The Alaskans do love their flowers. Must have something to do with the short summers, the gray skies, and the white winters. But sandwiched between the monochromatic seasons is a festival of color. We witnessed the same phenomena in Skagway, Ketchikan, and Juneau, so it’s not a regional thing.
If you love bright colors and festive vegetation, you can do a lot worse than this place.
Filed under Photography, travel
Our cruise voyage finished where last year’s cruise began, in the port town of Seward. We bid farewell to our home
One of the most scenic highways in the world is the stretch between Seward and Anchorage — the magnificent Seward Highway. Along the way you can stop to see Portage Glacier (which we skipped this voyage, having seen it last year) and spectacular views of pristine meadows surrounded by white-topped mountains.
Also along the way is also the fun Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. Their mission? To protect Alaska’s wildlife, which come out in herds on Friday nights and roam the bars, saloons, and dance halls into the wee hours of Monday morning. Oh, wait. Wrong wildlife. What you will see there are American Bison, deer, black bears, bobcats, bald eagles, and other assorted (and sober) animals. Of course, you don’t have to go to a conservation center to see Alaskan wildlife. You could just wait until you hit the streets of Anchorage on the weekends.
Filed under Photography, travel
This blog article may seem familiar to you. That’s because we did something similar aboard Holland America’s MS Ryndam this past April, on our transatlantic voyage to the beaches of Normandie and beyond.
Holland America’s ships have an upscale restaurant that is well worth trying at least once every voyage. These dining rooms are called the Pinnacle Grill, and they are indeed worth the extra amount you’ll spend in them. But even more special is Le Cirque night in the Pinnacle Grill, and you’d better make reservations well in advance if you want to partake of this very special culinary treat.
At least once each voyage (and more on longer voyages), the Pinnacle Grill staff creates a special dinner using signature items from Sirio Maccioni‘s legendary Le Cirque restaurant founded in New York in 1974. Such a dinner is made even more delightful when it comes the evening following a full day of cruising Glacier Bay.
The captions below speak for the individual courses we had that enchanting, romantic evening. The waiter pictured with Ursula is an old friend—a friendly young chap who had served us many times before, during our numerous trips to the Pinnacle Grill aboard Holland America’s MS Prinsendam during a 54-day voyage back in March through May of 2010. Yes, he recognized us just as quickly as we did he.
Filed under Photography, travel, Wine & Food
Decisions — Murder in Paradise
Mystery novel available for Kindle
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The Globe — Murder in Luxury
Mystery novel available for Kindle
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R. Doug Wicker — Author 