Lazy about blogging

I know, it’s been three weeks. I am sorry. Don’t have much of an excuse, other than that I haven’t done quite so many “blog-worthy” activities of late. Work is extremely dull at the moment (hope no one from work reads this!), Jon’s been busy at the weekends with work or maths and we’ve had a lot of fog. However, there have been some fun activities too. Like going to Dolores Park in the Mission for a barbecue. Whatever the weather in the rest of the city, it’s nearly always nice down there and there was a large contingent out sunbathing, grilling and even strapping on “sumo” suits to have a hilarious go at wrestling. Every time I go to that area, I tell myself that I should visit it more often, but you get lazy and stick to your neighbourhood all too often. After the barbecue, I came back to North Beach and met up with a couple of friends from my old Italian class, Gami and Candida, plus Candida’s super cute pug, Kathmandu. We sat on the terrace of Café Greco, sipping coffee and munching on biscotti, and could have been in Rome.

Last weekend, I decided the fog was just too much for me, and made Jon take us out on the Sunday. We drove up to Sonoma Valley (wine country) and did a little hike near Santa Rosa. The scenery is not as dramatic up there as it is just across the bridge, but at least it doesn’t get any fog, and it’s a pleasant enough mélange of rolling hills, redwood forest and dry grassland. We came across several wild turkeys over the course of our hike and also spotted a bright blue snake, which we haven’t, as yet, identified! Afterwards, we went to a winery with grounds and indulged in a nice glass in the sunshine. In addition, I got my first pedicure last weekend, which was an amazing experience! People at work had raved about them, so I decided that it was time to try it for myself, and went to a nail salon just around the corner from where I live. I got to pick my colour, then sit in a massage chair while they tended to my feet. It was so relaxing and the massage was incredible. $25 well spent, in my opinion.

I’ve started up a new Italian class, which is going pretty well, except that I’m never that motivated to do the homework. We’re reading a book, which I think is a legal thriller, and it’s pretty good. I go on Wednesday nights and it lasts from 6 pm – 9 pm.

On Friday, we went to see a film at the cinema with a couple of friends, “the Visitor”. It was well done, but didn’t live up to all the hype, in my opinion. However, we had a nice evening and got some dinner afterwards.

Yesterday was a lovely day weather-wise, so we went for a walk in the west of the city, by the ocean, parking the car in the posh Seacliff area, then wandering along the coastal path down to a rocky beach strewn with the remnants of an old shipwreck. It was beautiful. We watched scores of pelicans passing overhead and also saw a hawk doing the rounds. We then clambered back up and went to a sandy beach in Seacliff that I hadn’t visited before, China Beach, where we sunbathed and read our books. I really liked the beach – it’s tiny and lower-key than nearby Baker Beach, but still has the same crashing waves and views of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Finally, today we indulged in one of the great pleasures of life – going out for breakfast/brunch. We headed to our usual spot up the road – Curlys – and enjoyed the delights of a hearty American breakfast. Just what you need to warm the cockles when the fog is back.

Seattle and Alaska

A week and a half ago, we took an evening flight to Seattle, Washington. I wished I’d had my camera out as we descended past Mount Rainier, the base of which was shrouded in haze, giving the impression that its white mass was floating above the ground. Against the backdrop of the twilight sky, which lent rose and lilac tints to the snow, it was even more impressive.

We didn’t see any of the stereotypical Seattle weather (rain), but enjoyed two days of glorious sunshine with temperatures in the eighties and above. On the first day, we did the Underground Tour, sited at historic Pioneer Square. Seattle was originally built by pioneers on silty ground, which meant that the streets were constantly filled with mud and flooded easily. After the attempt of several harebrained schemes, the city was ultimately “raised up” by building on top of the original edifices and filling in the sidewalks (the roads had already been raised). We also did a cruise on the Puget Sound, visited the lively Pike Place market and had a delicious dinner at a seafood restaurant on a pier by Lake Union.

The next day, we took on Seattle’s iconic Space Tower. This looks like a spaceship on legs - it was built for the World’s Fair in the sixties, and is now a key feature of the city’s skyline. You can take an elevator to the top, which we did, in order to get great views of the city and various distant snowy mountains, including Mount Rainier. That day, we also went to the modern music museum (EMP), because Jon is a big fan of the “grunge” bands that came out of Seattle in the early nineties. Bizarrely, though, the whole thing seemed to be about Jimi Hendrix, with little attention paid to rock legends like Nirvana – could it be because much of their music had a pretty negative message and the lead singer ended up killing himself with an overdose? Who knows?

That night, we flew on to Anchorage, Alaska, where it was still light in spite of our late arrival, and spent a night in a featureless motel near the airport. We were picked up on Sunday to do our week-long group camping trip. Apart from ourselves, there were a pair of sisters from Australia (Lisa and Nicole), a girl from Washington D.C. (Alexandra), an older couple from Texas (Mike and Cheryl), and our guide, Waldo, who turned out to be a kind of superman who’d spent six years in the military and was now filling his summer guiding tours before going on to stuntman school in the “Lower 48” (how Alaskans refer to the contiguous U.S.). We made a stop at a supermarket in Anchorage to pick up last-minute supplies (it was immense – you could buy everything under the sun there, including guns!), before driving down to the Kenai Peninsula. We drove along a beautiful sound flanked by snowy mountains, stopping every now and then to take pictures, and also swung by a visitor center near a glacier on the way. Unfortunately, we couldn’t walk right up to the glacier, because there had been an avalanche, making the going pretty tough. We arrived at our campsite late afternoon – it was a lovely, peaceful spot by an isolated stretch of water called Hidden Lake. A sign outside the toilets warned that a brown (also known as grizzly) bear had been sighted at the camp a few days previously – yikes!

We did a little hiking in the area, but were plagued by some very persistent mosquitoes, several of which employed a new tactic with me, namely getting in my hair and feasting on my scalp – lovely. Jon and I also went kayaking on the gorgeous lake, which was such a wonderful experience that I rank it as one of the highlights of the trip. Another highlight was seeing a black bear at the back of the campsite. She had two cubs with her, which were up a tree, but didn’t seem too perturbed by us. We spent a few minutes staring at each other in mutual curiosity, before we thought we’d better leave her to take care of her business with the cubs. Unfortunately, an hour or so later she managed to get into another camper’s cool box and steal some crisps. This is bad news, because once they’ve learned that humans = food, bears become aggressive towards humans and property. She had to be scared off by the rangers.

After two nights camping there, we continued on to Seward, a pleasant seafront town, where we embarked on a cruise through the Kenai Fjords. It was a beautiful day (the previous two had been cloudy) and we were excited at the prospect of seeing all the wildlife. We were relatively lucky, in that we saw pods of orcas (killer whales), sealions, harbour seals, sea otters, bald eagles and the odd humpback whale. However, the whales stayed well underwater, so they were difficult to see and certainly didn’t pose for any pictures, but it was still thrilling. We also sailed to a tidewater glacier and waited a while to see the chunks of ice fall off into the ocean (a process called “carving”). The scenery was stunning. I’ve never been to Norway, but I imagine it must be similar. That evening we stayed at a motel (how wonderful it was to have a bed and shower!) and also ate out at a nice restaurant by the port.

From Seward, it was a long drive north to our next campsite, just south of Healy, near Denali National Park. After closely inspecting the map, it turns out that we were only about 25 – 30 miles or so from the abandoned Fairbanks bus out in the wilderness where Chris McCandless of “Into the Wild” fame met his end. There was also a lake at this new campsite, but we camped on a ridge looking out over mountains. At this point, we were a good way north of Seward and Anchorage, so it never got dark at all. The sun dipped down below the horizon for a couple of hours, but not enough to bring on anything more than an attractive sunset and a light dusk. The good weather continued, and because we were inland, it was surprisingly warm. Along the way, we’d been lucky enough to get good views of Mount McKinley, the highest mountain in North America at 20,320 feet. The peak is often obscured by cloud even on sunny days, as the mountain is so large that it creates its own weather system.

We headed into Denali National Park the next day. The Park is closed to private vehicles, so everyone is forced to go on one of the shuttle buses that venture 66 miles into the tundra. We didn’t make it to the very end, as we didn’t have enough time, given that we wanted to do some hiking, in spite of the fact that there are no trails in Denali – you just have to use the paths created by wild Dall sheep. Along the way, we saw several caribou (which are like reindeer) and a couple of grizzly bears gambolling up and down a hill, although they were at some distance from the road. On the return journey, we saw a golden eagle pretty close and a female moose a long way off. Sadly, though, there were some utter morons sitting behind me on the bus who didn’t shut up the whole way, which spoiled the experience somewhat!

That night, we took advantage of the lack of darkness by playing midnight golf. Neither of us had ever played. I wasn’t much good, but it was a lot of fun, especially as we got to chase each other around in the golf carts! Jon turned out to be not bad at all and played again with Waldo the next day. We also had 4th July fireworks – Waldo and friends had made a floating dock from which to launch them in the middle of the lake. It was a lot of fun, but fireworks aren’t quite the same when it’s broad daylight!

We got another hike in – up Mount Healy, at the gateway to Denali National Park. I was hoping to see some more wildlife, especially since there were signs everywhere warning of “bear danger”. I’d now got quite used to the potential threat of bears and was well armed with my bear bell (which lets them know you’re coming), as well as a can of bear repellent (pepper spray) that I’d borrowed from Waldo. However, we didn’t see anything other than a few cheeky ground squirrels.

I was so sad to say farewell to everyone in Anchorage and finish what had been a wonderful trip. We were able to take showers and hang around for a bit in Lisa and Nicole’s room, which was nice, as our flight was at an absurd hour the next morning (2 a.m.!). Alaska is so beautiful and its proportions are so huge, that a week really isn’t enough. The trip served only to whet rather than satisfy my appetite.

Photos are available here: http://public.fotki.com/EllenHardwick/seattle-and-alaska/ (password: moocow).