This is No Seward's Folly

P-Rock : Glacier Posting

Day 15 - Wasilla, AK to Anchorage, AK (Maintenance) and then on to Seward, AK





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For true students of this blog, today's itinerary is probably a surprise. We had planned to go to Soldotna, AK (this was already a change from the original schedule) after maintenance, and we were going to make all of our needed reservations while the maintenance was being performed (and also write these blog entries - which didn't happen due once again to lousy internet access and distracted travellers). When we went to make the reservation for our ferry passage we discovered that the ferry we were going to book was full on the day we needed to be on it. Now remember earlier we had been told that if we book the ferry a "day or two" in advance we wouldn't have any problems. What we discovered was that in order to really understand what was being said you have to be fluent in Alaskan English. In Alaskan English this is what they mean: When you do your travel booking as long as you don't mind being placed on a vessel "within a day or two" of what you want - then no problem.

So we have yet another Monkey Wrench (That my friends is good old American English).

So anyway, while we were at the maintenance stop we were very close to Anchorage International. As a pilot myself, watching airplanes in flight is always a hoot, and as you may know, many long-haul international flights stop here for fuel on the way to or from Asian destinations. This means that at take-off they are heavy and the initial climb is using as much lift as the wings can generate. . I was able catch this picture of a 747 flying overhead. The low pressure on the top of the wing was condensing the moisture in the air leaving this very cool picture for me to share with you

...but I digress yet again....

Back to the schedule crap-ola... Well Blackie and I made another executive decision and following the "Fool me once, shame on you -- Fool me twice shame on me" theory we tossed Ferry Alaska aside and have given up our ferry ride. This means that we are now both carrying about 5 lb. of tie-down straps for 11,000 miles of travel for no really good reason - but hey - it's all about the adventure, right? So what we did is we dumped Soldotna as a destination in exchange for Seward, which we had heard was not to be missed. Well this is true. The only word I can come up with for the ride down here and the town itself is

Holy-Mama-Llama-Mama-Laka-Bududay-Wow-Shamma-Wamma-Be-Bop-Willy


Very, Very cool place. We don't have pictures of the town itself (yet, that is next for Blackie and I after we finish catching up) but it's incredibly beautiful and may indeed be the subject of an entire bonus post.

So tomorrow we head off on a trip to Homer then back to Seward, and the following day roll back up to Tok to start our travels home, and back onto the original schedule.

The brakes are fixed, the oil is changed, and there is a fresh Halibut with my name on it downtown tonight. Yee-Ha!

P-Rock, Stopping for Halibut in Seward.