Week Twenty: Photo a Day 2009

I am slowly catching up, just one week behind at this point. Here is WEEK 20 of our "Photo a Day" project. The cruise along the Inside passage of Alaska has been amazing. We enjoyed our stops in Ketchican, Juneau and Skagway. And we've had great weather and actually got to see a big chunk of an iceberg break off a glacier and splash in the bay. We've seen whales, seals, and bears.

The highlight so far was our fight tour around Mt. McKinley. It was crystal clear from top to bottom and the views, where ever you looked, were breathtaking. Our trip into Denali was fun with sightings of moose, caribou, sheep, squirrels, ducks and birds. We even saw a ptarmigan, Alaska's state bird.Paper and elements from Stacey Tower's Stacey's Scraps “A Touch of Romance.”
Paper and elements from Vicki Parker's A Work in Progress “A Touch of Romance.”

Later.

Week Nineteen: Photo a Day 2009

Here is WEEK 19 of our "Photo a Day" project. It was hectic getting ready for Alaska, although I did take the time to read a book and we spent an afternoon at a fun party for our friend Peggy who has been though quite an ordeal with cancer. She has a great attitude and appears to be okay now.

Our Alaska trip has been wonderful so far. We enjoyed our short visit to Vancouver and now Gene wishes we had gone earlier. Already we are eating too much on the ship, even though the food isn't as good as we expected it to be. But what the heck, it's there. We've enjoyed the shows, the sea air and just being able to relax. Gene is ecstatic that I'm not on the Internet.Paper and elements from Manue Merepoule’s Digi Scrap Booking Boutique “Pretty.”

Later.

Week Eighteen: Photo a Day 2009

Here is WEEK 18 of our "Photo a Day" project. Since we had one more week before we would be headed to Alaska much of the week was spent in preparation. Gene spent time fixing the condo not knowing if the tenant was staying or not. I spent all my time on "ski club business."

I also experience a minor crisis with a camera I ordered for the trip. The original camera sent was not the one ordered but an upgrade. BUT it didn't have any of the same features so I had to send it back and search for the one I wanted. Crazy, but I love the new camera. Wait until you see my Alaska photos.Paper from from Vicki Parker’s A Work in Progress “Exotic Laughter.” Elements are from clip art I've modified.

Later.

Flight Seeing Mt. McKinley

We had an amazing and extremely long day yesterday. We got up at 4 AM after the sun rose to get out last meal on the cruise ship. We then boarded a train to take us to Talkeetna with these wonderful views of Mt. McKinley, known to native Alaskans as simply Denali or "The High One."

The weather has been unbelievable on this trip— relatively warm with bright sunny days. The views have been breathtaking. We've been told many times by different people that Alaska does not often get weather like this and that most people who come here never see the peak of Mt. McKinley.

After a bit of discussion we decided we had to flight see Denali. In addition to the trip around Mt. McKinley, we were treated to a glacier landing at the 7,000 foot hikers Base Camp. Here's a photo of us at base camp with Denali in the background. We finally arrived at our hotel at 10:30 PM and it was still full-on daylight.Hope to catch up with scrapping my daily photos and have an Alaskan photo gallery for you soon.

Later.

Week Seventeen: Photo a Day 2009

Here is WEEK 17 of our "Photo a Day" project. This week began the end of our FIVE week-plus long ski trip. We are still playing catch up and there never seems to be enough time. And time has run out for us since we take off tomorrow morning for a week of cruising the Alaskan north gulf followed by a trip to Mt. McKinley, Denali and perhaps the Artic Circle.Paper and elements from Sara’s Sweet Blossom Designs “Bee Happy.”

Later.

Big White Photo Gallery

Just finished up the Big White photo gallery — Week THREE & FOUR of our mega ski trip. We took lots of photos and had a really great time. The skiing ranged from slush to powder to packed powder to hard pack to powder on hard pack. We had snow and sunshine with temperatures around 32°F. We skied, snowmobiled and tubed. We had soak time, followed by Happy Hours, followed by dinners in our condo. We did dine at our favorite restaurant, Kettle Valley, and experienced the unique gun barrel coffee and chocolate at Snow Shoes. It was an amazing week. Catherine and Gene hung around for another week with Shirley. The season ended with the usual Dummies Downhill. We are another great Big White trip coming up for 2010. We plan to cruise for LA to Vancouver days before the start of the Olympics. We will then bus to Big White for 5 days of skiing while enjoying the Olympics on the Big Screen. Since we will be in Canada we will definitely catch the Olympic fever. Prices will be announced soon but you can get a sneak peak at Big White Olympic Fever.

Later.

Week Sixteen: Photo a Day 2009

Here is WEEK 16 of our "Photo a Day" project. This was week FIVE of our month-plus long ski trip. We were in Big White for two weeks. We skied everything from slush to fresh powder to ice to packed powder to powder on ice to firm pack. The last day stayed cold and we skied on some pretty firm stuff that was unbelievably fast and fun. The trees were skied out. We hung around Big White for another couple of days to clean, repair and schedule repairs. We love our home at the Stonebridge Lodge in Big White.We are still in catch up mode. Catherine has a bunch of "ski club" awards stuff to administer while Gene is refurbishing his rental unit for new tenants. We have another week before we cruise to Alaska and visit McKinley and Denali.

Paper and elements from Nicole’s Digi-Designs by Nicole “Summer Days.”

Later.