging down the George Parks Highway aka Alaska State Highway 3, until turning down Park Road and past the Denali Visitor Center where we disembarked yesterday. Today, we kept on going until the road changed from paved to a hardened dirt road with permafrost underneath. The only traffic you really see on that road are tour buses like ours, park service transit buses dropping off, as well as picking up, hikers at the various trails, and park services vehicles. Oh yeah, on the way back, we saw one person on a bicycle peddling away. Gotta admire that guy! We made a quick stop at the end of the bridge crossing the Savage River where there is a park ranger checkpoint that keeps track of all vehicles traveling on from that point. A female ranger named Tina came onboard and, after welcoming us, gave a short speech about the park and their number one rule “Leave no Trace.” Our first wildlife spotting was a huge bull moose about 75-100 yards away doing his own thing up an embankment. Further down our trek, we were able to see caribou, dahl sheep, arctic ground squirrels (almost hit one, but he got away), and willow ptarmigan. Unfortunately, no grizzly bear and no bald eagles today. The appropriately named Park Road that services the park is 91-miles long and runs from the George Parks Highway to the mining camp of Kantishna. It runs east to west, north of and roughly parallel to the Alaska Range. Only a small fraction of the road is paved because permafrost and the freeze-thaw cycle create an enormous cost for maintaining the road. Only the first 15 miles of the road are available to private vehicles, and beyond this point visitors must access the interior of the park through concessionary buses of the type we found ourselves on. We did get a great look today at Mount Denali (Mount McKinley until 2016) which is most definitely not a given on this tour since the mountain and its peak is often covered in clouds. Just an awesome sight! About half-way down Park Road, there was a restroom stop which had an overlook down a valley. Our trek then continued westbound past places in the park with names like Sanctuary, Igloo, Sable Pass, Polychrome Pass until we got to a place called Toklat, where we made a U-turn and retraced our route. A stop at the same restroom stop and we once again reached the park ranger checkpoint. The entire trip in the park lasted about three and a half hours! Definitely worth it in our opinion, especially if you’ve never been to Denali! This was our second trip here but on the first one, we never saw then Mount McKinley, unlike this one. To be con't

Goeie avond Ineke I liked it - the Polenta - on the aircraft, just never heard of it before! I don't remember "griesmeel" at all while growing up in Holland! Did they make pudding out of it?

So, Delta Zero Lima 😉 I'm not the sharpest pencil in the box, so it was all very confusing to me! Now, the average five-year old would have no probs deciphering it like you just did, except faster! 😛 The bus from Fairbanks to Denali used a similar code; Delta Zero Lima Zero One

Bingo! In addition to the captain's dinner inside the PG when you're hosting a table

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