Live from Alaska - July 6th-July 20th!

[WalleyeLJ]

Hey All,

 

Reporting live from Alaska, I am...EXHAUSTED ALREADY!!!

 

 

:D

 

For those that were following my Photo Countdown to 7/13 (when we leave for our cruise portion of our trip on Radiance of the Seas), welcome back! I’ll be finishing up that thread here/starting the new thread. To everyone else, welcome for the first time! This “live” version will be the lite/shorter version of a full review I’ll write when we get home. I’ll try to post daily but may not be able to depending on time, internet connection, and if I’ve fallen asleep in my salad that night…

 

A quick outline. My wife Beverly & I are spending a week on the Kenai Peninsula, staying in Anchorage on arrival night, then heading to Homer for three days, a day trip to Soldotna on the way to Seward, three days in Seward, then departing on Radiance of the Seas southbound to Vancouver.

 

Day 1 Friday 7/6/12 – headed to Anchorage! We flew US Airways from Charlotte to Phoenix, then Phoenix to Anchorage. Both flights went well, each arriving early (whaoo!) which we needed, since our flight arrived in Anchorage at 11:58pm, also known as 3:58am in North Carolina. By the time we got bags, rental car, check in to the Embassy Suites in Anchorage and got to bed, it was 2am/6am. NOT the best way to start a trip to Alaska!

 

 

Anchorage Embassy Suites

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next day we headed for Homer...but that'll be a story for another day! Here's a sneak peek...

 

 

 

 

 

L.J.

[Keith1010]

Thanks for starting this thread.

 

Keith

[Assateague Island Princes]

Anticipation LJ! Keep it coming!:D

[Dawn1004]

Will be reading this thread eagerly! Loving all the Alaska threads at the moment.

 

Now what on earth is that animal? Is it a baby moose?

[mommybearx2]

Ok, so reading Cruise Critic has become an obsession. I LOVE this board. And thanks to all who post their experiences and opinions. I have learned so much. Enjoy your trip and anxious to hear more especially about the above picture.

[WalleyeLJ]

Anticipation LJ! Keep it coming!:D

 

Just got up and we're getting ready to head out on today's adventure. It's a grand adventure, the one Bev is most looking forward to - and that's something after yesterday's experience.

 

But it'll have to wait until we get back this afternoon...;)

 

Talk to you soon - live, from Homer Alaska!

 

L.J.

[WalleyeLJ]

Will be reading this thread eagerly! Loving all the Alaska threads at the moment.

 

Now what on earth is that animal? Is it a baby moose?

 

Ahhh - good guess. It IS a moose, but large or small will have to wait for the next update later today!

 

L.J.

[T-Rox!]

Cliff hangers ... better than soap operas! I love it. How are the temps? Better than 100 degrees, I bet!

[Assateague Island Princes]

Woo-hoo - if its Homer, it must be BEARS!!!:p Hope you and Bev get your fill of the bruins. Hurry back and don't leave a single detail out.

[Sam&Joe25th]

So jealous - my DW and I are taking round trip cruise to Alaska from Seattle on Sept 9th. We also live and are flying out of Charlotte, NC. small world!

I too am addicted to CC and will keep tabs on your trip and daydream all the while -- Only 57 days to go!

[poolwife]

Enjoying your review you just started even though I just got back from our 8 night independent land tour and 7 night cruise southbound. I also have a review I have started writing here on the board so I know how long it takes to insert pictures and all.

 

I spent two nights in Homer so I know how much you are enjoying it there. Sounds like you must be on the 14 day Amsterdam cruise. Sure wish they weren't stopping that one so I could go on it some time. There needs to be more variety of ports available rather than the typical.

 

Looking forward to your posts on the continuation of your journey. Thanks for writing.

[ladylawyer]

Yay! Good to have you back on the Alaska Board, where you belong! :D

[ladylawyer]

Woo-hoo - if its Homer, it must be BEARS!!!:p Hope you and Bev get your fill of the bruins. Hurry back and don't leave a single detail out.

 

I thought Homer was the place for Halibut! :rolleyes: (That picture is definitely NOT a halibut ... :p) LJ said "moose," but bear was my first guess, too. :o

[Assateague Island Princes]

Oh, I wasn't talking about the picture - I believe its a moose as well. I was talking about how mysterious LJ was being about the excursion Bev was most excited about. I think I had read earlier that they were taking 2 or 3 bear excursions out of Homer, so I'm pretty sure that I'm right about their excursion today. We'll see....if he ever returns....:rolleyes:

[poolwife]

Well, they are one hour early than California time so right now it is only 5:15 pm on Monday so they are probably just getting back from their excursion, then dinner, etc.

[Assateague Island Princes]

You're right Sherry, I'm just impatient;). And who knows how long their bear excursion is anyway? They could be there several more hours for all we know. They aren't on the Amsterdam, by the way, they're doing a DIY land tour first, then cruising southbound, I believe on the Radiance. Can't wait to hear all about their day and hopefully see some of LJ's great photos to boot! Fingers crossed!

[poolwife]

A. Island Princess:

 

Well, they must certainly be doing more "exciting" things than we did before our southbound cruise. We took it slower and kind of easy not rushing so much so we wouldn't get too exhausted. If you haven't seen it I have a review that is "In progress" called DIY Land tour of Kenai Peninsula and southbound cruise on the Millenium".

 

We saw lots of eagles and moose in the wild. We saw 3 bears in the wild on our Skagway day trip.

 

I am totally new at putting pictures up so they are all kinds of screwy sizes. I will try to save it to one size and it comes out a different one. So sorry about the size variations.

 

Unfortunately, I am getting a bit addicted to all of this.

 

Well, hopefully, Walley will update us all later.

[Linda the Book Lover]

L.J. and Bev, I can tell just by the fun start of this thread a good time will be had by the both of you! My guess for the picture a "wild animal" or a dog :D You didn't think I would give a serious answer did you?! Can't wait for the updates.

[deladypilot]

Waiting for more !!!!. My next Alaskan adventure is not until next year, so I can live vicariously through you.

[KruisinKath]

Real nice, L.J., I'm subscribed to your other thread and got your note to head on over here for your kinda-sorta-live from, and what greets me but a big a**! :eek:

 

LOL - Here's hopin' you don't fall asleep in your salad too much so we get a lot more good stuff! And don't forget, you have to take enough pictures to give me at least one a day til MY trip... :p

[erewhon]

Thanks for the beginning of this thread, and great photos.

[WalleyeLJ]

Hey All!

 

So much for daily updates :rolleyes:.

 

A side note:

 

Well, we have survived our first three big adventures. While normally I would say that lightly (and happily since I'm not the biggest fan of flying and we did it twice in the last 72 hours), we left Homer yesterday morning, and found out today that last night a float plane landing on Beluga Lake, about a mile from where we had been staying, crashed and flipped upside down. One woman was killed, and four received minor injuries. A sobering moment after having visions of such a thing happen on our two fly in excursions.

 

However, I have gotten ahead of myself. Let me starting trying to start to get caught up on our trip and the wonderful times we’ve had so far. Where was I? Ahhh, Saturday, 7/7/12 - Day 2 – the trip to Homer!

 

Well, after a short, fitful night or rest in Anchorage, we got up and started on our way to Homer. We had to weigh in by 3pm for our bear viewing trip to Katmai the next day, so there was no sleeping in/rest for the travel weary our first day in Alaska. It was grab some good strong coffee and hit the road!!! On our way out of Anchorage, we scanned the rocky cliffs above the Seward Highway along Turnagain Arm. Why look at cliffs while driving along here you ask??? GOOD question! It so happens that at a couple of places along this stretch of road you can see Dall Sheep if your lucky – which we were!

 

 

After that quick stop, we were on our way. While it was overcast, it was a beautiful drive down to Homer. The not so mystery photo I posted yesterday was that of a moose (picture below) that Bev saw while she was driving somewhere between Ninilchik and Anchor Point just north of Homer. Bev said my job was to find her a moose a day. I swear I was looking when she spotted it along the roadside – on my side of the car! I had been looking out my side forever, and the second I look out her side of the car – she sees it on my side! Oh well – I saw the sheep while I was driving, so I guess that fair.

 

 

After stopping to get a few shots of Ms. Moose, we made it to check in for the bear flight – about 40 minutes late. The good thing was, we called them ahead of time and they said we had some flexibility with the timing, so they didn’t boot us off the plane! After that we checked into our B&B, brought our 10,000 bags in, and headed back out to the Homer Spit for dinner, checked out a few shops, and headed back to get our stuff ready (and by stuff I mostly mean all my camera gear), and headed to bed!

 

Well, it's 11:40pm, and I think my body still thinks it's 3:40am, so I'm headed to bed. Weather has turned sour for the moment and our excursion with my parents into Kenai Fjords for tomorrow has been cancelled :(. On the other hand, I can finish downloading photos and hopefully get caught up!

 

 

L.J.

[T-Rox!]

Great to hear from you again. We leave tomorrow and I am so excited!! I'm taking my iPad, so I can keep up with you along the way.

[Linda the Book Lover]

can't make up my mind which I like better Ms. Moose or the goats --loved them both!

[WalleyeLJ]

Great to hear from you again. We leave tomorrow and I am so excited!! I'm taking my iPad, so I can keep up with you along the way.

 

Thanks Rox - travel safe and have a blast!

 

L.J.