Alaska: Day 8

We had another tasty breakfast at the Rowdy Radish in Seward before hitting the beautiful, scenic road back to Anchorage.

On the way back, we stopped at Hope (an old mining town that was basically closed) and also the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. As I look through my photos, hilariously I only have photos of lupine, but we did see bears (my first!), bison, porcupine, and others. 

Lupine

Afterward we hit a couple of breweries, including one I'd really been wanting to visit - Anchorage Brewing Co. - and one that Burt and Linda had wanted to visit - King Street Brewery.

Dave and Burt at Anchorage Brewing Co.

For our last meal, we went to the Crow's Nest, maybe the fanciest spot in town. We hit the mother lode of fresh veggies, seafood, and nice cocktails. We also teed up some ideas to travel together again in the future, and heartily invited Burt and Linda to Maine.

I would definitely visit Alaska again, and hope I do so. Every way you look, there is beauty. I hope that our country can preserve that for the future.

Alaska: Day 7

For our day in Seward, we enjoyed a tea, golden milk, and breakfast sandwiches at local spots, including the Rowdy Radish (which I kept calling the Randy Radish).

There were a lot of super cute arts and crafts stores in the Seward downtown with lots of work by local artists. I bought a lot of cards, including some new puffin cards for my work wife who wants to eat puffins (maybe) and also a magnet with a parody of the Dark Side of the Moon, replacing Moon with Loon. It was amazing.

We drove out of town to the Exit Glacier Hike in Kenai Fjords National Park. The park service had placed signs to show where the glacier was several years ago, or 50 years ago, or 100+ years ago. It was sobering.

You can always tell the glaciers apart from snow by their characteristic blue hue:

Exit Glacier

We had snacks and beer flights at the Tidewater Taphouse, which sold Burt and Linda's favorite type of smoked fish schmear. 

Then we headed to the Alaska SeaLife Center just before they closed for the day. Burt and Linda are members there and showed us the walrus they got to hang out with, as well as the sea birds they got to feed. The sea birds were super fun to watch, even if we were afraid we were going to get pooped on.

Alaska has two types of puffins, including one with eyebrows! You could also pet starfish and sea anemones, which I saw others doing but I was a'scared.

Then at the end of the day, we visited the Cookery for dinner, where Dave had the best oysters of his life. I couldn't believe he'd like an oyster more than the Maine or Rhode Island oysters, but there you go. Apparently next time we have to get to Homer, where they are grown!

Alaska: Day 6

On this day, we got up early to head down the Kenai Peninsula to Whittier, where we were to board a boat for a glacier sightseeing cruise. It was an extraordinarily scenic drive - as is everything in Alaska, I suppose - and we even had time to shop at the Prince William Sound Salt Company!

Burt and Linda had taken pity on us to bring some extra raincoats, and although it was chilly, it wasn't rainy (phew). The cruise company was the Phillips 26 Glacier Cruise, which I highly recommend. They fed us (salmon chowder and warm cookies!), we got margaritas with glacier ice, and in addition to the promised glaciers, we saw surprise sea otters!

A float of otters in Prince William Sound

They were super playful and mostly stayed away from the boat, but a few of them were curious enough to come over and say hi. We also saw seals, kittiwakes, and a bald eagle (which unfortunately had eaten one of the kittiwakes, haha).

Group photo!!

We visited College Fjord, which had a lot of glaciers named after colleges with which I'm now familiar (as well as some Ivies). The glaciers were interesting; many were receding, and we learned about ice fields and more.

We headed out of Whittier, "catching the tunnel," as they say - it opens every half hour, I think. It's a one-way tunnel built by the Army when Whittier was a base. More beauty on the drive, then arrived in Seward in time for dinner at our hotel, the aptly named Hotel Seward. We walked on the seashore a bit, saving the rest for the next day.

Alaska: Day 5

First up today was meeting Burt and Linda at the Alaska Botanical Garden, which my friends are members of and where there were beautiful spring wildflowers and orchids in bloom. The blue poppies were not quite ready, but there were some yellow ones.

Burt, who I have posted about before, is a good friend from college. Hopefully we didn't bore Linda and Dave with our reminiscing. Linda met Burt at grad school at University of Minnesota and was, until recently a Park Service employee. That's a whole sentence right there.

Afterward we got breakfast at the Spenard Roadhouse, where a lot of people were having Father's Day brunch and we all had cocktails to toast the trip.

Burt and Linda had not visited Hive Mind Meadery, which we had put high on our list after having been introduced to mead by Burt and Linda themselves at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. It was a super fun spot!

We made the drive up to the Overlook Trail, which boasts amazing views of Anchorage, but what we were far more interested in was the foliage. I loved all the wild lupines, and Burt and Linda showed us all kinds of beautiful wildflowers. Dave got some new birds for his life list, too! I really loved the flora. It was vibrant in its own quiet way.

For our last meal of the day, we visited My Shawarma, a restaurant Burt loves and which we all enjoyed despite the hijinx. First off, they gave Linda the wrong meal (a falafel wrap rather than a lamb plate) - but it was good! Second off, Burt ordered an injera lamb dish, which was absolutely enormous and which we all had to help with. But it was super tasty, and we got to enjoy a Dubai chocolate bar. 

Tomorrow off to the Kenai Peninsula!

Alaska: Day 4

We started the day with a food tour in the downtown area - we love to do these while traveling.

First stop was Snow City Cafe for a tasty yogurt parfait - they make their own granola. Mmm. Next stop was Biscuit Club where we enjoyed some biscuits with gravy. We also enjoyed a fireweed donut and samovar tea at a small shop, and finally a seafood sampler at Humpy's. We also learned about Anchorage and Alaska history, including the Iditarod, which begins right where we stood!

Iditarod map in Anchorage

We also visited some yarn stores, where I bought a little rabbit pompom to go with a hat I made from rabbit "wool" some time ago, as well as more qiviut. We visited Onsite Brewing and then headed to the coastal trail for a bike rental.

The "mud flats" on the shores of Anchorage are apparently quite dangerous, similar to quicksand. We rode along them and worried for the few people and dogs we saw, after the stories we heard!

It was a nice, sunny day, and we felt we worked off some of the calories from the morning food tour. At least enough to visit 49th State Brewing, one of the hottest dinners in town. We shared a flight, had a nice seafood dinner, and split a pair of king crab legs. They were about like disassembling some Maine lobsters!

Alaska: Day 3

Denali day!

We woke up super early for the bus tour of Denali - and it didn't seem that early because it was so bright out from the mid-June all-day sun! The buses are the only way to get into the park, which keeps the animals and environment safe from tourists running ramshod everywhere in their own cars. You can pick times throughout the day, but the early one is the best chance of seeing the best and biggest wildlife.

Dawn in Denali National Park

Within minutes of setting out, we left the treeline and entered the willow-bound tundra. We had had lovely views of Denali the previous day, but got to see her again here:

The white mountain is Denali

On the bus tour, we got to see:

• Dall sheep
• Moose (our first!!)
• Porcupines
• Willow ptarmigans
• Arctic ground squirrels
• Caribou

The caribou in particular were so close, numerous, and beautiful as they munched on the ground cover. I also loved the ptarmigans, which are the Alaska state bird.

The bus system really seems like the way to go. At first it's annoying not to have the freedom to drive around at your own pace, but the guide tells you all about the park, the animals don't care about the buses (the guide said the animals pay them not much more mind than a passing cloud), and each bus takes about 20 cars off the road. A few other national parks use the bus system, such as Zion, and I could think of others who would benefit. For example, ones that are so crowded that you can hardly find parking (Yosemite, Acadia) or ones where tourists injure or kill animals (or are injured by animals themselves).

After the bus tour, we took a hike around Horseshoe Lake, where I was thrilled to find a beaver dam!! We didn't see the beevs, though.

Beaver dam in Denali - Horseshoe Lake

The glacial water is always so blue and beautiful. Here are the beaver lodges, too.

Beaver lodges in Denali - Horseshoe Lake

On the way back, we visited Matanuska Brewing; I forgot to mention this was our first visit together to Alaska, so this was our first beer check-in within the state of Alaska. Only a few left to go.

My friend Burt met us for dinner at Alaska Chopped and Chowdered, where we enjoyed salmon and halibut. The salmon season is beginning, and everything was tasty. The restaurant was closing and it was still super bright out, which was disorienting. Throughout the trip, we'd be going, going, going, then suddenly tiredness would hit us like a ton of bricks around 10:30. The days of the midnight sun are beautiful, but disorienting!

Our road

Alaska: Day 2

We shut the shades last night and slept for quite a long time - a full eight hours! The hotel (Homewood Suites Anchorage) had a great fruit bar, and Dave brought up heaps of berries and tea, and we started to feel better after a long day of flights yesterday.

First up was a hearty Alaskan breakfast at Gwennie's, where we found tasty crab benedicts and reindeer sausage.

Gwennie's Old Alaska Restaurant

We stopped by the Alaska Native Heritage Center for the exhibits and a craft fair, then up to the Musk Ox Farm for a tour (!!!).

Glorious mama musk ox with lots of qiviut hanging off her

Most of the oxen had been brushed after the winter; they have two coats and the beautiful (expensive!) yarn only comes from the winter coat: qiviut. The four mamas had been reluctant to run through the barn yet, so they were still pretty shaggy with their adorable little babies.

A mama musk ox with a 7-week-old baby (!!)

Each year they name the babies with a theme; last year it was egg dishes, so there was Quiche and Benedict. I don't remember the babies from this year.

Next we visited Bleeding Heart Brewery, which is in the same town (Palmer) as the Musk Ox Farm, then up to Denali Brewing for a very tasty pizza, salad, and beer flight. I think this was my favorite brewery of the entire trip.

We were heading north to stay near Denali National Park for a tour the next day. We stopped for a hike on the Oxbow Trail, which boasted some stunning views of a river:

A lovely hike

We stayed at Denali Cabins, which were super cute and close to the park. We had initially booked a hotel in Talkeetna, but the company was able to transfer us up to their other property free of charge when we actually secured a spot on a bus tour. Gotta love good customer service!

Alaska: Day 1

We're going to Alaska!

The flight was fairly long from Maine, but the mountains were worth it!

My list of flight movies were pretty funny; first I watched "The Bird Cage," then "Space Jam," then the Talking Heads concert film "Stop Making Sense." It was my first time watching "Space Jam," which was pretty bad. "Stop Making Sense" is always a good call, though.

Ireland/Scotland, Day 11: Edinburgh

For our last day, we had a hefty breakfast at the hotel, then walked around the old town yet again. On the way to other things, we stumbled upon Victoria Street, allegedly JK Rowling's inspiration for Diagon Alley in Harry Potter...

Victoria Street

Then we visited Greyfriar's Kirkyard, a really cool old cemetery.

Greyfriar's Kirkyard

I thought it was fun to just walk around in, but the book said that some of the names also inspired characters or families in Harry Potter.

We were quickly running out of room in our suitcases, so I dropped off a book I'd finished on the trip at a Little Free Library, then we headed in the National Museum of Scotland. The artifacts told us a lot about how the Scottish clans and tribes lived for centuries, but the history went up right to the present, which was neat. The museum itself is organized in a kind of bonkers fashion, so prepare to get lost.

Next up, the big kahuna: Edinburgh Castle!

Edinburgh Castle

Word to the wise, book your trip online early. If you get a QR code ticket in your inbox, just go right to the people checking tickets in the line, don't stop at the booth. The machines don't work and we ended up frustrating ourselves.

The castle tour was really cool, especially the views, crown jewels, and the many layers of castle battlements. So much history happened in the walls. I didn't realize how much was recent, too - like a lot of Edinburgh, parts date to the 1800s but look much older.

After the castle, we went across the river for a beer at the Guilford Arms, a fun little bar where we grabbed some local beers. It was recommended by the book, and the decor gave plenty to look at.

We had been recommended to Dishoom, a tasty chain of Indian restaurants with a location in Edinburgh. We got a smattering of dishes and were extremely happy with our picks. 

I think dinner was at something like 3:15 p.m., so we realized we had some time to kill before going back to the hotel to chill. We walked Prince's Park and then stopped in the National Gallery. There, Dave found yet another surprise Vermeer on the trip (I don't think he had seen this one, though) and I saw the iconic stag painting in situ:

The National Gallery was really impressive; we tried to focus on the Scottish paintings, and I'm sure we didn't see most of the museum in the time that we had. 

The gift shop was super neat, with yet more textiles that made me drool. The whole trip was full of such things, which is helping give me inspiration for some projects at home. Right now I have a lot of yarn and have cast on some sweater projects that aren't inspiring me, so it was nice to be somewhere with a vibrant textile culture to get some inspiration.

Scarves at the National Gallery gift shop

And that's that - our Scottish trip came to a close! We loved both Scotland and Ireland and would definitely go back; next time we'd spend more time on Islay and in Glasgow, and I'd love to see Balmoral and all the wild beauty up there. Of course, we made a list of movies set in Scotland, most of which are in the Highlands, so we have that to look forward to. 

No more trips scheduled for the rest of the year right now, but we're thinking of going somewhere relaxing and warm in February. This was kind of a "go, go, go" trip, I'd like to just relax somewhere, maybe at a resort with one good excursion per day.

Ireland/Scotland, Day 10: Edinburgh

For our first full day in Edinburgh, we focused on some of the big-ticket tourist items from the guidebook, including St. Giles Cathedral...

St. Giles Cathedral

And Glastone's Land, which is an old home / business building that has been preserved as a way to show how people lived in the 1500s to the 1800s. I was glad we started with this, as it showed a lot of general Edinburgh history.

We needed to get some Swatch watches repaired, so Dave and I visited the Swatch store, where we not only got those watches fixed, but Dave got a beautiful new Swatch. The Edinburgh Swatch was cute, but not cute enough for me to spring for it.

We enjoyed lunch at Whiski Rooms, which had a nice fish and chips, and more whiskies for Dave to sample. 

After lunch, we went down to Dovecot Studios, a weaving and fiber arts cooperative (the rainbow spiral above right is from a stairwell).

Dovecot Studios

The main exhibition room had beautiful textiles on view, plus you got to look down at weavers making beautiful things.

A textile at Dovecot Studios

Their gift shop is super cute, too, even if you don't want to look at the exhibitions.

Then we walked over to Parliament, where we took a tour, and we were not able to take a tour of the Palace of Holyroodhouse because there was a royal visit or something (I guess that happens when you're in the UK!). So we hiked up the trail to Arthur's Seat. Although we didn't go all the way up to the crazy high part, the part we did complete was fun and we had very nice views of the city.

Hiking up to Arthur's Seat

As we were descending from Arthur's Seat, chilly air and mist blew in, obscuring everything. Glad we got our photos when it was sunny and clear!

We stopped for a few beer samples at Holyrood 9A, which had a nice selection from all over Scotland. 

On our way back to the hotel to change before dinner, a shop caught my eye: Scottish Textiles Showcase. I was going to buy a beautiful woven zip bag and some yarn, and then saw the most beautiful coat in the whole world, Harris Tweed and A-line. It was expensive and I wasn't sure how I was going to fit it in the bag, but I couldn't not buy it. And luckily I had bought a lot of goodwill with Dave with all the scotch.

We had dinner at Wedgewood the Restaurant, which has a tasting menu, but we weren't feeling up to it after really going to town on breakfast and lunch. One of our waitresses was American and we asked her a lot of questions about how to emigrate...you know, for a friend...

Ireland/Scotland, Day 9: Edinburgh

After another great breakfast at our B&B on Skye (and can I just say how nice it was to stay at a place for more than one day?), we started our long drive to Edinburgh.

On the way, we stopped at the Dalwhinnie Distillery, which Dave was excited about because it was the first Scottish whisky that he truly appreciated. It's not super peaty, but it's a little more approachable. 

Before dropping off the rental car, we stopped at the Royal Yacht Britannia, which is in the northeast of Edinburgh. 

If you've seen "The Crown," you know that the yacht was taken out of commission in the 1990s as austerity measures forced the royal family to give it up when it couldn't be reserviced. 

What I didn't know is that now you can tour it!

At right is a room where the royal family liked to lounge and relax, right near a deck that provided an open space for being together. Everything was a little more cramped than I expected, but then again, it is a boat.

Of course, there are spaces on the boat designed for large state dinners and entertaining, where many famous people enjoyed meals, receptions, and dancing. 

Apparently now regular people can also rent out this space for weddings and other stuff. Not sure how Queen Elizabeth felt (or would feel) about that. There were nice photos of Charles coming back to the boat for a reunion with some of the old staff members. Obviously this was a special place with positive memories for all of them.

For dinner, we hit Timberyard, a Michelin star restaurant in Edinburgh. I tried my first tripe, and the booze pairing was very nice. I decided to splurge, since now I could enjoy as much as I wanted, not having to drive! Dave thought I got pretty funny.

On first glance, Edinburgh reminded me of Prague and Salzburg, what with the medieval streets and fortress at the pinnacle. We stayed near the downtown and turned in early, getting ready for the next two days - the last destination of the trip.

Ireland/Scotland, Day 8: Isle of Skye

On Skye, we stayed at the Homeleigh B&B; it was very comfortable, affordable, and had an absolutely delightful breakfast. Skye is definitely bigger than I thought, though, and it was pretty far away from a lot of the stuff we wanted to do. Oh well! 

We did take a nice walk in the morning and met yet more sheep...

Skye sheep

First stop (after breakfast and the sheep) was a whisky tour and tasting for Dave at Torabhaig ("Tor-Veg") Distillery, one of the newer distilleries in Scotland. It was a small shop, and he was happy he did a tour here rather than one of the bigger shops. We learned about Scotch making and also the Viking-related history of the area. 

Next up was Shilasdair yarn shop, a few minutes north of Portree. These completely gorgeous yarns are all of Scottish origin and from natural dyes. The photo doesn't do it justice, but you can see how they match each other with the natural colorways.

Natural dyed yarn at Shilasdair Shop

Next we hiked the Old Man of Storr, a trail that goes right up a mountain to some cool rock formations at the top. As usual, Dave was there for the view, but I was there for the little things along the way.

Violets

The views were nice though.

Old Man of Storr, Skye

The "old man" is at left, and you can see the scale by Dave standing to the right. He's tiny!

Before dinner (another reservation! word to the wise!), we zipped over to Talisker Distillery, which was Dave's second favorite whisky on the trip. It's not a brand I've seen a lot, but Dave knew it. 

Then back to Portree for dinner at Scorrybreac, a restaurant probably too nice for the way we were looking and smelling after our hike, but oh well. It was tasty and I recommend it.

Allegedly there is a hike to a seal island not far from the ferry pier, which was near the B&B, but we couldn't find it. Instead, we walked up the pier, where we found these fun signs. Might be something to put on the wall.

Sign on Skye pier

Ireland/Scotland, Day 7: Glencoe, Skye

We woke up near Glencoe and immediately did two short hikes, both of which were amazing:

Glencoe hike

One included a down and back trail by a creek, and the other was near the Glencoe visitor's center. Both included excellent moss also:

Thick moss!!

I got my entire fist into this moss! It was fabulous! I wanted to take it home with me, but alas, I could not.

Glencoe hike #2

Hike #2 had a lot more pine trees, and the visitor's center noted why the highlands are so bald - locals were cutting down the trees for centuries, and now there is nothing left. (Kind of reminded me of Iceland.) In a lot of areas, they are starting to plant more trees to bring back the landscape and wildlife.

Dave realized that we were not far from Castle Stalker, which featured as Castle Aargh!, where they are led to the Holy Grail in the Monty Python movie. It has an interesting history, including being lost in a drunken gambling bet by a local clan.

Castle Stalker

We did another hike in Invergarry that I didn't take any pictures on, but it was also fabulously mossy. Obviously.

On our way to the Isle of Skye, we also stopped to snap a photo of Eilean Donan Castle, which is also on an island, but at least this one has a bridge.

Eilean Donan Castle

Speaking of islands and bridges, we were headed to the Isle of Skye, which is reachable by ferry or bridge, and we picked bridge this time.

We were advised to book dinner tables at Skye in advance "or risk being disappointed." Thus it was that we were able to enjoy a tasty dinner at Dulse & Brose in Portree. Lots of fresh, local ingredients; I had fish & chips.

Our book recommends the ride from Broadford to Elgol, so we hit it at the magic hour.

Gorgeous stone wall on Skye

It really was a very nice ride, but I'm not sure that it was more beautiful than other rides we'd taken in Connemara or the Highlands. But it was very nice.

More gorse, of course

Ireland/Scotland, Day 6: Glasgow, Oban

We woke up in Glasgow and walked around exploring - it reminded me of Chicago and I'd love to go back!

We visited Glasgow Cathedral, which had beautiful stone arches and morning light. The grave of St. Mungo is in the lower level; Harry Potter readers will note that name!

After the cathedral, we wanted to take a spin past the Lord Wellington statue in front of the Gallery of Modern Art, which is a cheeky little piece of classical-turned-modern art. The cone comes on, the cone goes off (but lately it seems to be on). He is sassy! The gallery was neat to run through, too, with lots of glass to ogle.

Next, we took our rental car out of town to Oban, where we ate at the tasty seafood shack (literally called "Green Shack" on a lot of guides and Google Maps) and got Dave more whisky tastings at Oban Distillery. My friend had recently been to Oban and found some yarn bombs, but I didn't find them.

Check out the neat moss that I found on the bay walls in Oban - love the different stripes and colors!

We continued into the highlands, where we got dinner and ciders at Clachaig Inn in Glencoe. You can stay there, too, but we didn't. Dave got his first haggis there, and I got vegetarian haggis, which was delightful. 

Driving through Glencoe and the Highlands was stunning; I'll have more photos tomorrow from the hike. It was hard to drive around when I wanted to look at it all!