Reality Check

Okay, that last entry contained a lot of complaints, which is sort of ridiculous since I've been on "holiday" all month. Plus, given the blogs I regularly read, I know life could be much, much worse. In an instant, you can lose everything, and that is something to complain about. So, I know I'm blessed and lucky, and I hope you all can see that I typically recognize that. I rant sometimes, but life is good, and I'm lucky. Just felt I had to throw that out there!

Alaska - Day 4

Tuesday, August 19, 2008:

We woke up at about 5 am this morning, as we had to have our luggage ready to go outside our door by 6 am. We went downstairs to eat, went back to the room to find our luggage already on its way, checked out, and boarded the bus that was to take us to the train to Denali. Everything was going smoothly until we ran into our bus mates. They had to be some of the most selfish people I've ever seen. We were supposed to leave our hotel by 7:15, but at that time, only three people were on the bus: me, Dad, and some random guy. The other people all came strolling out with their luggage bitching about the fact that they had to carry it. Well folks, if you would have read the simple instructions, your bags would have been on the truck! Then, they had the nerve to tell the bus driver that they were going to go eat breakfast! I have no idea why she didn't put her foot down at that point, but these people were total jackasses. Lest you think it was just me thinking this, Dad was also shocked by their behavior. Finally, after they stuffed their faces, they lumbered on board and we got on our way.

Two of the people were especially obnoxious, and Dad and I kept hoping they wouldn't be on our train car. They spoke loudly about inappropriate things, belched, bitched, complained, and asked questions incessantly. They didn't just ask the tour guide - they asked everyone. So, we get on our train car, and somehow out of 1500 people, they sit RIGHT BEHIND US. At this point, we were quite worried about the upcoming 8 hours. So much so that we actually both ordered a bloody mary. As most people know, I rarely drink, and Dad doesn't drink much either, but these guys were THAT bad.

They complained about the size of the seats, the lack of room for all their crap (they stowed stuff under several people's seats), the length of the journey, etc. The one guy was an absolute baby, whining about how he should never have come on the train, he didn't know how he was going to make it, etc. The other guy, the really crazy one, kept talking to everyone around him, asking them questions over and over, driving everyone around us nuts. Everyone was sort of smirking about it, but honestly, he was horribly annoying. He kept shouting questions at the poor guide in the front, and she couldn't hear him. That didn't stop him though, and he just kept repeating them over and over. Dad and I and others would finally answer him, and then before we could finish, he would ask more questions. He asked all the staff numerous times what the sandwich of the day was and how much it cost. When our drinks arrived, he kept saying, what are those, what are those. We answered, and he said how much did they cost. He was obsessed with food and prices. Non stop questions about that stuff. Also, he would randomly start filming things with his camcorder, and while he did so, he would narrate things super loudly. And often incorrectly. Oh, and he would tell everyone around him, including me, to duck down so he could take pictures. WTF dude - we are all going past the same scenery, and you will have the same view in 10 seconds. Patience. He also kept yelling, "is that McKinley? Is it? Do you know if it is? I can't see it. Which one is it? Is that McKinley?" On and on, over and over. Most of us kept saying, we are not sure - it's definitely one of the taller mountains, but we aren't positive. He just kept on asking, like we were the tour guides. The ultimate - he kept talking about how soon, the US would need to make a choice: war or live in Alaska, and also something about the Iranians wanting to send 1,000s of people to live in AK. He kept telling this to the guy across the aisle, and when that guy wouldn't answer, he would say, "did you hear me, or are you listening?" Finally, the poor guy said, "I don't know what you are talking about." This didn't really stop the man, and he kept muttering on. That's probably only half of the stuff he did - it was a nonstop barrage of oddness when he was around.

Now, at one point, it crossed my mind that he might be mentally handicapped, and then I felt bad for a brief second for not being more patient and kind, but I don't think he was. Instead, I think he has some sort of mental illness...I wish Sarah had been there to diagnose him. If he didn't have a mental illness, then he's just a seriously selfish, fucked up guy. He was seriously crazy, and everyone on the train seemed to experience him the same way. When I really sit here and think about it, I realize it was quite sad - if he has any clue, his life must suck. I can have some compassion for that - definitely sad. Annoying, but sad. His friend, the less talkative one, was actually worse in some ways though, as he was honestly the most negative person I've ever heard. And, he kept belching loudly behind me. Yuck!

Thankfully, the two of them spent most of the day in the dining car, which provided a great amount of relief to everyone around us. The train ride was much better without them near us. As it was, I had to use my iPod for part of the trip, and who knows if the battery would have lasted the full 8 hours! ;)

A bit about the train: It was called the McKinley Explorer, and it was huge. I think it was carrying about 1,500 people, which is probably half the size of a cruise ship. We sat in spacious, comfortable seats in the upper part of the car, and we went downstairs to eat and use the restrooms. We had a car manager, who acted as a tour guide, and a bartender, who served us beverages. He was the slowest, most forgetful bartender ever - we had to order diet cokes 4 times, and after waiting an hour, we had to ask the car manager for them - but at least we had beverages. We could eat both breakfast and lunch in the car, but since we had hotel breakfast, we just ate lunch. It was expensive, but pretty decent. The ride lasted an hour, and traversed some wonderfully beautiful scenery. Many of the pictures you will see have some glare or water spots - this is because I had to take the pics through the glass window.

Overall, the train was an interesting experience, and not one I'm sure I would repeat. First of all, most of the passengers were basically senior citizens. Both Dad and I are too young for that sort of trip. Further, it was a really LONG time to ride a train. I could have been in London from Mpls in that amount of time. Also, we couldn't just stop when we wanted to take pictures, and the glass caused glare. If we had driven, we could have taken some AMAZING shots of Mt. McKinley (aka Denali - which is the native word for the mountain). Instead, we sort of had to fight our way into window spots (we were on the wrong side of the train for that), and even then, our pics weren't great. It's hard to navigate people, train windows/bars, trees, and glass - all while moving no less. I would have liked the freedom to stop when I wanted, and I would have loved to not been around those people. Basically, I don't think that kind of organized, tour travel is for me, not even a little bit. Maybe when I'm 75, but not now for sure!

Positive things about the train: seats were comfortable, we didn't have to worry about driving, we could have bloody marys, we could zone out a bit, and our lunch mates. We wound up having lunch with a young lesbian couple, one of whom was a law student. What are the odds?! We danced around the gay subject, but I guessed they were gay right away, and after we exchanged many hints back and forth, it came out that they were on my team. Great women - smart, funny, and easy to talk to. That made lunch fun. Also, some of the scenery, including the Alaska Range and Denali itself, was absolutely stunning. For those that don't know, only 30% of all visitors to Denali actually see the mountain. Typically, the weather is bad, and the peaks are covered in clouds or fog. So, we were extremely lucky to see not only Denali, but the entire Alaska range. It was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen, and I feel so lucky we had a clear day! I wish my pictures could capture how majestic it is, but they just can't.

The other scenery was great too - more mountains, streams, forests, marshes, rivers, gulches, you name it. The train went over very high bridges and around mountain corners. All pretty neat. And as we approached Denali National Park, we kept climbing higher and the scenery became more and more beautiful.

Finally, we arrived at the Depot, and then it was sort of an organized chaos. All 1500 of us got off the train, and we all went to our respective buses which brought us to our hotels. We are staying at the McKinley Chalet Resort. Our itinerary classifies the accommodations as deluxe...my first thought upon seeing the room was, "what a crap hole!" The room is tiny, rustic, and has fricking horrifically old and ugly bedding. The walls are crazy thin, have some sort of crappy wallpaper, and are just plain old ugly. I could hear the wind rattling through our room, but it was hot in there. I opened the window, and there was no screen. Also, our heaters are wall units - we have to turn them on by hand. Basically, it's just a crappy northern MN cabin! Of course, there is no WiFi in the room - it's only in the lobby or the nice Chalet Lodge that we didn't get to stay in. This is what I get for letting someone else (a travel agent) make our accommodation plans. Saving grace for the room - it overlooks a beautiful river and some mountains. We can actually hear the river, and I saw some rafters heading down it. Great view to say the least.

Also, the whole place sort of has a carnival, touristy hellhole vibe to it. From my seat, I can see about 1 million gift shops across the street, and there isn't much around besides that. We aren't even in the park! We have to take a hotel shuttle that only comes every half hour, and that takes us to the park to catch the actual park shuttles. None of this was made clear to us, and we had to ask about everything. Oh, our luggage wasn't there when we arrived either, and every time you call the desk to ask about anything, you get put on hold for a LONG time. Dad was on hold for 10 minutes before he could even ask about our luggage. I wonder if this is what cruises are like - everyone being dropped off in some little craphole together, overrunning the place, and enjoying lackluster accommodations. If so, I have no interest in taking one. This sort of travel is just not for me - I'm not a sheep. I don't need to be herded around like this, and I want some independence (and a nice room).

Oh, the Holland America tour operators, or at least the guy we got, were not helpful either. He spelled our name wrong and refused to correct it, he didn't know anything about any of the tours we wanted, and he refused to find the information. Also, most of the things we wanted to do were booked. Our travel agent screwed up there - she should have told us we needed to book things in advance. Oh well.

As I write this, I realize I probably come off like a total complainer and perhaps a spoiled brat. "Suck it up, Lisa - the room can't be that bad, and you are in AK for God's sake." Right? Even I feel that a tiny bit. However, we spent a LOT of money on this trip and were promised certain things...those things are not being delivered, and it's disappointing. If I hadn't expected something grand, I wouldn't mind the place. It's just the overpromise/underdeliver phenomenon at work. Also, the poor customer service seems to continue here in AK (with the exception of a few folks), and that exacerbates the problem as well. Basically, I know I'm blessed to be on this trip, and I know I'm seeing and experiencing absolutely fantastic things...I just wish promises were being kept. I also wish we weren't doing all this organized stuff. We are too young for that!

Anyway, I clearly got off track above. After we found our room and figured out how to get to the park, we went over to the visitors' center and the wilderness access center and purchased our shuttle bus tickets for tomorrow. Single passenger vehicles can only drive 15 miles into the park, but the park road is approximately 90+ miles. So, if you want to see more of the park, you have to take one of the shuttle buses or a tour bus. The tour we wanted was sold out, but we bought tickets for an 8 hour shuttle ride that will take us pretty far into the park. We can get on and off and check out the sights, and it was really reasonably priced. In fact, we left feeling like it was probably a better deal than the tour we wanted in the first place. I'm looking forward to touring tomorrow, as I imagine it will be beautiful. It's a very different system than Yellowstone or any other national park I've visited, but I think it will work out well. I'm also looking forward to escaping this weird mini-cruise ship/train town. I came to AK for wilderness, not a tourist zoo! :)

Oh, to protect the wildlife in the park, they don't sell any food along the way. Thus, we have to buy bag lunches in the morning and bring them and water for all 8 hours. I imagine I will be thirsty when we are done, as that's a long time. We'll see. I like the idea of keeping the animals wild though - it saves their lives. I can suck it up and either carry extra water or go a bit thirsty. Small price to pay.

Speaking of food, it's VERY expensive here. Dad and I had dinner in one of the restaurants, and it was $50. Breakfast is similarly expensive, and the box lunches aren't cheap either. At that rate, we will blow through all of our money. It's nuts! Typically, prices increase as you travel northward, and from what I've read, the prices in Barrow will be absolutely nuts. I think gas is already $6 a gallon here. I've heard it's $10 in Barrow! Good thing we won't be driving!

Okay, it's getting late here, and I should walk back to my room before it gets dark. It's 10:20 pm and it's still quite light here - again, it's because we are farther north. The sun will barely set in Barrow. Should be neat. Weather was fantastic today - sunny, bright blue skies and nice and cool. Perfect. Like I said, we were super lucky - we are now members of the 30% club because of it!

Hope everyone is well, and I hope to bring you less complaint filled posts in the near future. I think travel weariness may have set in now, and that always makes everything worse and more dramatic. Thanks for letting me blow off that steam!

PS: Dad likes our hotel room just fine - he thinks the place is great actually. Either I am really crabby and just can't see that the place is okay, or I've become really spoiled by fantastic places. Or, I'm just disappointed from having higher expectations. I like the latter choice the best. ;)

PPS: I highly encourage anyone to come to AK - fantastically beautiful. It is just awe inspiring every day. My words or pictures can't capture it, and there's just so much of it. Breathtaking and overwhelming. Something for everyone, and the beauty seems endless. Come here if you can!

Alaska - Day 3

Monday, August 18, 2008:

I woke up at 7:45 today and after getting ready, we headed downstairs for another excellent breakfast. After we finished eating, we went down to Ship Creek to find salmon swimming upstream to spawn. Supposedly, thousands of salmon are currently on the move, and the bridges over Ship Creek are a great place to watch them. I think we saw 3. I had visions of the bears catching 100s of fish from National Geographic films, etc., and it was nothing like that (we were still in Anchorage, so I didn't expect actual bears, but you know what I mean). I really thought we would see hundreds of fish - I guess I'm naive or something.

We did see tons of fishermen, some of whom had salmon, but we didn't see many in the water at all. Perhaps they are already past that point in their journey, or perhaps they are completely overfished - there were tons of folks there. I felt sad for the salmon actually, as I'm sure they are exhausted (swimming upstream) and then when the fisherman would see them, they would cast over and over right at them, making them bite at the bait. It didn't really seem fair - not much sport to that. Along our drive, we stopped at another stream, again filled with fisherman, and the sign said that out of the 7000+ salmon who make the swim to spawn, most wind up on dinnerplates somewhere. Sad...maybe I shouldn't eat salmon so much! I guess their lives are better than those in the fish hatcheries though. I don't know what I think about this for now - salmon is a very healthy choice, and I like it, so hard to give up completely.

After our failed attempt at salmon viewing, we set off for the town of Girdwood and the Hotel Alyeska. Dad stayed at the hotel once for a conference, and he wanted to go check it out again. It's totally posh, and I think it would make for a great (but expensive!) honeymoon locale. The place is a booming ski resort in the winter, so they have a tram that takes people up to the top of the mountain. We rode that up, and walked around the top of the mountain, checking out the amazing views. We also watched some folks paragliding, which means they strapped a parachute to themselves (and strapped themselves to a guide) and then ran off the side of the mountain. It looked pretty amazing, and Dad even offered to pay for me if I wanted to go, but I just wasn't that interested. Jumping off the side of a mountain has never piqued my interest! I'm not even interested in skiing, so paragliding seemed insane. :)

After about an hour on top of the mountain, we rode the tram back down and decided to go back into Anchorage. We had to return the car by 5, and we were quite hungry. We had lunch at a place called the Snow Goose, another Lonely Planet mentioned place. We got to sit out on the upstairs patio which overlooks the ocean (and all the industrial crap located below - it is a port after all). Despite the excellent location, the experience wasn't all that great. The food was so-so, and the service was terrible. Bad service seems to be the norm here, which is too bad. Oh well. Dad did order one or their locally brewed beers, and it was good (I'm not sure he agrees though).

After lunch, we returned the car and walked over to the Great Alaska Experience theater to see a movie about the 1964 earthquake - Dad saw it when he was here over 20 years ago. If you don't know (and I didn't), the 1964 earthquake was the biggest earthquake in the northern hemisphere - ever. It measured at 8.6 on the Richter scale, which is just enormous. The power released was greater than that of 2,000 of the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima (I think the number was 2000). Its epicenter was near Valdez, and that town was demolished. Lots of other places were as well, and Anchorage suffered extreme damage. Some neighborhoods simply just dropped into the ocean. Some land dropped more than 10 feet, and other land rose that high as well. 115 Alaskans died, and it took years to recover from the damage. Simply mind boggling.

Anyway, the first video at the theatre was a 40 minute film on AK itself. It was shown in this tiny little omnitheater, and I swear, the film was made in the 1980s. It was old, fuzzy, sort of crackly, and the sound wasn't great either. Odd. The little theater room was tiny too! I enjoyed learning about AK though, and I got to see the Grizzlies catching the salmon (among other things). Unfortunately, the machine running the film was super loud, so that made it hard to hear at times.

The second video was short, only 10 minutes, and it was all about the earthquake itself. The chairs actually shook at times to depict what it felt like, but they made so much noise that I could barely hear the film. This film was probably made in the 70s, and its main narrator had some odd German accent (seemed almost fake). The room decor was also straight from the 70s - brown and ugly. Tiny little room. Pretty dang laughable really. It was like paying money to go to a fun house. A somewhat informational fun house, but still a fun house. I asked Dad if it was what he remembered, and he said not exactly. I appreciated learning about the earthquake and AK, but wow, it could have been so much better! No wonder my Lonely Planet didn't mention this as a can't miss activity. Too funny, honestly. I don't mean this offensively at all to my Dad - even he noted that the place could use some "updating."

After the video, we went back to the hotel, and we've been here chilling since then. Got to chat with Beth and Kristin some, and that was great. Dad and I are both really tired, and we have to be up by 5 am to catch our train to Denali National Park. I guess our luggage has to be outside our room by 6 am - sort of weird. I hope it arrives safely. I don't want a repeat of Jerusalem! Anyway, I think the train leaves at 8 or something, with our bus coming at 7:15. The train ride will take 8 hours, which I find insane, but Denali is well over 200 miles away, and I can't imagine that the train moves too quickly. I am looking forward to the journey, as it supposedly traverses some of the most beautiful scenery in America. I'm also looking forward to seeing Mt. McKinley, the highest mountain in North America. The pics I've seen are stunning. I hope we get a clear day to really see it. Hopefully we will spot more wild life there too, as we didn't see any today.

Speaking of clear days, the weather today was fantastic. Cool and sunny - really sunny. I know this is rare here, as people kept telling us to enjoy the sunshine. I'm happy we got a sunny day, as it made for beautiful pictures at Alyeska (which is a native word for Great Land by the way; I forgot to mention that earlier).

Another good day on vacation! Stay tuned for more - I hope we have internet in Denali too!

Alaska - Day 2

Sunday, August 17, 2008:

Pics up (obviously)!

Before I go into the details of the day, I should say that I decided I couldn't deal with not uploading pictures until I got home, so after our day today, Dad and I stopped at Walmart (again!) and I bought a usb card reader. A well spent $9 in my opinion! Thus, there will be pictures on these entries, and that makes me happy.

Today, Dad woke up and went to an early mass, and I got up and sat around the hotel for a bit. When he returned, we headed down to the hotel breakfast, and it was awesome! It had scrambled eggs, bacon, waffles, pastries, fruit, bread, bagels, cereal, you name it. I ate a ton, and then we were on our way to the town of Whittier, which is further south and east (I think it's a little east) on the Kenai Peninsula. On the way to Whittier, we drove along the Turnagain Arm, a long "arm" of ocean that flows into the state near Anchorage. Great scenery along the way, including two moose, a cow and her calf. First wildlife spotting - woot! I think moose were first in Grand Teton too. Weird.

Anyway, why Whittier you say? Because our glacier cruise left from that town! We had to be there by 12:15, but because we both worry about being late, we were there by 11:00 or so. This gave us lots of time to explore the little town, which was nice, as it's one of the most unique places I've ever been.

First, to get to the town, we had to drive in a 2.5 mile long tunnel...through a mountain! To make it even crazier, traffic goes only one way at a time, and cars share the tunnel with trains. Thus, there are actual scheduled times to go through the tunnel, and you drive on the train tracks as you go through. If a train comes, it gets to go first, so the schedule can vary. This morning, we went through the tunnel during the 10:30-10:45 period and made it through with no problems. Interestingly, the tunnel only opened to car traffic in the early 2000s. Before that, the town could only reached by train, boat, plane, or helicopter. Wild.

Second, Whittier itself is an odd place. It started as a military base after the Japanese attacked the Aleutian Islands during WWII. The government wanted a secret location that couldn't be easily detected, and they found it in Whittier. It is surrounded by mountains and constant cloud cover, but it has ice free port access, a necessity too. Basically, it was the perfect place to build a secret base. The military built a giant building, the Bunker building, which housed all 1000 servicemen. The building had a bowling alley, a theater, etc. After the 1964 earthquake, the military left Whittier and abandoned the Bunker building in the process. Someone purchased it and tried to renovate it, but it is filled with asbestos so nothing could be done. Now, it just sits there, abandoned, dilapidated, and sad. I guess water runs through it, and stalactites form on the ceiling from the limestone in the concrete. A waste of a huge building, but not much can be done.

Currently, Whittier is a totally tiny hole in the wall town that is basically completely insulated from the outside world. It honestly looks...crappy I guess. The water is beautiful, but the stuff on the shore is not. The town population varies from 100 to 300, depending on the season, and most residents live in one giant building together (in separate condo units). The sun literally doesn't shine from about November until May every year, and the residents use underground tunnels to go to school, etc. The police, fire station, and medical clinic are all in the giant building with the residents as well. Commercial fishing and tourism seem to be the primary methods of earning a living. Overall, Whittier really is best described as odd. Cool, but odd.

After exploring the town, we boarded our cruise ship, the Emerald Sea, to head out for 5 hours into the Prince William Sound to see glaciers. For some reason, the cruise was only half full, which made for an awesome trip. We started off, and first thing we were served the buffet lunch of prime rib, salmon, rice, salad, and bread. It was delicious! After that, Dad and I went up on the deck and stayed outside for most of the ride. It was cold and windy, but we did okay in our layers. A winter hat would have been helpful, but mine was sitting in my suitcase in the hotel room. Oh well - we survived.

The cruise was absolutely beautiful. We were in fjords the whole time, surrounded by the Chugach mountain range, and a Chugach National Forest Ranger provided information along the way. Many of the mountains were a lush green color, covered in trees/vegetation. Waterfalls ran down along the sides of the fjords everywhere, and they were beautiful. Other mountains were covered in snow and glaciers. The contrast made it feel like we were in the tropics one minute (except for the temperature) and the arctic the next. The pictures show this contrast as well. The water was extraordinarily calm and often looked glassy. As we approached the glaciers, we saw more and more floating ice - neat. I constantly wanted to shout, "iceberg, straight ahead!" but I refrained from doing so. Probably a good thing. :) Also, there was cold wind coming off the glaciers - like opening the freezer and putting your head by it.

Throughout the cruise, we saw TONS of birds and several sea otters. The sea otters were really neat, as they sort of just floated along on their backs, flopping their feet around and looking at us curiously. I guess they are quite shy, but the captain killed the boat engine and we just floated near them. You could see their faces decently well, and the ranger said that the ones with white faces are elderly otters. Cute little things. Also, the ranger said he saw a black bear at one point, but no one on board saw it. Who knows?

After spotting the otters, we arrived at the glaciers. The main two were the Blackstone and Beloit glaciers, and they actually ran down the mountain into the water. Each one was "calving," meaning that giant chunks of ice were falling into the water. Each glacier also made large cracking and popping sounds, which makes sense since they are huge and they are moving down the side of a mountain. At Beloit, an enormous piece of ice fell off, and it made a huge wave. We were 1/4 mile away (that's the safe distance), and the wave rocked our boat quite a bit. I guess if you get closer and a big piece falls off, the boat can be swamped or knocked over. Also at Beloit, a piece of ice from inside the glacier slid down and then shot out into the sea - these are called shooters. I can't really explain it, but if you saw it, you would get it.

Overall, the glaciers were quite amazing; breathtaking really. Dad and I just kept saying that it was awesome and that we were glad we had taken the trip. I know I always say this when I travel, but I really never have seen anything like them. It was like watching the National Geographic channel but live, in person, especially when the glacier calved.

After spending quite a bit of time floating by the two biggest glaciers, we started the trip back toward Whittier. We went back inside the boat for a while at that point, and got some hot chocolate. They also served the dessert buffet at this point, and it too was good. After warming up, we went back outside for some more pics. We stopped at a bird rookery, and I swear I've never seen so many birds in one place in my life. 1000s of them, all nesting and flying along the mountain wall. We also saw a shipwreck on the shore - I guess it's been there a long time. Finally, as we came into dock, we saw a sea lion chilling on one of the big pipes along the harbor. All in all, the cruise was a smashing success! If you are ever in AK, I highly recommend the company we used - Major Marine Tours.

We exited the boat and headed toward our car to get in line for the 7:00 tunnel time. The train was also leaving Whittier, so we had to wait a few extra minutes for it to clear the tunnel, but we were on our way fairly quickly. At about this point, something amazing happened - the sun came out! I guess Whittier doesn't get much sun in the summer either, so this was truly a treat (he also said that our cold, misty weather was actually great, as it's usually raining pretty hard, and raining sideways no less - awesome). We then got to return to Anchorage along the scenic Seward highway AND see
the sights in the sun. Gorgeous. We didn't stop to take any pictures, as traffic was nuts and it was getting late, but really, amazingly gorgeous.

The drive went smoothly, and then, as I said above, it was back to good ol' Walmart to remedy the lack of a camera cord. Then Subway, then hotel, where we've been since 9 PM AK time. It's now 11, and I'm going to bed. Exhausted from a long, but excellent day! So tired in fact, that I'm

going to upload the pics tonight - sorry peeps!

PS: Here's two random and awful ways people die in AK:

1. During low tide, they walk out onto the "sand" by the ocean, but the sand is actually silt from the ocean/glacier deposits. As people move around, they sink into the silt, which acts like quicksand and concrete. They eventually get stuck in it, and they drown when the high tide comes in. How awful - I can't get the image out of my head.
2. They walk out onto glaciers or get too close and are struck in the head by pieces of the glacier when it calves. Also not so good.

I'm sure there are tons of other odd ways, as AK itself is a bit odd, but those are the two I've heard of so far. :)