I was up early and had coffee cake and coffee at
6:30 in the lounge. Outside was very foggy but did lift a
little so that I was able to wander around and take pictures of
the mountains in the mist reflecting in the calm waters of Idaho
Inlet. IT was so beautiful. We had breakfast with a couple from
Tennessee who used to live in Orlando and a couple from
Asheville. I had the caramelized French Toast with bacon and
potatoes. Once again the French Toast was very thick which
means the batter doesn't soak all the way in. In the morning we
went out with Kate on a skiff. We did a wildlife tour finding
otters, dolphins, eagles, a deer, a sandpiper and some water
fowl. When we came back had 4 minutes t get to dinner which was
a Tostada which we had with a beer. which was probably well
worth it. The entire crew seemed to work incredibly hard for
their pay. i've never encountered a harder working group of
people. We went out for our forest meander at 2:15. Our guide
was Arianna and it was an incredibly great walk through some
forests that didn't have trails. How beautiful! Arianna
identified moss and berries as well as old growth forest wood
and fernss. What a great experience. We ran out of gas on the
way back in our rubber boat which they called a zodiac.
Switching over to the aux tank fixed the situation. once back
the polar plunge was going on. I ordered a Martini then
switched to Sauvignon blanc before having a Zinfandel with
dinner which was a Sockeye Salmon. Dinner was chocolate pie
which was yummy of course. They showed slide show of our weeks
activities then we watched whales on the deck. The whales were
our last hurrah for the sea. Libbie and I went up to the bridge
to see the boat being driven which was a treat. Shep spent some time explaining
the radar navigation and triangulation system and the VHF transponders where
each ship displays it's position, name, speed and other pertinent info. It's an
amazing system and is probably the same as used on airplanes.
We never got our galley tour. It was scheduled for 2 and we had a 2:15 forest
walk. We waited around the galley until 2:10 but then left to get our rain pants
and boots on for the walk.

Everything is pushed back today due to our timing at the far end of Glacier Bay
National Park. We have a 24 hour permit that starts at midnight. We picked up
a ranger that we picked up onboard at the Visitors Center at the Park entrance.
We then sailed 65 miles to the Glacier end of Glacier Bay and woke early in the
morning at John Hopkins Glacier where we stayed until 8 AM. I was up at 5:50
and walked around the boat at 6:15 enjoying the glacier. There was coffee and
croissants available at 6. We enjoyed the glacier and all the ice floes. There
was loud roars of white thunder but it was coming from glaciers behind John
Hopkins. I saw a small calving and timed the sound at 8 seconds which indicates
it was about 8,000 feet away. We had a wonderful breakfast of bacon and
hotcakes with berries at 8 AM. We sat with four other people from the ship
including the 2 guys from Asheville and a couple from
A little later we had a talk about glaciers and the area from the Park Ranger.
Outside the scenic was the classic Alaskan scenics. I took hundreds of photos
and videos and actually ran the battery down. I had to put it on the charger
before lunch so I could photograph our journey as we exited the park which I
assume will be later today.

We had lunch of a Salmon crab cake accompanied by a glass of
Cabernet. Daniel the bartender said the Cabernet tap was out so
I had the Cabernet out of a bottle. Each wine tap is fed by a
keg which holds approximately a pony keg size wine barrel. I'm
not sure what a pony keg is. Our lunchmates were Dottie and the
87 year old guy from Waco, TX and a couple from Phoenix. The
Phoenix couple said they booked through their travel agent. I
was surprised to hear people still use travel agents. Lunch was
the Salmon Crab cake on a bed of Caesar salad. Strawberry
shortcake for dessert. After lunch my battery was fully charged
so I dropped it back in just as we were passing Fairweather
Peak, one of the prettiest mountain ranges in the Park and also
the highest peak in the park. Next a brown bear was walking
along the shore on the port side of the boat. We watched him for
quite a while. This animal was huge. I shot some movies and a
number of stills which did quite well surprisingly at 30x zoom.

We listened to Captain Shep talk about other uncruise adventures
and all about the Uncruise loyalty program. Annie covered
tomorrow's activities which will include forest meandering,
skiff tours and independent paddles. During the afternoon
Ranger Daniel gave a bird talk. We passed Marble island but we
were going too fast. There were thousands of birds on the island
but i thought we were going too fast to really see anything
which is too bad. We had the cocktail hour food which was
ceviche and salmon chunks. Yummy. i had two mixed drinks, an
Alaskan Coffee and a Martini before switching to wine for
dinner. many glasses of Merlot later and dinner was done. We
had Alaskan halibut with a salad and berry tort for dessert.
Libbie got a chocolate cake we all shared that had a candle in
it. They sang a group happy Birthday which was pretty nice.

The boat was able to find dock space which they said they are not always able
to do. We went ashore and visited the Glacier Bay visitors center then took a
short walk in the woods along an interpretive trail. We talked with a park law
enforcement officer who was outfitted with a bullet proof vest and gun. Our
conversation was about needing the vest. He said he was required to wear it.
The officer was from Washington State.

The girls on our ship are pretty strong woman and all beautiful. We watched
Heather put on a hard hat and start working the boom to fetch the gangplank. On
the front of the boat I did a movie of Lindsey pulling in the rope that tied us
up while Heather unhooked us on shore then jumped onto the boat grabbing a
hanging buoy. She was wearing a swimming life preserver. These ladies all seem
to be beautiful and quite capable of handling things. We watched a beautiful
sunset from the sun deck while the boat was delayed searching for the couple
from 308 who did not check back in on the magnetic board. It was about 9:30
before we got underway. I lay in bed catching up on my journaling until about
11 PM. We both noticed a choppiness to the ride that we had not experienced
before in addition to the occasional rolls of swells and wakes from cruise
ships. I peeked outside and did see a rather large wake so a cruise ship
probably did pass by.

I went down to the lounge at 6:47 and picked up a coffee and a very tasty
vanilla bean scone with powdered sugar. I accompanied this with some huge
blackberries.
While sipping coffee and organizing some notes on my tablet the sun came out.
It was a beautiful blue sky with mountains rising surrounded by rings of fog or
low hanging clouds. The boat continued moving into the icy straits and alas
during breakfast we moved under a deck of clouds. Breakfast was a tasty
Italian sausage and egg scramble with spinach and onions. This was served with
toast and potatoes as well as a side of bacon. We had breakfast with Dottie and
Don from Waco, TX and Anne Cain. Paul was outside taking pictures.
It was a lazy morning. The program was cruising for critters as we made our way
through Icy Strait. We saw many many sea otters while the sun kept playing hide
and seek. It was nice to see the sun and blue sky. We passed a cabin at the
water's edge that looked like it had an outhouse. It's pretty remote. I spent
some time sitting at a table in the lounge while writing on my computer. We
also did some people watching, seeing a group of 4 young girls in their early
twenties playing a game that involved 4 plastic pistols and some cardboard
cutout characters. They later switched to a card game that Libbie said was
Rummy.
Just before lunch I grabbed an Alaskan Ale at the bar and went down to lunch
with Anne and Paul. Rick and Linda from Asheville joined us. I need to look
up their vacation rental company which is called "couch surfing". Dinner was a
tomato basil soup and ham and cheese Focaccia sandwich with Alaskan Chips.
Spice pear cake with caramel sauce was the dessert. The sandwich was too big and
the dessert was more food than I should have had. We checked out the skiff tour
assignments and once again my name was not on the list. Annie checked her
spreadsheet and found that my name was a reference instead of a named cell which
was why it wasn't printing. The water where we are stopped during lunch is an
emerald green and very pretty. Libbie got the best shot of the vacation at this
spot.
After lunch we went out in a skiff tour. We were in the tiny rubber raft with
no seats, just the rubber raft to sit on with some ropes to hold onto. It
started out calm and sunny but soon the rains began. This was topped off by us
heading out into the open sea with large swells which caused our raft to bounce
and joust across the water, it wasn't very comfortable. I didn't enjoy too
much of the trip although it was nice to see the hidden cove we sailed into and
then visit the island with all the seals laying about and once in a while
fighting each other. It was so nice to get back. We went down to the lounge
where Libbie ordered a buttered rum and I had an Alaskan coffee. Samantha our
ponytailed blonde bartender is incredibly pretty and personable. After the
Alaskan coffee I had a few glasses of Sauvignon Blanc before switching to a
Sonoma Zinfandel. All were very nice. Dinner was a carrot ginger soup followed
by an Alaskan Ling crab served over sweet potato, bok choy and brussel sprouts.
Desert was a chocolate mousse with a chocolate sauce and a vanilla cookie. Wow.
We watched a presentation about bears which I slept through part way. I need to
find a way to stop sleeping through the evening programs.

I took a walk around the boat anchored in the beautiful Keku Islands area. The
rain is on and off and surprisingly there is a weak cell phone signal. Libbie
got a number of text messages. All is well in Providence according to Mary and
Joe texted back that Christa and "sister" are still doing well. No baby yet.
Breakfast was with a couple from Asheville and a couple from Flagstaff. I had
the open face egg and tomato on an English Muffin with potatoes and bacon.
Earlier at 6:30 AM I had coffee and an Apricot bread in the lounge while I
caught up on my blog. I enjoy the lithesome tall figure of Samantha, the blonde
bartender. She was attending to the continental breakfast buffet set up in the
lounge.
I went out on the shore walk with Sarah. She gave the talk last night with the
subject being the critters in the tide pools. She was great at finding all the
little guys on the shore that we talked about last night. We had a couple of
kids that were really curious and found lot of the critters first. I found
that Sarah was a teacher and this was her break time. She has been with
Uncruise one year. She is really good. We came back in a pouring rain. The
lunxh was perfect. It was a hot bowl of vegetable and kale soup. We liked the
food so well that we ended up buying the Uncruise cookbook from the ships store.
We went out with the skiff tour at 2:15 instead of the kayak tour. We had
Lindsey, a very capable and pretty blonde. It's amazing how many beautiful
young adventurous woman there are on these boats. We had a nice excursion but
only saw some eagles and a seal plus a few other birds. On the way back we went
into a driving wind and got unbelievably soaked. Salty water was spraying over
the boat and a times we got hit by large waves that totally soaked us. By the
time we reached the Endeavour we were saturated with dripping salt water and
cold. We went to the lounge for hot chocolate and peppermint schnapps. Earlier
in the day I had an Alaskan Coffee. This time i ordered a gin martini from
Samantha followed by a couple of glasses of Cabernet. I had 2 more glasses of
Cabernet with dinner. This evening we had Alaskan Dungeness crab. They brought
us out some extra crab which was nice of them. It turned into a social meal.
We spent much more time at the table than normal cracking crab claws. For
dessert we had an orange pound cake with raspberry ad cream sauce. The talk
tonight was by Lindsey and was about Salmon. I fell asleep part way through the
talk. The boat is going through some rough seas as I write this after dinner.
They warned us about this saying that we were gong with the wind which was
strong but contributing to swells on the water. The boat is pitching to and
fro but it isn't anything too bad.

I woke at 6:10 AM and chose to skip yoga which started at 6:45. I didn't feel
like laying on the cold ground and twisting my body around. Maybe tomorrow will
be different. I went to the lounge and had coffee and a blueberry muffin. When
Libbie came back fro Yoha it was time for breakfast. I ordered a tomato, basil
and Mozzarella Omelet which came with potatoes and bacon. At 10:45 it was time
for Kayak 101. We suited up and got into kayaks on the back on the boat. They
launch 4 at a time. I got into the front of one and Libbie had the steering in
the back. They said that over 6 foot one tall you can't really fit in the back
and control the steering pedals. We seemed to get going OK but then Libbie
lost the pedal with her right foot so we were behind the group. This was OK
since we ended up getting a private lesson from Kate which was great. She's an
enthusiastic young lady. We paddled to shore and saw some star fish and coral
then headed back to the boat. It seemed short but we learned a little about
kayaking. Annie said we all graduated. I doubt it but I feel much better about
it and feel I can manage on my own easily. We had lunch with the two guys from
Asheville who don't seem to be very smart. They said they returned a Go Pro
Camera because it came with too many cables and they were faced with installing
drivers and software. All of it was too much. For lunch we had Tacos Carnitas.
I had a hot sauce and a seasonal Alaskan summer ale beer. It was great.
Dessert was a cupcake with whipped topping and a strawberry. Very nice but way
too much. We barely finished lunch before we had to go out for our shore walk.
it turned out we never did the shore walk and went out amongst the humpback
whales instead. Heather was our captain, a very shapely and pretty twenty
something who had several years in the service including an assignment in
Fayetteville. She said Raleigh was the big city when she was in service in
2006. On the whale watch we had 3 or 4 humpbacks surface next to the boar and
dive under us. We could almost reach out and touch the tails as they dove.
What a sight. They also were pretty loud as they did their blow out of water on
the exhale. Wow! I hope I got good photos. We never did do the shore walk.
This was so much more spectacular.
We went down to cocktail hour and had a glass of Cabernet along with some
Bruschetta. The bruschetta had mozzarella, tomatoes, olives and French bread
toasted. Our entertainment was the young Heather outside with a pipe guiding
the chain into the hold while they pulled the anchor up. She is a very capable
young woman with muscles.
At dinner we sat with Prudy and her grand daughter Elizabeth Ann, a nine year
old in the 4th grade. The Cains joined us. Dinner was seared scallops with
green beans over polenta. We had several bottles of Malbec on the table.
Dessert was unpronounceable, a policetta??? which was a tapioca or vanilla mold
on a plate with fresh peaches. It was quite good.
After dinner we enjoyed a presentation by Sarah of tidal pools and intra tidal
areas of the coastline. Topics covered were the various crustaceans such as the
mussels and then the starfish that eat mussels to keep them in heck. Acorn
barnacles and their reproductive habits. I especially liked her description of
the reproductive appendage and how it's used. There are kids in the audience so
the topic was family friendly. Other critters covered were hermit crabs and the
adornment credit, a crab that decorates it's shell with bits and pieces of rock
and coral that it finds. I'm impressed in general with how knowledgeable the
staff is.

At 6:30 AM we
went to the lounge where they had set up a continental breakfast
of yogurt, cereal, fruit and sweets. I grabbed a coffee and a cheese danish
then went outside to the rear of the third level.

At the end of our level where they set out a protective mat on
the floor. We grabbed a blue yoga mat and a blue block object
and found a spot on the floor. Tomorrow I may do this earlier to
make sure we have a better spot. i have never done yoga before.
Our leader started us at 6:45 with some shaking then we
stretched overhead and right and left followed by a sequence of
arm and leg movements on the floor. I think the whole time was
worthwhile. I felt alert and awake. I'm not sure if it is really necessary or
not. Breakfast was next at 7:30. We sat with two guys from Raleigh. At the
table were Anne, the two guys and Libbie and I. Paul did not make it to
breakfast, I had a ham and egg omelet with bacon and some hash browns. It was
quite good. During breakfast the ship stopped. We had reached Dawson Glacier
in Endicott Arm. Later in the morning we donned life jackets and boarded a
skiff. John, a mate, lent me some neoprene gloves and I bought an uncruise knit
hat. I also borrowed a rain coat from uncruise, wore my rain pants and a tee
shirt under a flannel shirt. I was dressed quite warmly for the ride.

The ride on the skiff was cold and interesting as our captain
drove around several icebergs with his 90 hp Yamaha pontoon
boat. The glacier was a pretty shade of blue. They say it makes
it's own weather and it was true. It was windy and cold. I
first thought I heard thunder but later I found that it was the
ice calving. It cracks with a roar when it hits the water and
explodes. Ice shrapnel is thrown into the air and huge wakes
are created. We were only allowed to be 1/4 mile from the
glacier. The glacier itself is 1 mile wide. There is a delay.
The ice falls and hits the water followed by the crack of
thunder a second or two later. We saw a whole wall of ie
collapse and drop into the water with a loud roar. It was
pretty awesome. When we were out there we had hot chocolate
with peppermint schnapps. Outstanding!!!! What an environment
to have this concoction. Nnxt the skiff started rolling in the
ensuing wake. This was the awesome power of nature. We sat
down for lunch when we came back and had a chicken salad on a
pita along with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc. The wines are on
taps - Melbec, Cabernet, Merlot, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc.
Dessert was warm peaches and raspberry crumble with vanilla ice cream.

We then went outside to watch the boat approach Fords Terror
which is a white water rapids caused by rapid changes of the
tide. There was a bald eagle perched on top of a pine tree
watching us. A few people were on the beach next to Fords
Terror. They were from small skiffs which came off a smaller
boat than the Safari Endeavor. I received a pair of boots,
size 12, on the upper deck. These will be used for shore hiking
in tide pools. Cocktail hour is at 5:30 every day. I went down early and
ordered a martini which was my second this year. I really liked it.
We saw an incredible number of humpback and orca
whales in a little bay we pulled into. It was pretty spectacular,
there were easily 20 whales putting on a show. One even
breached and went vertical launching himself into the air. So
cool. All this activity took place shortly after dinner. We
discovered the sun deck which is on the 4th floor. It was
pretty empty and a great place to take whale photos. Dinner
tonight was 50-50 cod and duck, both of which were delicious.
Dessert was cheesecake with blackberries. Wow. We had dinner
with a couple from indiana who owned a used semi truck business.
Also at our table were Paul and Anne. After dinner I stayed in the lounge for
the evening talk about some Alaskan lore. I may have dozed partly through the
talk.

Up on a rainy juneau morning. We watched our ship dock at 6:10 AM from our
waterfront window then got dressed and walked to the Sandpiper Cafe for
breakfast. it was pricey - 17.99 for Libbie's eggs and bacon. i had the
Vanilla and cinnamon French toast which was excellent. however, the sourdough
was cut so thick the batter didn't soak all the way through. Coffee was another
$3 each so it was expensive. We walked back in the pouring rain then stopped
into the civic center where the Uncruise people were set up to take our luggage
and feed us some snacks and coffee. We brought our suitcases over there then
went with Paul and Anne to the Alaska State Museum which was outstanding. i saw
lots of Alaskan history and artifacts as well as some art which i thoroughly
enjoyed. Once done with the museum we went back to the civic center where we
hung out waiting for the orientation. We received our badges then went as one
to the boat where we met in the lounge and had champagne and cheese and
crackers. Dinner was an outstanding King Salmon and asparagus paired with a
Sauvignon Blanc which was age in Oak and had a stronger bouquet than a normal
Sauvignon Blanc. Dessert was a chocolate grenache in raspberry. Wow, talk about
a good meal. We settled into the lounge afterward for coffee and chocolates
before going to our cabin. While in the lounge we saw a brief slide show of the
coming weeks activities. I stopped in the ships library and picked up a book
which was the complete poems of Robert Service. I'll look for that book on
either Amazon or eBay. Need to photograph the cover.

We used our voucher and had a very nice made to order breakfast with both of us
facing the lake. i ordered ham and cheese omelet and english muffin. We got on
the bus promptly at 10 nd went to the airport where we waited some more. I
found the Robert Steve book in the bookstore which I purchased. This has the
poems Wde was reading to us on the journey. The plane ride was smooth and on
time except for the last few miles into Juneau where we had high winds and the
plane rocked. We ordered the northwest Deli package on the plane which was
cheese, salami, crackers and trail mix. Our limo driver gave us a little
downtown tour after which we walked to the Red Dog Saloon for food and drinks
while a country singer played his guitar and sang. Libbie and i split an order
of fried fish and had an Amber. We walked downtown juneau concentrating on
stores with native art, not chinese crap. We went back downtown with Lyn and
Linda, Anne and Paul and us and had dinner at Tracy's Crab shack. I had the
Alaskan King crab which came with a roll and also had an Alaskan Amber. We
walked back in the rain and stopped into the Red Dog for another Alaskan Amber
before going to the hotel for the night. We're in the Gold Belt hotel on the
harbor. We lucked out and got a beautiful view of the water.

We had a leisurely morning with the usual buffet breakfast at around 8.

On FB this morning i sadly learned that Jimmy Musnicki had died.

We got going on the bus about 9:30 and went to the Alaska
Heritage Center in Anchorage for a few hours. I enjoyed the
crafts people and the native costumes of the Alaskan Natives.
Lib and I sat in the front row and watched young people perform
Alaskan Native dances before I went for a walk in the rain
around the lake which was set up with typical Alaskan native
living quarters across various regions of Alaska. We took a
group photo in front of the sculpture in front of the facility.
Our bus next went into downtown Anchorage where we had lunch at
the 49th state brewing company. I ordered a bread bowl of
chowder which came with a salad. Accompanying the chowder we
had a glass of Alaskan Amber. What a lunch. We were dropped in
front of the Egan building and headed straight for JC Penny and
found the optical center on the third floor. The very nice lady
put a missing screw into Libbie's glasses and crimped the end.
She was friendly and did not charge for the service. After
Penneys we found North Face and bought rain pants for me but
they didn't have any for Libbie. A trip around the corner to
Rays Outfitters resulted in a pair of rain pants for Libbie as
well. She was the one who wanted them in the first place. We
got to the Lakefront Inn near the airport and pigged out on the
WiFi which was excellent. I got to post a few glacier pictures
and the Talkeetna general store pics. A surprising number of
people knew about the cat who was elected mayor according to the
comments on Facebook.

We had an appetizer of Salmon mousse and Nachos in the bar which
we called dinner. We had an Alaskan Amber to accompany the
meal. It was very noisy. Mary and Alan from Great Britain
joined us. It was a nice evening in a very noisy bar fo

Woke early and gave Libbie her birthday card. After a nice breakfast buffet we
went for a hike in the woods behind cabin 8. This was a challenging hike even
though it was supposed to be moderate. Libbie was having much difficulty on the
steep sections. We ended up turning around at the stream we had to cross by
holding onto a rope which is too bad. The rest of the group said it's a good
thing we turned around because there was a steep vertical section that required
a rope to climb. After the hiking we came back wet and muddy. We got soap and
some quarters and used the sole washer and dryer in the basement of the main
building. This takes care of any potential problem of running out of clothes.

The weather cleared a little in the afternoon which means the
helicopter flight was a go. We got suited up with hat, gloves
and over boots then climbed into the chopper. Libbie had the
front seat since it was her birthday. What an experience. the
views were awesome. We landed on a cold snowy and foggy dog
camp. The wind was blowing and the dogs were howling. They had
a sled all set to go across the ice. We got some instructions
then climbed aboard and we were off at 9 mph. I drove first and
was a little worried about falling off the runner since I had
one foot on the runner and the other on the brake ready to step
on it. After we changed places a few times we made it back to
Dog camp and then met each of the dogs individually. I'm not
into dogs but it was a fun experience anyway. The fog lifted a
little when it was time for the chopper to pick us up. We got a
nice sight seeing tour around and over the glacier on the way
back instead of just transportation. It was wonderful. We got
back and then went out onto the little porch next to the restaurant and had wine
and good conversation. The wine was covered by uncruise which was a nice
surprise. I had a delicious piece of Salmon for dinner followed by NY
Cheesecake. The wine total for the night was 3 glasses of Cabernet. It was a
nice day and fun birthday for Libbie.

Early pack up this morning. We had our suitcases out for pickup at 5:15 then
went over for a 5:30 buffet breakfast. Breakfast was the usual cheesy eggs with
bacon. We got into the roadhouse bus and started the 95 mile trek back to the
park entrance. it was still raining as Kirsty drove and told us her story. She
used to drive race horses around then decided to stay in the US as an illegal
immigrant for 7 years before making it legal. She gave some hilarious tales of
her and her sister driving Roadhouse buses up from the factory in Georgia to
Alaska. They camped on the buses as they traveled. At one time they
accidentally ended up on the Las Vegas strip in the Roadhouse bus. We gor to
the train station in time for the arrival of the train which we boarded into the
dome cars once again. This time we had a noisy and obnoxious cruise tour in
front of us. The scenery on the trip was awesome in spite of the low
intelligence level of the morons occupying the front section of the car. our
train narrator told many personal stories. My favorite was his prom date. He
lived in a trailer and had a rusty old pick up truck. However, he had his own
plane and a pilots license. He took his date up to Denali, had a picnic lunch
and asked her to be his girlfriend. She refused and only wanted to be friends.
The same with a kiss goodnight at her door. It wasn't going to happen. We had
a nice lunch on the train. We satA with Ron and his wife. Ron is a doctor at
Hoag in New port Beach.I ordered the Alaskan Seafood salad which had crab, cod
and shrimp over noodles in a sesame and ginger sauce. It was reminiscent of a
trader Joe's Thai salad I like. We got off around 4 in Takaneeta, a cute
authentic Alaskan town. We walked with Paul and Ann, bought a beer at the
General Store and walked all the way to the river. We walked back and had
dinner at the Denali Twisted Creek restaurant and Brewery. I ordered an Alaskan
fish sandwich which came with curly fries. This was accompanied by a Sockeye
Red beer which is one of their amber offerings. After dinner we boarded a
comfortable motor coach and went to Anchorage where we went to the Knit River
Lodge at the end of a road. It was quite luxurious for a rustic Alaskan lodge
and is quite new.

We had the buffet breakfast in the lodge at 7:30. We got the time wrong and
thought it was 7 so we went down and had coffee instead and waited. It was the
traditional American breakfast - eggs, bacon, hash browns and yummy. After
breakfast we had signed up for a moderate hike with a botanist. Ananda was a
twenty something who went beyond our expectations. She stopped and identified
every single plant and shrub along the way, it was totally enjoyable. We ate
from the plentiful blueberry bushes, cranberries, etc We saw miniature azaleas,
miniature dogwood, miniature birch and other plant species including the bear
favorite, the soap berry. This is a small bush with edible but soapy
tasting red berries. We had a turkey wrap box lunch on the river before turning
around and going back the way we came. It started raining on the return trip,
sometimes it rained pretty hard but the walk was totally worth it. Door to door
was 7 hours time although we only covered 5 miles on the trail. Our van ride
back was an unexpected wildlife treat. we saw one moose along side the lake on
the other side and then a moose next to the road with his whole head in the
water. Ananda told us what he was eating in the water but I didn't remember
the name of the plant. That night we had a family style dinner. I chose the
Cod which was a little dry but fine. At the beginning of our hike Libbie lost
the screw to her glasses which meant the lens fell out. She was one eyed the
entire hike. At the clubhouse we found a guy, John, who was traveling with his
grandsons. His wife was an optometrist. He temporarily fixed her glasses with
a paper clip and needle nose pliers. We hope they stay together. We had an
evening presentation by Chris of wolves in the park. This young man is
passionate about wolves. I fell asleep through part of the presentation. it
was dry.

Early morning wake up and had our bags outside the door at 6:00
AM. They picked up our bags for Denali while we went to the
lobby to get coffee. The bus left for the rail depot at 7:15
where we boarded the train for our ride to Denali. We sat in
row 21 behind a very nice couple from the UK who had a daughter
in Houston. Their names were Alan and Mary. We had breakfast
with them in the dining car downstairs. I ordered the Blueberry
pancakes with reindeer sausage. The breakfast was incredibly
good. We lucked out because we were in the back of the train and
the back went first. I also enjoyed the outside platform on the
back of the train. What a neat experience. We rolled into the
Denali park entrance then loaded up into a bus that looked like
a school bus. Our bus driver named Kirsti was incredibly self sufficient and
multi talented. I am convinced there is nothing she can't do. It was very
rainy and at times incredibly foggy. The highlight of the trip besides the
incredible views was seeing a Mother Grizzly bear and her 2 cubs. Once at the
Roadhouse i was blown away by how nice it was. This is written up as "rustic"
but it certainly is not rustic. Every bit of it is luxurious. After checking in
we each ordered an Alaskan Amber which ended up being 2 Alaskan Ambers. Dinner was Sausage manicotti with a salad and peanut butter pie. It was an incredible day followed by a wonderful meal and a nice people.

We had the hotel buffet which was a nice breakfast for $30. Met
a couple there who were starting a Road Scholar program at this
hotel. Good to hear that Road Scholar chooses this place to
stay. When went to the lobby to try the internet i saw Anne and
Paul just getting t there. They left Raleigh before us and were
just getting in. Long night for them. We used the hotel
shuttle at $5 each and went to downtown where we got a walking
map and MP3 player. We took a fun walk in the rain listening
about historic buio;dong. While downtown we had lunch at Big
Bobs BBQ which was outstanding. It was featured on diners,
dives and drive ins on the food channel. We had our orientation
at 3, the wine and cheese reception at 6:30 and then walked to
the Chena Salmon Grill where we waited for a table. Libbie and
i split a planked salmon which was over the top excellent. This
was the best salmon i ever had. Dinner was done at 9:30 and it
was surprising that it is still light out.

Last minute packing this morning gathering things for Alaska. We left for the airport at 3:30
and easily checked in and got through TSA to our plane gate. The plane left Raleigh on time. We lucked
out in that there was no person sitting between us for the 6 hour flight to Seattle. I really liked Alaskan Air. The plane had very nice chargers at each seat. The fight was more or less smooth.
it was n easy transfer with little waiting in Seattle to board our flight for Fairbanks. We had a pretty
High School girl in our row flying back from a reunion in Utah. She lives in Fairbanks and shared wit us
stories of the white nights. We were amazed at the 4 hours of sunset and when we landed at midnight it was still
light out. I like the 24 hours of daylight. WE eventually got to our hotel at 1 AM.

I did some packing for Alaska today. It's pretty hard pulling together clothes for possible cold weather for 18 mornings. There is a possibility of doing laundry in Juneau when we are on our own so we can wash clothes for the next 3 days before we fly home. I put together a DHT-22 temperature sensor Anarduino but did not load code into the thing yet. This will be my base to experiment with an MQTT gateway as well as accommodate the one device I can't easily change which is the ceiling fan Moteino.
Dinner was spaghetti with fresh basil and cheese. We went to dance tonight and had fun. It was a light turnout. I tried the new parallel walk in Rumba that we learned Monday night, even did it once with Lana. She is expecting a new grandson about the same time that Christa is due. After dance we went out to Taza which is at the corner of Davis and High House. This was a good choice, it's a quiet upscale restaurant. I told Libbie I may consider coming here for dinner some night.

Drove to Grainger this morning and picked up the new controller at WillCall. Capital Blvd had a problem Southbound with a water main break so after I picked up the controller at Grainger I went North to I-540 and came home 540 to I-495 to the beltline. This was a pretty good way to get back from Grainger. The road is wide, new and empty and the speed limit 70. After lunch I put the new controller into the furnace. This went well and it works OK. I threw the old controller away since today was garbage day and I don't need more junk hanging around. For dinner we had hamburgers again with tomato, onion and baked beans. The frozen Sirloin burgers are pretty good, we both enjoy them.

The A/C had problems today downstairs. I went under the house and found out the vent stack blower was turning on and off. Even with the blower power unplugged, the relay continued to chatter. I was worried that the igniter was also doing this so I didn't leave it powered up for too long. There were new controllers online for around $90 and also in stock at Grainger for $179 plus tax. Libbie didn't want to leave with no air flow downstairs so I opted to spend the extra $100 and ordered it from Grainger for will call pickup tomorrow. I spent quite a bit of the day studying how to implement a moteino to MQTT gateway. I found a nice one on instructables that uses back to back arduinos. I'll substitute a Moteino for one of the arduinos. This looks do-able. Dinner tonight was hamburger again with tomato, onion and baked beans. We finished another bottle of Rodney Strong Cabernet with dinner. For dessert we went over to Brewsters and had a waffle cone.

I worked on preparing a First Class database update today but did not upload the password file since it needs encrypting on an Android device before uploading. Will get to that tomorrow. Libbie went to REI today to do an exchange while I went at the same time to Prince Produce to get peaches. I noticed on my way there that there are sidewalks all the way so a bicycle would be an option in the future. I tied the tomatoes today and did some weeding but got tired pretty fast as well as soaking wet from the high humidity. Dinner tonight was a hamburger with onion and tomato and a side of baked beans with maple bacon.

I went over to Great Clips at 9. They weren't really set up yet. Obviously I was the first clip of the day. I didn't like how much hair got down my back and basically covering me all over. I came home and took a shower then went to Home Depot to pick up some electrical parts to build an outlet strip. I got an outlet strip with 14 gauge wire then cut the plastic strip off in order to add a quad outlet in a metal junction box. After picking up Libbie I came home and worked on the outlets completing the junction box and installing it. This allows the horizontal air flow to activate when the foundation wall fan comes on. Let's see how this works. We left at 6 PM for Mr Wonderful at the Roadhouse. I got the time wrong, thinking he started at 8 when he really started at 7. David of Arthur Murray studio gave the evening dance lesson. We learned a parallel turn in Rhumba then during the break we learned some steps for the rock and sway including stepping forward and back as well as a promenade into a turn for the lady. I hope I can remember the steps for the future. For dinner at the Roadhouse we split a Salmon BLT with slaw washed down with 1 1/2 Yuenglings. We left soon after the break at 9 PM. Libbie was tired from getting up early to fly home this morning and i was tired for reasons unknown.

I slept until the alarm went off at 6 which is unusual. I grabbed a basket of clothes from the hamper and took it to the washing machine. While i was down there I watered all the violets on wells. The wells were down but there was still water in each one.
I hooked up the Netgear 16 port switch in the closet and switched everything over. Unfortunately the Phillips hub seemed to lose it's setting as did the Smartthings control of the porch tree. I scanned for new devices with Alexa while the background light was on. This did the trick. I'm not going to be happy if the thing keeps losing it's brains when the power glitches. I went over to Prince produce stand to get peaches and tomatoes then stopped at Walmart to get shoelaces. I found laces in brown that were made for hiking boots. They are not the tan they're replacing but they will do. Dinner was hamburger, tomato slice, onion slice and baked beans.

I set up the IR emitters on the TV and DVR and then recorded some of the Sony amplifier IR signals. In preparation I bought some parts and built a short outlet box which plugs into the outlet strip behind the TC. I'm using this to power the NCID display, the Philips Strip light and the IR bridge as well as the IR repeater. I built it in a nice metal junction box with 4 outlets and a short but heavy cord. Dinner tonight was a pizza almost from scratch. I used a Kroger premade crust then coated it with pizza sauce, pizza cheese and a slice of Vidalia along with 2 peppers from the garden. Pepper production is slowing in the garden. I need to get out there and tie the tomatoes up.

Took the chain saw and the cart to the driveway and cut up and removed the tree which had fallen across the driveway. When this was all done I came in and did some reading about controlling Hue light colors using Openhab and Alexa. Later in the afternoon I went to Walmart looking for Sawyers mosquito repellent but didn't find any. I also needed shoe laces but forgot to pick them up. My Adafruit RTC clock needs a watch batter, CR1220 12mm diameter battery. Walmart doesn't have that size. Will check on Walgreens. I got cleaned up at 5 and left at 6 for the Roadhouse in Pittsboro. I joined Nancy & Art, Terry & Harry and Anne & Paul for a very nice time. My "date" for the evening was Mary who came alone. I did quite a bit of dancing and enjoyed the evening. I didn't get home until 11:20 PM. A fun evening. My dinner tonight was fried flounder sandwich with slaw.

I went into the wiring closet and mounted the philips hub on the wall. I also hooked up the Moteino foundation fan controller. It's initially set for 8 minutes on every 120 minute period. I don't know if that's enough. I'm not circulating the air under the house. I have to do a wiring change to get that going. The 8 port switch is full. I found a 16 port switch on Newegg and ordered it. I paid the extra $3 rush charge and got a Fedex delivery date of saturday. This is perfect since it will allow me to further organize the wiring closet. I played around little with the IR software after finding the huzzah would not do the job die to lack of a timer. The old IR Kit device should fill the bill nicely. It has IR emitters and a WiFi chip for internet connectivity. The web based client software will run on Traviata since it is only static html pages sending raw IR commands. Dinner tonight was a box of Bo's chicken. I had 2 of the 3 pieces with dirty rice and iced tea. I put the leftover piece in the refrigerator.

Libbie changed her Thursday return trip to next Monday since her Mom and Dad need her at the nursing home. They are going to transfer Mary into a nursing room which means her Dad will have to move to a single room. Major changes are in store for them. I got the rest of the jpg pictures finished for the convention DVD. I sure missed Marjorie's pictures. I used what Paula took which was hard since she took pictures of every design, red ribbons and all. I slogged through it and got it done. When Anne gets the script completed. Dinner tonight was a Kroger frozen hamburger on a bun with ketchup. This was part of the fourth of July purchase where I purchased what they had left in the case.