Seafood On the Potomac

25 April 2014; Colonial Beach VA--

This evening, Ward & Peggie and I went out to eat at a French-Thai restaurant in this little village of Colonial Beach. Near here was born two of our early Presidents (John Monroe and James Madison); our First President, George Washington grew up not far away; and Robert E. Lee was born South of here aways.

This seafood restaurant is noted [by Ward, no less!] for its delicious crab cakes -- they contain lots of real crab meat! They also offer a wide variety of seafood, including swordfish steak, halibut steak and tuna steak. I had a tuna steak dinner this night -- medium rare! [I had never heard of having a fish steak cooked any way other than and unspoken, "well done". But since I was asked my preference, I decided to give it a try. It was OK, but the next time, I think I will have it done

"medium" if not "well done"!]

As we were finishing our meal and eating our dessert [I had the specialty, coconut ice cream], we spotted this swan serenely paddling his way downstream past some pilings.

After dinner, Ward drove us along the shoreline and upstream along the Potomac where we sighted this sunset and a Peregrine Falcon coming in for a landing on someone's hapless boat. [Think fish parts strewn below where this master fisher-bird eats his/her dinner.]

Up In the Air

22-23 July 2013; At and Above Sealevel --

As I promised earlier -- but have been delayed writing this! -- I have had some more adventures in the Mooney. I don't have suitable photos to show all of my antics in the air, so the reader will have to rely on their imagination to picture the situation based on my verbal descriptions.

On Monday (22 July), I put 20 gallons of fuel in the right tank (capacity 24 gallons), and topped off (i.e., filled to the brim) the left tank. The sky being clear blue, and the horizon being visible as far as one could see, my destination was the little town of Cle Elum, just East of the Cascades. My "ulterior" motive was to check out the airstrip for this town with the hopes of flying my good and long-time friend, Margaret, over there some day to have lunch and a visit with her daughter who lives there.

Wind was light on this, the "Wet" side of the Cascades. However, as I reached 8,500 altitude and was cruising, I notice that my Ground speed (registered on the GPS) was 145 knots, while my True Airspeed (registered on my aircraft airspeed indicator) was just over 140 miles per hour. Now, since a "knot" is 6080 feet per hour, while a "mile per hour" is 5280 feet per hour, that means I had a tail wind of about 27 mph! When I landed on the nicely paved airstrip at Cle Elum, I would say that the wind there was all of that!

Upon landing on runway 26 [approximately 260 degree magnetic] (nice one, by the way), and taxiing over to the center-runway taxi-way, I discovered that the parking area was "paved" with near-fist sized river rocks. I made the decision to abandon my plans to check out the ground accommodations and instead did a 180 right there on the narrow taxi-way and went back to the downwind end of runway 26 for takeoff and returned to my home field.

Anyway, I got in two landings that day and returned without using very much fuel: 31 minutes over, 34 minutes on the return.

Alaska Adventure; Part Thirteen

18-21 June 2013; Aboard the Alaska Ferry Columbia --

A rainy morning on Inside Passage

Sunise along the Inside Passage

Our Alaska Marine Highway ferry, M.V. Columbia, cruised into the night last night as we slept. Thus we awoke this morning, as the ferry left its brief stopover at Auke, with beautiful forested islands and snow-capped mountains all around us. And, since Grumpy had taken such a dramatic photo of last night’s sunset, he felt obligated to arise at 0300 this morning to capture a view of the sunrise. Sleep can wait! 

From Auke we went to Sitka, where we made a two-hour stop before backtracking to the more inland route to continue on toward Wrangell. Grumpy chose to stay on board and rest while Sister went into town and took these special photos of totem poles. 

After a light evening snack [and a mandatory safety drill with the ship’s crew] the exhausted band of Adventuring Octogenarians slinked off to their respective cabins for a good night’s sleep, while our ferry continued to our next destination: Ketchican.

Petersburg harbor

At about 0600 we put in at Petersburg, a quaint fishing village on Mitkof Island.  After a very brief docking to unload a few passengers and at least one vehicle, and boarding passengers for further travel down this Marine highway, we continued on southward into a narrow waterway known as Wrangell Straits, with just the promise of a waterway opening up ahead somewhere, through which we could continue to go South. At times shoals on either side constrained our boat to a pair of channel-marker buoys (one green, one red) barely two or three ferry-beams apart.

After a half hour or so, the Wrangell Narrows opened into a very broad [but still protected from the ragings of the Pacific Ocean] expanse of water called Sumner Straits. We followed this Strait toward Wrangell, but turned South before entering Wrangell harbor. The rest of the voyage to Ketchikan was in a relatively broad waterway, with little chance of spotting land-living animals or shore-lounging sea mammals.

The ferry docked in Ketchikan a few minutes late, with an announced stopover of about two hours. The Captain announced that reboarding time would be 1645, with departure at 1700; then (s)he added:  “ … and we don’t mind leaving you if you aren't on board by that time.” One of our party assured us that, instead of arranging for a taxi to take us to downtown Ketchikan two miles away, we could catch a bus for fifty cents apiece and catch the return bus one hour fifteen minutes later and be able to sightsee in downtown Ketchikan.

Ketchican Totem Pole

Unfortunately, the Ketchikan city bus was anything but in agreement with its published schedule. It was about 20 minutes late arriving to take us downtown and even further behind schedule in arriving in time to take us back to the ferry terminal. Five of us hailed a taxi, and requested the driver to contact another of his cohorts to bring a taxi by our downtown location for the remaining two.

The two, who we had left behind, became impatient with the delay in appearance of the second taxi, and so when the bus finally did arrive they climbed aboard, arriving at the ferry terminal a bare five minutes before departure. Thankfully, the ferry personnel in charge of verifying valid boarding passes were still at their post to allow this last two of our party to board. The ferry, M.V. Columbia departed Ketchikan at exactly 1700.

Thus ended the 19th of June, and another Alaskan Sunset. And, although it is not yet the Summer Solstice, our days have been getting shorter and our nights longer ever since we left Fairbanks!

The morning of the 20th dawned without the now-familiar sunrises to which we had become accustomed for this unforgettable adventure in Alaska. This day, cruising through the Queen Charlotte Islands, there was not much outside to see. So some of the Older Octogenarians took the opportunity to learn about the Motor Vessel (M.V.) Columbia on which we would travel to our ultimate destination, via the ferry, Bellingham WA.


We learned that the Ferry Captain and crew had been instrumental in securing the safe rescue of the passengers (and their baggage!) from a cruise ship that had gone aground along this Inside Passage. 

Four-valves in
 Cylinder  Head

We also learned that the (2) big Diesel engines, which propel this vessel each have 16 cylinders, each of about 17 inches in diameter, with  a stroke of 29 inches. They are each rated a 6,000 horsepower. Three smaller auxiliary Diesel engines drive electric generators to power the lights and electrical devices on board.

Before "hitting the sack*" on this, our last night on ship, we packed for an anticipated expedited deboarding at 0800 tomorrow in order to catch the AMTRAK Cascades train to Tukwila Station.

* "Hitting the sack", is a traditional phrase used in the U.S. Navy to mean, "going to bed".

Alaska Adventure; Part Twelve

17 June 2013; In and Around Skagway --

This day, the 65^th Anniversary of my marriage to The First Wife (the One and Only), began with sunshine and warmth; a beautiful day to remember our wedding day and the joy of the more than 63 and half happy years we had together.

It was also a beautiful day to ride the White Pass and Yukon Railroad out of Skagway to the top of White Pass, with views of blue-sky outlined mountains along the way. We climbed aboard the antique, but restored and upgraded, passenger cars of the late 1890’s and inched along behind a modern diesel-electric locomotive toward White Pass.

The narrow-gauge railway went past the Gold Rush cemetery that we had visited the previous afternoon, so we heard again of the local legend of “Soapy” Smith and Skagway hero Frank Reid.


We saw numerous impressive waterfalls teeming with melt-water from snow fields – and a few glaciers – lounging on the hillsides and valleys a thousand feet or more above us. Along one stretch of the way we were on a man-made ledge with a vertical (or even overhanging!) wall on the uphill side and a near-vertical cliff on the downhill side.

A narrator on board this excursion train told of the sad tale of the greedy entrepreneur who used a massive number of horses as pack animals to carry prospectors’ supplies from Skagway up and over White Pass. Each prospector had to have at least 2,000 pounds of supplies in order to be permitted into Canada by the Northwest Mounted Police. The horses were usually overloaded, underfed and generally treated cruelly. As a consequence, many – in fact, most! – eventually died along the rocky trail that preceded the railroad. Many stumbled and fell to their death; others, unable to go on, were simply pushed over the cliff and left there to suffer and die, their bodies ultimately to rot and decay; the area was called “Dead Horse Canyon”.
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A Surprised-to-be-seen Brother Ahead

We crossed a couple of picturesque trestle bridges, each of which incorporated a curve such that those of us in the foremost car could photograph the rear cars of our train. Some people stood on the platform between the cars to capture the views fore and aft. Two tunnels entertained us with the presence of near-total darkness as these ancient passenger cars had no interior lights of any kind.

White Pass marks the boundary between Canada and the United States. Shortly after crossing the Pass and the border, we stopped and waited in our rail car while the engine was disconnected from our end and reattached to the opposite end; we thus became the “caboose” for the return trip back to Skagway.  Because none of us on the excursion train were allowed to get off the train, we did not have to have passports.

Grumpy was fascinated with this abandoned, old wooden trestle, a remnant of the road bed completed in 1899. Its dilapidated condition reminds us of how fortunate we are to be living in the age when steel-structure had replaced these wooden, decay-prone bridges.

When we returned to 82 degree Skagway, some of us enjoyed the shade of a handy tree to savor the local ice cream. Our ferry to Bellingham had a 1700 departure, so our stay in Skagway ended and our voyage down the "Inside Passage" began as the  Southeast Alaskan sunset bade us "goodbye" and "bon voyage".

Tomorrow morning we will wake up as the ferry leaves Auke terminal (Juneau).

Alaska Adventure; Part Eleven

16 June 2013; From Juneau to Skagway --

The Alaska Marine Highway is a ferry system that carries passengers -- with or without their automobile, truck and/or travel trailer/fifth wheel -- between various coastal Alaskan cities. There are cabins for the accommodation of those passengers who choose to reserve them. [Grumpy believes that those who bring their travel trailers or campers onboard, are not permitted to occupy or sleep in them!] We did not choose to have cabins on this short leg of our journey; we did make reservations for the four-day and three-night passage from Skagway to Bellingham, however.

This four-hour trip from Juneau to Skagway entertained us with breathless views of snow-covered mountains on both sides of the narrow waterway called "Lynn Canal" [although it is glacier-formed, not man-made], and left us most of the afternoon to do some exploring in Skagway and take a sightseeing tour.

On the sightseeing tour, hosted by "Charity", a vivacious former dance-troupe member from New York, we saw many of the historic places and  heard tales and legends that are born out of the bawdiness and lawlessness of boom towns such as Skagway once was during the Gold Rush to the Klondike in 1898-9.

For example, we saw the grave-site of William Jefferson "Soapy" Smith; Soapy was, for awhile, highly-respected and admired by a majority of the citizens of Skagway. When the truth became known of his illegal past and fraudulent presence in Skagway, the town turned against him, he was shot and killed by the "new" town hero (Frank Reid), and buried three feet outside the consecrated area of the city's cemetery.

On the other hand, Frank Reid (the new town hero) was memorialized with the tallest and most elegant grave-site marker of all! Later information revealed that Frank had a shady past as well, but Skagwegians apparently either disbelieved the evidence or chose to ignore it; he continued to be revered in post mortem by the townsfolk.

Our final foray into the shady past of Skagway happened following our thoughtful   discussions about whether or not to eat our "evening*" meal at a place called the "Red Onion Saloon". Adventure and anticipation soon replaced temerity and good  judgement, however, and enter we did with the eye-popping enjoyment of the scenery.

Signs inside invited male customers to "enjoy" the night (or day) "relaxing" with one of the shady ladies "for $10 per 20 minutes". Grumpy assumed that these were historic and not contemporary invitations. [Although it may be misleading to make such an assumption in a town such as Skagway still may be!] 

Grumpy was especially attracted by this array of old-fashioned China bedpans and urinals, hung high up on one wall up near the ceiling. How they fit into the overall decor of this historic saloon/brothel, Grumpy could not decipher.

* "Evening" took on a new meaning in Alaska as the sunset, to which we were all accustomed as the boding of the night, did not take place until about 10:30 p..m. (Skagway), or 12:00 p.m/ (Fairbanks). Dinner time here in Skagway felt more like a mid-afternoon snack for the "Sedate Seven".

Alaska Adventure; Part Nine

14 June 2013; Out to See the Sea --

View out our Bus Window; Pass Lake

By bus to Seward for another "boat tour". Although the Kenai Fjiords boat tour out of Seward also includes a viewing of a Tidewater Glacier (Harding Glacier, named after the only President who has visited Alaska), the sea life that one may expect to see is more numerous and decidedly different that what one might see out of Whittier. This day would prove my point.

One of the Not-Sickly Seven; Seward in the background

The boat trip out from Seward to Kenai Fjiords National Park took an hour or more. During this time we enjoyed views of each other as well as views of the mountain scenery. Certain people to pre-emptive Dramamine to prevent any possibility of sea-sickness. They were totally successful in their actions, although how anyone could get mal a mer on such calm waters was incomprehensible to an old swabbie like Grumpy [he got a mild case!].

Later, further out on the water, a Mountain View somewhat similar to the one from the bus window demanded to be remembered with a photograph. There were many more similar views as we passed along this inlet out of Seward. All of these inlets (some are called "fjiords") are evidence of great glaciers flowing out of the mountains that surround them.



The sighting of a Mountain Goat ewe (mother/Nannie) and her  Kid (baby/goatling?) dictated a stop for a few moments so all could crowd to the Starboard side of the boat (a Catamaran hull) to take a hundred photos. Grumpy caught this and three others with the telephoto capability of his little Panasonic video/still camera.

Later, someone spotted this pair of Bald Eagles sitting in a Spruce tree. Their nest is about three "eagle body lengths" below the left-most Eagle. The Bald Eagle is the National Bird of the United States (Benjamin Franklin thought it ought to be the wild turkey). There are actually more Bald Eagles in Canada than in the U.S. Their primary food in this part of North America is fish -- salmon in the late Summer and ealry Fall when the salmon are migrating upstream to spawn (lay and fertilize eggs for the next generation of salmon).

Still later some seals were noticed sunbathing on some rocks. Each sighting of an animal resulted in the boat Captain (a Lady named Laura) to reward her passengers with generous opportunities to photograph the subject.

And so it was that when some Humpback whales were seen breaching [full body leap out of the water and slamming broadside back down to the surface!] a prolonged stop was made. Unfortunately none of the Octogenarian Seven were quick enough with their cameras to capture this two or three times repeated antic.

At last we reached the ultimate destination: the Harding Glacier, so-named because Warren Harding was the first (and so far, the only) President to visit Alaska. The Ice Field which occupies most of the Kenai Peninsula from just North of Seward, all the way to the South-most tip, is also named for President Harding. Many glaciers flow out of the Harding Ice Field; most are Tidewater glaciers, but some, such as Exit Glacier (just North of Seward), are very easily accessible by foot. A road leads to the foot of Exit Glacier [Grumpy was able to walk up and touch the "toe" of Exit when he visited Alaska in 1990 and 1995].

The tour boat remained close to the Harding Glacier for about 15 or 20 minutes. It was hoped that a significant "calving" would take place; Grumpy had his video going, "just in case". He took some "stills" of the face to compare with photos he had taken 18 years ago, to see how much the glacier had receded since then. Grumpy noted that, on his previous visits, the rock outcroppings that can be seen in this later photo, were completely covered by the glacier then.

 The Harding Glacier refused to "cooperate" with a big calving -- or even a decent little one while we watched.

Alaska Adventure; Part Six

12 June 2013; A Boat Tour in Whittier Sound --

After another early breakfast, the motley group of seven departed Anchorage via train for the little tidewater town of Whittier. At Whittier, we boarded a medium-size excursion boat to take us out into the Sound to see some tidewater glaciers [these are glaciers whose "toe" is in the salt water], and hopefully some "calving" by these glaciers. ["Calving" is a term used to describe the periodic shedding by the glacier of large chunks of ice from the face of the toe, or terminus, of the glacier.]

On the boat tour, we saw snow-covered mountains all around us, with numerous glaciers crawling down valleys that the glaciers themselves carved out of the side of their mountain. A famous glacier is named "Portage" because it lay in the path of an old portage route by which people who came ashore in the protected harbor in Passage Canal. The small town of Whittier (population ~170) is located at the head of this inlet today.

On the other side of the tunnel through the pass leading to Whittier, and the beginning of our boat tour, sits the Zimmerman Glacier. [Don't ask Grumpy how it got its name! -- Grumpy didn't discover it.]

On the boat tour, we were treated to a sighting of a Humpback Whale. Grumpy was able to capture a distant photo of the whale's "spout" [condensing water vapor as the whale empties his lungs through his top-mounted nostril before taking in a new breath], and the fin feature on his hump back. Not wanting to be accused of another "white-dot-that-is-a-Mountain-Goat", Grumpy will save it for private viewing.

On our way to the Glacier and main feature of this cruise, we encountered this large group of Sea Otters feeding and gamboling in the water. 

Finally as we neared Surprise Glacier, this telephoto shot (right) gave us a perspective as to how big this Glacier is. The tour boat near the face of Surprise is about two stories high and 150 feet long.

Once we were parked at the face of Surprise Glacier [approximately in the same location at the boat in the previous photo], Grumpy monitored the face that is about in the center of the photo on the left above. He thought he saw signs that it might "calve". 

As we waited, for fifteen or twenty minutes, we could hear the booming cracking sounds as the glacier made its way down the side of the mountain and gradually came apart. But alas, no major chunks broke off to fall in the water -- until the Captain finally gave up and turned the boat away; at that instant the large corner that Grumpy had been monitoring let loose with the impressive splash and mini-Tsunami for which they are famous.

Returning to Whittier, we passed a nesting area for Kittiwakes. When we got close to the rocky cliff, the noise coming from this swirling mass of birds was almost deafening -- even with Grump's hearing problems! With the 42X telephoto, Grumpy tried to get detailed pictures that would show the nest and possibly chicks hidden underneath the mothers' downy breasts. I can't spy any chicks, but the reader is welcome to use their own imagination.

Grumpy found the juxtaposition of the Kittiwakes and the waterfall to be irresistible. So here it is as well.

Tidal mud flat, with tidal "bore" moving upstream

The train between Anchorage and Whittier went along Turnagain Arm [named by Captain Hook because he had to turn his ship so many times to follow the main channel in the otherwise very shallow inlet]; this gave us excellent views of any sea life that might appear. Grumpy had seen Beluga whales alternately surfacing as they cruised down to Arm, and he hoped to show his companions this sight. Unfortunately none appeared. Later in the day, when we were returning to Anchorage after out boat tour out of Whittier, the tide was out and the extensive mud flats were exposed, demonstrating Captain Cook's dilemma.