We began our journey with a long, but direct flight from DFW to Anchorage on Friday, June 24, 2011. To make matters worse, Linda is feeling really bad and we almost went to the hospital instead of the airport. She fought through the pain and we arrive in Anchorage and to the Marriot around 9 p.m. Alaska time (midnight at home). We have a great hotel room on the 14th floor that will be our home for the next three days.

We are up early on Saturday as we have to get ready for a two hour train ride to Whittier. We're on the second story of the Alaska Railroad passenger car and the scenery is beautiful. In Whittier we are greeted with a steady, light rain. From here we board Major Marine's Prince William Sound Glacier boat tour. The tour takes us by ten glaciers of which a couple are actively calving. On the way out they serve an all-you-can eat salmon and prime rib buffet. The food was very good. Blackstone Glacier put on a show for us. First you heard the cracking thunder, then smaller pieces of ice would fall into the ocean, followed by gigantic slabs of the glacier tumbling down. The large calving made huge waves that rocked our boat. We are told the glacier advances about fourteen feet daily and calves around the same amount (so it ends up around the same spot). It was quite an experience. Our two hour train ride back to Anchorage made for a long, but exciting day.

Sunday is reserved for a little relaxing and exploring downtown Anchorage. The flowers here are incredible. They receive twenty hours of daily sun and lots of rain. At 1 p.m. we start a Segway tour. Neither of us has ever ridden these interesting machines. It took only a few minutes of instructions to master the mechanics (lean forward to go forward, backward to stop or go backwards and turn the left knob to turn). The Segway's top out at 12 mph. They were a blast. Our tour guide showed us the sites and gave us the history of Alaska's most populated city (280,000). That evening we had dinner reservations at the Glacier Brewhouse. My halibut and Linda's salmon were some of the best we have eaten. Read more