Yes, we are back from our trip to Scotland.... but I have to admit, the travel report will take a while. It is a very busy time here in England. But here is a very short version of our trip:
We started on July 4th, the sun was shining and we were looking forward to 13 days on the road and in Scotland. It was a wonder that everything fitted into the car. We used the roof box again and had all our camping stuff in it, the rest of the luggage on the back seat and Amber had her very own and comfortable travel compartment in the trunk. We stopped at Answick castle. As far as I understood St. Cloude State sends students there and Tina has been there through this program, right?
Our plan was to find a place to stay somewhere in that area, not too far away from the Scotish border. But everything was fully booked, even the campground. That was not what we expected and I was getting really nervous about the rest of the trip. Before we left Thetford we bought a book "pet friendly accommodation" and found a Best Western Hotel in Edinburgh, called it and stayed there for two nights. From there we explored the area around St. Andrews (golfer know what town I am talking about). The next stop was at Fort William, where we spent another two nights, well, we always spent two nights at each town. That gave us a whole day for exploring the area. From Fort William we drove to Isle of Skye. Beautiful, I loved it there! I even met a former co-worker of mine on the little campground we stayed. Funny, the world is so small. It was also our first time camping in the tent. Amber slept in the car and it worked out really well.
From Skye we drove to the north western Highlands and stayed in Big Sand, a very large but beautiful campground right at the sandy beach. Perfect for Amber, she was able to go swimming before dinner. From there we proceeded to the north coast of Scotland and stayed in a hotel in Tongue. It was very rainy when we arrived and therefore we decided to pick a hotel from our book again. Very nice, great food and a fantastic view. Amber was no problem and she behaved very well in the hotel, even staying in our room all by herself was no big deal. From Tongue we drove south again and stayed not to far away from Inverness. We picked a campground again, visited Cullodon battlefield and Loch Ness (too bad, I didn't see Nessie...) and a local brewery. The last night we stayed at the same hotel in Edinburgh. On the way there we visited some more castles and a Whiskey distillery.
That was our trip in a very very short version. But if you like you can have a look at a Scotland map before I will write a more detailed report with pictures. Right now I am preparing the house for our next guests. Tori visited us. She arrived on Monday and left today. We had such a great time together and I am so glad I met her! If you ask her, she can probably tell you more about broken shoes, waiting in the rain, getting lost while walking Amber, our trips to Bury St. Edmunds and Cambridge and her first geocache. I hope we will see her again soon. Tori, you are more than welcome to visit us in Maryland!
Now I am waiting for my brother and his family to arrive. I will pick them up at the airport tonight and they will stay until next Wednesday. Well, not all of them. Uwe had to reschedule his flight and now will fly back home on Sunday already. He just got a new project and needs to be in Switzerland next week. It is too bad, I wish I could spend more time with him, but on the other hand having a new project in times like this is really good. Business has been a little bit slow for him, too, during the first half of this year. Anyway, I have to prepare something for dinner and wait for Dave coming home with my car so that I can go to the airport. Hopefully I will be able to write more when my brother and his family left next week. So stay tuned.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Friday, July 03, 2009
My Alaska Trip - Part 5: South to Seward and Goodbye
It is raining here in Thetford. Just showers, but it looks like the nice and sunny days are over. At least for now. Dave's vacation have just begun and we plan on going to Scotland tomorrow or on Sunday, depending on how much packing we can do tonight. Before we go and before I will have more travel reports to write I want to finish the Alaska one. So let me take you back south again.
Back south. I left Healy under bright sunshine and therefore I was looking forward to taking some very nice Mt. McKinley photos from the southern viewing points. But the further south I drove the more clouds and haze were there. My first stop was at the Alaskan Veteran's memorial. I stopped there to take some video for Dave. When the sky is clear this memorial also provides a great view at the mountain. But today when stopped there I could see the first clouds coming in. I continued my drive a few miles to the south to the next viewing area and decided that it isn't worth taking pictures from there now. Only a tiny little bit of the summit was visible, more clouds were coming in and I have better pictures from that spot.
But how could I drive south without another stop at our Tigger Lake lot? Right, I had to go there again. And this time I finished the geocache. And I have to tell you: it was worth it. The trail was a little bit overgrown, but once I arrived at the cache itself I had a fantastic overview over the lake. If anyone is into geocaching and happens to be in that area, please, you really should try the "Tigger Lake" one. And don't forget the hint, it really is a "Bird's eye view" ;o) First I hesitated a little bit. Didn't know, whether I really want to go to the final location without Dave. It was more a cache for him than for me, but I am glad I did go there. After that successful stop I drove to downtown Talkeetna again. This time I visited the historical museum and learned that Talkeetna once was a tent camp when the Alaska railroad was built. Well, Anchorage started that way, too ....
Talking about Anchorage. I stayed there for the next two days. The evenings I spent with Al and Jane and during the days I went geocaching in Kinkaid park, visited the Saturday Market (on Saturday ;o)) and the just recently reopened museum. It was too bad that only 50% of the new exhibitions have been opened already. The rest will open next spring. But anyway, I enjoyed it. They had a special exhibition about gold. That was really neat, they even showed a little play with really good actors. If you are interested in that museum have a look at the following link:
Back south. I left Healy under bright sunshine and therefore I was looking forward to taking some very nice Mt. McKinley photos from the southern viewing points. But the further south I drove the more clouds and haze were there. My first stop was at the Alaskan Veteran's memorial. I stopped there to take some video for Dave. When the sky is clear this memorial also provides a great view at the mountain. But today when stopped there I could see the first clouds coming in. I continued my drive a few miles to the south to the next viewing area and decided that it isn't worth taking pictures from there now. Only a tiny little bit of the summit was visible, more clouds were coming in and I have better pictures from that spot.
But how could I drive south without another stop at our Tigger Lake lot? Right, I had to go there again. And this time I finished the geocache. And I have to tell you: it was worth it. The trail was a little bit overgrown, but once I arrived at the cache itself I had a fantastic overview over the lake. If anyone is into geocaching and happens to be in that area, please, you really should try the "Tigger Lake" one. And don't forget the hint, it really is a "Bird's eye view" ;o) First I hesitated a little bit. Didn't know, whether I really want to go to the final location without Dave. It was more a cache for him than for me, but I am glad I did go there. After that successful stop I drove to downtown Talkeetna again. This time I visited the historical museum and learned that Talkeetna once was a tent camp when the Alaska railroad was built. Well, Anchorage started that way, too ....
Talking about Anchorage. I stayed there for the next two days. The evenings I spent with Al and Jane and during the days I went geocaching in Kinkaid park, visited the Saturday Market (on Saturday ;o)) and the just recently reopened museum. It was too bad that only 50% of the new exhibitions have been opened already. The rest will open next spring. But anyway, I enjoyed it. They had a special exhibition about gold. That was really neat, they even showed a little play with really good actors. If you are interested in that museum have a look at the following link:
http://www.anchoragemuseum.org/
Sunday I left Anchorage and drove to Seward on the Kenai Peninsular. It was cloudy, not really cold, but not nice. My plan was to spend one night there, visit the Sealife Center and go on a boat tour on Monday. I stopped by at Kenai Fjord Tours and had to decide which tour I wanted. Well, on the one hand there were these fixed tours on bigger ships. I did this before and got only a little bit seasick. The other option was a very flexible trip on a small boat (only 16 passengers or so), but the last time I did it I go really, really seasick. After thinking about and counting my remaining motion sickness pills (I already used most of them on the bus tours into Denali) I decided to chance it and go on a small boat tour. And it was great. Yes, there were a lot of birder on the boat, but they were also interested in the mammals we saw. And they didn't leave any place before I saw the very rare bird xy. You can imagine it going like: "Anke did you also see the xy over there?" - We were at a rookery with thousands of birds, all looking very similar to me - "Ehm, no, didn't see it yet." "Do you see the three cormorans there right above the white spot?" "Ehm, yes (the white spot is bird poop, right?)" "If you like to the right from where there are you should see 5 birds, two of them are the xy" "Ehm, they all look the same." "No, no, wait until they turn their head, then you will see the tiny little white mark on the neck!" "Ehm, oh yes, now I see them, fantastic! (Can we continue the trip now?)"
But as I said, they were all really really nice and we saw mammals like orcas, humpback whales, otter, sea lions, harbor seal and porpoise. Oh, and I forgot to mention the weather. On Sunday when I arrived it started to rain and the day was very grey. But then on Monday, right for the tour, it cleared up. Even the sun was shining, it wasn't cold and the best: the water was really calm, I only needed one seasickness pill for the whole trip ;o)
That was my last day in Alaska. After the trip I drove back to Anchorage, spent the last night with Al and Jane, packed my stuff and the next morning I drove to the airport again. The time went by too fast again, but I have to say that I really wished I could have done the trip with Dave, I missed him!
Here are some last pictures from the boat trip:
One of many Dall Porpoise. They tried to race the boat and won.
Orcas
Few percent of two humpback whales.
Sunday I left Anchorage and drove to Seward on the Kenai Peninsular. It was cloudy, not really cold, but not nice. My plan was to spend one night there, visit the Sealife Center and go on a boat tour on Monday. I stopped by at Kenai Fjord Tours and had to decide which tour I wanted. Well, on the one hand there were these fixed tours on bigger ships. I did this before and got only a little bit seasick. The other option was a very flexible trip on a small boat (only 16 passengers or so), but the last time I did it I go really, really seasick. After thinking about and counting my remaining motion sickness pills (I already used most of them on the bus tours into Denali) I decided to chance it and go on a small boat tour. And it was great. Yes, there were a lot of birder on the boat, but they were also interested in the mammals we saw. And they didn't leave any place before I saw the very rare bird xy. You can imagine it going like: "Anke did you also see the xy over there?" - We were at a rookery with thousands of birds, all looking very similar to me - "Ehm, no, didn't see it yet." "Do you see the three cormorans there right above the white spot?" "Ehm, yes (the white spot is bird poop, right?)" "If you like to the right from where there are you should see 5 birds, two of them are the xy" "Ehm, they all look the same." "No, no, wait until they turn their head, then you will see the tiny little white mark on the neck!" "Ehm, oh yes, now I see them, fantastic! (Can we continue the trip now?)"
But as I said, they were all really really nice and we saw mammals like orcas, humpback whales, otter, sea lions, harbor seal and porpoise. Oh, and I forgot to mention the weather. On Sunday when I arrived it started to rain and the day was very grey. But then on Monday, right for the tour, it cleared up. Even the sun was shining, it wasn't cold and the best: the water was really calm, I only needed one seasickness pill for the whole trip ;o) That was my last day in Alaska. After the trip I drove back to Anchorage, spent the last night with Al and Jane, packed my stuff and the next morning I drove to the airport again. The time went by too fast again, but I have to say that I really wished I could have done the trip with Dave, I missed him!
Here are some last pictures from the boat trip:
One of many Dall Porpoise. They tried to race the boat and won.
Orcas
Few percent of two humpback whales.
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