Sunday in Sitka

Pitching and rolling tonight. But I am TANKED UP on Dramamine. We had to buy more on the ship yesterday and in port today. Never mind about the acupressure bands. HA!

It has been quite a trip since my last post in Kotzebue. The flight to Anchorage Tuesday afternoon was a 3 Dramaminer; unfortunately I had only taken 2. I didn't get sick, but it wiped me out. Tuesday evening my friend Renner from law school picked us up for a personal tour of her new city. We saw the Museum of the North at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, which is on a hillside overlooking the city. Beautiful setting. Then to the Large Animal Research park to see musk ox and caribou. Then a walk around Pioneer Park before dark at 10:30. Wait 'til you see the pic of Alan riding a salmon.

Wednesday morning we caught the Alaska Railroad for Denali. Riding the train was fun, the first day. We got to the park and took a bus tour of this HUGE park. We pulled out at 3 pm and got back shortly after 11. We saw almost every form of wildlife in the park - moose, Dall sheep, grizzly bears, grey wolves - LOTS more. The geology of the area was fascinating and beautiful. I really enjoyed this day, although you wouldn't have known it by looking. I was so wiped out from Tuesdays travel that I could barely stay awake. Plus a 3-4 hr train ride and an 8+ hr bus ride, while spectacular, were hardly active. But about 10 pm we did see Denali, a gorgeous sunset on the mountain top peaking out above the clouds.

Thursday morning we took it easy, checked out the park visitor center and the beautiful Princess Wilderness lodge (insert photo of A&J w/flowers here). Good thing because our second train ride was a fiasco. We boarded about noon-thirty, and the afternoon was one spectacular view of Denali (Mt McKinley 20,320 ft) after another. Until the crossing at Willow about 5:30, where the train came to a screeching halt. Somehow, we will probably never know the details, a car hit our train and a woman was killed. We sat there 5 1/2 hours. Finally, when the authorities released the train, we inched forward about 3 miles to another road, where 20 tour buses met the train and took us the final 1.5 hrs to Anchorage. We got in after 2 a.m.

SHORT night. Friday we left at 6:45 a.m. from the depot in Anchorage for the final train trip, to Seward. We had booked the upgraded domed viewing car and again, spectacular views of Denali, rivers, canyons. It seemed my eyes were tired of looking at all the natural beauty.

We walked around Seward just a bit before embarking to our Holland America ship - the ms Ryndam. This is my first cruise, so just getting oriented to the ship and shipboard life has been interesting.

Saturday we cruised all day, with a stop by Hubbard Glacier in Yakutat Bay. Today we were in Sitka, (insert photo from National Historical Park here).

We are on the cruise with Wayne & Sarah's friends Jim & Cheryl Rawlings, who we met camping in July, and their friends Tommy & Dorothy. Tommy is hilarious. We are having a good time being together, getting to know them, and just relaxing together.