Alaska

I can't summarize my trip in an entry. It was two weeks long. I traveled by bus, commercial jet, ferry, van, raft, legs, small engine plane, shuttle bus, and subway. I met a range of people. I went through states and provinces. And really, how could I fit mountains, rivers, and glaciers into a blog post?

We had five guides on the trip. One was violinist and played for us after dinner some nights. She played Eine Kleine Nachtmusic, The Devil Went Down to Georgia, Pachelbel's Canon, Summertime, and so much more. Another guide was a podiatrist. I suppose he likes to do these types of things on his vacations.

There were seven passengers. They included a police officer and veterinarian (husband & wife), a financial consultant who had been on trips with this outfitter 13 other times, my father - a lumber store owner, a teacher and an insurance actuary (wife & husband), and me - an actuary-in-training. I can't believe there were 2 actuaries on the trip. And he was so boring. And he didn't stop talking. I eventually had to ask him to stop talking about math and the exams.

This was the type of trip where something would happen and afterwards I would think to myself, "That could have killed me." Some of the rapids were intense the first day. The weather was certainly cold on some days. We climbed on glaciers and tried to avoid the cracks in the ice. We rafted around ice bergs and watched them roll over. We saw a bear but that was about a mile away. We did see a lot of bear shit though.

I saw many bald eagles. And I was "attacked" by terns one morning. We saw moose tracks (and droppings). We saw whales when we were on the ferry and seals in the bay near the ocean. I saw ptarmigans and marmots. And we're not sure if we saw a mountain goat or a rock. I think it was a rock, but those with binoculars swear a goat.

As I remember stories from the trip, I will try to post them.