Land Ho

We dock at Seward (remember his folly - purchasing Alaska?)after a night at sea. When we started in Vancouver, the sun rose around 5:30 A.M. and set at 9 P.M. Here is Seward it's up at 4:30 A.M. and not down until after 10:30 P.M. I love it and since there are black out curtains, sleep is not disrupted. We debark rather smoothly and head for the tour bus that will be our home for the next 3 days. This is the time that you want to minimize any feelings of annoyance and to make friends with as many people as possible because you'll be spending all of your time with this group. Most are very fine as are the driver and tour guide. Both young, one reared here and the other a transplant, working the tourist season. All these places are boom towns from May through September after which they literally board up the stores and either get the hell out of here or hunker down for a long and arduous winter. It's one long ass day on the bus. We go through Anchorage where we have lunch. The towns are all starting to look the same since we are always steered to the shopping areas and restaurants patronized by the cruise lines. Still, it's great to stretch our legs. We do drive through Wasilla and yes, Alaskans are very proud of Sara Palin. I saw one sign touting her and Obama. Didn't quite know what to make of it. At last, we arrive at Mc Kinley Village, a new complex just outside the National Park where we happily exit the bus and get into our room. Jackie and Larry opted for a trip to a show featuring Jeff King, Iditarod champion, and his Alaskan Huskies. I am not so much a dog lover and voted, instead, for a hike. We got a map from the front desk and proceded on the Triple Lakes Trail - 5 miles round trip. It felt great to be moving and out in those mountains. Almost 2 miles into it, I started to have a sense of unease that grew with each step. I finally admitted to Ron that I was overcome by the feeling that we were going to encounter a bear if we continued. We discussed our strategy and went on for a bit. We got to a clearing and the choice was either to go on to where we'd see the next bit, or turn around and go back. Part of me really regretted not being able to see those lakes and the beaver dam and possible animals, but majority rules and we high tailed it out of there. Had we been with a group, I would have been fine, but I guess I simply felt too vulnerable with the 2 of us. We had dinner in the lodge and went to bed. Big day tomorrow in Denali.