Big Sur

Had a very busy week last week. Spanish class on Monday, Step class at the gym on Tuesday, Stereophonics concert at the Great American Music Hall on Wednesday, dinner at a friend’s in Oakland on Thursday, drive down to Salinas for the start of our Big Sur weekend on Friday! Salinas is the birthplace of John Steinbeck, but we didn’t see anything to do with him. Instead, we just stayed at a cheap motel there and took advantage of a cheap Mexican supermarket the next day for our camping supplies. It really was like Little Mexico from the food to the huge array of piñatas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi%C3%B1ata if you don’t know what they are!) to the fact that a little Spanish certainly helped with communications at the deli counter.

We’d planned to get in touch with Oli and Karine (my colleagues from work, who were accompanying us on the trip) when we arrived at the Big Sur coast, which starts some 120 miles or so south of San Francisco. There was a big flaw to this plan, however, since there is absolutely no cell phone reception along this coastline, which is basically a narrow belt nestled between the Pacific and a range of high, forested hills. As a result, we didn’t see these friends until we got to the campsite that evening. However, we spent a pleasant day with our other friend, Cassie, driving down the gorgeous coast and taking little walks to the shore. We spotted a sea otter during one such stroll, visited a cove where it’s possible to find jade (aptly called Jade Cove) and photographed an absolutely gorgeous 80 foot coastal waterfall (McWay Falls), before heading to the campsite at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. Our camping spot was among trees, but not as spacious as some others I’d stayed at. However, there was just about enough room for all of us (six, in total, including Karine’s cousin, Marlène, who is visiting). After an initial crisis with the barbecue (it went out, after half-cooking the sausages), we had a great dinner of grilled meats and Mediterranean veg. with salad, topped off with apple pie warmed over the charcoal. I even got to practice my French with Karine’s cousin! For me it was pure delight to be camping and not to be freezing cold, after the Yellowstone experience! Having said that, I didn’t have the best night’s sleep, in spite of not having grizzly bears, wolves or even raccoons to worry about!

After breakfast the next day, we decamped and headed to nearby Pfeiffer Beach. I have a photo of that beach, taken on our road trip in 1999, when the wind was so strong that you could barely stand up! It’s a lovely photo, though. It was very windy this time too, although not as bad, but we still ended up with sand in pretty much every exposed orifice! However, it’s a beautiful beach with interesting rock formations that include perfectly formed tunnels. After admiring the beach for a while (and marvelling at the surfers), we took our leave of everyone and headed off to do a hike in Andrew Molera State Park. Oli, Karine and Marlène had been lucky enough to see a bobcat there the day before, but we weren’t so fortunate, although we saw some seals and lots of birds. We supposedly did an eight-mile hike, but we went the wrong way a couple of times, so it was probably more like nine. It seemed quite hard work, anyway, but it was quite lovely, taking in views across the dunes and bluffs to the ocean, as well as back to the steep hillsides. We hadn’t seen any fire damage from the recent violent forest fires until this point (which surprised me, since several trails were closed in the State Park where we camped), but now, with the aid of binoculars, we were able to spot a few blackened trees high in the hills.

Lazy weekends

The lovely weather that we returned to from Yellowstone continued – at least for a while. Friday night was really balmy – we went to a party just a few blocks up, at our friends’ place on Green Street, and took in their views from the roof. Last Saturday was gorgeous and, even though I had chores to do, I still managed to take full advantage. This included a stroll down to the little beach less than a ten minute walk away, with its views of the Golden Gate Bridge and historic ships, followed by ice cream enjoyed in sunny Washington Square Park. I also had a dip in our pool and a sunbathe on the terrace. On Sunday, we went on our customary run along the waterfront to Crissy Field and back, then had a pretty lazy day, topped off by a visit to the cinema. We went to see “Bottleshock”, which is about the competition in 1976 involving a blind tasting of select French and Californian wines, in which the Californian wines won all categories, putting Napa on the map. It starred Alan Rickman as the wine merchant who organized it all, and was good fun. I longed for Napa to be as it was then, however, with free tastings and wine at $5 a bottle. Those days are long gone!

I had my final Italian class on Wednesday this week. Then, on Thursday, we had the good fortune to have tickets for Robin Williams (yes, THE Robin Williams of Mrs Doubtfire, Good Will Hunting etc. fame) do stand-up comedy at a cute little venue just a stone’s throw from our apartment. We can – literally – see it from the window. Robin Williams lives in San Francisco – over in the posh Seacliff area – and he was doing this gig to raise money for charity. I have to say that it wasn’t all my type of humour, but the guy is such a legend, that it was great to see him anyway. We only found out about the event on the grapevine – Jon heard it from someone at work, who in turn had heard about it from her dentist. I told everyone at my work, and we ended up with quite a gang from the office, including the big boss! Afterwards, most of us went on to the Belgian beer cellar on our block, which was a perfect way to end the evening.

This weekend, it’s been cooler, but still quite sunny. Jon had to work yesterday, so I took myself off to Golden Gate Park, in the hope of getting into the Chihuly exhibition at the De Young museum. Chihuly is a famous glass sculpture artist who makes some amazing pieces. Anyway, the place was so busy that I gave up without waiting in line (they had a timed ticket system, so I was pretty sure I’d be out of luck), but I had a little stroll around some of the park nonetheless, taking in Stow Lake and the gorgeous rose garden. I then took a bus back to the Marina and had a very cold smoothie in a nice café there before heading home. In the evening, we had an invitation to go to my colleague and friend, Molly’s place for dinner. She lives quite near work, in the Pacific Heights area. Well, I must say that I loved her place! It didn’t have the views that we enjoy, but what a lovely characterful building! She lives in a 1930’s Spanish-style mansion in an apartment on the fifth storey, with wooden floors and lots of built-in closets! We had a really pleasant evening.

Today, we did our run again, then headed out over the Golden Gate to Marin in the afternoon. We’d planned to spend a few hours on Tennessee Beach, but we ended up walking from the sunshine straight into the fog, so the beach was rather chilly, to say the least, with a stuff wind blowing. We lasted it out for a little while, stoic Brits as we are, trained in the art of sitting on freezing cold beaches pretending you’re enjoying yourself, but then decided to give up and go somewhere sunny. We went over to Tiburon, on the other side of the Bay from here, and enjoyed some absolutely amazing ice cream at a café there, before taking in the sun from a spot with amazing views across to Angel Island and beyond back towards the city.

Yellowstone & Grand Tetons

I’m behind again. I haven’t told you anything about Kate’s visit nearly three weeks ago, or about the Outside Lands music festival we attended the week before last. I’ll leave the musical critique to Jon (when the poor guy has finished his maths assignment), since I want to tell you about the trip we’ve just returned from to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.

Susie (my good friend from school days) and her husband Dave arrived for a visit on Wednesday last week. They were lucky with the weather, because they arrived at a time when San Francisco is emerging from the fog of summer into warm, sunny early fall days. Thursday was so nice that I left work early and had a dip in the pool.

Susie had very kindly invited me along on their great adventure through America’s national parks. This began with a flight to Salt Lake City on Saturday. We just had time for a trip to Temple Square (Mormon central!) and dinner. Salt Lake ranks with Las Vegas as one of the strangest places I’ve been to. Temple Square is a perfectly manicured 30-odd acre site in the city centre. The instant you walk through the gate, a very nice man emerges with a free map and details of the free tours on offer. We went on one of these tours, led by two (also very, very nice) young Mormon missionaries. They showed us the temple, tabernacle, museum and (huge) office skyscraper. It was all rather surreal. The city itself was dead (on a Saturday night!), but Jon had no trouble getting a beer with our meal in spite of Utah's weird alcohol regulations.

We had a night in Salt Lake, then picked up the rental car and (after some very logistical packing, because it was only a compact car), headed off on the long drive through four states to Yellowstone. That’s right – we started in Utah, drove much of the length of Idaho, crossed a small patch of Montana and finally entered Wyoming just past the entrance into the park. We stopped to buy supplies at the immense Walmart in a rather sad town called Idaho Falls (followed by more packing logistics). We also passed through a fairly wild storm, which sent tumbleweed scuttling across the highway. It was a really long journey – some 380 miles – and we couldn’t resist seeing some of the sites when we finally got there, so took time out to photograph a herd of elk by the road and also got our first taste of hot springs and bubbling mud pots at one of the volcanic sites on the way to the campground. We didn’t actually arrive there until about 8 o’clock, by which time it was dark and raining hard. Pitching the tent in the pouring rain was not fun. Fortunately, we were close to a restaurant, into which we retreated in order to get away from the weather.

I didn’t sleep well either of the first two nights. Most probably because, in spite of my five layers, I was still cold, because my 35 degree F sleeping bag was not capable of withstanding the plummeting night-time temperatures at ca. 8,000 feet. There was even ice on the tent when we awoke one morning! By the third night, Jon sweetly offered me his sleeping bag (good to 18 F), so I managed to get some shut-eye. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, you could hear what were probably wolves howling in the distance, which was rather eerie, to say in the least.

Our first full day in Yellowstone began with a drive up to the canyon of the Yellowstone River. We saw bison along the way, plus a wolf that was really just a black dot in the far distance, and also visited the Mud Volcano area of steaming, sulphurous pools and mud pots. It’s impossible to exaggerate the extent to which you find steam pouring out of the ground all over Yellowstone. It’s one immense volcano with a caldera that covers much of the park, and apparently, it’s due an eruption, which would purportedly destroy all life on the planet.

We did a hike along the canyon to a lake, then circled back past some more steaming holes, before continuing around the immense loop road to see Old Faithful, a geyser that erupts approximately every 90 minutes and shoots water some 120 feet into the air. We arrived at the right time and managed to see the event before heading back for a tasty meal by the camp fire.

The next day was a much brighter day weather-wise (although still cold), and we enjoyed clear skies for most of it. We headed up to Mount Washburn, and hiked up to the top past trees covered in the first sprinkling of snow, to the summit at just over 10,000 feet. On the way back down, we chanced upon a flock of bighorn sheep, which stuck around and let us photograph them. We then decided to head north a little way, hoping to see bears in the “prime grizzly country” of Antelope Creek. We didn’t see bears, but we did come across a commotion along the road that turned out to be caused by a moose grazing by a nearby stream. On the way back to camp, we got stuck in traffic in Hayden Valley, where bison were crossing the road.

The final day of our trip began with heavy rain. We drove into Grand Teton National Park, afraid that we wouldn’t get to see any of the famous mountains. However, it began to clear, so we stopped by the side of the road to watch the clouds lifting slowly off the jagged, snowy peaks. As we were there, we noticed another commotion just down the road. There was talk of a grizzly bear. Before we knew it, the grizzly in question (a female), had bounded across the road and into the willow on the other side. Too fast for a photo, but impressive nonetheless! After stopping at a couple of lovely viewpoints, we decided to take the boat across pretty Jenny Lake and walked to a waterfall before making our way back around the edge of the lake. We were rewarded with another wildlife sighting – this time a female moose knee-deep in a pond.

Finally, Susie and Dave drove us to tiny Jackson Hole Airport (they were continuing on down to other parks the next day), where they dropped us off and we caught a propeller plane to Denver, where we transferred to a connecting flight back to San Francisco. It was a really amazing trip, although I must say that it isn’t too hard – after freezing your socks off for several days – to return to the balmy climes of September in California.

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

Summer in the Sierras

Last weekend, we headed off to Lake Tahoe for a long weekend of activities. Our friend, Cassie, had got a good deal at the Marriott in South Lake Tahoe in return for her sitting through 90 minutes of timeshare talk. She shared the offer with us, so we got to stay in nicer than usual accommodation right by Stateline (the border between California and Nevada, where all the casinos are situated). The location would have really come into its own in the winter, because it’s right by the Heavenly gondola, which sweeps you up to the ski area. They were still charging you plenty to go up there, even in summer, so we didn’t bother, but entertained ourselves with the activities on offer elsewhere. And we were not short of these!

It was a bad drive up there on Friday night, because we hit lots of traffic leaving the city, then again between the North Bay and Sacramento. Jon was no doubt relieved, therefore, when Cassie offered to drive us the next day, especially since our planned activity, white-water rafting, involved double-backing on ourselves for about an hour to Placerville. The rafting was really good fun. First they fed us, in their attractively sited embarkation point amongst trees slung with hammocks by the river. Then we set off, six or seven to a raft. It was a class III rapids trip along the South Fork of the American River, through a pretty gorge. I’d been a little nervous of trying the class IV Middle Fork, which Cassie tried to persuade us to do, but on balance, I think I could have handled it, as the raft was a lot more stable than I’d expected and I really enjoyed the big rapids. We each had a paddle, and the guide told us what to do. I took a turn at the front, which was certainly the most fun/scary place in the boat! The guide realised we were out for a bit of excitement, so he deliberately took us head-first into a rock, which resulted in all but two of us falling out! (I was one of the two :-)).We also got to swim in a couple of spots in the rather cold river. It was pretty fast-moving, even in the calm bits.

That evening, we enjoyed a dip in the Marriott’s hot tub, before going out for dinner in the 19th floor restaurant of one of the casinos. After the day, we were all pretty tired, so headed off to bed before it got too late, falling asleep in front of the Olympics on the TV.

Next day we had quite a late start, because Cassie had her timeshare talk in the morning. We went off to do a hike in the Desolation Wilderness, which a couple of friends at work had recommended to me. It began at Echo Lake, which is near the high point of the road we take to Lake Tahoe (about 7,500 feet, if I remember right), just before you drop down to South Lake itself. Echo Lake is a gorgeous little spot, comprising Lower and Upper Echo Lakes, which used to have 5 feet of elevation difference between them, until someone decided to blast a channel to allow boats to pass through. To shorten the hike by just under three miles, we took a water taxi (large speedboat) across the lake and began walking at the other end. It was a fairly easy 3. 5 mile hike out, with not too much climbing, and although it was sunny and hot, it was nothing after the previous week’s heat at Pinnacles (high seventies/low eighties as opposed to 100 degrees). We passed several attractive little lakes in the high country, including Tamarack Lake and Lake Margery, where we had our lunch and spotted a couple of marmots. There were lots of alpine flowers still around, presumably because they have such a short growing season at this height. Our end-point was gorgeous Lake Aloha, a mid-sized lake with lots of tiny, rocky islands. Jon and I both enjoyed a swim to one of these islands in the cooling water and explored the rock formations barefoot, before heading back on the return journey (although, had we had provisions and camping gear, we could have kept on exploring for many more miles). Cassie’s recently injured ankle was starting to hurt, so she took the water taxi back to the parking lot at the other end of Echo Lake, but Jon and I decided to speed-hike the last 2.7 miles by the lake past a host of gorgeous cabins, only accessible by water. That evening, it was into the hot tub again and then out for a slap-up dinner at Fire & Ice.

On Monday, we decided to try jet-skiing on Lake Tahoe itself. It was pretty expensive, so we just rented one for an hour and shared it amongst us, going out two at a time. It was pretty easy to operate and a lot of fun, although I didn’t go nearly as fast as Jon, who apparently hit 60 miles per hour, bouncing over the waves. After that, we headed off to do a short hike near Emerald Bay, a very popular spot on the south-west shore. It was a short hike (just a mile out and a mile back), but there was about 500 feet of climbing. The end-point was lovely Eagle Lake, a small lake surrounded by forested mountains on all sides. There was a little island that Jon and I swam to (although it probably only amounted to about half a mile of swimming in total, I still managed to pull a muscle in my back that still aches a bit!). As we were trying to dry off in the sun (we didn’t bring towels, of course), a bear ambled across the rocks ahead of us. S/he then reappeared at the water’s edge, before disappearing again into the vegetation. It was a smallish Black bear (although brown in colour), probably an adolescent. S/he didn’t seem bothered by the people at all. It was another positive bear experience for me!

Camping at Pinnacles National Monument

We’ve just had a really pleasant camping weekend at Pinnacles National Monument, a park situated about 130 miles south of the city, on the San Andreas Fault, approx. 40 miles from the coast. Interestingly, the park is actually one half of an ancient volcano; the other half is some 200 miles south, and the two halves have been separated by plate tectonics – the Pacific and North American plates grinding past each other at a rate of a couple of centimetres per year. We knew it was going to be hot, but when we arrived, it was about 100 degrees in the shade (approx. 36.5 degrees C). We hastily erected the tent under a tree and planned our first excursion, which was necessarily short, namely a walk through Bear Gulch Cave to the tiny reservoir and back. The said cave was a talus cave, formed by huge boulders falling into a cleft and getting wedged. We saw a bat hanging down as we made our way through, then spotted several garter snakes swimming and trying desperately to cool off in the reservoir, which was also swarming with dragonflies. We made our way back via the rim trail, where we got to see some of the amazing rock formations up close.

On the way back to the campground, we saw a deer with two fawns in tow. Then, on arrival back at our campsite, we found that it had been invaded by a flock of California quail. These are sweet little birds – blue with black faces and tufts on their heads. It’s actually our state bird, but I was surprised how unsophisticated they were, scratching around like chickens, then running hither and thither as fast as their legs would carry them. We had a cold dinner, as we didn’t have a camping stove and open fires were not allowed with the current high wildfire risk, then had yet another visitor to the campground – this time a raccoon. He was a persistent little chap, looking very much the outlaw with his black mask, and had to be chased off.

Once it got dark, we marveled at the sky - far from light pollution and incredibly clear. We picked out Venus and Mars, and contemplated the Milky Way. I slept reasonably well that night – it did, at least, cool off. Jon didn’t sleep so well. He claimed that he kept waking up to the sounds of all the animals – possibly the raccoon again, and certainly the Western Scrub Jays that kept landing on the tent.

We had to get up early, as we planned to do a big hike, and it was essential we left while it was still cool enough. So, we packed up the tent and drove the short distance to the trailhead. The hike took us along a dry creek, up chaparral-covered hills for a fair distance, through the rock formations of the high peaks, down to the western side of the park, through another talus cave and along the same dry creek bed back to the car. Even though we set off early, it was still really tough-going with the heat. Overhead soared turkey vultures and even (possibly) the odd California condor. The second talus cave was pretty difficult to enter – the opening was tiny and the entry sloped down into the blackness – but we were out again before I could get really claustrophobic! We had less than two miles to go, when we suddenly heard a loud rattle to our right. We’d chanced upon a rattlesnake, lying just at the side of the path! We now had to get past it, but not before taking a few pictures!

After we’d finished our hike, we went to the pretty picnic spot by the visitor centre and had lunch while the Steller’s Jays, Western Scrub Jays, woodpeckers and tree creepers flitted around, with the squirrels trying desperately to scrounge a crumb or two. The temperature was hitting 34 degrees Celsius, so we beat a retreat and headed north to the historic village of San Juan Bautista. I’d wanted to visit it, as parts of Hitchcock’s Vertigo were filmed there. It also has lots of “historic” (read: "19th century") buildings and a 200-year-old mission church. Although it was certainly very pretty, I was disappointed not to find it more recognisable from the film. The all-important bell tower scenes must have been filmed somewhere else, as the mission has no bell tower and has never had one.

29 miles south of San Francisco, it was still 25 Celsius. However, we could see the tsunami of fog ahead of us, and once in it, the temperature dropped to 13. Over a 20 degree difference in less than a hundred miles! However, fortunately, our bit of San Francisco was still in the sunshine. Not today, though – it’s been thick, cold fog all day. Mark Twain said the coldest winter he’d ever experienced was a summer in San Francisco, and I’m beginning to know what he meant!

Photos are available here: http://public.fotki.com/EllenHardwick/pinnacles-national-/ (password: moocow)

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).