Narrative  Pictures
Well, we had a 'use-it-or-lose-it' vacation week and we've frequently talked about visiting Alaska in the winter.  So, that is where we went off to.
 
We spent a couple of days and nights in Coldfoot, above the arctic circle, at Coldfoot Camp. 
 
We truely hoped to see some good Northern Lights and we did succeed.

Narrative  Pictures
Update evening 2-July.  We've finished picture selection and all or most of the narratives.  Enjoy!
 
Aside from Cynthia coming home with a head cold, we are having a great time.
 
What?  You though we'd done enough Alaska trips?  Not a chance!
 
We'll revisit some old 'haunts' like Denali National Park (staying at a different in-park place) and the Hurricane Turn train in Talkeetna (and bring a picture of Hector to show his 'parents' that he is happy in his new home).
 
We'll also go to some new places and try some new experiences (rafting in a river and going on safari with an ATV).
 
As with our last Alaskan adventure, Cynthia will be trying to keep the site updated as we go along, internet access permitting.

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This was our last trip for 2010 and our first for 2011 all rolled up into one.
 
We spent Christmas week in and around Phoenix and New Year's Eve in the Grand Canyon.
 
It allowed us a good chance to explore the new home base for Cynthia's daughter, her guy and the new grand-puppy Walther (a sweet soft coated wheaten terrier ♥).

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This trip is to explore Canada a little bit.
 
We'll enjoy some train rides and visit a train museum and do some fossil hunting.
 
This year's goal was polar bears and beluga whales. We succeeded.
 
It turns out that, in June and July, if you go to Churchil, Canada, you will see beluga whales.  As long as you go anywhere near the bay.  There are thousands of them there.
 
We planned on kayaking to go visit with the whales.  We did, more on that in the narrative.
 
We managed to see the polar bears.  In fact, we had two truely excellent bear encounters.  Again, more in the narrative.
 

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Okay.  This wasn't a trip, but it was sort of interesting here.  And for a lot of North America.
 
The blizzard hit and we lost power for three days.  We were lucky it was that short a time, others lost power for more than a week.
 
Fortunately, the propane dudes braved the snow on the first day and filled our tank (which was at dangerously low levels).
 
Also, we had a trusty little generator that was able to keep just enough things running (frig, space heater and a couple of lights).
 
Both Terry and Cynthia would be taking photos of stuff throughout this adventure (and this doesn't surprise anyone, does it?).

Narrative  Pictures  Suggestions
After such a good vacation last year, we decided to return to Alaska this year and see parts we didn't get to last year.  
 
This year, I attempted to build the site day by day as the trip progressed.  I had the admin stuff set up and the code and database in place.  Most of the pictures were 'uploaded' while on the road.  At least all the narratives are now done.
 
Our goal this trip, after riding the trains of course, was to spot whales and sea lions and another wolf (we succeeded with the bears last year).  We were good for whales and sea lions and harbour seals and had even spotted the elusive beaver (with picture).  We got our wolf when it ran right in front of our bus and along side (but the camera was in the wrong mode and the photo is fuzzy).  And we got some great shots of a mother bear and her two first season cubs (way too adorable, see pictures for 16-June, more are to be scanned soon).
 
In Alaska, it is legal to carry bunnies, but you cannot drop a moose from an aircraft.  (Ok, 'bunnies' are a code phrase for something else and something of an 'in' joke between my daughter, her man and us.  But the bit about the moose is true.  And so is the bit about the bunnies, but you have to figure out what they represent.)

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We went down to watch our first (and maybe last) shuttle launch.
 
It was an exciting trip.
 
One of the main purposes of this shuttle launch (mission STS-125) was to do some repair on the Hubble Telescope.  Way back in the summer of 1991, Cynthia had worked on some software that was used for another repair mission for Hubble (she played a very small piece of a very big effort).
 

Narrative  Pictures  Suggestions
We had a very nice vacation visiting Alaska this year.  Given the size of the place, time zone and how long it took to get there, it was like visiting another country.  
 
Our biggest goal, after riding the trains, was to finally see a bear in the wild.  They had been hiding whenever we visited all the national parks along/around the west coast on our previous holidays.  We succeeded very nicely and saw a whole bunch of bears.  We managed an average of a bear a day, both grizzly and black and a couple of mama and cub sitings.