I wish you had been there; you're a much better poet.
Biggest disappointment...not seeing the good salmon runs. I heard some folks did see places where you could walk across the creek on the salmon. The best I saw was only about twice what I saw last fall at home, but, it was right in Anchorage, 5 blocks from the hotel. I really wanted to see what it looked like in the old days in California, to inspire my friends, but we didn't do any side trips that got us to the good runs. Life is tough.
Weirdest experience. All the adults at our table were medical folks. One doc is a co-editor of the respiratory therapy bible. I tried to recruit him for our place when he is ready to semi-retire. Told him that they could buy their own vineyard, and work 5 or 10 hrs a week. Forgot to tell him he could salmon fish like crazy, too. He and his son were going fishing on most of their side trips, and did right well. Half will be smoked, half frozen and shipped back to Cleveland so they can maybe make lox.
Overall, this was an 8.95. It loses 1 full point 'cuz I didn't have anybody to cuddle with. It loses maybe 0.05 points for not seeing more wildlife. We saw a few whales and poropusii from the ship, a few caribou and a distant moose.The folks who made it a high priority, at least whale watching, were amply rewarded. They saw a mama and calf breeching, and were in the middle of a whole school, or pod, of dolphins. They were out there; we just did other stuff.
Most difficult to deal with: the airport scenes, and Anchorage. I spent another month there Wed, but Malila only spent 10 minutes. She woke up at 10, jumped on the net until checkout, then spent the rest of the day at the mall. She was in heaven :-). I gave her a "bad" time about bring 8 pairs of shoes. She went home with 9. As you well know, daughters are a trip.
We should all go on a cruise up there sometime. Now that would be cool.
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