Turn and Burn

Today I'm "turn and burning." I dropped off my latest tour at the ship at noon and immediately boarded the ship to pick up the next group. The tour I just finished was another Alyeska tour. I didn't do as well in tips as I should have, but I had a family of 11 from England. The English are great people, but they are not accustomed to tipping.

I had a great group of people. At Hotel Alyeska is the 7 Glaciers restaurant, which is on the top of Mt. Alyeska, and is rated four diamonds by AAA. You have to take a Gondala-style tram to get to the top, which is fun. A group of my guests had asked if I had ever eaten there, and I told them I hadn't since it was a bit out of my price range, but many of my guests come back with rave reviews. These fine folks invited me to go with them since I had helped them out with a number of items. It was a lot of fun, and the food was great. I would've taken pictures of all the food, not just the dessert, but I think that would have been a bit odd for the hosts. The dessert is a devil's food cake with chocolate mousse and ice cream on top. There was a thin chocolate crisp layer around the edge with gold stenciling, along with the chocolate spoon with stenciling. Divine is the one word to describe it. My meal was a great goat cheese/arugala salad with pecan crusted halibut with curry sauce. Yummy!

This is another great view on the pathway from the Hotel Alyeska into Girdwood. There were also a number of paragliders, and I failed to take a picture of them. I was too much in awe of what they were doing. I even had the chance to see how they took off on the top of Mt. Alyeska. It's safe to say that I'm too much of a chicken. Cockle doodle doo!

This is a huge mushroom that I found along the path in Girdwood. And a beautiful flower.

Poor, poor Roslyn at Alyeska. The poor girl had four sick people on her tour, and she didn't get a break!

This is the front of the train when it was coming in last week in Denali. The front of the train is the Alaska Railroad, and the McKinley Explorer cars are owned by Holland America. The top is glass domed and holds 88 guests. The ground level is the dining compartment and serves 44.

Land first ... Cruise later

If you ever decide to go on a cruise and land tour, please, for my sake, go on the land portion first. This is a lesson I learn time and time again when I pick people up off the ship. When people have been pampered on a cruise ship, then they go on the land tour, especially to places like Prudhoe Bay, they are quite cranky. Those that go on the land first have no idea how cushy the ship will be and are geared up and excited for their vacation.

My Alyeska tour went wonderfully. The people were great and the accomadations were amazing! This is the only place that we get to stay in the same hotel as the guests. Check out the cushy beds. There's also a great pool, hot tub, spa and workout room. Girdwood is the town Hotel Alyeska is in, and it has a population of about 3,000, but the town consists of a few restaurants, a post office and a book store. It's definitely a place where you take advantage of its beauty.




This is a view on the walk from the hotel into Girdwood. Gorgeous!









Here I am doing a meet and greet at the Westmark Hotel in Fairbanks. Doesn't this look like the tour director you would want to tour with?!










Here I am by the river in Denali. There were a couple curious foxes near by and I managed to get a few pictures. I would say they got within 10 feet of me.