As you can see by the title it was down time for our wallets and we stayed inside except for the occasional walk in the fresh air but generally it was catch up time on the blog and some reading and some TV viewing of a number of shows that we brought with us. Obviously we did get the opportunity to have laughter at the antics of the lovely young people staying here who all seem to whinge about being more than broke but what are we drinking and where are we going tonight???
Apparently there is a hot tub party happening - we're not invited we just eaves dropped and picked up this information. And one girl is amazed that everyone knows her business 12 hours after it happens - hey even we know she woke up in a boys bed last night - he snored so she didn't stay long this morning - what did you call that Bobbie Bell The Walk of Fame!!!!!! She seemed generally impressed. Are we sounding old yet?? he he he
We have settled in though and have found a few places in this quite large facility to spread out and be comfortable to do our research, organising (we did do a little work ie travel stuff like how the hell do we get to our next destination without any trains running!!!!) and general TV watching without having to share it with the kiddies. We will get to the New York accommodation tomorrow Sarah ...we will let you know we promise :)
Off to watch more TV and hopefully finish my (Elona) book. Hey Conor, sweetie I'm just about ready for book 12 when you have a moment to send it they would be grand!!! (Robert Jordan Wheel of Time)
Night all
Monday, January 3, 2011
Whistler Day 2
Elona Typing
We slept in - shock horror - hey we were in good company!! Apart from our little chicky we are sharing with who got a call at 7am from some friend who was keen to go up the mountain and make tracks! So after a bit of an interruption there we promptly went back to sleep - the joys of hostel living!
We ventured back into town today to catch a movie: and neither of us at this time can remember the name of the bloody thing - it had Reese Witherspoon in it...You know what to do...How do you know or something it was called - it made a huge impact as you can see.
As always being in the village a few purchases were made - we both decided that maybe less time in the village might be nicer on the wallets!! We did though need some NON box carton like food and went to the local market to buy some real food and brought that back to the hostel to label and date and put in the fridge with the other 300 odd occupants' food in the massive clear fronted (thank god) fridges. We did take some photos of this food storage - it's worth a look - they have done this on a grand scale due to this being the athletes residence at one point.
Home and bed - sorry guys not much of interest for today.
We slept in - shock horror - hey we were in good company!! Apart from our little chicky we are sharing with who got a call at 7am from some friend who was keen to go up the mountain and make tracks! So after a bit of an interruption there we promptly went back to sleep - the joys of hostel living!
We ventured back into town today to catch a movie: and neither of us at this time can remember the name of the bloody thing - it had Reese Witherspoon in it...You know what to do...How do you know or something it was called - it made a huge impact as you can see.
As always being in the village a few purchases were made - we both decided that maybe less time in the village might be nicer on the wallets!! We did though need some NON box carton like food and went to the local market to buy some real food and brought that back to the hostel to label and date and put in the fridge with the other 300 odd occupants' food in the massive clear fronted (thank god) fridges. We did take some photos of this food storage - it's worth a look - they have done this on a grand scale due to this being the athletes residence at one point.
Home and bed - sorry guys not much of interest for today.
Whistler Day 1
Elona typing
Arriving a place at night is wonderful for morning surprises. Yes the lovely Olympic Torch lights are effective at night but the mountains in the morning are beautiful and quite a surprise when you didn't see them the night before. Now we don't want to sound negative but the both of us could only hold back for so long before we discussed what we thought of the place: It's pretty is the consensus. We were absolutely spoilt in Alaska - this is hard to explain - the scenery in Alaska is breathtakingly stunning, it's difficult to tear your eyes away so to come here which is really pretty...we kinda think maybe we should have done it the other way round. But no matter onward we go. We head into town via bus; conveniently located down the street, after having a lovely breakfast at the hostel cafe. The trip in was interesting, about 20 minutes and the houses are luxurious - we are talking 2 to 8 million dollar places here. This I confirmed by reading the paper...the prices are very steep; I found a room you could buy in a house for $489 thousand: WOW!
Whistler Village is a shopping mecca - any label you want is here!! Very easy to spend money on shopping and food. The most amazing thing happened though on our wanders through the village (it's quite large really) we ran into Tash from Perisher (NSW) Ski Rider who we know through the school trip we take every year. Tash and her boyfriend Johnno told us that they would be out here for 6 months but neither of us thought we'd run into them the first day if at all. What was even funnier is we ran into Johnno the following day in the street - just hilarious really. It did not take us long to realise that Whistler is aptly named: "North Sydney"!! There are about 80% Australian population here ranging from 18 to 30 years and then families. We seem to be the odd age without the family - hey we consider ourselves family but I guess that's not quite the same thing.
Megs Typing:
As the afternoon was coming to a close we decided we should take the opportunity to buy a few breakfast essentials, tea, coffee and yes we remembered the sugar, cereal and milk, plus one of the quick and easy cardboard meals which tastes like a quick and easy cardboard meal.... The grocery store was packed - New Years Eve everyone was buying their last minute party preparations before the store closed. We purchased our tickets earlier to the "First Night Festival" 0% alcohol 100% fun. We headed back to the hostel to pack away our food stuffs and dress for a cold night of festivities.
We headed back to the Village around 6 - 6.30pm to investigate the two locations full of promised activities....Before we left we noticed a lot of young people carbing up on their pasta dinners discussing how expensive beer is over here and planning a large night of non-stop partying - happy to be going out at this point.
We arrived in the Village centre got checked in via security for our ticket, saw the stage with the 19 year old musician playing and 3 people watching???? Music was not that great and it was early - that might explain the slow start to the evening. Not wanting to insult our ears any longer that necessary, we decided to walk around and window shop, stopped in for 2 crepes with lemon and sugar for Elona and Cream of Spinach soup for me - was lovely. Off we wandered again looking at all the stores (souvenir shops mostly), we checked on the program for the second location holding activities for the evening.
We made maple syrup taffy sticks - they pour boiling hot taffy syrup on a bed of ice, then using a very large paddle pop stick you roll up the taffy as it cools to make like a lolly pop. Very nice but Very sweet and extremely STICKY.... We ran into 2 Canadian Mounties (not sure about their authenticity) but they looked good - see photo with Elona. We looked around and they had put on an amazing event for little kids. Jugglers and similar performers, make your own party hat, create something to put in the time capsule, painting and art and crafts for all, there was also a junior dance party for under 19s in the same venue.
Time for another wander and maybe some coffee - have decided that gingerbread mocha creations are very tasty. The main stage area now had almost 100 people gathered to listen to a group called "Five Alarm Funk". They were good, we bought all 3 albums. We decided that we did not have the stamina to wait out the next hour in the cold before they returned for their final set in the lead up to the big count down. Back on the bus heading for home....just waiting for the bus was all kinds of entertainment (kind of sad entertainment, but entertainment none the less) - icy conditions do not lend well to fashion shoes and short skirts. New Years eve invites the lure of fashion shoes with very high heals and very little grip. Add alcohol and less than chivalrous escorts; also with alcohol and there is a lot of people lucky not to have broken ankles for the first day of 2011. There was one group of bus stop dwellers who were betting on the likely hood of slips and spills from the people walking across the road.
Home before midnight - all is quiet here???HMMMMM? Chatted with Linda (Roommate for the night), her and her husband stayed here for the party - which turned out to be everyone watching "True Lies" yes that is right the Arnold Swarzenegger (oh whatever) movie. Linda said it was truly hilarious as most of the audience had never seen the film being only 3 when it first came out.
One tragedy early in the evening - one girl drank herself into a dangerously unconscious state and passed out in the bathroom. Luckily she did not have the where with all to lock the toilet and was found in time for the ambulance to be called and have her taken to the hospital to get her stomach pumped.
Elona typing
Meg's has not mentioned the exciting bus ride home where a delightfully pissed chappy decided to empty the contents of his stomach whilst still on the bus - the very crowded bus - not once but twice...ooohhhh dear. Breathing through our mouths we made it back to the hostel vomit free - surprisingly...you know how sometimes that whole domino effect happens. anyway I made a facetime call to my baby: Mandel and we were talking as the New Year rolled around - the tv was on downstairs in the reception area where I was and I watching the Seattle Needle all lit up and their festivities to open the new year. Looked lovely and it was nice to be chatting with Mandel to welcome the New Year in.
I headed up to the room and wished all a Happy New Year and basically climbed into bed and went to sleep - not really the party goers - having said that it was VERY quiet here at the hostel.
Arriving a place at night is wonderful for morning surprises. Yes the lovely Olympic Torch lights are effective at night but the mountains in the morning are beautiful and quite a surprise when you didn't see them the night before. Now we don't want to sound negative but the both of us could only hold back for so long before we discussed what we thought of the place: It's pretty is the consensus. We were absolutely spoilt in Alaska - this is hard to explain - the scenery in Alaska is breathtakingly stunning, it's difficult to tear your eyes away so to come here which is really pretty...we kinda think maybe we should have done it the other way round. But no matter onward we go. We head into town via bus; conveniently located down the street, after having a lovely breakfast at the hostel cafe. The trip in was interesting, about 20 minutes and the houses are luxurious - we are talking 2 to 8 million dollar places here. This I confirmed by reading the paper...the prices are very steep; I found a room you could buy in a house for $489 thousand: WOW!
Whistler Village is a shopping mecca - any label you want is here!! Very easy to spend money on shopping and food. The most amazing thing happened though on our wanders through the village (it's quite large really) we ran into Tash from Perisher (NSW) Ski Rider who we know through the school trip we take every year. Tash and her boyfriend Johnno told us that they would be out here for 6 months but neither of us thought we'd run into them the first day if at all. What was even funnier is we ran into Johnno the following day in the street - just hilarious really. It did not take us long to realise that Whistler is aptly named: "North Sydney"!! There are about 80% Australian population here ranging from 18 to 30 years and then families. We seem to be the odd age without the family - hey we consider ourselves family but I guess that's not quite the same thing.
Megs Typing:
As the afternoon was coming to a close we decided we should take the opportunity to buy a few breakfast essentials, tea, coffee and yes we remembered the sugar, cereal and milk, plus one of the quick and easy cardboard meals which tastes like a quick and easy cardboard meal.... The grocery store was packed - New Years Eve everyone was buying their last minute party preparations before the store closed. We purchased our tickets earlier to the "First Night Festival" 0% alcohol 100% fun. We headed back to the hostel to pack away our food stuffs and dress for a cold night of festivities.
We headed back to the Village around 6 - 6.30pm to investigate the two locations full of promised activities....Before we left we noticed a lot of young people carbing up on their pasta dinners discussing how expensive beer is over here and planning a large night of non-stop partying - happy to be going out at this point.
We arrived in the Village centre got checked in via security for our ticket, saw the stage with the 19 year old musician playing and 3 people watching???? Music was not that great and it was early - that might explain the slow start to the evening. Not wanting to insult our ears any longer that necessary, we decided to walk around and window shop, stopped in for 2 crepes with lemon and sugar for Elona and Cream of Spinach soup for me - was lovely. Off we wandered again looking at all the stores (souvenir shops mostly), we checked on the program for the second location holding activities for the evening.
We made maple syrup taffy sticks - they pour boiling hot taffy syrup on a bed of ice, then using a very large paddle pop stick you roll up the taffy as it cools to make like a lolly pop. Very nice but Very sweet and extremely STICKY.... We ran into 2 Canadian Mounties (not sure about their authenticity) but they looked good - see photo with Elona. We looked around and they had put on an amazing event for little kids. Jugglers and similar performers, make your own party hat, create something to put in the time capsule, painting and art and crafts for all, there was also a junior dance party for under 19s in the same venue.
Time for another wander and maybe some coffee - have decided that gingerbread mocha creations are very tasty. The main stage area now had almost 100 people gathered to listen to a group called "Five Alarm Funk". They were good, we bought all 3 albums. We decided that we did not have the stamina to wait out the next hour in the cold before they returned for their final set in the lead up to the big count down. Back on the bus heading for home....just waiting for the bus was all kinds of entertainment (kind of sad entertainment, but entertainment none the less) - icy conditions do not lend well to fashion shoes and short skirts. New Years eve invites the lure of fashion shoes with very high heals and very little grip. Add alcohol and less than chivalrous escorts; also with alcohol and there is a lot of people lucky not to have broken ankles for the first day of 2011. There was one group of bus stop dwellers who were betting on the likely hood of slips and spills from the people walking across the road.
Home before midnight - all is quiet here???HMMMMM? Chatted with Linda (Roommate for the night), her and her husband stayed here for the party - which turned out to be everyone watching "True Lies" yes that is right the Arnold Swarzenegger (oh whatever) movie. Linda said it was truly hilarious as most of the audience had never seen the film being only 3 when it first came out.
One tragedy early in the evening - one girl drank herself into a dangerously unconscious state and passed out in the bathroom. Luckily she did not have the where with all to lock the toilet and was found in time for the ambulance to be called and have her taken to the hospital to get her stomach pumped.
Elona typing
Meg's has not mentioned the exciting bus ride home where a delightfully pissed chappy decided to empty the contents of his stomach whilst still on the bus - the very crowded bus - not once but twice...ooohhhh dear. Breathing through our mouths we made it back to the hostel vomit free - surprisingly...you know how sometimes that whole domino effect happens. anyway I made a facetime call to my baby: Mandel and we were talking as the New Year rolled around - the tv was on downstairs in the reception area where I was and I watching the Seattle Needle all lit up and their festivities to open the new year. Looked lovely and it was nice to be chatting with Mandel to welcome the New Year in.
I headed up to the room and wished all a Happy New Year and basically climbed into bed and went to sleep - not really the party goers - having said that it was VERY quiet here at the hostel.
Travel Day
Megs typing
Well we are on the move, up early - no really we were up early as we had to be at the airport by 7am to check in for our Alaskan Airways flight to Seattle that was due to depart at 9.30. Upon arriving at the Anchorage airport we were again greeted by the friendly Alaskan staff and no queues. It can not be said enough that the hospitality and friendliness of everyone (with maybe the exception of our very first taxi driver) has been welcoming and genuine, truly very lovely people.
With boarding passes in hand and backpacks checked we headed up stairs, through security (no pat downs this time but the security guys did like my red christmas socks), for the 2 hour something wait for our flight in search of coffee/tea. It seemed obscenely early at 8.00 am and the sun not scheduled to greet this part of the world for another 2 and half hours. We settled down into a booth at the closest Starbucks coffee in hand and skyped/email/read until it was time to go to the gate. Just before we were due to board we were notified that due to really strong headwinds the plane had been delayed approx. 40 mins.
What amazed us is the number of people who had connecting flights out of Seattle within that 40 mins window that needed to be booked on to later flights in case our flight (with the head wind behind us) did not make up the lost time. Anyway we were all cool as our flight to Vancouver was not due to depart Seattle until 4.30.
Flight was uneventful, (we slept most of it on and off) we landed in Seattle wandered around a little had some lunch, Elona bought a replacement travel pillow for the one she lost on our first night in Alaska, and declined to buy replacement headsets for the new ones also lost with the travel pillow. I think there is a slight trust issue between headsets and Elona at the moment.
The most notable thing about Seattle Airport was that they had their air conditioning turned up to tropical, we were sweltering, we delayered as much as possible it did not really help, and my lovely christmas socks (that were not made for travelling) were quickly making my feet very uncomfortable and squelchy.
We boarded the plane to Vancouver, the plane went up, we filled out the entrance paperwork for Canada, they offered us a glass of water and then the plane went down. 40 mins flight time WOW. Coming into Vancouver was a picture of coloured lights that seamed to go on for ever. Never really considered how big Vancouver would actually be and after Anchorage it really was on a whole different scale.
We collected our bags and went through customs. Elona and I took separate queues, we were diligent and declared our animal fur. Elona went straight through thank you very much, and I was directed to go to Agriculture and Farming customs officials GREAT!!! Though on arrival the gentleman helping me seemed very perplexed when I showed him my lovely winter fox hat and asked me again where the food products or agriculture products I was bringing into the country. Again I showed him my hat... "is that all???" he asked and upon receiving confirmation from me, he redirected me through the gate for non-importers.
Elona Typing
Well I'm wondering the hallway looking at pictures and I turn and there she is: Megs to relay her little adventure in customs and the world of agricultural importing!! We head on out and I make the comment - No hugs from anyone??? you know what I mean - you walk down that aisle at the nervous but welcoming faces and of course NOT for us BUT THEN there is this little sign that says my name - EVEN BLOODY BETTER I say!!! I'm a VIP and then ruin it by asking him if he'd hold the sign again so I could take a photo - very pathetic but I was choofed!! We then met Robbie - bless him - he was 12 too; home from college, working in the family business and told to pick up the crazy Australian women at the airport and deliver them to Whistler. He was lovely and quite informative. Driving through Vancouver reminded me of driving through Sydney: Big Bright City but as we headed north our young guide began to do the tour bit which was cool; always pays to listen and pick up tit bits. Did you know????that the road signs heading up to Whistler all have the native language written under them (some had numbers in place of letters in them) and when asked what it was our knowledgable guide had absolutely no idea but basically said it was a good gimmick well political thing for the Winter Olympics - got to look inclusive and culturally diverse.
We were dropped at the door of HI Whistler hostel - a little anxious and more so once we entered as instantly we felt ancient: there were a bunch of kindergarten kids running around...well 16 somethings!!!! Who let their kids out???? Anyway we took deep breaths and headed to our shared room when Megs said she saw somebody our age - YEAH! Actually she was very nice - the poor English love was sharing a room with 3 other australian boys. Us on the other had an all girl room - YEAH for us! We unpacked what we could in our little locker spaces had our showers - this area is shared between the eight people but toilet, shower and vanity area are all separate which makes things easier. The 2 bedrooms holding the eight beds are in it's own little area then the bedroom doors are locked. Quite a good set up really. We are on the floor above most of the common areas laundry, dining, playroom (for the kiddies he he he), TV room and lounge area. The bottom floor called 'M' in the lift???? is reception and a cafeteria that's for open 8 till 8 and is very reasonably priced: $4 for soup and toast - not bad :)
Night night.
Well we are on the move, up early - no really we were up early as we had to be at the airport by 7am to check in for our Alaskan Airways flight to Seattle that was due to depart at 9.30. Upon arriving at the Anchorage airport we were again greeted by the friendly Alaskan staff and no queues. It can not be said enough that the hospitality and friendliness of everyone (with maybe the exception of our very first taxi driver) has been welcoming and genuine, truly very lovely people.
With boarding passes in hand and backpacks checked we headed up stairs, through security (no pat downs this time but the security guys did like my red christmas socks), for the 2 hour something wait for our flight in search of coffee/tea. It seemed obscenely early at 8.00 am and the sun not scheduled to greet this part of the world for another 2 and half hours. We settled down into a booth at the closest Starbucks coffee in hand and skyped/email/read until it was time to go to the gate. Just before we were due to board we were notified that due to really strong headwinds the plane had been delayed approx. 40 mins.
What amazed us is the number of people who had connecting flights out of Seattle within that 40 mins window that needed to be booked on to later flights in case our flight (with the head wind behind us) did not make up the lost time. Anyway we were all cool as our flight to Vancouver was not due to depart Seattle until 4.30.
Flight was uneventful, (we slept most of it on and off) we landed in Seattle wandered around a little had some lunch, Elona bought a replacement travel pillow for the one she lost on our first night in Alaska, and declined to buy replacement headsets for the new ones also lost with the travel pillow. I think there is a slight trust issue between headsets and Elona at the moment.
The most notable thing about Seattle Airport was that they had their air conditioning turned up to tropical, we were sweltering, we delayered as much as possible it did not really help, and my lovely christmas socks (that were not made for travelling) were quickly making my feet very uncomfortable and squelchy.
We boarded the plane to Vancouver, the plane went up, we filled out the entrance paperwork for Canada, they offered us a glass of water and then the plane went down. 40 mins flight time WOW. Coming into Vancouver was a picture of coloured lights that seamed to go on for ever. Never really considered how big Vancouver would actually be and after Anchorage it really was on a whole different scale.
We collected our bags and went through customs. Elona and I took separate queues, we were diligent and declared our animal fur. Elona went straight through thank you very much, and I was directed to go to Agriculture and Farming customs officials GREAT!!! Though on arrival the gentleman helping me seemed very perplexed when I showed him my lovely winter fox hat and asked me again where the food products or agriculture products I was bringing into the country. Again I showed him my hat... "is that all???" he asked and upon receiving confirmation from me, he redirected me through the gate for non-importers.
Elona Typing
Well I'm wondering the hallway looking at pictures and I turn and there she is: Megs to relay her little adventure in customs and the world of agricultural importing!! We head on out and I make the comment - No hugs from anyone??? you know what I mean - you walk down that aisle at the nervous but welcoming faces and of course NOT for us BUT THEN there is this little sign that says my name - EVEN BLOODY BETTER I say!!! I'm a VIP and then ruin it by asking him if he'd hold the sign again so I could take a photo - very pathetic but I was choofed!! We then met Robbie - bless him - he was 12 too; home from college, working in the family business and told to pick up the crazy Australian women at the airport and deliver them to Whistler. He was lovely and quite informative. Driving through Vancouver reminded me of driving through Sydney: Big Bright City but as we headed north our young guide began to do the tour bit which was cool; always pays to listen and pick up tit bits. Did you know????that the road signs heading up to Whistler all have the native language written under them (some had numbers in place of letters in them) and when asked what it was our knowledgable guide had absolutely no idea but basically said it was a good gimmick well political thing for the Winter Olympics - got to look inclusive and culturally diverse.
We were dropped at the door of HI Whistler hostel - a little anxious and more so once we entered as instantly we felt ancient: there were a bunch of kindergarten kids running around...well 16 somethings!!!! Who let their kids out???? Anyway we took deep breaths and headed to our shared room when Megs said she saw somebody our age - YEAH! Actually she was very nice - the poor English love was sharing a room with 3 other australian boys. Us on the other had an all girl room - YEAH for us! We unpacked what we could in our little locker spaces had our showers - this area is shared between the eight people but toilet, shower and vanity area are all separate which makes things easier. The 2 bedrooms holding the eight beds are in it's own little area then the bedroom doors are locked. Quite a good set up really. We are on the floor above most of the common areas laundry, dining, playroom (for the kiddies he he he), TV room and lounge area. The bottom floor called 'M' in the lift???? is reception and a cafeteria that's for open 8 till 8 and is very reasonably priced: $4 for soup and toast - not bad :)
Night night.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Day 12 Girdwood
Megs Typing
Well, after a lengthy discussion about the start time this morning it was decided that as Girdwood was a relatively short distance in comparison to Talkeetna a short sleep in and a leisurely breakfast was indeed possible before setting out on our next adventure.
We woke to discover that if it snows early enough in the evening and long enough that all you have to do is brush the snow off the car, warm the engine a little and then you are good to go..no need to wait 20 minutes or more to defrost the windscreens. (That was the bright side)
The not so bright side, fresh snow on the roads and only the major roads had been cleared, heavy clouds promising more snow. It was my turn to drive...All good not really worried at this point but thought with just on a quarter tank of fuel that maybe we should fill the car up prior to leaving the Anchorage area.
No one tells you how to fill the damn car up just the type of petrol you need to use. We ascertained the side of the car the fuel tank was on - check; fuel type is unleaded - check; pull up to a gas pump, select the gas you want, put the nozzle in the tank and start to fill.......................................nothing happens.
Then this lovely disembodied voice comes the PA system asking us what we are trying to do and asked if we wanted to pay by debit or credit. We both replied looking for a speaker that we wanted to pay cash. The voice did not respond... What to do???
Try again..........Nothing happens. We start to read the instructions. We swipe our travel card, cool...what 5 digit zip code are they talking about...... We have a four digit pin and hell knows what the zip code is of the apartment we staying at and what does that have to do with the travel card??????????????
We then decided to go into the service station and ask for help. Apparently you pay ahead for petrol here. If you want to fill the car and you over pay you can go back inside and get your change. We also discovered at that time that there was a button that you can push to communicate with the staff inside the service station. Feeling like teenagers filling a car for the first time ever - we successfully completed the task and continued on the way to Girdwood.
The trip was lovely, it did snow lightly as we followed the coastal road from Anchorage to Girdwood. Just over an hour in total we stopped off at a Oh My God spot for photos of an amazing, slow moving, icy ocean.
Elona Typing
The differences that Alaska offer in beautiful scenery in short distances is it is amazing you can go twenty minutes in one direction and can be surrounded by trees and mountains and go twenty minutes in the other and skirt the most amazing coastline. An ocean that's not moving - I'm sure it is further out but for as far as our eyes could see it was absolutely untidy ice - not sleek - but like it froze in motion in parts - amazing.
Girdwood is absolutely breathtaking - to this point in my life I have considered Zermatt the most beautiful/picturesque place I have been to till now. This place outshines anything I've scene in the movies, documentaries and anywhere I've been. Alaska has definitely made an impression on the both of us with it's wonderful landscape and fabulous people.
We started by taking a little walk after we parked the car and giggled as we often do by the snow covered vehicles....it was still snowing so it would be interesting to see whether (Gav) our car would be recognisable on our return. The main building is pretty much like any other rental area for ski and board hire with a couple of coffee shops and stores attached but when you step out of there onto the mountain your senses are just forced alive. You need to look at these photos and remind yourself that the photos don't really do the view justice but you will get the idea.
We watched a (scantilly clad group of teenagers) slalom racing - well they looked scantilly clad to us with no bulk to their outfits but they obviously do get hot as they were seen stripping down their top half to cool down. amazin speed and distance these kids went. We did a little videoing at the finish line and took some snaps and then headed over to a welcoming fire in front of a large lodge that reminded Megs and I of The Pub at Perisher. The walk to the lodge was through the softest of snow - incredibly powdery and you don't make any noise whatsoever ie no ice. We sat by the fire and talked to a lovely Alaskan local who was having his first trip to Girdwood which he described as the most romantic place in the world - he was 20 if a day bless him!!! But he was right - the scenery here is overwhelming with beauty almost too much for the senses. This lovely boy: Tim his name was directed us to the Gondola - a short drive to Aleyaska Resort which houses the tramline/gondola.
We set off through snow covered roads, chalets and happened upon a very majestic building - the resort itself. Very posh but welcoming. We head in after taking a few shots and head up to the tramline.
Having a rest - Meg's turn
We were starting to realise why people often use Girdwood and Aleyaska interchangeably. We bought our ticket - combo ride and lunch and headed to the line queuing up to ride the trams up the mountain. We met a group of snowboarders in the line who whilst loved the surfing in Australia were more that a little disappointed with our snow season and how warm the weather is in comparison. Soon we crammed on with approximately 30 other people snowboards, skis, bride, groom, flower girl, wedding photographer all included. WOW. She must have been cold, her eyes were watering and one of the above mentioned boys assumed that she was crying now that she was married. Elona offered another explanation that being the cold. The tram took 2 mins 48 secs to ascend to a height of approximately 28000 ft (memory is a little sketchy at this point for both of us and will print a retraction if data is completely incorrect).
AMAZING.. I know we tend to use the word a lot but it best describes the jaw dropping, speechless reaction we seem to experience with some regularity to the views and vistas we have seen in just over a week. (please see photos when we can get enough WiFi juice to post them).. We followed the progress of the wedding party and took many many photos. We also noticed that there were considerably more skiers than boarders on the mountain. And considering the local talk about it being the busiest day they have had and that the mountain was crowded there is still no lines for any of the lifts.
After taking photos and exploring the top of the mountain the best we could, we decided to get some lunch.....Now we know where the lines were. We gave up on the idea of lunch at the top after waiting 1/2 an hour and not moving any where closer to ordering. Back down the mountain via tram. We were now the only two (plus the driver) in the cabin. Cool- have video.
A quick spot of window shopping as we walking back through the resort, and a few more photos to be sure and a quick drop in to the post office. We set off in search of GAV to see how he was fairing in snow. All was good, Gav did not get lost and set off in search of a restaurant called the Two Mushy's. We had been given the name of the restaurant as a must go to eat place by soooo many people. We drive in, we park, a nice man is cleaning snow off the roof, we walk around to the front door, read the sign that says OPEN 5:00pm - 12:00pm, walk back past the man clearing the roof, get in the car and head back up to the main street in Girdwood.
He must of had a chuckle to himself.
We ended up having a lovely lunch at the local (one pub) in the township of Girdwood itself. Elona ordered Halibut on Patrick's advise and I had a roast beef sandwich with salad. The Halibut was good as was the sandwich. We chatted with a number of people, who were interested in our accent, about different parts of Alaska and the "lower 48" as Alaskans call the rest of the US.
We set off home to return Gav to Thrifty and pack our bags before we left Alaska for Canada early the next morning......
Elona Typing
Packing, packing frustration more packing - let's do layers - lots of layers that will lighten the load?!?! hhhhmmmm let's just go to bed - making sure to set 2 alarms we headed to bed.
Well, after a lengthy discussion about the start time this morning it was decided that as Girdwood was a relatively short distance in comparison to Talkeetna a short sleep in and a leisurely breakfast was indeed possible before setting out on our next adventure.
We woke to discover that if it snows early enough in the evening and long enough that all you have to do is brush the snow off the car, warm the engine a little and then you are good to go..no need to wait 20 minutes or more to defrost the windscreens. (That was the bright side)
The not so bright side, fresh snow on the roads and only the major roads had been cleared, heavy clouds promising more snow. It was my turn to drive...All good not really worried at this point but thought with just on a quarter tank of fuel that maybe we should fill the car up prior to leaving the Anchorage area.
No one tells you how to fill the damn car up just the type of petrol you need to use. We ascertained the side of the car the fuel tank was on - check; fuel type is unleaded - check; pull up to a gas pump, select the gas you want, put the nozzle in the tank and start to fill.......................................nothing happens.
Then this lovely disembodied voice comes the PA system asking us what we are trying to do and asked if we wanted to pay by debit or credit. We both replied looking for a speaker that we wanted to pay cash. The voice did not respond... What to do???
Try again..........Nothing happens. We start to read the instructions. We swipe our travel card, cool...what 5 digit zip code are they talking about...... We have a four digit pin and hell knows what the zip code is of the apartment we staying at and what does that have to do with the travel card??????????????
We then decided to go into the service station and ask for help. Apparently you pay ahead for petrol here. If you want to fill the car and you over pay you can go back inside and get your change. We also discovered at that time that there was a button that you can push to communicate with the staff inside the service station. Feeling like teenagers filling a car for the first time ever - we successfully completed the task and continued on the way to Girdwood.
The trip was lovely, it did snow lightly as we followed the coastal road from Anchorage to Girdwood. Just over an hour in total we stopped off at a Oh My God spot for photos of an amazing, slow moving, icy ocean.
Elona Typing
The differences that Alaska offer in beautiful scenery in short distances is it is amazing you can go twenty minutes in one direction and can be surrounded by trees and mountains and go twenty minutes in the other and skirt the most amazing coastline. An ocean that's not moving - I'm sure it is further out but for as far as our eyes could see it was absolutely untidy ice - not sleek - but like it froze in motion in parts - amazing.
Girdwood is absolutely breathtaking - to this point in my life I have considered Zermatt the most beautiful/picturesque place I have been to till now. This place outshines anything I've scene in the movies, documentaries and anywhere I've been. Alaska has definitely made an impression on the both of us with it's wonderful landscape and fabulous people.
We started by taking a little walk after we parked the car and giggled as we often do by the snow covered vehicles....it was still snowing so it would be interesting to see whether (Gav) our car would be recognisable on our return. The main building is pretty much like any other rental area for ski and board hire with a couple of coffee shops and stores attached but when you step out of there onto the mountain your senses are just forced alive. You need to look at these photos and remind yourself that the photos don't really do the view justice but you will get the idea.
We watched a (scantilly clad group of teenagers) slalom racing - well they looked scantilly clad to us with no bulk to their outfits but they obviously do get hot as they were seen stripping down their top half to cool down. amazin speed and distance these kids went. We did a little videoing at the finish line and took some snaps and then headed over to a welcoming fire in front of a large lodge that reminded Megs and I of The Pub at Perisher. The walk to the lodge was through the softest of snow - incredibly powdery and you don't make any noise whatsoever ie no ice. We sat by the fire and talked to a lovely Alaskan local who was having his first trip to Girdwood which he described as the most romantic place in the world - he was 20 if a day bless him!!! But he was right - the scenery here is overwhelming with beauty almost too much for the senses. This lovely boy: Tim his name was directed us to the Gondola - a short drive to Aleyaska Resort which houses the tramline/gondola.
We set off through snow covered roads, chalets and happened upon a very majestic building - the resort itself. Very posh but welcoming. We head in after taking a few shots and head up to the tramline.
Having a rest - Meg's turn
We were starting to realise why people often use Girdwood and Aleyaska interchangeably. We bought our ticket - combo ride and lunch and headed to the line queuing up to ride the trams up the mountain. We met a group of snowboarders in the line who whilst loved the surfing in Australia were more that a little disappointed with our snow season and how warm the weather is in comparison. Soon we crammed on with approximately 30 other people snowboards, skis, bride, groom, flower girl, wedding photographer all included. WOW. She must have been cold, her eyes were watering and one of the above mentioned boys assumed that she was crying now that she was married. Elona offered another explanation that being the cold. The tram took 2 mins 48 secs to ascend to a height of approximately 28000 ft (memory is a little sketchy at this point for both of us and will print a retraction if data is completely incorrect).
AMAZING.. I know we tend to use the word a lot but it best describes the jaw dropping, speechless reaction we seem to experience with some regularity to the views and vistas we have seen in just over a week. (please see photos when we can get enough WiFi juice to post them).. We followed the progress of the wedding party and took many many photos. We also noticed that there were considerably more skiers than boarders on the mountain. And considering the local talk about it being the busiest day they have had and that the mountain was crowded there is still no lines for any of the lifts.
After taking photos and exploring the top of the mountain the best we could, we decided to get some lunch.....Now we know where the lines were. We gave up on the idea of lunch at the top after waiting 1/2 an hour and not moving any where closer to ordering. Back down the mountain via tram. We were now the only two (plus the driver) in the cabin. Cool- have video.
A quick spot of window shopping as we walking back through the resort, and a few more photos to be sure and a quick drop in to the post office. We set off in search of GAV to see how he was fairing in snow. All was good, Gav did not get lost and set off in search of a restaurant called the Two Mushy's. We had been given the name of the restaurant as a must go to eat place by soooo many people. We drive in, we park, a nice man is cleaning snow off the roof, we walk around to the front door, read the sign that says OPEN 5:00pm - 12:00pm, walk back past the man clearing the roof, get in the car and head back up to the main street in Girdwood.
He must of had a chuckle to himself.
We ended up having a lovely lunch at the local (one pub) in the township of Girdwood itself. Elona ordered Halibut on Patrick's advise and I had a roast beef sandwich with salad. The Halibut was good as was the sandwich. We chatted with a number of people, who were interested in our accent, about different parts of Alaska and the "lower 48" as Alaskans call the rest of the US.
We set off home to return Gav to Thrifty and pack our bags before we left Alaska for Canada early the next morning......
Elona Typing
Packing, packing frustration more packing - let's do layers - lots of layers that will lighten the load?!?! hhhhmmmm let's just go to bed - making sure to set 2 alarms we headed to bed.
Day 11 Talkeetna
We apologise - photos will be published at a later date because the WIFI we are using did not have enough juice.. Stay tuned...
Day 11 - Talkeetna
Alarm set for 8am - we are all set to be out of the house by 9am so we can see the sun rise over Mt McKinley...........Like all good plans in the making they need to be flexible. So we were out of the house by 10am. It took about 20 mins to defrost the car windscreens to allow visibility. Plugged in the GPS, Elona behind the steering wheel, me in the navigators seat (armed with the camera and the mantra "stay to the right"). We took off hesitantly following the GPS directions (in miles - makes judging turning distances difficult if you don't have a clue what 0.3 of a mile is equivalent to in metres), we took the first left hand turn out of our street successfully - yah. Looking at the GPS advising that we had another left turn coming up in 0.3 of a mile onto Seward Highway. Looking up at the road ahead, in my due diligence as navigator advise Elona not to turn as the street name was Gamble.......Then we hear the sort of pleasant voice of the Miss GPS informing us that she now needed to recalculate the trip. This was were the pact was made - TRUST MISS GPS at all times (in Anchorage at least). It was something we would become familiar with over the next couples of days, many streets in Anchorage had two names and sometimes if you are lucky both names are written on the street sign.
Elona Typing
All fun - still dark and names of streets a problem - but my main issue was trying to get away from my door...let me explain: I'm driving on the left hand side of the car on the right hand side of the road therefore by rights I should maintain the car a little distance from the left hand line on the side of the road ...are you picturing this... I know difficult but I kept scaring Megs by forgetting she and the rest of the car were on my right and I'd hear the occasional timid "Getting a little close here" obviously not wanting to offend - she could have screamed in fright I probably would have for the amount of times I think I did to her!!! Eventual my brain kicked in and a pleasant 2 and half hours drive with gorgeous scenery - I did finally see wild moose (3 in fact) just off the side of the road which did get a scream of excitement from me and much disappointment from Megs who missed it and we were unable to stop where we were - Megs did the good photographer thing from this point on and took many nice scenery shots - actually the best thing is it gave Megs an opportunity to work out my camera: this was a gift from my Ma before I left and I didn't really have that much time but Megs my techno savvy chum has worked out some really nifty things - yeah!
On to Talkeetna - we passed what we found out later by a local artist, the "Oh My God!" viewing area - which is Oh My God beautiful and gives the best views of Mt McKinley and the two other minor mountains whose names have left me for the moment but just outstanding. Talkeetna was cold...very cold. We did a walk through town - quite a small town with it's main tourist attraction being the Susitna river access and walking trails. Many of the little stores were closed due to it still really being the Alaskan holiday quiet period but there were a few little nik nak shops and of course we stopped into a lovely place for lunch - I might add this was after we made a quick exit from a little bit dubious Fairview Inn that had some nice decor (bear attached to the ceiling!! -serious and all the other stuffed things) but what sent us out was a couple of the men in there who looked at us like we were intruding in their space - so with this and the menu being microwavable cooking we looked elsewhere. And as I said we found a lovely place where we both are keeping with the 'Give it a try' code and I had Chilli Reindeer and Black Bean Mix and Megs had Reindeer sausage gravy with biscuits. Reindeer is great - sorry Mandel!! I don't know what's with me I don't mind the whole hunting, stuffing, mounting, wearing or eating thing in Alaska - it just seems to make sense :) I very much enjoyed lunch but as we have been finding the whole trip so far; the food portions are very generous and it is difficult to get through sometimes no matter how much you are enjoying it.
Another walk around when Meg's began to have some major cold pain in her feet which put us into the closest and probably best nik nak store in Talkeetna: We spent about 45 minutes in this store - some wonderful Inuit items and some great modern stuff as well - again a place you could spend hundreds but we needed to be careful - I just keep reminding myself I'm coming back for Iditarod 2012 - save and buy up big then. Meg's decided that it was definitely time for a new pair of boots - hers - though good and got her through wintertime in Italy have not been sufficient enough to cope with the consistent colder temperatures here. My boots I purchased pre trip through the internet - they are Baffin Polar Boots - seriously...I have a cold fingers and toes issue so I went for the negative 40 boots - they work a charm but even my toes were a little cold but Meg's was in pain.
Due to the whole thawing out thing with Meg's toes - this is also not exactly pain free - I drove back to the unit. A nice drive with constant reminders of our back country trip as we travel the same main road.
Home - tired but proud that we made it home - no close calls in the car and we were safe n sound. Dinner time and some major washing as we knew we wouldn't have time the next day as we were off to Girdwood for the day and then flying out the following morning.
Check out the pics for Talkeetna in the pages to your right.
Elona Typing
All fun - still dark and names of streets a problem - but my main issue was trying to get away from my door...let me explain: I'm driving on the left hand side of the car on the right hand side of the road therefore by rights I should maintain the car a little distance from the left hand line on the side of the road ...are you picturing this... I know difficult but I kept scaring Megs by forgetting she and the rest of the car were on my right and I'd hear the occasional timid "Getting a little close here" obviously not wanting to offend - she could have screamed in fright I probably would have for the amount of times I think I did to her!!! Eventual my brain kicked in and a pleasant 2 and half hours drive with gorgeous scenery - I did finally see wild moose (3 in fact) just off the side of the road which did get a scream of excitement from me and much disappointment from Megs who missed it and we were unable to stop where we were - Megs did the good photographer thing from this point on and took many nice scenery shots - actually the best thing is it gave Megs an opportunity to work out my camera: this was a gift from my Ma before I left and I didn't really have that much time but Megs my techno savvy chum has worked out some really nifty things - yeah!
On to Talkeetna - we passed what we found out later by a local artist, the "Oh My God!" viewing area - which is Oh My God beautiful and gives the best views of Mt McKinley and the two other minor mountains whose names have left me for the moment but just outstanding. Talkeetna was cold...very cold. We did a walk through town - quite a small town with it's main tourist attraction being the Susitna river access and walking trails. Many of the little stores were closed due to it still really being the Alaskan holiday quiet period but there were a few little nik nak shops and of course we stopped into a lovely place for lunch - I might add this was after we made a quick exit from a little bit dubious Fairview Inn that had some nice decor (bear attached to the ceiling!! -serious and all the other stuffed things) but what sent us out was a couple of the men in there who looked at us like we were intruding in their space - so with this and the menu being microwavable cooking we looked elsewhere. And as I said we found a lovely place where we both are keeping with the 'Give it a try' code and I had Chilli Reindeer and Black Bean Mix and Megs had Reindeer sausage gravy with biscuits. Reindeer is great - sorry Mandel!! I don't know what's with me I don't mind the whole hunting, stuffing, mounting, wearing or eating thing in Alaska - it just seems to make sense :) I very much enjoyed lunch but as we have been finding the whole trip so far; the food portions are very generous and it is difficult to get through sometimes no matter how much you are enjoying it.
Another walk around when Meg's began to have some major cold pain in her feet which put us into the closest and probably best nik nak store in Talkeetna: We spent about 45 minutes in this store - some wonderful Inuit items and some great modern stuff as well - again a place you could spend hundreds but we needed to be careful - I just keep reminding myself I'm coming back for Iditarod 2012 - save and buy up big then. Meg's decided that it was definitely time for a new pair of boots - hers - though good and got her through wintertime in Italy have not been sufficient enough to cope with the consistent colder temperatures here. My boots I purchased pre trip through the internet - they are Baffin Polar Boots - seriously...I have a cold fingers and toes issue so I went for the negative 40 boots - they work a charm but even my toes were a little cold but Meg's was in pain.
Due to the whole thawing out thing with Meg's toes - this is also not exactly pain free - I drove back to the unit. A nice drive with constant reminders of our back country trip as we travel the same main road.
Home - tired but proud that we made it home - no close calls in the car and we were safe n sound. Dinner time and some major washing as we knew we wouldn't have time the next day as we were off to Girdwood for the day and then flying out the following morning.
Check out the pics for Talkeetna in the pages to your right.
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