A trip of a Lifetime

Posted on May 25, 2013May 25, 2013 by Dusty Roads

How does one start to tell a tale of a trip of a lifetime? Maybe I should just say that this was the 2nd trip of a lifetime for me. The first was The Big Island of Hawaii.

Now I can add a cruise tour to Alaska as my 2nd “Trip of a lifetime”.

This didn’t just happen overnight. This trip was in the planning and discussion and saving stages for over 2 years. We finally said lets just do it before the glacier’s melt!

A big part of it was the saving part.

This was, without a doubt, the most expensive venture I/we have undertaken yet but Alaska is so big the task of putting together a vacation there seemed overwhelming. So after my sister and I hammered out the basics of what we wanted to do and see I turned the problem over to the professionals at AAA.

The trip I am about to describe to you is the result.

The first decision was do we cruise to Alaska or fly in and vacation like we usually do on our own. Since this was my sister’s Dream Vacation I let her choose. She had only 2 requests; to see the glaciers and to spend 3 days in Denali National Park. A cruise tour would accomplish both goals.

We settled on a “shoulder season” because it’s less expensive and money was certainly a factor. In May the animals are just coming down out of their wintering grounds and having babies. In September they have the northern lights (aurora borealis). We chose to go for the animals. We also chose to go south to north to give the northern locations a chance to warm up a bit more. In Alaska a couple of days can make all the difference. As it turned out spring was about 2 weeks late this year so we had a lot more snow and cold weather than is usual for this time of the year.

I think by far the hardest decision was which cruise line to use. They all cruise to Alaska these days, even Disney, and they all offer some combination of land and sea. I was leaning toward Royal Caribbean but Sandy liked Holland America. In the end we went with the travel agent’s recommendation of Princess Cruise Lines.

I drove from my home in Massachusetts to my sister’s in New York on Saturday May 11. I left my 3 cats in the capable hands of my long time pet sitter, still this is the longest I have ever been away before. My fingers were crossed that there’d be no complications for Diane to deal with.

That Saturday night we took our mother out for Mother’s Day dinner and then headed back to my sisters for an early night. We had an early cross-country flight from Albany Airport into Vancouver in the morning. By arriving a day early we sacrificed the airport transfer but got a day in Vancouver before we had to board the ship on Monday.

Our flight was uneventful and we spotted a rainbow as we flew into a misty, wet Vancouver. Our hotel , The Best Western Sands, was a block from the waterfront and very nice.

I had been to Vancouver once before many years ago and I remember the residents being very friendly, warm and helpful. That hasn’t changed at all. I still think it is one of the most friendly cities I have ever been in. What I do think has changed is the fabric of the city. We saw a great melting pot of people of many different nationalities and ethnicities. This only serves to make an already lovely city more cosmopolitan. Vancouver has really come into its own.

Absence

Posted on May 24, 2013May 24, 2013 by Dusty Roads

You guys are awesome. I didn’t expect to be away from my blog this long but internet connections are few and far between and when I can get them they are slow and quite expensive so, my friends, please be patient a little longer as my introduction to The Great Land is coming to an end very soon. I have barely scratched the surface of all there is to see but I will share with you my experiences and observations so stay turned! 🙂

Reading, Writing and Real Estate?

Posted on May 4, 2013May 4, 2013 by Dusty Roads

They say no news is good news but it makes for boring writing.

That’s kind of where I am at the moment. I did hear back from the magazine publisher. I must admit they were very kind and encouraging. They told me they had decided to go with someone with “proven credentials”. They went on to suggest that I submit ideas and articles as a “Freelancer”. Once I’ve been published a few times doors will open for me or so they say.

So onto the next and that one is a clerical-type work from home position for a real estate firm. The job I applied for required a salesperson license, which I do not have, so I coughed up the $400.00 for the course fee and have been throwing myself into it with single-mindedness. I need to complete the 40 hour course which is being doled out in 4 hour increments to get a certificate that will let me take the state exam. That’s another $100. Then if I pass he exam there will be another fee for the license.

The firm decided to speak to me about another position that would not require the license to start but if I get that job I would still need to get the license eventually so I might as well bite the bullet and do it. Having the license will open up additional opportunities. I actually got in the door for a face- to – face interview for that position. The manager promised I’d hear by May 10. Fingers crossed but at the same time I kind of believe that if it’s meant to be it will be.

Unemployment found a position for me. The only one they had was for a bilingual dispatcher. The only problem is that I am not bilingual. English is my only language and sometimes I wonder about that! 🙂

The weather has been sunny and warm and the air is filled with pollen. Even with allergy pills I’m sneezing, coughing and dealing with itchy, runny eyes. Ah how we suffer for the beauty of flowers!

The 3 cats are doing better together. Smokey still tends to “Mix things up” with Buddy which is stupid on his part.

Buddy is probably 10 years younger and 2 lbs. heavier, which is a lot for a cat, plus Buddy has claws and Smokey does not. (I did not de-claw Smokey, he was that way when I got him). I think you can see that this isn’t going to end well for Smokey so I have been intervening. Rocky holds his own. I think in his case it’s just rough play.

Other than that I’ve done nothing but fret over my weight (but done nothing), read novels, and try to figure out where to go for new material for photos and this little corner. Judging from my lack of posts this week I think you know how that’s been going.

Counting down to the Alaska cruise.

I don’t know how the WIFI connection will be on the ship and I don’t plan to pay an arm and a leg for it so my posts may be spotty then too. But I’m sure the Alaska posts and photos will be worth waiting for.

Well, now you’re up to date with my life. I hadn’t forgotten you. Aroundustyroads is always on my mind. Thanks for hanging in! 🙂

Real Estate, Interviews and Alaska…Busy , Busy

Posted on May 1, 2013May 1, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Sorry I missed posting yesterday. I had an interview right in the middle of the day. I just couldn’t get myself settled enough to write and I didn’t want to jinx myself by talking about the interview before it was over.

The other excuse is that I need to buckle down again to finish the real estate licensing class. That’s four hours a day for 10 days not counting the additional studying. I’ve completed 8 hours and I’m working on the 3rd block of 4 hours. It would be nice if I could finish and get the test done before we leave for Alaska but it will be cutting it close.

I ‘m also staring at my home office that needs a major renovation and I haven’t taken even a baby step toward getting that done…ugh. I am feeling overwhelmed and I’m not even working. So much to do so little time.

Now you have my excuses so please bear with me over the next few weeks. I may be a bit “spotty” on my posts until we get back from Alaska but I know I’ll have tons to share from that.

Oh and speaking of Alaska I picked up our cruise documents and plane tickets. Other than confirming the dates were correct and that I had vouchers for everything I didn’t look at them too closely. Then I got an email from Princess Lines referring to changes. Again I glanced but didn’t look too closely. I had too many other things going on but my sister looked. She emailed me that we had a balcony room!

Well that got me moving and I looked it up. Sure enough. We were upgraded from an ocean view on the Baja deck to a Balcony on the Aloha deck. How cool is that!

I’m getting excited. Hard to believe it’s almost here!

Ospreys and Eagles …Oh My!

Posted on April 20, 2013April 20, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Time to head to the docks or should I say a dock. I’m heading out on an Eagle/Osprey cruise. I last went on one of these trips on a cold day in February 2011. Of course I picked the coldest day of the year to go at that time. https://aroundustyroads.com/2011/03/04/eagles-on-the-connecticut-river/

This time the weather seems a bit warmer even with the stiff breeze.

The cruise leaves from the dock at Eagle Landing State Park which is located in Haddam across the river from the Goodspeed Opera House.

I am always impressed by how personable and knowledgeable the crew of Riverquest is about the sights along the river and the birds that can be seen. They are the ones who first pointed out Gillette Castle and gave a thumbnail history. They also knew the ID and history of the impressive building that turned out to be St. John’s. Plus they have “eagle” eyes when it come to spotting birds!

Today the cruise is billed as an Eagle and Osprey tour and we certainly got to see Osprey. We also got off to a quick start with the eagles. Barely out from the dock 4 birds were spotted circling very high up. Binoculars came out and a discussion ensued but finally it was determined that there were 4, possibly 5 juvenile eagles soaring on the thermals.

Juvenile eagles are not as distinctive as their more mature counterparts. They start out brown and progress through stages as they age. An eagle expert can tell the age of a juvenile by how much “mottling” the feathers show. They don’t get the trademark white head until they are 5 years old.

We started watching Osprey right at the dock. A pair are trying to build a nest on the center tower of the swing bridge but are having a tough time because of the wind.

As we headed down the river it seemed like every buoy or marker had a pair of Osprey trying to build a nest. It was clear that there is a thriving population of Osprey on this section of the Connecticut River.

We also saw double crested cormorants, a peregrine falcon buzzed the bow of the boat, and even a red-shouldered hawk (as opposed to a red tail hawk) took to the thermals watching for prey. Common mergansers with their funny “bad hair day ” crest floated on the river while Black Backed gulls patrolled the skies.

We passed a mute swan and spotted a loon. And then we saw the large eagle nest on an island ahead of us. The captain brought the boat in as close as he could but even then it was pretty far away. At least it wasn’t hidden by leaves yet so we had a clear line of sight and there they were. Two adult eagles , fully mature, with their white heads gleaming in the afternoon sun. As one moved off the nest to a nearby tree we could just make out the head of a baby eagle above the edge of the nest.

The pictures aren’t great because of the distance but lack of pictures didn’t dampen the excitement of seeing these gorgeous birds in the wild.

All in all it was a successful and enjoyable trip down the Connecticut River and I will continue my quest for that iconic photo of an eagle in the wild. Maybe I’ll get a chance in Alaska!