August, 2017 - Passports Overloaded

Wrangell, Alaska

July 27, 2015

Our tour today was another Bear adventure hopefully today we get the chance to see some.

We disembarked the ship at the pier and met up with a covered, heated boat and took a twenty-five-mile ride to Anan, traveling via Eastern Passage.

Upon arrival at the Anan, we were greeted at the trailhead by U.S. Forest Service personnel, who gave us a brief orientation of what we were going to do and see. Beginning this month pink salmon arrives at Anan Creek to spawn which attracts brown and black bears, bald eagles and harbor seals.

The walk to the observatory was 20 minutes long and about a 1/2 mile in length, we had one guy in the front with a shotgun and one guy in the back with a rifle. When we got to the observatory, we had 90 minutes of bear watching. We even saw a bear catch a salmon and eat it in the creek. The current was so strong in the creek, it didn’t even faze the bears which was wild to see how powerful they are.

Ketchikan, Alaska

July 26, 2015

Today we flew on a floatplane first time I’ve ever been on one which was cool. The flight was twenty-five minutes of breathtaking views of homesteads, mountains with dense forest, pristine lakes and a great view of inside passage shaped by massive glaciers.

When we landed, we were met by this Alaskan Naturalist who lives in the forest. After a short drive to the trail w got out of the jeep and began our half mile hike to a viewing platform that overlooks a stream brimming with salmon. Although they don’t guarantee we see Bears, this is a good place to try and see them since they know that’s where they can get salmon. We ended up only seeing a small black bear sitting in our path, but once he saw us, he ran into the forest.

Maria & John – with our friends Isaac and Michael

Inside Passage, Alaska

July 25, 2015

Today we cruised the inside passage to Ketchikan, Alaska. The view was breathtaking.

Seattle, Washington

July 23, 2015

Today we drove to the pier and boarded the ship extremely excited to embark on our new journey a ten-day cruise in Alaska. I’ve read, heard and seen a lot of pictures, but I always know that when you see something in person, it is night and day.

Astoria, Oregon

July 22, 2015

Today we continued our drive to Astoria, Oregon driving up the Pacific coast. It’s impressive to see such a different landscape. Growing up in Downstate New York it’s not mountainous although it’s beautiful it’s very different. We saw signs that said Tsunami evacuation route which is scary to see. Another great thing was the fact that I am greek and growing up in NY I hung out in Astoria, Queens so to see another Astoria was fun. We even got a chance to visit West Coast Game Park Safari which is in Bandon, Oregon and we fed the goats and even got a chance to pet lion cub.

We stopped along the way to check out the view at the viewpoints. John and I even spoke about possibly renting a house one summer for a month to experience the beauty of the west coast.

Crescent City, California

July 20, 2015

Today we drove to Crater Lake National Park. This lake is the bluest colored lake and the deepest lake in the world. You have to see this lake in person to appreciate the color of it. John and I hiked to the edge of the lake, and we were surprised that the lake is crystal clear.

After spending some time exploring Crater Lake, we then drove to Redwood National Park. Once again another jaw-dropping sighting by Mother Nature. The sheer beauty and size of these trees are breathtaking. John and I have ever seen anything like them before.

Klamath Falls, Oregon

July 19, 2015

Today we drove from Boise, Idaho to Klamath Falls, Oregon. We drove up the Pacific Coast Highway. One cool thing is the landscape on the west coast it is very different than the east coast.

The highlight was the petting farm we visited. I love farm animals, and today I got to feed and pet goats. If I can re-do my life, I would have a farm full of donkeys, goats, horses, pigs, cows, dogs and cats. That is my ultimate love animals!

Boise, Idaho – 2015

July 18, 2015

Today driving from Jackson Hole to Boise, Idaho we saw some interesting things. We visited the world’s first nuclear power plant called EBR-1. I have to say even though it wasn’t used anymore it was pretty eerie and at the same time cool walking through it.

The next cool thing we saw was Craters of the Moon which is this mind-blowing place that has miles upon miles of nothing but volcanic rock and volcanic caves and lava tubes. John and I climbed through which made me nervous because they’re unstable and can collapse at any moment.

Boise is a cool city but we arrived late so we didn’t get a chance to see much of it we walked to a restaurant to have dinner and walked back to the hotel.

Jackson Hole, Wyoming

July 17, 2015

Today we drove through Yellowstone National Park towards Jackson Hole, WY and once again seeing nature at its best. We saw this pretty and very colorful hot spring called Morning Glory Pool which is in the Yellowstone Upper Geyser Basin part of the park. The next thing we saw was Old Faithful it erupts every 44 to 125 minutes. After driving around and exploring the park, we decided to drive to our hotel The Rusty Parrot Lodge and check out that area since we were only there overnight.

We decided to have dinner in the hotel restaurant called Wild Sage which was a AAA 4 diamond awarded restaurant. The food was good the only problem we had was with the waiter he was obnoxious and didn’t like answering questions we had about the menu. We liked Jackson Hole and wanted to see more of it one day so we will visit again one day in the future.

Pictures from our second visit to Jackson Hole

January 03, 2016 – January 09, 2016 Today we flew to Jackson Hole, Wyoming and we were in luck because it warmed up a bit. We checked into the Four Seasons Hotel which was great it’s one of my favorite hotel chains. We were told that the past few days the temperature was in the single digits. Our friends Mike & Christy met us there luckily they don’t have to fly they drove from Utah. We had a great time with them we had dinner the first night at the White Buffalo Club which was great. John was happy because he skied pretty much every day, but I didn’t ski at all because it was too cold for me.

Maria – With my beautiful friend Christy

Snowmobiling through Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone Park, Wyoming

July 16, 2015

Today we finally arrived in Yellowstone National Park. As soon as we entered the park, we saw three buffalo’s walking along the road. It’s amazing when you see how big they are in person. Along the way driving through the park, we stopped and saw a lot of sulfur pools which was unbelievable that they are all natural and extremely dangerous. We also saw the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

After about a million stops and pictures, we drove to our hotel which was the Lake Yellowstone Hotel. Upon check-in, we found out that there was no air conditioning, television or internet which was a hard pill to swallow since we were spending two nights here. We need the internet to run our business so it was difficult to stay somewhere for two nights without it.

Once we settled in we went to eat at the restaurant in the hotel. I ordered the Quail entree. I have to say that I am still dreaming about that dinner. I told John that we have to go back there soon because I want to have that Quail again. After dinner, we decided to go to the front desk and cancel tomorrow night we found a different hotel called the Rusty Parrot Lodge which is a boutique hotel in Jackson Hole, WY and it’s updated.

If you would like to know what and where we ate while at Yellowstone.

Alphabetic Links of Where We’ve Been