Dog Islands

 Hanging out in the Dog Islands that are in Hebron Fjord watching some very interesting lenticular clouds.  The puffy, pancake-like layers are formed when wind flows across obstacles such as mountains.  The saucer-like shape often causes them to be mistaken for UFOs. 

There is a beach landing this afternoon to a former mission but we're going to skip that and enjoy the  beautiful weather and stay on deck.   It's reached 17°C. 

Tonight we have a loyalty party with other Seabourn Club members at 5:15 and we'll be having dinner at 7 PM with one of the submarine pilots.  Yes, this ship has a submarine. It hasn't been used yet on this itinerary since the Canadian government has not allowed Seabourn to launch it.  We got to tour the "garage" where they house it and take a peek inside on a prior cruise. 

Right Arm Fjord

 After we left the landing site yesterday, we enjoyed a little balcony time and tried another beer from Greenland.  Such vibrant Autumn colors!!  At 11:30, the ship had a Sip & Soup event on Deck 5 Aft where they had three soups.  One was an Asian chicken soba noodle, another was carrot ginger and my favorite was the cream of mushroom!!  So tasty on a cool day.  Lunch was a British theme but I just had a cheeseburger and salad. 

After lunch we headed to the Bow Lounge. We've enjoyed watching all the instrumentation including ship speed, wind speed, azipod positions and our heading.  The archeologist specialist onboard found it quite amusing!!  We have to be ready in case the captain calls down from the bridge. 

The ships original plan was to find a spot near Rose Island where the zodiacs could be launched for an afternoon cruise.  The winds were reading 40 kts with gusts up to 50 kts.   It helps to have experts at the instrument panels!!  Luqui our expedition leader took out a zodiac to try to find a sheltered place but the winds were just too much to allow it to be safe.   So instead the ship proceeded down the fjord and we got a great view of what is called Right Arm.  I loved how the clouds hung over the fjord. These mountains also have such different twisty striations than I've seen in fjords in Norway, Chile or Alaska.  Billions of years ago, these were part of the southern hemisphere, before the Continental collision.  And they were at the bottom of the ocean. 

This morning we arrived at Hebron Fjord for some scenic sailing. But first we'll have breakfast in the Colonnade. Then get some seats outside since it is expected to be close to 15 °C today. 

Ramah Bay

 We're in Ramah Bay this morning. It's been cloudier than the last few days.  It's currently 3° C. We've had our breakfast and are just absorbing the beauty of this place.   So many brilliant colors. It's like the swirl on an artist's pallet.  They are offering a zodiac to a beach landing but we're going to stay on board this morning. 

Polar bears

 As I've mentioned, you have to "go with the flow" on an expedition cruise.  Plan A was a morning hike.  That had to be cancelled because polar bears were spotted in the area of the planned hike.  Plan B was a short zodiac cruise but we decided to stay on the ship. In the afternoon the ship was sailing further south into another fjord for Plan C which was finding a different landing site for an afternoon hike. Along the way, first a black bear was spotted.  Then another. Then a mother polar bear and a cub. Then another pair of polar bears. One set of the polar bears were feasting on a seal with the other pair looking on from afar, waiting to see if they could get leftovers. Eventually, there was some sharing.  And then the black bear decided to join the party. It got a little feisty, but everyone ended up getting along. It was quite the afternoon!!  We spent nearly three hours watching between the Bow Lounge and on the bow.  The GSS camera image was a huge help.  You can watch that on your stateroom television or on screens around the ship, including the Bow Lounge.  We've had so many spectacular bear sightings on this cruise.

Lower Savage Islands

 Yesterday we had morning and evening zodiac tours today. In the morning we were at Lower Savage Islands where we got to without 100 feet of a polar bear!!   Amazing!!  He or she was just curious. They don't seem to really react to humans.  It was much more interested in the seal that was swimming. Although surprisingly, while seals are a major part of a polar bear's diet, they aren't able to catch seals while swimming.  The seals are just too agile and quick.  That's why the bears rely on sea ice so they can float or walk around and swoop their huge claws into the water to grab a seal for dinner. 

In the evening we had another zodiac tour around Resolution Island where we saw an interesting iceberg. Then we travelled a bit further and saw another polar bear.  Captured a few pictures just as the sun was setting.  Last night we had Thai dinner with Green Curry Chicken, Tom Yum soup and vegetarian pad Thai. 

Today we'll stop in Torngat Mountains National Park. The plan is for a beach landing with a morning hike at 8:45 AM and then an after zodiac tour.   

Northern Lights

 I'll just leave the pictures to speak for themselves!!  We have finally seen them!! At 12:10 AM, the captain made an announcement that Aurora Borealis was visible from the port side!!  We quickly put on warm clothes and ran outside to our balcony.  Amazing display. And your camera picks up colors and nuances that you can't see with your naked eye.  And the dancing!!! Saw it several times. The best description is if each light was a key on a piano and your finger is gently running up and down the keyboard.  So impressive to see. 

Pangnirtung

 After a very adventurous day of heavy swells and high winds, things started to calm down around midnight as we got closer to Pangnirtung.  We ended up staying all afternoon and evening in the cabin. This morning it was a brand new day!!   Sunny skies, warmer temperatures (10° C) and calm seas!!  We had a great breakfast in the Colonnade.   Then we headed to Seabourn Square to see if we could spot any wildlife.  One of the guides said that narwhals were potentially spotted so we headed out to the bow on deck 6 to take a look.  We saw some movement in the water but no luck seeing anything else.  

After some hot chocolate and a mandatory rest period, we had a lunch of delicious cheeseburgers at the Colonnade.  Then we saw Erry at The Patio which is the outdoor bar outside the Colonnade.  He was one of our favorite bartenders the last time we sailed on Seabourn Venture. We're now back in the cabin and will get ready for our daily briefing at 6 PM to find out where we're headed tomorrow. When you take an expedition cruise, you have to really "go with the flow" since plans can change at any moment. There will often be a Plan A, Plan B and Plan C.  And weather or potential wildlife sightings will contribute to a change in plans. 

After the briefing we'll head to The Club for some sushi. Dinner will either be at The Colonnade (Spanish theme) or The Restaurant.  It's so impressive the number of starters and mains they have at The Restaurant.  And we're on a relatively small ship (only 264 maximum guests).  I've seen less on larger cruise ships. 

Flying to Greenland

 Yesterday was a sequel to one of my favorite movies, "Planes, Trains and Automobiles"!!  Once we left the hotel in Reykjavik we had one bus to the airport. Then another bus from the gate to the plane.  Then once we landed in Kangerlussuaq and processed through immigration, there was another bus to the harbor where we were loaded onto a zodiac to the ship. We got onboard about 3 PM local time. We went to our cabin which is all the way forward on the port side. Angie will be sharing some videos of our cabin. We then headed to the Colonnade for a light snack ofc cheese and crackers along with some Tanqueray and Tonics. The Colonnade is a buffet style restaurant for breakfast and lunch. For dinner they have a smaller a la cart menu compared to the main dining room. 

We headed back to the cabin to unpack and then had a mandatory safety meeting at 5 PM.  We got changed for dinner and went to The Club on deck nine aft. This is a venue with a bar that is used for live music and in the evening they have a la sushi. We had some tuna, salmon and yellowtail sashimi, each with a different sauce.  The miso mustard on the salmon was my favorite.  Then we also had a dragon roll (essentially a spicy tuna roll) and a hamachi roll which was yellowtail, scallions and cucumber. 

Dinner was at The Colonnade where I had grilled salmon and Angie had whole roasted butternut squash.   Both very delicious.  After dinner it was drinks in the Constellation Bar  on deck nine forward.  We immediately saw one of our favorite bartenders who we had sailed with previously on the Venture and Encore.  It was then back to the cabin. 

We woke up this morning to really large swells. The captain says they are up to five meters and will be getting larger as the day progresses.  We won't see any improvement until we get some shelter as we get closer to Pangnirtung around midnight.  It's been challenging walking around the ship so we've been hanging out in the  cabin although we did have another mandatory safety briefing mainly about the zodiacs and protocol for exploring while on a landing. And I did a load of laundry.  Seabourn has self service laundry that is included in your fare. We may just order room service tonight.  

Back in Reykjavik

 We landed at KEF this morning at 8:15 AM. We were at the Reykjavik Edition hotel by 9:30.  This is the hotel that Seabourn is using for anyone that will be on the charter flight tomorrow and boarding the ship. 

We both like to jump right into the time zone (it's EDT +4 here) but we both needed a little nap. So after about ninety minutes we left the hotel for some lunch. Directly across from the hotel is a food hall called Hafnartorg Gallery.  There were about seven different restaurants all with bar and table seating.  Everything from tacos, to French, to pizza.  We chose Brand since it had the most varied menu. They both ordered the grilled salmon special and it was outstanding.  Two delicious purees. One was a celery puree and the other was celery with beet root. The salmon was a perfect medium rare and cooked right in front of us in their small open kitchen. And an amazing butter sauce!! A great lunch. 

We then headed to our excursion for the day which was a whale watching tour.  There were about sixty people on board for our three hour tour. We went quite far out past the harbor and saw several types of birds.  But alas, nature decided the whales weren't coming out to play today.  Not any sprays or blows. 

We're back at the hotel for a mandatory rest period before we head to dinner at Reykjavik Kitchen.  This was our favorite restaurant when we came to Iceland a few years ago. They had an amazing squid ink tagliolini with seafood!!  At least one of us will order that if it's still on the menu. Tomorrow we'll check out of the hotel and take the Seabourn transfer to the airport to catch our charter flight

Bourbon and Beyond Day 4

A fantastic finale to Bourbon & Beyond!! At noon we got our table on the third deck of the VIP section and watched the bands play. Sometimes you find a band you never heard of has some familiar band members. That was the case with The Baseball Project which features Mike Mills and Peter Buck from REM. They had a very fun set. Also saw sets from Dashboard Confessional, Foreigner and Myles Smith. We caught the tail end of the Spin Doctors as we headed to see Gin Blossoms who definitely received and followed the memo. They played all their hits during the forty five minute set. Then it was off to see the end of the Leftover Salmon set. They have some amazing guitar and fiddle players. Then we caught the first few songs from Goo Goo Dolls. They started with some favorites but then played some new material. We then headed to the full set of Blues Traveler. I had never seen them before and it was just a pitch perfect set of music. John Popper is a magician with the harmonica. That finished off our night and the four day festival on a very high note!!

Bourbon and Beyond Day 3

 Some great sets of music today. After our lunch at the festival we went back to the hotel for a couple of hours to cool down and I might have taken a nap. When we came back we saw The Ocean Blue followed by Ringo Starr and his All Star Band. He got the memo playing all the songs you'd expect including ending his set with "With A Little Help From My Friends" when Jack White and his band joined him onstage. Ringo's lineup includes Steve Lukather from Toto on guitar, Colin Hay on bass and Zak Starkey on drums.

Bourbon & Beyond Day 2

 Great second day at Bourbon & Beyond!!  Immediately after getting through security, I went directly to the VIP area and secured a table for us.  Then we watched the first several bands including Darren Kiely from Cork, 10,000 Maniacs and The Robert Cray Band.  10,000 Maniacs definitely got the memo, playing their hits from the 1990's as well as a wonderful cover of Roxy Music's "More Than This".  The lead singer is now Mary Ramsey, since Natalie Merchant departed the group in 1995.  She did an amazing job on songs that she didn't originally sing as a lead vocalist. Robert Cray was also very good. Such a good guitarist.  As close to Jimi Hendrix as I'll ever see live. 

Lunch was some chicken from Gus' Fried Chicken. So well seasoned and freshly fried. 

After lunch we saw a Fork & Flask presentation from Elizabeth Banks (Hunger Games, Pitch Perfect, The Better Sister).  She has a new line of canned wines she was promoting called Archer Roose. We tried the rose and it was decent.   She also talked about her career in Hollywood, indicating it is much easier to act than direct.  No one brings you coffee as a director.  Her most challenging role was definitely in the Hunger Games.  We also saw a presentation with Chef Edward Lee, Chef Amanda Freitag and Gavin DeGraw. Chef Freitag made a pulled pork shoulder with cole slaw. 

Access to Kentucky Kingdom theme park was included this year so we took a stroll through the park.  This used to be Six Flags branded park.  Now it seems to be mostly the type of rides you'd see at a 72 hour town carnival. Now rides for us but we did find a really good Caribbean food truck.  Angie had a jerk smoked chicken wrap and I had some spicy chicken curry.  

We then headed back towards the main stage and awaited Phish. I know they have a lot of followers.  It seems to me similar to the following that The Grateful Dead had or Jimmy Buffett.  I had never seen them or heard any of their music so didn't know what to expect.  We stayed for one song and that was enough. I'd define them as a jam band. A lot of talented musicians on keyboards guitar and drums, playing a long jam session.  It just isn't for me. But others were enjoying it. We headed back to the hotel after our short walk and are reviewing the artists for tomorrow which includes Ringo Starr, The Ocean Blue and The Pixies.  We'll likely have a similar plan as today, trying to get a table in the VIP section.  

Bourbon and Beyond 2025 Day One

 We had a great first day at Bourbon & Beyond!  The festival is about twice as large as last year. The five music stages are much further apart than before.  And there are usually three stages active at any one time so lots of places for people to be so it never feels crowded.  After a "walk around" we headed to get some lunch at Prince St Pizza. I use a recipe that is modelled after their pizza. The pizza was really good.  It's similar to a Detroit style. I like my sauce better but this was a top notch pie!!

At noon we saw a Fork & Flask presentation hosted by Chris Santos from Food Network's Chopped and other programs.  He was also here last year in the same capacity. Chef Claudette Zepeda was going to make her Death Row Cheeseburger. Its signature features were pickled tomatillos and a parmesan cheese sauce.  She worked with Katie Crutchfield from the band Waxahatchee. Chris passed out samples and the burger was really tasty. Afterwards we watched several bands from a shaded area with comfortable seating.  

Later we saw another Fork & Flask presentation with Terry Bradshaw and his son-in-law who were making Texas Twinkies.  These were cream cheese and chorizo stuffed poblanos, wrapped in bacon and then smoked. Terry was also promoting his bourbon which is 51.9 proof which also "coincidentally" was his completion percentage in the NFL.  Terry likes to talk and I think he would have spent another two hours just chatting it up with the crowd. 

We saw a really good Bluegrass band named Chatham Rabbits.  The lead singer was a school teacher only a few years ago and her husband convinced her to give the band a try.  They had some great original music.  

After that we saw Marshall Crenshaw. He had a disjointed set of some new music, an extended period of changing his guitar and then finally getting to his big hit from 1982, "Someday, Someday".  It was a disappointing 45 minutes of music. What I've liked about other artists we've seen at this festival is they understand the job. You have a short set and you need to get to the songs people want to hear. 

The highlight of the day for me was seeing Pat Benatar and her husband Neil Giraldi. They had an amazing 60 minute set with almost all the songs you'd expect. Including a finale mashup of "Heartbreaker" and "Ring of Fire". Although I really thought she'd also work in  "Hit Me With Your Best Shot".   But definitely a great set.  We headed back to the hotel after that. We're staying at the Crown Plaza which is only a fifteen minute walk from the festival. 

Today we'll head over to the festival around 11. Today's highlights will be 10,000 Maniacs (sans Natalie Merchant), Robert Cray, a Fork & Flask with Elizabeth Banks, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Marc Cohn.

Goodbye Denver

 We checked out of The Ramble this morning and got our Lyft to DEN. Enjoyed some time in the United Club Lounge for some breakfast. Our flight to IND is on time and we're onboard. It's a full flight so we weren't lucky enough to have an empty middle seat. We'll land about 2:30 so we'll likely be back in the apartment by 3:30. A wonderful trip planned by Angie!! So happy to get to see three more MLB teams play at home. Also two Presidential Libraries and a National Park!! We'll be home for about a week before the next adventure begins.

The picture is our last dinner in Denver which was at a wonderful pizza restaurant called Cart-Driver. Delicious combination of kale and sausage. 

Denver: Colorado Rockies game

 Breakfast time!! What a great menu at Snooze!! I had the Habanero Pork Belly Fried Rice. Angie had the Sweet Potato Veggie Smashup. Plus a pancake and some green chile!! All very tasty. I loved fried rice with eggs for breakfast!! They had added some kimchi for an extra kick. After breakfast we checked out the Denver Central Market which is a collection of restaurants serving everything from oysters to pizza to bagels. We just looked but it would be a great option for a longer trip.

We headed to Tap Fourteen's Rooftop patio for pre-game wings and beer. They have 70 local beers on tap. 

And then it was time to play ball! We had great seats in the section behind home plate. 

Onto Denver

 We had a smooth drive from Angels Camp to SMF yesterday.  We needed some lunch and the Escape airport lounge was in Terminal A, so we made our way there. They had some good bites including pork meatballs and a turkey, Brie and caramelized onion sandwich.  We boarded our flight to DEN at 3:30. We had seats 8D and 8F and were lucky enough to not have anyone in the middle seat.  We landed early, arranged for our Lyft and got to the Ramble hotel by 8:30.  The Ramble is a great hotel. 

We needed some dinner and I had spotted a place called Work & Class across from the Ramble that was busy.  Always a good idea to follow the Bourdain Rules. And its name was appropriate for Labor Day!!  The menu is primarily small plates for sharing.  We started with some tasty plantain empanadas. For our main we had hickory smoked picanha, cooked a perfect medium rare!! And sides of mashed potato and hatch chili Mac and cheese.  Everything was so good but a special shout-out to the chef that knew how good goat cheese and green onions tastes on mashed potatoes!!   We'll be trying that at home. 

This morning we will check out Snooze which is a breakfast restaurant with an interesting menu. Later today we have tickets to see the Rockies at Coors Field.  

Columbia State Park

 With one last look out the window of our room at Half Dome, we checked out of the Ahwahnee this morning about 8:30. We drove two hours to Columbia State Park. This was one of the prominent places in California for the discovery of gold in 1850.

Some of the town buildings still stand today, many with the same purpose as before. Such as the Bowling Saloon, the apothecary and the Wells and Fargo office for trading in your gold. Although sadly, we didn't find any. They have a free daily tour of the town where you learned about the history of the town. There is no admission and free parking. Definitely include this as a stop when you visit this area.

We had planned for lunch somewhere in Murphy's, but our tour guide raved about the pizza at the St Charles Saloon so we were persuaded. They had a great beer list. I tried the Apricot Wheat and Angie had the Must Be The Honey from Belching Beaver. Both really good!! For lunch we had an amazing pickle pizza!!

A delicate garlic white sauce topped with prosciutto and sliced dill pickles. I'd only had pickle pizza once before last year at the Indiana State Fair. It was decent but the St Charles version knocked it out of the park. Great crust, balanced sauce and the brininess of the pickles brought out even more flavor in the sauce.

After lunch we headed to Calaveras State Park to find some sequoias. It was a bust. The North Grove trail was partially closed and we couldn't find a parking spot. We took a little scenic drive around the park. Here's a photo of us with NOT SEQUOIAS.

We headed to the Best Western in Angels Camp. We decided just to grab some meat and cheese at the grocery store and call it.

Yosemite: Valley Floor and Glacier Point

We had a morning tour of the Valley Floor. Lots of scenic views of El Capitan (or frequently referred to as El Cap), a very popular 914 meter cliff face which is very popular for climbing. And of course perhaps the most famous mountain here, Half Dome, named that way since it looks like a sphere was cut in half.

After the tour we took a walk to Yosemite Falls which usually is dry in August. But they had a huge storm one week ago which turned on the faucet!!

In the afternoon we took an eighty minute bus ride to Glacier Point for more views of Half Dome, Nevada Falls and Ventral Falls. This wasn't our best tour. The guide talked for 80 minutes on the way up and 80 minutes on the down about whatever he wanted. It was a good view at the top.

We had dinner in the lounge. Then, we watched the sunset over Half Dome. This is what makes it worth paying more to stay at this hotel. 

Yosemite Day 1

We had a great breakfast at Con Azucar Cafe. The coffee was fantastic and the avocado toast was delicious.

 We headed to the airport to pick up a rental car and drove from Sacramento to Yosemite!! Our first stop on the way was the Lodi Wine Center. We will definitely be coming back here. Wonderfully curated wine tasting. We picked up some bottles for our Yosemite stay.

Then, we headed towards Yosemite. We stopped at California's Oldest Bar: Iron Door Saloon for some delicious wings and burgers. 

Then, it was a windy, up and down drive to the Park. 

We checked into the Ahwahnee and this was our view of Half Dome from the room: 

We headed to Yosemite Valley Lodge's Mountain Room for a great mussels and trout dinner.