Alaska - Day 6 - July 3, 2011

Rick, Jeff, Tina and Dave

Awoke to another gorgeous sunny day.  Cheri had wanted to get up early and go out with Dave one last time.  She had all her gear ready to go before bed, but neglected to change the alarm...so it went off at 7.  That left  hour before breakfast.  So we ran out and saw a few bears.

The plan was to fly out at 10.  For some reason the people coming in in the flight were late so our plane arrived late.  What a bonus!  We got an extra hour with Dave, Tina and the bears!!

We were sad to leave paradise, but feeling satisfied that we had many superb bear encounters.

We arrived in Anchorage, rented a car, gave Jeff a ride to his hotel, found an extra bag to get all our gear home, had a bite of lunch, and struck off for points south.  Well we didn't get too far on Highway 1 when the traffic backed up for miles.  We never did work out thwart the issues was; whether it was simply holiday travel o the 3rd of July or something more serious.  So we turned around and headed north.  As we got near Eagle River the skies darkened and the rain came.  So, being resourceful, we spotted a movie theater and went to see Larry Crowne.  We both very much enjoyed that!

After the movie we went south again, this time the roads were clear.  We drove for about an hour until we needed to return to drop off the rental car.a fun day.

Then the flight saga began!  We were scheduled to take off at 11:45PM via Phoenix.  A silly route to be sure.  I had tried to get us rebooked through Philly, but they were full.  So we stuck with the original plan, had dinner at Humpty's and sat in the boarding lounge.  The crew finally shows around 10:55 and we heard the first signs of trouble...there was a pesky battery that wasn't charging.  Long sorry short...we were finally rebooked on an alternate Phoenix flight leaving at 2:45AM and we'd lost our first class seats.  At least we scored emergency row!  Of course with all the fooling around they boarded late and we were preparing to miss the flight in Phoenix. 

So we landed with 15 minutes to get to our next gate.  We thought our luck was turning as the next gate was quite close, we got there and learned they had out us on the next flight, but we we able to get on this one.  Great!  Home by 6!

The plane took off and about 45 minutes into the flight the stewardess let us know that we were heading back to Phoenix!  A sensor in the air conditioning  unit was acting up and it was a pressure sensor.  So we headed back to Phoenix after burning off some excess gas.  They finally fixed the sensor and we took off about 15 minutes before the other plane was scheduled to go!  So we are now scheduled in at 8 PM.

At least the flight crew on this new flight is very good!  The one on the anchorage Phoenix flight was miserable indeed.

Enjoy!
Cheri & John

Alaska - Day 5 - July 2, 2011

Dave with a razor clam and Jeff cleaning

Dave, Jeff, David, Joanne, Rick

Work up this morning to a misty, grey day.  It's OK with us!  We've been running every second since we arrived.  So this morning we've decided to stay in, work on images and hope for better weather this afternoon.  When the tide comes back in, we are hoping to go to Puffin island. 

The rain continued through the day and we found ourselves being lazy, reviewing the great haul of images and napping.  It was a nice despite the minimal bear encounters. 

We went over to the main lodge and enjoyed the company of the owners and staff.  Us and 2 others were the only ones in residence, so it was a jovial atmosphere.

After dinner we did hike across the field and visit with Mom and the twin blond cubs for a few minutes.
Enjoy!
Cheri & John

Alaska - Day 4- July 1, 2011

Pretty slow start and middle,but oh what a night!!  We scored huge, first, with the cool Mom and blond twin 2 year old's.  We literally stayed with them for miles.  We caught up with them in the meadows near a stream where the kids were boxing and playing in water.  Mom was in the act too!  Then she started moving them toward the beach.  They were moving so fast that we couldn't keep up on foot, so we jumped in the chariot and caught back up with them near the beach. The family of 7 was there too.  They got to witness the treat!

We followed the bears down to the beach where they ran and ran.  We hopped back in the 4 wheeler with our trusty  chariot behind and followed them along the beach.  Thankfully we all had hip waders on...me, John, Dave and his wife Tina.  We were able to ford a fast running stream and shoot them playing in the water.  Mom was even trying to catch fish again!  Some spectacular photos were captured!  The bears then were on the move again and another group was near, so we let them have the bears and went looking for more.

We crossed the stream and chanced upon the Mom with 3 1-year old cubs.  How much fun they were!  Fighting and aging in the golden hour!!  We shot until well after 9:30 PM in gorgeous light!

Yes. We filled our cards again! Looks like new 32 G cards are going to be purchased.  And yes, Marius, it's a new record for gigabytes!!  Got to bed after 11 PM because it took that long to download all the cards.

Enjoy!
Cheri & John

Alaska - Day 3- June 30, 2011

We got off to an early morning start.  Alarm went off at 5:45, coffee at 6:10 in a to-go cup, and we were off.  What a morning it was....clear blue sky with sun, sun, sun!  We had an unbelievable time with the Mom and two cubs followed by a clamming tide with the mom and three cubs, followed by the Mom and two cubs playing in the sea!!  WOW!

In the middle of all that we said goodbye to our Swiss friends and to Ed and Nancy from Anchorage.  We really enjoyed our time with both couples!

Time for lunch at 1.  After 6 hours of standing and shooting we were all a bit tired, so we called a halt until 3.  In the interval we recharged our batteries, camera batteries, and downloaded our full 32 G cards!

At 3 PM, we were on the hunt again.  Now with a German couple.  This time we encountered the Mom and one fun cub.  This cub is a first year and she loves to play.  She can entertain herself for hours.  She elected go pose for us!  Cheri decided that this little one might be here favorite bear, closely followed by the blond twins!

Alas the weather seems to be changing.  There is now a very stiff breeze and the clouds look very different.  So we are bracing for what comes our way.  Dinner is at 7 tonight instead of 6:30...so not sure if we will get a final ride tonight or not.

Got the ride, but not tons going on.

Enjoy!
Cheri & John