Heather Nicaise

Reason's Greetings

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:44:52 -0800

Happy Belated Winter Solstice. Axial tilt is the reason for the season!

I spent Monday hiking under a beautiful overcast sky while watching Mount Baldy disappear and reappear as the clouds flowed over the ridges and through the sky. Perfection.

Snowflakes

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 16:51:43 -0800

The best time of the year is here! It’s cold and snowy. It can’t get any better than that.

Inside Passage

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:12:12 -0700

The last day of the cruise was spent cruising the Inside Passage. The next morning we docked in Vancouver, British Columbia to fly home.

Will I travel with Celebrity again? Certainly: next month!

Will I return to Alaska? Many times! And if life goes according to my own plans, permanently.

Ketchikan

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:07:58 -0700

I was alone again for my quarantine period on the day we were docked at Ketchikan. This was the view from our balcony.

We hadn’t originally booked a balcony and later changed our booking to include one. I am very glad we changed rooms. If the price is right for you, make sure to get a room with a veranda. It was worth it to us.

Hoonah: Icy Strait Point

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:01:51 -0700

Because I travel in style, I became violently ill after leaving Skagway. This involved a quarantine period. My husband was able to go on our scheduled whale watch and grizzly bear search.

I had been looking forward to this day for months (and even bought a special lens especially for these excursions) so this was a huge disappointment. This was really nothing I could do as I was ill and feeling quite poorly. That’s life! I suppose it can be used as a very valid excuse to return to Hoonah some day. I hear the whale watching is fantastic!

Skagway & White Pass

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 17:51:20 -0700

We went hiking around Lower Dewey Lake in Skagway and it ended up being a little more of an adventure than we expected. I lost my footing on the rockier side of the lake and if there hadn’t been a tree to break my fall, I might’ve been at the bottom of the lake. Fortunately, I never got wet and only had a huge lovely bruise as a souvenir and a great bloody mess to clean up. As I was limping along, we lost the trail and had to wander around a bit to find the trail that had disappeared in the boulders. We’re experienced enough hikers to not end up as lost tourists in the Alaskan wilderness.

The afternoon was spent briefly exploring the White Pass in British Columbia. I could have photographed for days up there!