Not Just a Spectator Sport!

On Thursday, July 22nd I took Margo (my sister) to see the Mariners play the Boston Red Sox. Given the current (sorry) state of affairs of the M's we were just there to visit and hand-off a birthday present (Gerry's niece's husband had commissioned a snowman quilt and we were meeting him during the 4th inning to make the delivery).

We had just gotten back to our seats after the hand-off (and finished our "Dippin' Dots" treat!) when Milton Bradley came up to bat in the bottom of the 7th. He popped one up in the air and headed towards our seats. I was sure that someone...anyone...was going to get it. It was pretty much a "marshmallow" kind of hit and I watched it carefully as it seemed to be headed directly to me.

For a nanosecond I actually thought about putting my hand up (more for self-defense than anything else) but still figured that someone...anyone...would snatch it at the last second. Then I remembered...this was Safeco and the game not particularly well-attended. The possibility that someone...anyone...was going to jump up in front of me and get it was pretty slim.

So as it came in on final approach, I leaned ever-so-slightly to the left, towards Margo. The ball, still in really-slo-mo, appeared to go past. A guy from a few seats over began hurriedly, almost frantically looking for the ball. Under the seats, in the row behind, no ball to be found. Then he looked over at me, began reaching for my seat and I began to think "no way"...

...but yes! The ball had landed in my seat - I had in fact caught the foul ball (albeit with my derrierre but any catch will do!)

I think they might have won that game, or more likely lost that game that night. It doesn't really matter since I brought home the game ball!

~later, tw

Mutual of Omaha...

...got 'nuthin on the Weilers!

So after photo sorting, Dona and I retreated upstairs to my bedroom (or as we refer to it: Sweat Shop Central!) Dona was over by the windows ironing fabric and she says to me, hey, your bear is back.

So I run downstairs to the dining room window (where the bobcat had been just a few days before) to find Gentle Ben wandering in the backyard by the pond. It looked a lot like our visitor from a few years ago but MUCH BIGGER!

He nibbled on the bushes in the backyard and then headed along the side of the house to find the plum tree, which apparently was much more to his liking. I tiptoed out the front door to snap a few photos but I think we startled each other - I ran into the house and he ran down the driveway to escape each other.

The next afternoon he came back to the other side of the house and discovered our yardwaste/compost bin. No doubt so he wouldn't disturb Chris' sleep, he pulled the bin away from the house before tipping it over. He pulled out all the clippings that Gerry had put in the bin just that morning and dug down until he found the empty ice cream containers. Great! Just what we need - a bear with a sweet tooth!!!

~later, tw

Hello Kitty!

My sister (Dona) came down from Alaska to getting some sewing done, attend a family reunion of sorts and go thru large rubbermaid tubs of photos (our "inheritance" from our parents which I've been storing since 2004).

This project quickly took over my dining room as we opened up the bins, sorted thru photos and other memorabilia and shared stories and laughs. One late afternoon last week, I looked out the window on our backyard. I saw just the bit of stubby white tail as it went behind some bushes and thought maybe Chris had invited over one of his friends who has dogs. I was about to yell at him to make sure the dogs didn't tip over my precious container garden (why I try this each year is a mystery to both me and my hubby who usually winds up with watering duty!).

Just as I was about to yell, I saw the animal come back from behind the bushes. Not a dog... not a critter we see too often here before (although both Gerry & Chris swear they've seen it before), but certainly the largest bobcat I've ever seen that close up.

~later, tw

The Alaska State Bird

I am compelled to comment on the Alaska state bird. No, not the ptarmigan. The "other" state bird - the mosquito. Legendary in proportion according to both visitors and natives to the state, like the big mountain, we had not come across this beast. Of course I'd heard the stories from my sister, her family, and even Gerry from when he visited here in the '70s. I'd begun to think that perhaps they had gone the way of Denali and the other big mountains (17 of the 20 highest peaks in the US once were here in Alaska) and had relocated to Asia.

...until...

...last night that is. After a wonderful dinner with Dona and Roger and Beth and Matt (where we enjoyed our bottle of Opus One wine - the last such bottle ever on the Diamond Princess) Beth & Matt took us on a brief tour of the Anchorage highlights. We went out to a place near the airport - very near the airport - where we could watch the planes coming in directly overhead like something out of the opening sequence of "Hawaii 5-0." Judging by the number of cars and people here, this is quite the thing to do on a July evening in Anchorage.The sun had cleared the skies (though not the skies where we might see mountains).

After we watched a couple of 737's and then a deafening DC-9 (or maybe -10), we got back in the car to go back up the road to see Earthquake Park - to see where the 1964 earthquake had lowered a shelf of land some distance into the bay.

Well that was what we were supposed to be doing. The path way is lined with vegetation - apparently just the type of vegetation that moose like and it is not unusual to see moose here, I'm told (not unusual perhaps, but certainly a frightening thought!). So I'm on lookout for these moose to come popping out of the woods.

Until...the mosquitoes descend. They are everywhere. Fortunately we've taken up walking so we're trying to keep up a good pace (what? thinking we could outrun them?) but the word is apparently out - dinner is on the way - and every mosquito in Alaska is now upon us. Gerry, walking ahead of me (as usual) thinks he is immune, that mosquitoes don't like him. I'm too busy waving my arms like some demented helicopter to see, but I hear Beth say "ooh look - they like light colored clothing." And sure enough, I now see Gerry's khaki pants are COVERED with mosquitoes!

Now we are both frantically trying to keep from getting bitten. Gerry has taken to what Matt refers to as the "mosquito dance" (I only wish he had gotten a video instead!) We quickly now get to the point where we can look (although the darn things were now getting in my eyes and mouth) and say yeah, nice drop off, LET'S GO!

On the path back to the car, we go once more through the swarm. I'm now the one covered. I know it looks like Gerry has gone all "Mel Gibson" on me (cuffing me upside the head) but he was really just getting a mosquito off of my cheek. I should have gone "biblical" and turned the other cheek as that one actually completed the job of biting me. We race to the car thinking how are we going to jump in without bringing a bunch of them with us. Of course the answer is WE CAN'T - we're swatting them and opening windows to try to let them out as we drive back to the hotel. Flustered, we barely remember to retrieve our suitcases from the back of their car so we can finish repacking for our flight!

Having seen and experienced most all that Alaska has to offer (no damn mountains!) we are headed back this afternoon to the civilation of the lower 48. Can't wait to come back!

~later, tw

Princess Wilderness Lodges

This is our final stay this trip in a Princess Wilderness Lodge so I thought I give a bit of a review of the places/programs/etc. that we've encountered traveling via Princess thru the interior (or at least a small portion of it) of Alaska.

Princess has really done a great job of acquiring/leasing land and building their lodges. While they are all very similar and you feel immediately at home in each, there are of course some major differences:

• Copper River Lodge - the newest and smallest of the Princess Properties, this one is all contained (at least for now) in a single large building with ~130 rooms. The entire building is Wi-Fi with only a couple of computers available for guests (and naturally those were commandeered quickly by children satisfying their gaming fix).
• Denali Lodge - boasting over 650 rooms, the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge is the largest hotel in all of Alaska. It is spread out over several buildings, including various shops and the Music of Denali theatre (where they serve an amazingly delicious breakfast buffet in the morning in addition to their fun dinner/theatre at night). Wi-Fi is only available in the Main lodge or in the satellite lodges for the out-lying room. Denali is actually a "city" with a vintage Alaskan strip mall directly across the highway (use the darn cross walk at the only stoplight for hundreds of miles please!) with a single gas station (again, no price posted because you pay whatever they charge!)
• McKinleyLodge - clearly the oldest, this lodge is also arranged with several buildings. The Main Lodge contains the more formal dining area, a bar and of course registration and the tour desk. Both Denali and McKinley lodges have small shuttle buses (or in Denali trolleys) that you just flag down in order to get quickly from one place to another. Gerry & I did a great job of continuing the our walking program in Denali logging many more miles between places, but since it is pouring rain here in McKinley we are opting to stay a bit drier and shuttling back and forth.

One of the best parts, for me, of staying in these lodges is chatting up all the seasonal help. Where you find people from all different countries working on the cruise ships, here you find kids from all across the states - either because they enjoy coming to Alaska each summer (many have done this for several summers) or because they've got student loans to pay off. Last night's server (Matt) was originally from Wisconsin but is currently attending ASU in Arizona. This is his second summer here and he really thinks he's got the best of both worlds - he summers in Alaska and winters in Arizona!

I truly appreciate Princess' efforts - they made sure that in each of the lodges we've stayed we would have had an excellent view of any mountains, had there been any mountains to see. I'm leaving Alaska wondering how the heck did anyone ever discover "the High One"? Seriously, they probably woke up one day and said "what the heck?" and then the next day saying "where did it go?"

Next time, we're coming in early May or late September. It might be colder but we might actually get to see a mountain!

~later, tw

Talkeetna, Alaska

...at the foot of Mt. McKinley (which they still seem to call it on this side of the park).

We arrived here and were assigned buses for the 1 1/2 ride to the McKinley Princess Lodge. We made a stop near the "city" limits of Talkeetna though where the driver told us if we wanted to explore the town and take a later bus to the Lodge, we would avoid the $10/person fee. Gerry was more interested in not riding 1 1/2 hr. to the Lodge, 1 1/2 hr. back to Talkeetna, and yet another 1 1/2 hr. back to the Lodge.

Naturally we opted to get off here at 4:55 pm. The next buses would leave at 5:30 pm, 6:30 pm, 7:30 pm and 9:00 pm. If we hadn't stopped for a local brew, we'd have walked the entire length of town and back and still have had 10 minutes to spare waiting for the 5:30 bus.

As it was we discovered the Denali Brewing Company and felt the need to sample a flight of the four beers they were currently brewing. Let's just say I wouldn't come to Talkeetna just for the beer...

...especially when there are other creepier places to visit. Like the little gift shop/creey wax museum that she wouldn't charge us to visit and then directed us downstairs (which is usually the time in the movie where you get locked in and the creatures come to life. Clearly these weren't coming to life - check out

Diamond Jim's hands!, but the sound effects operated by motion detector were a little discomforting!)

~later, tw

All Aboard!

Wednesday morning began with a quick bus ride back into Denali National Park so we could visit the Visitors' Center there. This center is only open from early May until late September when they move across the road to the Murie Science Center - a much smaller building and therefore easier/cheaper to heat. We saw a video on the "Heartbeat of Denali" so I guess that counts as seeing the mountain that is alledgedly out there somewhere.

We also learned the secrets to making the best blueberry pie!

Then back to the lodge to wait for a short bus trip back to the Visitors' Center...no, actually the train depot which is directly across the road from the Visitors' Center. This passenger train is, I believe, used exclusively for cruise line passengers traveling between the various lodges and/or port at Whittier. Each cruise line puts on exactly how many passenger cars they need for each run. This particular run Princess had the final two cars and the Weilers were allocated table space in the very last car.

All seats are upstairs in the viewing portion of the car and we take turns heading downstairs to the dining portion of the car for our lunch. The scenery is fantastic (though we didn't get to see too many animals), the meal great and our traveling companions (that we've come to know relatively well) provided great conversations. (Things I've learned: if the Denver area of Colorado is considered the more liberal side of the state, there is no crayon in the box sufficiently red enough for the western half of the state! Our retired friend from Colorado, who's wife is still a teacher with Texas Instruments, is Harley riding, gun owner/lover type who believes that Colorado really needs to enact the Arizona immigration law there.)

Near the half-way point of our trip, we passed two small lakes, one of which emptied to the north, the other to the south as we were passing the Continental Divide and the high point of the trip (~2900 ft.) with mountains there (visible) at only 5000 ft. (not much in the way of mountains for those of who travel I-90 via Snoqualmie Pass, ~3500 ft. , or Lookout Pass on the Idaho/Montana border which is considerably higher). We also passed the northbound passenger train where we slowed down so that the employees could pass notes, etc. to their counterparks (often roommates) on the other train. And after a leisurely (3 1/2 hr to go 120 miles - that's pretty darn leisurely!) our train ride ended in Talkeetna, Alaska (but more on that later).

~later, tw