Time and time again I find myself most fortunate and realize how wondrously my life is unfolding. Who would have thought that during my days of hardships I would be given a present such as these two weeks of exploring Alaska.

Colette my friend,
Thank You!

Our great Alaska tour started in Anchorage on June 1st 2002. Colette my friend took a circuitous route from New York and I a more direct one from San Francisco. I landed in Anchorage a few minutes to midnight when the adventure started. My taxi driver from the airport to the hotel was a friendly chap who asked the usual questions, and detecting a slight accent in my words, he asked where I was from. After enlightening him of my origins, Hungary for those of you who might have forgotten…. He exclaimed: Oh we are practically neighbors! I am from Albania! Well, of all the places on this earth, meeting an Albanian in Anchorage is the last one I would have thought of. But this was just the beginning. Little did I know what or rather whom else I was going to encounter on this trip.

Colette was waiting for me in the hotel lobby a bit worse for wear, with all that travel, and of course it was after midnight. Not that you could tell the late hour from the sun being up there on the horizon and the general daylight ambiance of the place. Have I forgotten to mention that now we are in the land of the midnight sun? What a trickster! Makes you wonder how could you be so sleepy when the sun is still up there and not even close to setting. It was good to see my friend and listen to her Parisian accent. After chatting a bit, we turned in to get our much-needed sleep and rest for an adventurous two weeks ahead.

This morning we got our first look at this town, and I say town because it seemed rather small and sort of sparse. We also got our first history lesson on Alaska from our Rumanian tour guide. He was rather chatty but informative as well. We learned all about Mr. Seward and his deal with the Russians in 1867 buying Alaska all 586,412 square miles of land for $7,200,000 dollars. What a bargain! Today you buy a house for that! Anyway, it was an interesting story of politicking and chicanery. We also heard about the Great Earthquake of March 28, 1964 with 9.2 magnitude that took 125 lives and leveled 30-block area of Anchorage. The waves from the following tsunami at its height were 67 meters tall and it touched the far shores of Hawaii. As we drove by the coast he pointed out the now empty places where some towns used to be. The forests of dead trees can still be seen as the area is slowly recovering from this catastrophic earthquake.

Our guide also told us of his life in Rumania, his eventual escape and how he happened to come to Alaska. His story had struck some chords with mine. We were both discriminated against and penalized because of our parentage. Interestingly, after his escape he spent time in Latina, a refugee camp near Rome. Same place where my sister and her husband were refugees for seven months. His story was not unlike many of us who fled from communism during the cold war years, and it has brought back some memories. But on with our tour and to more cheerful things. Our bus passed by an interestingly named peninsula “Turnagain Arm” The story goes that Capt. Cook, in 1794 during his search for a North-West passage kept coming to dead ends here and he had to keep turning around, and so he named the place after his frustrations. Well, names of places can be a subject for scientific research…

It was a so-so, rainy, cloudy, foggy day, not too bad but not exactly ideal for photography. According to our guide best to visit glaciers on an overcast day, as the iridescent blue of the ice is more pronounced. Yep, true enough the glaciers did look quite blue, probably feeling a bit nippy from the cold. Still not much for pictures.

We also visited the Alyeska resort, but I have not much to report on that as by now the clouds really rolled in. When we took the tram up to the peak to rise above the clouds contrary to our guide’s predictions we saw only more clouds and gloom. We could have seen that just as well below! Well, so much for guides!

To my delight however, I found some wonderful tulips right in front of the Alyeska hotel, which I with great energy photographed to my heart’s delight. They came out quite well and made it to my album. Well, three cheers for the tulips that saved the day!

Once back at our digs at the Anchorage Hilton, we met with Suzie from Saint Augustine, Florida at the hotel bar for drinks and Hors d’oeuvres. To our dismay there was hardly any food, poor service and the TV blasting with the Lakers and Sacramento basketball game. Still managed having a pleasant enough time, chewing on crackers and watching the watchers. Oh, and the glass of Zinfandel helped of course to celebrate with the Lakers.