Bikini & Boots

I finally figured out why I haven’t been able to write posts the past few months – I had been thinking of studying, and then the past month, finally set an exam date and started to study. Last weekend, I realized I am not scoring even close to what I want. SO….I now have a plan – whereas earlier I was plan-less. I am going to study not at breakneck speed as I was trying to the past month, but in a more organized fashion and take the exam in March.

Then what better way to Break Free from guilt than planning a trip to boundary waters and getting back to my blogging ways?….That was a rhetoric question. I know when I am back, I have my work cut out for me – and to be fair I am taking my laptop with me for the nights. But day time will be for Kayaking and Hiking. I have been warned by many of hypothermia but really, I want to scoff openly. I don’t, keeping in mind Minnessotan Nice – but I do chide gently – I have seen far worse winters in India and I very well know how to take care of myself. heck, I park my car out in the open just so I can feel the weather changing. I have recently also been getting pissed off at people who ride down the elevator grouchily – complaining about the cold weather. I really don’t know what they have to complain about. A – its not cold yet. B – The elevator takes them down the basement to the car, they drive in heated cars, and park cars in attached garages. And don’t get out of the house the rest of the evening. SO, when in the whole process, is Winter entering their lives, except notionally? But I want to leave my irritations back here so I can enjoy my Boundary Waters Trip.

The drive to Ely, Boundary Waters from Minneapolis is considered to be about 4 hrs. Leave at 3 pm Wed – get there by whenever – the cottage is booked for 3 nights. I am not a picture person but I have finally bought a camera. I just need to remember and not pull of an Alaska stunt where I forgot taking pictures, but carried the camera like a fool.

I am assuming there will be no internet in the Ely wilderness, so my next update will be once I am back ! Happy Thanksgiving ! In a wild moment of insanity, I almost bought a Tofu turkey and then thankfully did not. We will now be buying our turkey dinner in Ely. Drive Safely –

Well, finally onto my second day in Alaska. Plan – Chill out in Seward in the morning, drive back to Anchorage in the afternoon the drive is considered, for good reason, the scenic highway, and fly out to Juneau by the late evening flight. However, in reality, we really couldn’t stick with the plan well.

After a successful day of Scuba diving / hiking, our plan was to chill a bit for a day before our flight to Juneau. The plan was to spend time hiking again but in Juneau. Seward is a delightful little place, which still retains its character of a small “port” town. The wooden roads are replaced by old style single lane roads. Apparently, during the gold rush days, Seward (then more or less a huddle of houses) is where the ship would dock and dispense its passenger with their bundle of clothes. And these fortune hunters would then hike for weeks in a sort of a human train over mountains and passes, falling and dying in the process, till a straggling train would reach Yukon and beyond.

I probably have the story a little warbled but that is more or less the gist of it. Right now, Seward is a nice homegrown sort of town, where our Mobby Dick accommodation was charmingly toy like and opposite somebody’s house, which later turned out to be the theater cum coffee house. Nice place to get coffee and buy hand printed T-shirts with Alaskan Jellyfishes and Puffins (Alaskan bird) on them.

One sign I liked “No-Puffin” for a smoke free environment 🙂

One half of the small city’s coast is a designated RV park – a walk along the coast of Seward shows crowds of people fishing, chillin’ outside the RV, grillin’ and watching the numerous salmons jump out and splat back into the sea. One place we avoided was the Seward Sea Life Center – I am sure it’s a good cause to support, but I was in no mood to see the inside of a fish tank when the world outside was so much more beautiful.

To tell you the truth, the day was so beautiful that before we knew it, it was around noon. Time for us to get back in our car. On our way back to Anchorage, we kind of played it by the ear. There is only one road and it goes straight to Anchorage – Seward Hwy 1. We passed Bear Creek, Kenai Lake, Muscwa village, Moose Pass, all along the Seward Hwy. But then but we took little detours just out of curiosity. When we came to a crossroad where left meant we would go to Whittier – we took it. Saw an mini vacant port from where ships no doubt go for the 26 glacier tour to Prince Williams Sound. Saw Portage glacier from a distance (this is one of the glaciers that the human train would cross, and many would be unsuccessful), drove back and forth through some nice little tunnel overlooking Portage Lake and some “Arm”. An arm by the way is a water body, more or less between two hills or mountains. It’s a water filled U shaper valley.

Then when we finally got over gallivanting in Whittier area, we ran into some roadside “zoo” ?? Okay, it is actually a drive through Alaska Wildlife conservation Center. It is a small place designed in the classic 8 shaped loop. We could drive through and saw through the fenced area a variety of animals including caribou, bison, and bears. My first black and brown bears in Alaska. Not that I wanted to see them within a fence but it was okay.

Then we stopped at few other Turnagain Arm lakes/viewpoints, and saw people ohhing and aahing over some “whales” that they though they saw through binoculars. Turns out it’s a mid size silver fish that belongs to the whale family. And I am not sure if it was what the lady with the binocular claimed it was ! Anyway, my idea of seeing a whale is seeing something upclose. Seeing it through a binocular is almost worse than seeing it on TV ! The fishes appeared distant even through the binoculars !

Anyway, this whole area comes under the chugah National Park/forest and you drive through the Chugah mountains and turnagain pass, which is again very very scenic. Can cause delays 🙂

By the time we entered Anchorage city, we were running against time as we were close to missing our flight. We were the last people to board 🙂

One word of caution, the Anchorage airport has a Chillis right after security clearance and I think most people assume that’s the only eating joint plus the lone starbucks at the airport. And not surprisingly, there is a loooong wait and exhorbitant prices. If you walk the opposite direction from the main boarding area, you will come across a Bi Mac 🙂 which I discovered while irritably running for my flight, and accidentally running in the opposite direction ! They gave me my burger and fries within 5 minutes.

I have a few of pics here from Seward, as well as Karan’s hiking photos. My diving photos are still not with me. I will be back shortly with our day 3 in Alaska: Juneau and the East Glacier Hike near Mendenhall Glacier. And then Sitka and the hilariously hairy kayaking encounter. PHOTOS

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Alright ! I have bought my tickets. Also, anybody flying to India from the West coast should consider this Travel Agency: NOVA Travels.
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MANY REASONS:

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Why is Ft. Lauderdale so beautiful? I will tell you why - because its picture perfect. A nice posh city with a beautiful boardwalk and some really picturesque beaches. There are many things to be done in Ft. Lauderdale.

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