I had over four hours of meetings today at the office. I’m hoping that tomorrow I can settle back into my normal routine and hopefully get some real photos of our trip posted. Below are a few photos I took on the iPhone throughout the trip.
Cool mountains as seen from the plane.
Kim on the cold but awesome tour of Kenai Fjords National Park.
Tasting all of the brews at St. Elias Brewing Company.
Kim chilling at our campsite on the Homer Spit.
As I’ve mentioned multiple times before, Kim and I traveled to Alaska over the past week or so. This marks the 41st state I’ve visited. Originally I planned to visit all 50 stats before turning 30, but I don’t think that will happen as I’m running out of time. I may have to borrow another year to hit the remaining nine states, though some will be visited in already planned trips next year. Since returning to Denver early yesterday I’ve been playing catchup with work, emails, blogs, etc. Many of you may have expected pictures to be posted today, but that will have to wait as I’ve only started to look through the 1,000+ photos from our trip. I will likely post them in a series of posts, making it more manageable, just as I did with all of our honeymoon pictures. I will say that I’ve seen some great pictures in what I’ve flipped through so far, so please stay tuned. I’ll also recap all of our adventures from the trip with the pictures.
Our Alaskan vacation is so close I can taste it! Kim and I will celebrate our one year wedding anniversary on Sunday with a trip way up north starting in Anchorage. We won’t arrive until fairly late on Sunday night, but we have arranged for an RV for the remainder of the week plus vacation. Our first destination will be up to Denali National Park where we will stay three nights in the Teklanika campground. From there, we will be driving back through Anchorage on our way down to the Kenai Peninsula, where we will likely spend the remainder of our trip. The rest of our itinerary is fairly open, so we can do as we please with the remaining time that we have. We won’t be back in Denver until next Monday morning. Don’t expect any updates, as I’m not sure what service will be like, but I will do my best to try.
Great news on the travel front. Frontier Airlines is here to stay, at least for now! The bid that Southwest put down to buy the bankrupt airline ended up leading to disagreements with both pilot unions. The terms were never agreed to, so Republic Airways ended up winning the battle. This was regarded as the best option for Frontier, and I hope it turns out to be a great cooperation in the future. We took a flight on Frontier last night and I know that all of the crew was very excited to be working with Republic instead of Southwest. I am also happy with the results and look forward to many future Frontier flights.
Our upcoming trip to Alaska is quietly sneaking up on us. We’ll be on our way to Anchorage in two and a half weeks. I told myself earlier that I wanted to get a new lens for my camera (Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi) before our trip, and I guess I better make a decision quick. I’m looking for something that is more wide angle than the two lenses that I already have (EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM and EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS).
Currently I’m looking at EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM which would give me a great range of zoom that I am currently missing. I’m just not sure I want to spend that much money. Any other suggestions to consider or is this the best bang for the back considering the small sensor of the camera? I also need to get the sensor cleaned before going, so suggestions for that would be great as well.
Could my next flight on my beloved Frontier Airlines be the last? The bankrupt company now has two purchasing bids, one form Republic Airways and the other from Southwest Airlines. Republic Airways bid came first a month ago or so and wasn’t nearly as publicized as this recent Southwest bid. Southwest’s is non-binding, but a binding bid is expected to be submitted by the due date this coming Monday. At that time, Frontier will then go up for auction and the results could go either way.
Common opinion is that Republic would keep Frontier running just as it currently does. On the other side, Southwest would likely absorb all of Frontier over the next couple of years. All of their wonderful Airbus jets would disappear, which is one thing that I would definitely miss. Not to mention all of the Denver based employees that could lose their jobs. It would be a sad day for all of Denver, and I definitely do not want to see it go. I’m not the biggest fan of Southwest’s policies, and I definitely prefer to fly Frontier whenever I can. So I’m hoping for that Republic somehow comes out on top.
For more see www.SaveFrontier.org.
Before leaving rainy South Dakota many of the group who visited Rushmore the day before headed off to Custer State Park. Originally we had planned to hike to the top of Harney Peak, the highest point in South Dakota, but later opted for a shorter hike in hopes of getting back to Denver at a reasonable hour. The hike we did was a strenuous mile and a half up to the top of Little Devil’s Tower. From the top we had amazing views of the Cathedral Spires, Harney Peak and entire southern hills.
After the hike, we drove the Needles Highway through the park and spotted many deer, a few elk, and some amazing rock formations. We didn’t have time to drive the wildlife loop, though if you do you’ll find 1500 free roaming bison. After leaving the park, we stopped in the town of Custer for a quick lunch, and then drove by the Crazy Horse Memorial. This rock sculpture is a work in progress and when completed, it will be 641 feet wide and 563 feet high. We decided not to pay the price of admission to get a closer view and snapped a couple of pictures from the highway.
Over the holiday weekend I added another state to my list of states visited, South Dakota, which takes the count to 40. We left after work on Thursday and drove up toward the southwestern part of the state driving through some pretty good storms along the way. We arrived at the Crooked Creek Campground around 11pm and set up our tents in the drizzling rain. We went to bed that night hoping for some sun the following day.
Unfortunately, when we awoke on Friday morning it was still raining. But the worst part was that it never really stopped. We ate a quick breakfast at the campground, packed our cars full of the necessary supplies for a long day and drove off toward Mount Rushmore. We arrived before 10am and found that thousands of people were already there and there was a huge line to get into the parking lots. One of our cars decided to skip the line and found a spot along the road toward the park, where the other two cars later joined.
After standing around in the rain for a couple of hours, the rain picked up and forced all of us inside of the cars to wait it out. Once it finally settled a little, a few of us headed down the road to buy a couple of tarps so that we could attempt to stay dry outside. We put the tarps up between a couple of cars and a couple of trees and waited. Waited for what? The fireworks over the heads of Mount Rushmore, supposedly one of the best fireworks displays around.
At one point the rain died down enough for a few of us to take a hike up the road 1.3 miles to the entrance of Mount Rushmore. We walked up to the main gates, snapped a few pictures, and eventually wound our way back down to the cars. In hindsight I’m glad I decided to take this walk, as some of the members in our group never saw the faces. Later in the evening when it was nearing the time for the fireworks display, we all headed back up toward the entrance area, just in time to watch a thick fog roll into the area.
We waited with our fingers crossed that something would happen, but the fog just got worse and worse. The fireworks were supposed to start at 9:20pm. At that time they lit off a test firework, which provided a bang and a flash of light in the dense fog. We were all thinking that the display was either going to be delayed or canceled completely. Within fifteen minutes an announcement was made that the display was going to start soon. It was great to hear those words, but we all knew that it was going to be very disappointing with the fog so thick that the faces of Mount Rushmore could not even be seen.
And that’s exactly what happened. The fireworks were shot off, but all that happened was that the fog became lit up in various colors. At one point the fog cleared just enough so we could actually see parts of a few fireworks explosions, but still no faces ever became visible. The crowd was very disappointed, but there was little that could have been done. I read that if they would have waited until 10:20 that they would have been canceled completely due to high winds. And there was no option of postponing until the next day, so that did what had to be done. At least we were able to gather with friends and celebrate.
One of my lifelong goal has been to drive an RV, and it looks like this may finally be happening. After planning our trip to Alaska for months, I’ve come to the conclusion that renting an RV for the entire trip and using it as our transportation and lodging is not only a cheap way to travel but also could be amazingly fun. I’ve received some cheap quotes from ABC Motorhomes and will likely put down a deposit in the next day or so. We are still trying to decide between the smallest (21 foot) and the next step up (24 foot); layouts can be viewed here. I can’t wait to get out on the open road!
After spending the previous day exploring Austin, we picked up our rental car and headed south toward San Antonio. Before we got too far along, we decided to take a quick detour over to Salt Lick BBQ after reading so many great reviews. Though the wait for a table inside was only 15 minutes or so, we decided to order “to-go” and sit on the picnic tables outside since it was so nice out. As we ate our lunch and drank our beers that we brought ourself (they don’t have a liquor license but allow you to BYOB), people continued to pour into the parking lot. They even opened a secondary seating area to accommodate the growing crowd. And after eating the food I can see why it is so popular, delicious!
After lunch we continued the drive down to San Antonio and immediately checked in to our hotel. From there we quickly gathered what we needed and headed out for a tour. We stopped by Market Square first, and after quickly walking through the open air Mexican style market, we moved on to the San Fernando Cathedral, which is the oldest cathedral in the US. After a quick tour, we then moved on to the Alamo. We arrived toward the end of the day and managed to catch the last educational presentation of the day. It was nice to have a refresher on the story of the battle that took place so many years ago, and it helped to visualize what the mission looked like at one time and what buildings are still standing today.
With our sight seeing out of the way, we moved on to the famous River Walk area to stroll along the river banks. We had dinner at Acenar on the recommendation of a guide book and were impressed with the speedy service and great tasting food. Kim loved their guacamole and I was very happy with my enchiladas. After dinner, we continued walking along the river until we encountered a band by the name of The Krayolas who were busy entertaining a nice sized crowd at the Arneson River Theater. This theater is one of the coolest setups I’ve seen. The stage is on one side of the River Walk, and there is theater style seating on the other side with grass growing on the benches.
After the band had finished their show, we found our way to a couple of River Walk bars to round out the night. Despite being tired from two busy days, we managed to stay out until two or three in the morning. We had a very good time in San Antonio.
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