Denali!

Was up at 5:45 this morning to catch our 7am shuttle to the train station. The train pulled out at 8:15 and we had to be there an hour prior. It’s a good thing the hotel was only about 5 miles from the station. Bob found Cari’s first set of cards (Alaska Railroad) in the gift shop. I’m sure there will be plenty more.

Meeting other travelers is always an exciting part of vacation for me.  Despite being complete strangers there is that common bond of sharing similar experiences, swapping stories of what you both have planned and done. It didn’t take long to start talking to fellow passengers and hear their experiences. Just having a camera in your hand is an easy opening for conversation. Thirty minutes into shooting off the viewing deck of our car and we were friends for the day.

It was drizzling when we boarded and the during the beginning of the trip. The sky was gray and covered with low hanging clouds. Still the scenery was beautiful. The further north we got, though, the more blue sky peeked through. Imagine our delight when we actually spotted Mount McKinley! I’m hoping this was only the beginning of lucky happenings throughout our trip. Only 30% of travelers to the park get to actually see Mount McKinley. The mountain stands over 20,000 feet into the sky and most of the time is covered in clouds. I heard someone say it hadn’t made an appearance in the last 10-11 days. Wow!!! And not only did we see it, there was a beautiful blue sky as the backdrop!

We checked into the Princess Wilderness Lodge (Denali) and had a couple of hours to explore before going to dinner at the King Salmon restaurant. We picked up a deck of Mt. McKinley cards and a beautiful pair of handmade glass earrings for Cari and a sweatshirt for me that has a photo of the Mountain with a “30% club” stamp on it. After a browsing some of the other tourist trap shops it was time for our “6:21” reservation – how’s that for being precise? We both decided on the Salmon Salad for dinner. It had spinach, tomatoes, egg, red onion and goat cheese topped with King Salmon and a vinaigrette dressing – it was delicious! Our server suggested a local Shiraz to compliment our choice and we loved it! We were so sad to learn you can’t buy it anywhere else – it really is a local thing. Blueberry ice cream made with local blueberries was the perfect ending to a perfect dinner!

Denali Princess Lodge – A beautiful lodge with lots of amenities, but the rooms (at least ours) left a little to be desired. It was ok, just sparse. No closet space, no dressers, no drawers, nowhere to put anything. So we lived out of our suitcases for a couple of days. Oh and no wifi in the room. We had to go to the lodge for internet. Which isn’t a big deal except I wanted to upload some of my pictures to Facebook. Not gonna happen tonight.

 It’s 9:30pm and while the sun is going down it’s still light outside. Bob’s been out for probably 20 minutes already. I’m thankful he isn’t snoring yet. I’ve looked through my 200+ photos taken today. They’re whittled down to about 170 after the first cut. I’m actually very happy with the results considering the circumstances – shooting from a moving train among more than a dozen others trying, just like you, to get that perfect shot.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be just as beautiful and Mount McKinley will grace us with its appearance for another day. Tomorrow is our Wilderness Tundra bus tour. It should be a good time of year to see lots of different animals too … crossing my fingers.

And we're off!!!

Our morning started early at 4:15am. We left the house at 5:00am for the airport. After checking our bags and going through security we grabbed a bagel sandwich for breakfast. Our first leg left for Miami at 7:30 and it went off without a hitch.  Once we got to Miami the next two legs were first class. Bob and I were really looking forward to that.  We left Miami right on time and had a 2-1/2 hr flight to Dallas. After topping off my phone and Nook batteries, the Bennigan’s Tavern looked mighty inviting for a cold, foamy, adult beverage. The flight from Dallas to Anchorage was a long 6-1/2 hr flight but it was much more bearable in big, soft, cushy seats. It’s been a long day but we’re checked in and ready for bed. I’m sitting here watching The Weather Channel to find out what’s going on back home with Irene. But that’s it for tonight. Turning out the light …

… tomorrow we take the train to Denali!

Vacation Prep

We were scheduled to leave Friday morning from Norfolk to Miami to Dallas to Anchorage. Ya gotta love those free miles. God forbid should you be able to schedule a more direct path. Anyway, I happened to have the weather channel on Sunday afternoon and happened to hear about this hurricane that could possibly be heading towards Miami - yup, Thursday to Friday time frame. Of course there were many factors driving the path of what would soon be named "Irene." On Monday it looked as if she would be right over top of Miami Friday morning, so Bob called American Airlines to see what the protocol is for changing flights in these kinds of cases. Basically he was told to wait and see. A day or so out is when they post travel advisories and at that point you can change your flight(s) without any additional charges.

So we waited - and we watched. Sure enough, Irene's path shifted and her speed increased. By Wednesday guess where she was predicted to go? Right over top of us over the weekend. Oh boy. Isn't life grand? It looked like we'd be fine getting out of town Friday morning, thank God. But now in addition to preparing for a two plus week vacation, we had to do some hurricane preparation. All the furniture and plants had to come off of the deck, the bird feeders and bird bath had to come down and in general everything that could be blown around needed to be put into the garage.

Leaving our home knowing bad weather was approaching was a very weird feeling. I've lived in Hampton Roads my entire life and we've been through some hurricanes. We have never left in anticipation of one. Thankfully, we've never had one bad enough we felt we needed to leave. I guess it's human nature to stay and protect what's yours, ya know? Not sure how we think we have enough power to do that but still, it's just what we do. And now this time, we had to leave. All our friends, family and neighbors were telling us they wish they were going with us. Knowing we'd have to rely on their kindness to check on things around here was comforting and frustrating at the same time.

(Note: In the end it all worked out just fine. The storm damage in our area was minimal for most people and our house and yard (except for normal storm debris) fared well. Maybe we should leave home for every storm, huh?)

Kenny!! 8/4/11

Kenny

Farm Bureau Live – 8/4/11

Another Kenny concert bites the dust. I think last night was our 16^th or 17^th Kenny concert in nine years. And just think, he didn’t tour last year! After about six hours of sleep I’m sitting here with bleary eyes trying to put some thoughts together from last night. Can you believe it – Bob went to Kenny AGAIN? Cari and Matt drove down Wednesday night, so it was the four of us. And actually since the yewts got there when the gates opened, we had pretty good lawn seats.

Bob and I were dragging our feet (plus we really didn’t need to see Uncle Kracker again) and got to our seats in time to hear Uncle Kracker’s last couple of songs. Billy Currington took the stage at 7:45 and did his thing. Billy’s always good. Bob doesn’t like him, but we do.  And for an early August evening, the weater was wonderful. It was humid (imagine that!) but the temperature was around 80 and there was an awesome breeze blowing! It could’ve been so much worse.

The lights went down promptly at 9:00pm and Kenny’s music started. He likes to get the crowd pumped up and on their feet before he makes his appearance.  Um, that’s never a problem. He opened with “Live A Little” and by the end of the first song part of his shirt was a darker blue where he was already starting to sweat. By half way through the show it was completely soaked. Of course he told us he’d missed us, and that it wasn’t summer without coming to Virginia Beach last year, etc. I know he tells every audience that kind of stuff but when he says it in your own home town you want to believe you really are that special. LOL

Kenny always has a high-energy show but this one seemed a little more mellow than most we’ve gone to. He did quite a few slower ballads than I remember in the past. Of course we love them and it doesn’t dampen our enthusiasm at all. Most fans remain standing throughout the entire concert, singing their hearts out even through an acoustic ballad. Kenny is Kenny and we love him no matter what he’s singing. We felt very special when he decided to do “Old Blue Chair,” telling us he just couldn’t come to Virginia Beach and not play that song. He looked happy to be back on stage and interacting with his fans again.

I asked Bob as we were walking back to the car if he was glad he came. He said, “Of course I am! I like Kenny!” The man actually stood through a lot of the concert and even applauded with the rest of us at the end of the songs! You don’t understand, that’s very unusual for Bob. It was awesome to see him enjoying Kenny. Cari and I have wanted to be able to share that experience with him for many years now. The next step will be to get him to a show from the second or third row.

Set List:

Live a Little

Reality

Summertime

Beer in Mexico

Woman With You

Big Star

I Go Back

NSNSNP

Anything But Mine

There Goes My Life

Old Blue Chair

Living in Fast Forward

Young

Somewhere With You

Don’t Happen Twice

Everybody Wanna Go To Heaven

Never Wanted Nothing More

Out Last Night

You and Tequila

When The Sun Goes Down

Tractor

Boys of Fall

…. Til next time ….