United States

Olympic Peninsula: Above the Clouds at Hurricane Ridge

If you are visiting the Olympic Peninsula, the Olympic National Park will probably be at the top of your list. Of course going up to Hurricane Ridge is one of those must-do activities in the park. We have been to Hurricane Ridge a few times over the years, but it was time for another visit. I had looked at the weather forecast and decided that Sunday would be a good day to travel up to Hurricane Ridge. (My daughter thinks…

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Olympic Peninsula: Port Ludlow, Port Townsend, and Old Forts

The Olympic Peninsula is a large part of the state of Washington. However, we had never taken the opportunity to really explore it. We have visited a few areas, but never spent a lot of time in the region. This year as we approached fall, we wanted to get some more traveling in. However, all of our original ideas fell away as COVID seemed to be everywhere, and we didn’t want to take too much risk traveling. Finally we concluded…

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The Calming Oasis of Seattle’s Community Gardens

In many cities there are large botanical gardens to explore. The Pacific Northwest is blessed to have a number of such excellent, well known gardens. These include the sweeping Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island, the Seattle Japanese Garden near the University, and the Rhododendron Species Garden in Federal Way. However, it is also good to take note of the smaller community gardens throughout the region. These may not be so large and well manicured, but they can offer an opportunity…

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Alaska Sojourn: Where are the Moose in Anchorage?

After a cloudy day on Monday, we woke to another blue sky day on Tuesday. While we were in the city of Anchorage, nature was not far away so we continued to enjoy the nature of Alaska. Chugach State Park is a short drive from Anchorage and offers a number of outdoor activities. We chose to go to the Eagle River section of the park for a hike. Unlike our hike the previous Wednesday, this hike had little elevation gain.…

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Alaska Sojourn: Exit Glacier and the Whittier Tunnel

We woke up on Monday to grey skies in Seward, Alaska. It was a bit of a disappointment after the fabulous blue skies of yesterday, but blue skies don’t last forever. We would make the most of this day no matter the weather. Our plan was to drive back to Anchorage, our last stop on this sojourn. Before we left Seward, however, we planned to visit Exit Glacier which was the basis for the name of our accommodation, Exit Glacier…

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Alaska Sojourn: A Great Day Sailing the Alaskan Fjords

The sun was shining brightly as we got up Sunday morning. We had not anticipated that as the previous day had been quite cloudy. The blue skies seemed a good omen for our day on the water. Today we would take a six hour boat ride through the fjords out of Seward and see parts of the Kenai Fjords National Park. In this post be prepared for lots of photos as I took nearly 500 photos on our tour. There…

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Alaska Sojourn: The Snow Clad Mountains to Seward

Saturday was a transition day. We would be leaving the interior of Alaska and traveling south to Seward on the Kenai Peninsula. This would be another long day of driving for us. After packing up our stuff and getting it all in the car, we left for the first stop on our journey south, the tourist town of Talkeetna. The town is actual quite close to where we were staying as the crow flies. Unfortunately the Susitna River separates the…

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Alaska Sojourn: It’s Denali Day

Denali is a well known national park in Alaska. Because of its more remote location, it is not visited as much as some parks in the lower 48. When people do visit, they most likely visit for one of two reasons. First they want to see Denali, the mountain. As the highest mountain in the United States, it is obviously worthy of a visit. The second reason is visitors want to see animals, big animals like moose, bear, or caribou.…

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Alaska Sojourn: Unique Ice Sculpting to Grand Landscapes

Thursday dawned early in Fairbanks, but we were not awake to take note. When we were finally up and ready to go, we needed to pack our car as today we would be traveling south. It turns out I made an unfortunate error when I booked our hotel for our Denali visit. The place is actually two hours south of the Denali entrance. My daughter discovered this the day before we left so not much we could do about it.…

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Alaska Sojourn: Hiking Success Near the Chena River

I have wanted to go to Alaska for some time, but it never happened. This spring my daughter suggested we go there for a summer vacation. When airline prices came up that were a great deal, we made the call. We would finally visit the huge state of Alaska. Our sojourn would begin in Fairbanks and end in Anchorage. Our flight arrived in Fairbanks about 9:00 PM the day after the summer solstice. The sun would set at about 12:45am…

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