Glacier Bay

We had toured Glacier Bay back in 2014 when we took the girls on a more southern Alaskan itinerary. I found this northern route to be a better option because we saw so much wildlife. Unfortunately, the only bear I saw after the grizzlies in Denali was the towel bear our stateroom attendant left on our bed. But we were lucky to spy lots of otters (in the hundreds), seals and whales on the cruise through Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve.

We sailed by our HA sister ship, which made for a pretty picture. We also spied a couple other smaller vessels on our cruise route. The closer we got to the glaciers, the more layers I had to put on to stay outside. They were serving hot cocoa when they opened up the bow on our deck for several hours, so we definitely enjoyed that.

We continued to see cascades dotting the landscape, places where water was flowing from the melting snow down the inclines. It was really picturesque.

In the pics above, you can see where we spied humpback whales in the water. In the pics below, those specks of dark on the ice are otters. Some were seen swimming surprisingly close to the cruise ship. Bonus - we saw lots of otter mothers with their babies, and they were so stinkin' cute. 

There were the glaciers, of course. But they just weren't as thrilling to see as the critters. We ended our time outdoors with afternoon tea, a wonderful way to cap off our visit to Glacier Bay. 

Setting sail

After two nights at the Denali Lodge, we took a bus ride to the small cruise port in Whittier to board our Holland America ship, the Nieuw Amsterdam. We were in side-by-side signature suites with our travel buddies, so we had the stateroom attendants open up the balcony divider to make it easier to communicate and watch the scenery go by.

Our first two days were spent cruising. I couldn't help but giggle at our first glacier spotting in what's known as Disenchantment Bay. It got this rather sad sack name when Spanish explorer Alessandro Malaspina sailed into the bay in 1792 thinking it might be an entrance to the legendary Northwest Passage. He dubbed it "Puerto del Desengano", Spanish for bay of disenchantment. I found it quite ENCHANTING, actually. The largest tidewater glacier in Alaska, it was a sight to behold. The Good Lord used every shade of blue at His disposal when creating this gorgeously stark landscape. My phone camera pictures certainly don't do it justice.

In the pic above, I'm getting in some practice with the binoculars provided in our stateroom since we were told there would be critters like whales, seals and otters to be seen as we cruised into Glacier Bay the next day. It was a tad crisp on the balcony, so I was happy to wrap up in the fleece blanket they also provided in our accommodations. Once again, we were blessed with clear weather and were able to take in the glorious sights of the 49th state.

Denali tundra tour

We began our first full day in Denali with a tundra tour. I was gonna say at the crack of dawn. But with only about 4ish hours of a somewhat darkened sky at night that far north and so near the summer solstice, it meant we set off to spot tundra critters at 7 am when the sun had been up for hours. Lo and behold, the driver pointed out another great view of Mt McKinley off in the distance and told us (again) how lucky we were to have such a clear view of the tallest peak in North America. 

We started the critter spotting tour a bit slow with a lone caribou. I circled the caribou in both pics because you might have missed it otherwise. The day before, we had already seen several moose on the train ride to Denali, including a mama moose with twins. Unfortunately, I wasn't quick enough to snap a pic of them. Further down the tundra trail, we began to see arctic ground squirrels, which I initially thought were prairie dogs. 

Finally, we were treated to the sight of a mama grizzly and her year old cub. We initially spied them in the brush. We were thrilled when they came closer to the road, eventually crossing over. Then they put on a show, scratching around looking for something to eat. They had beautiful fur and didn't seem fazed by the two buses full of us park tourists with our cameras, trying to get a pic or video.

Cruise tour began in Anchorage

We flew to Anchorage in the middle of June to begin our Alaskan cruise tour with Holland America, meeting up with our friends P and R for this big adventure. We only had one full day to check out Anchorage before heading to Denali on the fancy pants train, so we hit the ground running. One of my favorite activities was touring the Alaskan Aviation Museum. That's where we got to see lots of the float planes I found so intriguing.

Our train ride to Denali National Park on the McKinley Explorer the following day was amazing. We rode on the upper level with walls of windows to the beautiful scenery. After a whistle stop in Talkeetna, we enjoyed a tasty lunch in the dining car below. Our train tour narrator told us how lucky we were to be able to have such clear views of the highest mountain peak in North America at 20,310 feet. Covered in snow, I initially thought it was just a large cloud formation.  

Hill country flood 2025

We've lived in the Texas hill country since 1999. One big difference between our hometowns and the hill country is the soil. We were raised atop lots of dirt and clay. However, the hill country sits on limestone. I've always believed that's why it's so prone to bouts of flash flooding when the rain totals start racking up.

In 2022, we purchased a lovely home on 25 acres with almost 1100 feet of Guadalupe River frontage just west of Hunt, Texas, on the northern arm of the river. We enjoyed weekends up there, swimming, paddling, floating and catching the sunsets off our back porch. In the summertime, we'd see the kids at Camps Stewart and Waldemar as we drove the route to our place on FM 1340 off of Hwy 39 at the split in Hunt. I almost immediately dubbed this place Cliff House because it sits about 75 feet above the river. When we initially purchased the place and did a bit of updating, that included reinforcing and replacing boards on the stairs that led down to the water. I can't help but wonder how they fared in the raging waters.

Though we loved this quiet stretch of the river, it just wasn't convenient for our girls to visit and so we sold it after a couple years to invest that money back into our current lakefront home in northeast Texas. If we had been at that river house for the July 4th holiday weekend, we would have ended up trapped between several low water crossings and unable to evacuate since the road was washed out with debris piled a couple dozen feet high. And undoubtedly scared witless as the water rose to historic heights from our vantage point as it inundated the lower lying structures around us. It's a horrific thought, and I can't imagine what our neighbors down at the water's edge across from our Cliff House suffered when that tremendous wall of water came barreling through. There but for the grace of God, y'all. Our hearts are broken for all of the folks who are dealing with the horrors of the flood's aftermath. May the God of all that is good grant them comfort and peace through this tragedy.

Shelves done

Yesterday the dogs and I made the almost six hour drive to our lake house in anticipation of the fabulous 4th holiday weekend. First thing I did after unloading my SUV was make a haul at our local grocery store. I'll make a second grocery run later this afternoon. Then all that leaves is a final trip to the fancy market Thursday to get the "good meat" for barbecuing/smoking. 

Last night I stayed up late, unpacking the rest of the decor I schlepped from the hill country house so I could get the new living room shelves set-up for everyone to enjoy. Oh sure, it's mainly for me to appreciate because I was tired of looking at them all empty and sad. Today I've got our sweet hanger Tom putting a fall painting collage on the wall in a guest room, plus adding other things here and there. I also had Tom hang one wall of the dining room decor so it's looking wonderfully fishy in there. As soon as I get the platter frame back from the place where I ordered it in a couple weeks, the other fishy wall will go up and I'll finally be done with the dining room. Stay tuned, y'all!