Stirring the Pudding

Come to Coba Just off the Mayan Riviera in Quintana Roo, Mexico

2012-02-16T21:34:00.001-06:00

The ancient Mayan city of Coba was home to over 50,000 people and flourished between 500 and 900 AD. Conflicts with Chichen Itza contributed to its demise after that time and it was abandoned to the jungle around 1550 just as the Spanish were arriving on the scene. Coba was left alone and hard to get to until modern roads began to penetrate the area in the 1970's and even today it remains less than 10% excavated.

There is little surface water in the rocky grount of the Yucatan so we were surprised as we approached Coba to see some lakes. The explanation was astounding. They were formed by the quarrying of the stone to build the city. Below is one of the five lakes around the city.

Once at the Coba site entrance you can walk or take what our guide called a Mayan Limo. Two people jump on a front seat of an adapted bicycle and a young strong Mayan fellow pedals from behind.

Here's our power supply, Manuel.

You can just see our tour guide, who jumped on a regular bicycle, and led us off rolling through the jungle. Visitors can also hire a regular bike or walk, but the excavated sites are some distance apart and if you are in a standard tour and have a time limit, the Mayan Limo is a good choice. It also makes a fairly nice slowmoving platform from which to snap photos.

We soon were able to see one of the two ball courts on the site. The scoring ring is shown here. The courts here are much smaller than those at Chichen Itza, but the result was the same. The captain of the winning team earned the honor of being sacrificed to the Gods.

Jus below is our guide, Oscar, off his bike and giving us a lesson in jungle smarts. He showed us a bad tree with black stuff on it that you should not touch because it would give you a nasty and painful rash. He also showed us that usually somewhere nearby would be a good tree and some secretions on its bark would help heal the rash if you got it.

Oscar was an interesting fellow. He was superbly bi-lingual. He was born in the states. His father was an American Marine who was killed in Viet Nam and his mother was Mexican.

Off we go again.

Many of the temples, like this one, show the definite signs of being built in three stages.

Oscar volunteered to take our picture at the entrance.

A number of stelae have been found at Coba. Many are in poor shape as they were carved into extremely soft limestone. Some of the largest ones are now semi-protected by shelters.

The major sight at Coba is 140 foot tall pyramid called Nohoch Mul. It is one of the tallest in the region and also one of the few in the area that you can still climb. Below we have dismounted from our bikes and are walking up toward the open plaza at the base of the pyramid.

There is a huge rope running up to the top and less intrepid climbers can use it for added support.

We didn't sign up for the summit push, but we did manage to get up far enough to take some pictures.

The true bravehearts were justly celebratory when they did reach the top.

Given our age, the heat, the humidity, and the dire warnings scattered about the grounds we did not feel too guilty about choosing to be groundlings.

Our Mayan limos then took us back to the entrance where our van was waiting to take us to lunch in a pleasant little open air restaurant on the shores of one of the lagoons..

Mayan Lime Soup was a featured element of our meal and it was delicious.

Stay tuned for Tulum. Coming next.

And Then There was Mexico

2012-02-14T20:38:00.002-06:00

My oh my! What are they looking at?

It is the view from the balcony of our old college friend's Playa del Carmen time-share and it has to be one of the most delightful sights this side of paradise.

We have just returned from ten days of bonny beaches, delectable cuisine, and monumental Mayan archaeology. It is hard to know where to start, but let's first give due to the unsurpassed hospitality of our hosts, Dave and Irene Spaetzel who honored us with an invitation to spend a week with them on the Cancun Riviera at the Royal Resort's Royal Haciendas.

We were in the lap of luxury from the first greetings by the well spoken and friendly folks at reception. It doesn't take long after that to join the active group fun.

You can also belly up to happy hour service right next to and even in the pool.

Or how about taking over a palapa and just watching the Carribean lap gently on the shore.

If even that is too, strenuous grab a hammock and snooze the day away.

Nature lover? There is no need to leave the reservation.

You don't even have to go off site for Mayan architecture when there's a Bob the Builder on the beach.

I know it's tough to leave the pool, but there are as many delights in the countryside as there are within the resort. Join me tomorrow as we visit the ancient Mayan Cities of Coba and Tulum.

Bald Eagle Days Salutes our National Symbol

2012-01-26T08:25:00.000-06:00

A visit to Bald Eagle Days in the Iowa-Illinois Quad Cities produced a nice outing for our grandchildren and a chance to see and learn a bit about our grand national bird.

Representatives from the Naiobi Zoo also were on tap with some other fascinating creatures.

And even some that took a full time crew.

A good time was had by all.

Is Art a Reasonable Investment?

2012-01-26T08:12:00.000-06:00

Michigan: For Every $1 State Investment in Arts, $51 Returned
Crain's Detroit Business, 1/18/12
"For every $1 the state invested in nonprofit arts and cultural groups in 2009, those organizations pumped more than $51 into Michigan's economy through spending on rent, programs, travel, and salaries. The sector employed 15,560 people that year, paying them a total of $152 million in salaries. Creative State Michigan, a new report from the Wixom-based advocacy group ArtServe Michigan, reinforces what ArtServe has known all along, said the group's director of public policy, Mike Latvis. 'For a long time, we've heard that state funding to the arts is a handout, but it's not. This report shows that investment is returned multiple times over to the state's economy'...The 210 participants in the inaugural report represent just ten percent of Michigan's estimated 2,000 nonprofit arts and cultural groups. They span 45 of Michigan's 83 counties."http://bit.ly/xIIAsT

Who are the one-percent in your town?

2012-01-16T09:56:00.000-06:00

The January of my dreams continues.   We have had one minor snowfall and no below zero weather. Although this might be the occasion to wax elouquent on global warming, I prefer to think of it as just a simple pleasure gifted by the spin of the wheel of weather fortune.  I still suspect we will pay big time before the appearance of the daffodils.

What I did notice today was a fascinating chart and an accompanying article on the nature of the 1% in our country. It comes from the New York Times and is revealing and probably about as even handed as any article on this hyperpolarizing topic can be.  Check it out.    I have discovered that I was not in, am not in now, and will not OCCUPY THE 1% NITCHE IN THE FUTURE.

The Unstirred 2011 De Young Christmas Pudding Letter

2011-12-10T09:18:00.001-06:00

Volume XXXVIII December, 2011

Christmas 2011

This is year number 38 of Jim and Jan’s Christmas letter. I can’t believe I am still writing this thing. Retired should mean retired and I believe that someone who enjoys work so much that he refuses to retire must be just plain nuts. In spite of that I am going to make an exception for Christmas and carve out some time from the typical retired person’s week of six Saturdays and one Sunday to compose this note. I am even going to dress formally while writing, which for a retired person means wearing shoes with laces. Given the economy it’s always good these days to begin with a prayer, so “Oh, Lord, Please give me a thin body and a bigger fatter bank account for 2012. You got it reversed last year, and I am getting tired of being defined as an adult who has stopped growing at both ends and is now growing in the middle. Amen.”

Now the family : Our daughter and her family still live in Iowa.

Our oldest Grandson is a sophomore in high school. There is now a drivers license in his wallet and a strange little jeep like vehicle in the driveway. Need I say more! He is taking an interest in aquaculture and environmental management. With his love of the outdoors, this may turn into an important career direction. Unfortunately his foray into baseball was stopped cold this summer by a hamstring injury.

Our youngest Grandson at nine shows no sign of being tamed by the 4^th grade, but we do have hope. He still loves Lego projects and is participating this year in something called Lego League. We enjoyed having him stay with us this summer while he attended College for Kids at Monmouth College. He studied Physics, Art, and Clowning.

Son- in- law Todd has been busy rebuilding the interior of a mobile home at the campground near the Mississippi where the Brown family spends many a summer weekend. He will also be starting a new job come the first of the year and we wish him well.

Then there is Amy. She is teaching, mothering, doctoring, and going to the gym while also taking classes for her Master of Arts in Teaching at Coe College. There seems to be no end to her energy, devotion, and love for her family and her students. No one could look at her and still believe that teachers work only for short days, long vacations, big salaries, and bountiful retirement packages.

Now a short break for seniors joining the “Texting Revolution.” Here are the latest abbreviations you need to know: OMG: Ouch, My Groin! IMHO: Is My Hearing-Aid On? BYOT: Bring Your Own Teeth. LOL: Living On Lipitor. DWI: Driving While Incontinent. And LWO: Lawrence Welk’s On.

Jim and Jan continue attempts to balance home town activities with their love of travel. Jan still works on her beloved AAUW Art Presenter program and serves on the Warren County Library Board.

I have moved off the Buchanan Center for the Arts board, but both of us have found a new interest in working at the Warren County Historical Museum, where I am now 2nd Vice President.

Travel this year was a January trip to Cancun with a college classmate and a chance to explore the famous Chichen Itza archaeological site.

Later in the winter we hit Arizona for visits with a friend and two of Jim’s cousins. High points on that trip were driving the Apache Trail outside of Phoenix and experiencing an unexpected snowfall in Tucson.

In July a Road Scholar trip took us for our first visit to Alaska.

We spent a week on the ground from Fairbanks to Denali and then a week cruising the inside passage complete with whale watching.

It also completed our goal to visit all fifty states. Lots more pictures and full details can be found by looking at the blog archive on the left of the screen. Why not sign up to get all of my posts? Occasionally they will be interesting or intriguing. Occasionally they will set your hair on fire and occasionally they will be just plain silly. But what the heck, they are always free.

Our son David gets the position of honor this year as the person who has engineered the largest and most significant change. Readers of last year’s letter (and who would have the nerve to deny that they didn’t read last year’s letter) will recall that we mentioned that David, aged 46, had met a young Finnish woman and that we were going to get a chance to meet her at Christmas. Well, we did meet her in December, 2010. She is delightful and we are pleased to announce that David married her this past summer and will be moving to Finland sometime in the next year. For us it not only means a chance to visit Helsinki this coming summer, but to meet a whole new family. Congratulations to David and Lotta!

And that’s the way it is here in Illinois in December, 2011. To you and yours this holiday season may the following three blessings accrue. We wish you good health, a loving family, and OOPS . . . doggone it! What was that third thing? Oh yah.

A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR

Jim and Jan De Young

P.S. No wiener dogs were hurt while composing this message!

Moving on to Christmas

2011-11-30T11:54:00.000-06:00

Our son visited from Minneapolis for the holiday and we enjoyed our three days with him immensely.

BUT

Thanksgiving is over and the Christmas Season is now formally underway.   The outdoor lights are up and plugged into the timer.  A trip to the local tree farm looms as the next holiday task. We continue to resist the plastic temptaion. There is something about the smell of a real tree that is hard to give up.
The decorating process itself is also an integral part of the enterprise. We haul the tubs of lights and ornaments down from the attic and then dig the box of Xmas CD's out of the back of the closet. On goes the music and we are off to the races.

With the tree up it is time to survey the gift list and to begin work on our annual Christmas letter.  I know it is easy to poke fun at Christmas letters, but when you look back at a long series of them over the years, you realize that they represent one of the few recorded histories of your family's ups and downs. If the truth be known it may be more fun for us to read our old letters than for you to real each year's new ones. So be it. I have always tried to avoid the over achieving Lake Wobegone Syndrome  by sprinkling our letters with some humor as well as the events of the year. Given the challenge of finding something to laugh about in this year's economic turmoil, I may have to schedule some special consultation with my elves. See you soon.

Happy Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-24T10:24:00.000-06:00

Critic John Lahr in a New Yorker piece on actress Nina Arianda quotes her as saying, "You leave a part of yourself on every stage you're on." Maybe that's why theatre folk wear out so fast. On this Thanksgiving Day I am grateful that there is still enough left to wish all of you a plump turkey and gobs of gravy on your dressing.

Veteran's Day 2011

2011-11-11T10:41:00.003-06:00

I am not a veteran by luck of time and geography. My draft board was located in a working class area of Milwaukee that had plenty of volunteers, I drew a high number in the lottery, and educational deferments were easy to get. I was also too young for Korea and had a wife and family by the time that Viet Nam was heating up. The result is that I missed the military experience in somewhat the same way that my father missed it. He was too young for WWI, had a wife and me, and a job in agriculture (a critical home front industry) as WWII began. He did note in later years that had the war gone on much longer he would still have been drafted even though he was in his late thirties in 1943.

My conversations over the years with friends and relatives who were vets have given me a sense of an experience lost. Although many of their stories about life in the service centered on laughable and frustrating moments, the sense of cameraderie they speak of is almost always positive.

So today my hat is off to those who did serve and especially to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice of service like Waterloo, Iowa's now famous Sullivan Brothers. We visited the veteran's museum dedicated to them this past summeer. We learned about their story and also prayed that fewer and fewer of our fine young men and women will be faced with a world that requires the particular and peculiar rite of passage called war.

Below my grandson practices his salute.

May God bless all those who labor in the cause of peace whether in uniform or out.

Minneapolis Bound

2011-11-05T22:28:00.003-05:00

Lotta, David, and my wife Jan at Lake Harriet

My wife and I visited our son and his new wife in Minneapolis this past week. The occasion was to get better acquainted with our new daughter in law. Lotta is from Finland and a resident of Helsinki. Here she is on the outdoor observation deck of the Foshay tower.

We were proud to show her a bit of downtown Minneapolis and we had a beautifully crisp and sunny late fall day for our touristy travels. Lotta admires tall buildings and said she particularly liked to go up in them to see the view of a city. The tallest of the tall in the central city didn't have public observation spaces, but the venerable Foshay Tower (which can be seen in the reflection on the picture below) does have one.

The tower was completed in 1929 and at 447 feet remained the tallest building in the city for many years. There is a nice little museum on the floor below the observation deck and it reveals the fascinating and checkered history of the builder. A major rehabilitation of the structure was completed in 2008 and it now houses a 229 room upscale hotel.

From its open air viewing area you can get a good look at the IDS center, which is now Minneapolis' tallest building.

From the Foshay Tower we drove over to the Guthrie Theatre. The stages were dark but the building is a star all by itself and we enjoyed the great views of the Mississippi riverfront from its funky mirrored and colored glass windows as well as the outdoor candilevered porch.

Above is a view through a strange reflected window and below St. Anthony Falls through the tinted yellow lobby glass

Jan took this picture of Lotta and me on the outdoor cantilevered porch area.

Later in the afteroon we rejoined our son David (who had been at work) for a stroll around Lake Harriet. It was late afternoon and the sun was basting all the remaining leaves in shining gold.

Dining was at Christos, our favorite Greek restaurant and at a Himalayan restaurant near the theatre we attended on Friday night. The play was titled Ajax in Iraq and directed by a Grinnell College grad, Wendy Knox. I'll put a link up shortly to a review.

A Musing on the Altar of Misguided Absolutism

2011-10-29T11:27:00.000-05:00

Picked up a book called "Despite the System: Orson Welles versus the Holywood Studios" by Clinton Heylin at a recent library leftover sale. Ran across this idea in a letter from Mr. Welles to the RKO studio head while he was in the process of trying to sell the screenplay of CITIZEN KANE to him.

Welles called John Foster Kane a man who had the "enraged conviction that noone exists but himself . . . . " This stance means he refuses to admit the existence of other people with whom he must compromise, that they may have feelings that should be considered, and that those people may have an ability to do damage to both you and your ideas.

Might this be a problem for many of our political figures on the far right and far left who find it impossible to accept anything less than 100% of their goals?

Sometimes even part of a loaf can keep you from starving until the opportunity for another meal comes along.

Monmouth College Homecoming 2011

2011-10-23T13:20:00.000-05:00

What more could you ask for? It was a gorgeous October day.

The parade sparkled. Big Red marched with pride.

Our band was right in tune

The pipers, as always, added their own brand of haunting sound.

On the sidelines vintage alums like Ralph Whiteman chatted with Ira and Marge Smolensky. My wife and I were able to retouch base with students from as far back as the seventies.

Did I mention it? The football team won too.

A Smell Test for Better Communications

2011-10-05T09:57:00.002-05:00

In reviewing a newly published book on newspaper columnists this morning on MSNBC, the conversation turned to the disintegration of real writing and commentary in the past twenty years. As one participant put it, we tend to write today about “what we think” rather than “what we see.” The insatiable twenty-four hour news cycle pushes writers and/or media personalities to cough up new opinions every quarter hour in order to stay current. There is no time to tell a story and then reflect on what it means; there it only that “X” happened and I do or don’t like it.

Under the pressure of producing clicks or eyeballs for advertisers all comments must be extreme and strident. The commentator must be positioned on the outer edge of any argument and then illustrate it with booming denunciations that echo like a drum in a canyon of tall buildings. Each new proposal or idea from someone else is automatically “dead on arrival” or “idiotically stupid.” Fellow citizens whose only crimes are a different view are immediately compared to Hitler. Is there no such thing anymore as an opponent on another team who is simply trying to win the game for his side rather than attempting to strip you naked and herd you into a gas chamber. Think musician and Monday Night Football.

Verbal vomit projects wildly in all directions and does not care who or what it bespatters. All I know is it stinks and our atmosphere and our country would be better off with less of it.

Shopping For Porcupine: A Life in the Arctic by Seth Kantner

2011-10-01T19:17:00.000-05:00

STOP!

Just when you think your Alaska vacation is over and done with, along comes Seth Kantner and his remarkable elegiac book, Shopping for Porcupine: A Life in Arctic Alaska. You can't pigeon-hole this series of vignettes because some are autobiographical, some historical, some sociological, and some almost religious. His musings begin with "My memory started under snow . . . " and proceed through childhood and adult experiences that always seem to focus on the land and the people who survived on it. The text is accompanied by exquisite color photos mostly taken by the author.

All the animals are there. You meet (and see in the photos) the caribou, the musk ox, the seal, the salmon, the bear, and of course the porcupine. The quirky title essay doesn't arrive until midway through the book, but it demonstrates the overreaching theme. A porcupine has been killed, skinned, butchered, and the meat saved in a nice plastic bag. Kantner reflects, "I stand back and look at the brown plastic bag laid gently closed, the shiny jetboat, the red gas cans and heap of guns. The cooler full of Pepsi and turkey spreadables. . . I feel the the sheer weight of this technology that has come to carry our lives." At the end the porcupine's skin is burned in an age old ritual of respect for the animal that gave its life to nourish other life.

But there lies the rub. Those rituals are going. The arrival of the new pushes out the old. As Kantner says, "There's a war going on up here on the last frontier." It is a "bitter range war" between the subsistence life of the past and the life brought by the oil and mineral companies, the government, the trophy hunters, and the tourist conglomerates. There is still subsistence of a sort in the rural areas, but even there it has been overrun by technology, snowmobiles, repeating rifles, electric generators, the internet, frozen pizzas, and Wal Mart. The world is out there, but somehow not the same and definitely not as pure or as holy as it once was.

Throughout there are Kantner's detailed descriptions of arctic life both before and after the arrival of statehood. You get telling accounts of his early life in the sod igloo built by his parents on the bank of the remote Kobruk River. When he fixes on the weather you can feel each new blast of freezing wind and swirling snow. When he hunts you feel with both the predator and the prey. Several chapters serve up bitter winter battles against the sea, the ice, and the snow, then in a nice balancing act, others take you on flower scented walks over the summer tundra under semingly endless arctic sun.

The world Kantner paints is so distant from the plush cruise ship ethos that surrounds the tourist that I found myself feeling a bit ashamed for daring to tread so comfortably on his holy ground. Ultimately it was a picture of an Alaska that we did not see or feel on our recent trip, except perhaps at isolated moments. It is definitely a side of that gigantic and remote land that needs to be added to every traveler's experience. This is a book you might wish to read even if you have not just traveled to Alaska.

The Wallace Challenge Cup Remains in Monmouth

2011-09-26T11:38:00.001-05:00

This past pleasantly cool and sunny weekend (9\24\11) the Columbia Golf Club, just outside of St. Louis, hosted the world famous Wallace Cup Challenge.

And once again the squad from Monmouth, IL managed to give the St. Louis contingent a good case of the blues.

Monmouth Captain Bill Wallace and the St. Louis team of Mike Flood and John Holtschlag look ready to go on Saturday morning just before the opening round tee time. (photo by Jim De Young)

If you are among the uninitiated in regard to this stellar event, a capsule history might help. Three years ago Bill Wallace and Mike Flood, two old St. Louis high school buddies, started a friendly inter-city golf match. Each man chose a friend with Wallace picking Jim De Young for the Monmouth side and Flood choosing John Holtschlag for the St. Louis contingent. The matches are then played alternately in the Monmouth or St. Louis area.

It's a spirited but also fun-filled rivalry. Each new meeting is preceded by extensive re-working of the plethora of special rules. There are always intense discussions about strokes, putts, mulligans, and relief from nasty trees or the ferocious wild bears that might be lurking in them.

Currently the competition is played out in two 18 hole matches on succeeding days. Day One features a best ball competition between the two squads and Day Two is match play with each participant going against someone from the opposing team. The winner receives custody of the famed WC cup (no poddy jokes please; this is serious business), which was designed and built by Mike Flood.

This year, fighting hard to keep the honor of Illinois intact in spite of the dismal record of the Bears and the Cubs, the Monmouth crew took a best ball victory on day one and followed it with a split in the match play on day two to retain the cup for another winter. Below you see Columbia Club Pro, Jon Charpentier, presenting the trophy to the Monmouth team of Bill Wallace and Jim De Young.

The first two competitions in 2009 were won by the St. Louis team, but since then the Monmouth team has dominated. They took the cup for the first time in 2010 and now have defended it successfully through four meetings.

Here are all four of the competitors at this year's Victor's Lunch.

And here the valiant warriors are meeting a screaming mob of adoring fans in De Young's driveway upon returning home to Monmouth.

The cup will be defended again in the spring of 2012 at Gibson Woods in Monmouth.

Vancouver Arrival

2011-09-16T12:36:00.001-05:00

Bright and early on sunny Sunday, July 24th we entered Vancouver Harbor.

and passed to and then under the Lions Gate Bridge.

Once inside the harbor,

we could see more of the city. Surprizingly we ended up docking right in the center of town. The photo below shows the Zaandam at its berth later in the day. I presume it departed for Alaska that evening with a new group of travelers aboard.

Because we were not to leave for Chicago until Monday, we booked a Holland-America tour of Vancouver. They put our baggage on the tour coach and at the end took us right to the airport where some of our folks caught a late flight out and where we caught a free shuttle to our motel for the night.

The Vancouver tour took us first through several downtown streets.

Then it was on to Chinatown.

Stanley Park has a gorgeous seaside path for cycling, jogging, and just plain walking with family and friends.

It was there, for a moment, we thought we had been mistakenly teleported to Copenhagen.

Finally we were deposited at the gates of the Capilano Suspension Bridge park.

The bridge, first built in 1889, was crowded, wobbly, and frankly pretty scary.

It was a long way down to the Capilano River.

More intriguing to us and a lot steadier, even though still way up there in the trees, was the so called Treetops Adventure.

The park also had quite a collection of Totem Poles.

And a large collection of silly people to stand in front of them

On the way to the airport we drove back over the Lion's Gate Bridge and I was able to snap one final shot of Vancouver.

The following morning we shuttled back to the airport and were shortly on our back to Chicago where our car was waiting at the Four Points Sheraton. We were back in Monmouth by early evening.

It's always great when a plan comes together and this one did. We were happy to be home, but also exhilerated by two weeks in the presence of arguably some of the most spectacular scenery in the world. Thanks to our Road Scholar companions and programs, we also learned a great deal about the fauna, flora, and cultures of the north.

Alaska: A Final Day on the Zaandam as We Journey Toward Vancouver

2011-09-15T09:59:00.003-05:00

Our two weeks of lovely weather in Alaska finally deserted us on Saturday, July 23rd. We were in more open water in the Hecate Strait on the way down to Vancouver and it was windier and spitting rain most of the day. Whitecaps were visible and we saw seasick patches sprouting on several arms in the dining room at lunch. I know I dropped a dramamine just to be on the safe side. On the other hand It was a good day to get the disembarkation talk, pack, and start the farewell rounds.

Thank goodness we had reached calmer waters by dinner time, so all hands could enjoy the special treats both on and around the tables.

Our waiters did a smart parade while spinning plates.

They followed that with some nimble pepper juggling.

And of course the food continued to be excellent as well.

We had ample time for a final turn around the deck after dinner and once again the sunset did not disappoint.

The highlight list from our Alaskan Road Scholar Journey is getting crowded, but I think we will have to add the Inside Passage on the way to Vancouver.

We will pick this up in Canada tomorrow morning.

Alaska: An All Too Short Visit to Ketchikan

2011-09-14T19:49:00.002-05:00

Alaska's slim little arm is like everything else in the state--a whole lot bigger and longer than you think. It is almost 300 miles from Juneau to Ketchikan. Even though we cruised all night, we still didn't make dock in our final Alaskan port of call until just before noon noon on Fri. July 22nd.

Steaming down the Clarence Strait into Ketchikan

We could tell we were not alone when we got there.

Good thing we didn't have to parallel park

Ketchikan, like many fjord towns seems to grow out of the water. The waterfront street and the first row of buildings sits literally on stilts over the ocean.

The succeeding rows of dwellings climb so steeply

that there is a funicular on Creek Street to access the upper reaches more easily.

We took a quick lunch on the ship and then joined our Road Scholar group at the Southeast Discovery Center for a program given by a native Haida woman.

Here Jan examines a shawl made from Cedar strips and fringed with fur

Woven hats, carved utensils, and some colorful buttonwork on a jacket

Her presentation covered the Haida's matriarchal society and clan system

and then ended with a rousing traditional song.

Our group then traveled to the Totem Heritage Center

where we saw a collection of modern and period totem poles. Totem poles, we learned, are generally made of red cedar and seldom last more than 100 years because of the damp climate. Another interesting piece of information was that the natives do not worship totem poles. The carvings usually tell a story or legend or celebrate an auspicious occasion such as a fifieth wedding anniversary or the successful culmination of a hunt. You can tell the more modern or restored poles because they use brighter, more intense colors.

The painters of older poles had only available natural vegetable dyes, which tended to be duller and more restricted in color. Below is an older and un-restored example

Some of the very oldest examples are weathered back down to the natural wood.

The flat piece below is actually a halibut and it was fitted to the top of a pole by inserting the square hole visible in the center onto a peg carved on the top.

We had only a small amount of free time left after we visited the Totem Center and we used that to walk around a bit on Creek Street.

This was an intriguing group of nicely restored small houses, shops, restaurants, etc. built on stilts and grouped around a small lake and stream.

Miss Dolly's house was a former bordello

This narrow little souvenir and craft store was filled with delightful gifts

All the spaces were connected by boardwalks and it made for a delightful stroll before our 6:00 PM departure. Our only quibble was that we definitely could have used more time in Ketchikan.

Lush foliage along Creek Street

Next and final stop, Vancouver,Canada!

Alaska: Juneau Means Whate Watching

2011-09-12T22:25:00.003-05:00

On arrival Juneau, Alaska appeared to be a rather placid even sleepy little town.

We were surprised to learn that you can only reach it by boat or plane unless you are up to hiking or mushing in. There are no roads connecting it to the rest of mainland North America, which makes it a rather singular state capital. Hawaii doesn't count as it is really an island.

Juneau's downtown offered plenty of shopping opportunities for tourists like most of Alaska's towns and a tram trip up a mountain that overlooks the harbor.

In the afternoon we visited a fine native culture museum, but our morning excursion by small boat to watch humpback whales feeding was the main event of our visit. On the way to the small boat dock we were able to get a nice view of the famous Mendenhall Glacer. Unfortunately our schedule did not permit a trip up there.

The boat used for whale watching was a bit smaller than our cruise ship.

Our captain seemed to have a quick hand on the controls and soon

we were speeding out toward the viewing areas

There were several other boats gathered in the area when we arrived.

Our topside guide first gave us some facts about bubble net feeding, which several pods were engaged in when we arrived.

Whales swim in circles creating bubbles and foam that attracts fish

The gulls can see this and gather to feed as well

The whales then lunge to the surface with their mouths open to scoop up the fish.

The pinkish color is the insde of their upper palate

This moster just missed getting a gull

Sometimes they will also slap their fins on the water to help the process

When they dive or sound they flip their tails up at the last second before disappearing

Sea Lions were also on view relaxing on a harbor buoy

Here a huge Humpback breaks the surface before diving

When the tail flips you sometimes will get a fanciful waterfall effect

Whales can be specifically identifed and tracked over the years from the singlular patterns on their flukes.

For lots more whale pictures don't forget to visit my Flickr account.

Near Orca Point Lodge we also saw a bald eagle roosting in a tree

We prepared to leave Juneau that evening just as the sun was setting over the harbor. Shortly we were steaming down Lynn Canal as a foggy haze enveloped the various islands and headlands.

Jan and I were literally alone on the stern of the Zaandam and it was around 10:30 PM

Then in a fitting end to the day a solitary humpback surfaced, flipped his fluke upward, and dove beneath the sunset tinted waters. Every time you think it couldn't get better, Alaska proves that it can.

Ketchikan is our last port of call tomorow morning. I hope you will check it out with us.

Alaska: Ride the White Pass and Yukon Railroad out of Skagway

2011-09-11T21:25:00.001-05:00

We have already had two fabulous train journeys on our Alaska trip and now we add a third to the list. This one was on the historic narrow guage White Pass and Yukon RR. It was built between 1898 and 1900 just after the main thrust of the Gold Rush that saw thousands of "Stampeders" trying their luck on the 500 mile overland hike to the Yukon from Dyea or Skagway. Over thirty thousand men worked on the line and thirty five lost their lives during its construction.

The route chosen to get to Whitehorse was up and over White Pass.

For decades after its completion the line carried mining products down out of northern Canada to be put on ships in Skagway. When the ore hauling business finally petered out in 1982, operations were suspended. It re-opened as a tourist attraction in 1988 and is now the most popular single visitor attraction in Alaska.

The trackage up to White Pass and the Canadian border rises from sea level to almost 3000 feet in twenty miles and takes you through a dizzying series of twists, turns, sheer cliffs, trestles, and tunnels.

A friendly conductor welcomes you on board and soon you are settled in the refurbished antique cars and ready to go.

You are barely out of town before you pass an old pioneer cemetery where some of the Gold Rush and Railroad construction fatalities were buried.

You also pass a little engine that couldn't and was left to rust some years ago.

We move along the valley floor

Then we start to climb

At first the Klondike Highway keeps pace on the other side of the valley.

As you get higher the river cascades down in some good sized falls.

Above you the snow capped peaks beckon

Below the valley floor recedes.

Until the train seems to barely cling to the granite montainside

We passed by an abandoned trestle that has now been replaced by a newer one

Then into one of the two tunnels on the route

Skagway and the huge cruise ships anchored in the fjord are now only dots in the distance.

Closeup the fireweed seems to carpet the roadbed at times

The timberline beckons

And incredibly the old original White Pass Trail used by the gold prospectors in 1898 is still visible among the rocks.

Finally the Canadian Border appears

And we reach the top of the pass

Where the glaciers seem a whole lot closer

This is the turn around point for the trip and as we arrive another train passes us heading back down.

From there it is back down to Skagway

Back in town our conductor bids us good bye.

Then we hop back on the fast ferry to Haines

And return to the Zaandam

The sun is painting the tops of the mountains

and we steam back down Lynn Canal

Leaving Haines, Skagway, and the White Pass RR behind

Juneau is next. See you in the morning

9/11/2011 In Memory

2011-09-11T13:43:00.001-05:00

For all of the victims, and their families in New York, Washington DC, and Pennsylvania and with special thoughts for those first responders who lost their lives while attempting to save others.

Taken from the top of the World Trade Center in 1982

1982

1982

WE WILL NEVER FORGET!

Alaska: The Gold Rush Towns of Haines and Skagway

2011-09-09T09:24:00.002-05:00

We sailed up the long arm of the Lynn Canal during the night and arrived in Haines, AK in the early morning at low tide.

Would you want these people in your community?

We left the ship around 10:00 AM and boarded what they called the "fast ferry" to Skagway, which is several miles further up the canal or fjord or arm. Whatever you want to call the body of water you are on, nothing can take away from the scenery surrounding you.

Big boat or small one you can always sense some solitude in Alaska .

Where does all that ice go when it melts?

Into waterfalls pouring into the fjord all along the shores.

I had thought that we docked in Haines because they couldn't handle such big ships any further up the canal, but when we neared Skagway there was a covey of giant cruising hotels already parked there.

We must have moored in Haines because there was no room at the wharf in Skagway. Our ferry captain said that with three boats already there, plus all the people from the Zaandam coming from Haines, there would be around 8000 people in Skagway today. That kind of dwarfs the permanent population of around 700.

And we sure did discover a jumping town. The main drag is a brightly painted and spruced up version of the old pioneer town with souvenir stores and food emporiums dominating. Tourists were crawling over every inch, but the view on and down Main Street was still worth the trip.

Skagway in the Gold Rush Days was a bit more earthy than

Skagway today.

Once again bold and colorful plantings added to our enjoyment.

Oh, did I mention that I ran into an old fishin buddy in town. We looked around for Russia but the best we could do was a couple of Ukranian tourists in the Red Dog Saloon.

After our perp walk up and down the main street, we headed off the beaten path to find some kind of drug or food store so my wife could buy some hair gel and allergy pills. We finally found an IGA that seemed to be the place where the locals shopped. It was a bit more grungy than the high rent zone, but it was a real all purpose general store with everything you might need from bananas to fence posts.

With necessary purchases taken care of, we headed back to the train station for our scheduled trip on the White Pass and Yukon railway.

The next installment will give you a chance to follow (in a comfortable rail car) the route that some of the Gold Rush miners took on foot to the Yukon in the late 1890's.

Alaska: Glacier Bay Another Winner in the Scenery Competition

2011-09-06T10:54:00.001-05:00

A pattern emerges as you cruise through Alaska's Inside Passage. Early morning finds you sliding silently through eerie banks of clouds and fog that either covers the shoreline trees and mountains

or reveals them as if through some kind of smoky grey filter.

As the day wears on patches of bright sunshine creep in and suddenly the snowy peaks and the glaciers are gleaming down at you.

Glacier Bay National Park is composed of 3.3 million acres of mountains, forests, fjords, islands, snow, and ice. Two hundred fifty years ago it was literally all ice--a hundred miles long and thousands of feet thick. The glaciers have receded now to the point where we can cruise its deep fjords and watch as the remaining glaciers press down from the coastal mountains to drain or calve their contents into the encroaching sea. All boats need permission to enter these waters and the larger ships take on National Park Rangers to inform and instruct during the hours you are in the park.
Our folks came out in a speedy little launch from the Visitor Center near Gustavus.

The Rangers help you spot wildlife such as whales and eagles.

They also talk about the nature of the topography and the types and evolution of glaciers. The most fascinating part of our few hours in the bay was when we were parked in front of the magnificent Margerie Glacier and were able to both hear and see the calving off of several huge chunks of ice.

This is the glacier in a couple of longer views.

It is hard to get the scale of the glacier face without something of known size in the foreground. Look at the small boat to the left. Even if it is only fifteen or twenty feet above the water, that chilly white cliff is at least twenty times higher or some two hundred feet.

As we gathered at the rail on our much larger ship, we could hear some low cracking sounds.

Then a huge chunk fell into the ocean.

Shortly after that it was another ship's turn to sail into this secluded bay and they passed us we steamed out.

When the light fades late into the evening the clouds generally float back.

and the mists reclaim this harsh but beautiful land. .

During the night our ship will traverse some more of the Icy Strait and then turn back up to the Northwest on the Lynn Canal. By morning we will be resting comfortably dockside in Haines, AK and ready to take on another adventure. See you then.

Alaska: You Haven't Graduated Until You've Seen College Fjord

2011-09-01T10:52:00.002-05:00

On Monday, July 18th we were up at 6:00 AM to see the sights in College Fjord. It was chilly and foggy at first, which had an ethereal beauty, but soon some of the mistiness began to settle into cloud bands that lay about half way up the mountain sides. Coupled with the reflections off the calm waters, it was just plain magical.

The College Fjord glaciers were named during the 1899 Harriman Alaska Expedition. On board the steamer "George W. Elder" in addition to the railroad tycoon Edward Harriman, were a covey of naturalists, scientists, and artists. Chief among them, in terms of continued recognition today, were environmentalist John Muir and photographer Edward Curtis. The explorers were sailing by what is now known as the entrance to the Harriman and College Fjords in Prince William Sound when they noticed a small channel where the charts showed nothing at all. They pressed through the opening and found a whole new set of waters that had been exposed by the receding glaciers. Since it was new territory and most of the members of the party were Easterners, they decided to name several of the glaciers after their colleges. Thus today we have Harvard and Yale at the far end of College Fjord. Down the left hand side are Smith,Bryn-Mawr, Vassar, Wellesley, Barnard, and Holyoke. Dartmout, Willims, and Amherst grace the right hand side. Some kind of strong Ivy League animosity must have been at work in the group as there appears to be no Princeton Glacier listed on my map.
As the morning wore on we began to get some brighter more crystalline morning light as well as occasional patches of blue sky and sun.

I believe these are Vassar and Bryn Mawr glaciers

When the wonder of multiple glaciers appeared on all sides, it became a major problem to decide on which side of the ship one should station oneself. The water was glassy calm and the reflections were extraordinary.

This may be Smith

The surface of the fjord is full of small floes that have beauty in their own right, especially when you are safely aboard a large ship. Smaller vessels in these waters must be extremely vigilent since the floating pieces are much larger than they appear because most of their mass is below the water.

This is a nice long shot of the end of the fjord with the Harvard Glacier on the left and Yale on the right.

The telephoto lens turns the apparent smoothness of distance into more daunting ruggedness.

Closeup you also can see the patterns that have been engraved in the eons of ice that have been piling and pushing their way down the valleys.

You may now move your tassle over. You have graduated from College Fjord.

Can you believe that more and better is on the way? An all-night run down the Gulf of Alaska is going to put us into Glacier Bay tomorrow morning.

Avast you Lubbers! Time to Cruise the Inside Passage of Alaska With Holland America

2011-08-30T20:20:00.001-05:00

We boarded Holland America's SS Zaandam around 3:30 PM on Sunday July 17th at its berth in the Seward, Alaska Harbor. If you would like more info on this ship check out http://www.hollandamerica.com/cruise-vacation-onboard/Zaandam.

Initial check-in was in a large clean shedlike building.

From there we proceeded onto the dock and to the gangway proper. There were no long lines or delays when we boarded no doubt due to the fact that we were early and departure was not scheduled until early evening.

Inside we were met by the security guy in shades, checked again, and funneled in front of a photographer who took a mug shot for our on-board credit card. The card would also be used to check us back onto the ship after shore excursions.

Smile!

Once inside we found that we were already on the proper floor for our stateroom. All we had to do was walk down a football field long corridor until we found the right stateroom number.

And there it was--our little home away from home for the next six days. There was a nice view out of the window and a little sofa, chair, and coffee table for general lounging in front of the TV.

The bathroon, as one might expect, was tight, but functioned efficiently.

All told quite pleasant. The most pleasant of all was that our luggage, which we had last seen outside our door at the Windsong Lodge some eight hours ago, was sitting patiently on our bed awaiting its unpacking. We settled in , took a short rest, and then headed out for an initial exploration of the ship before dinner. The Zaadam holds about 1500 passengers. It was the largest one we have ever been on. Our Costa/Rica/Panama Canal ship only held 100 passengers. This one, with elevators zipping you up and down its ten decks, seemed gigantic, but according to the web site it is classified as a mid sized vessel. They are now making cruising behemoths that serve twice that number or more.
What did we find?
You can walk four times around the promenade deck to make a mile.

You can also walk up and down the grand staircase while gazing at a huge white pipe organ. We were assured that it could be played, but we never heard it.

There are lounges and bars around every corner.

The main showroom/auditorium holds over 400 and holds daily lectures and the evening shows.

And of course there are pools. There are two large hot tubs and a pool on the Lido Deck and also a smaller pool aft.

We were still in port as we settled down to our first dinner.

The view from our table was fully as good as our dinner. I had a lovely soup, salad, a soft buttery sea bass fillet, and strudel for dessert. Jan sampled some tender veal.

A soft rain accompanied by mist had begun to fall as we finished dinner and we were suddenly aware that we were moving. There was no engine sound or any sense of wave motion, but we were clearly gliding along in a massive tube of silence broken only by muted conversation and the soft chatter of silverware on fine china. I suspect that folks whose tables were away from the windows were not even aware that we had left the dock and were leaving Seward behind.

After our lifeboat drill around 7:30 PM, we took a turn around the deck and had no trouble persuading another strolling passerby to snap our photo as we began the second week of our Road Scholar adventure.

The rain continued to fall intermittently and that old Sandburg fog catfooted its way around us as we left the harbor further behind. Slowly the inlet widened and the shore receded into shadowy grey mounds.

Bedtime. Hope to see you bright and early tomorrow in College Fjord.

Seward's Alaska Sea Life Center Scores Big with Road Scholars

2011-08-24T17:50:00.001-05:00

On a day when everyone in our Road Scholar group was looking forward to boarding our cruise ship, the morning trip to the Alaska Sea Life Center seemed more like a filler than a destination. Our luggage (even most of our hand carries) had all been tagged to be delivered to the boat from the motel and most of us we were free and unencumbered. It was definitely a pleasant surprise to find a first class aquarium and marine life research lab just waiting for us to explore.

We started off with a fine lecture on the center's mission by the center's public information officer.

This was followed by an informative illustrated talk on the differences between harbor seals and sea lions delivered by one of the staff biolgists. After that we were broken into small groups and given a comprehensive behind the scenes look at the research facilities. The center conducts studies in its labs and also collects data on habitat, behavior, and population from various sites throughout the state.

Just before noon we were left on our own to wander amongst the two floors of exhibits and live water environments. Some folks left fairly quickly to have lunch and explore more of Seward. We found the center so fascinating that we grabbed a sandwich at the lobby cafe and returned to the exhibits for another hour and a half.

The outdoor habitat for puffins, gulls, ducks, and penguins garnered a lot of our time.

As did the feeding of a gigantic old sea lion, who was as big a ham as any old time vaudeville entertainer.

The larger tanks were filled with aquatic life of all kinds.

I was particularly fascinated by one of their experiments that affixed a camera to the head of a seal in order to observe his actions and interactions out in the wild.

Here the camera is shown in position on a model

This is what the seal cam would see i.e. me

It was mid afternoon before we left the Center to appeciate what a fine view Seward's residents have from their own downtown.

The city also has a free bus service that plies between the cruise ship docks and the downtown.

We jumped on and in about ten minutes were deposited dockside at the berth of the M/S Zaandam, our soon to be home away from home for the next six days.

Next entry is "We Get on Board and explore the ship."

Alaska: Driving Down the Kenai Peninsula to Seward

2011-08-23T20:44:00.002-05:00

Just when you think you have run out of great scenery, you find yourself riding a bus down the Kenai Peninsula to Seward. First off you hit Potter Marsh.

Then the Turnagain Arm opens out on your right

On both side of the Arm the peaks rise up precipitously right from sea level.

On the left hand side the road is cut into the mountatin side.

Frequently the highway crosses bridges over salmon streams that come coursing down from the heights to flow into the Arm.

The fisherfolk were out on this one that may be Bird Creek

We stopped for lunch at a ski resort called Alyeska. There is a large hotel at the bottom of the mountains and a tramway that carries you up to where the ski runs begin.

When you get up to the tippy top you find a restaurant and bar.

From the circular observation platform you get a view of several glaciers tucked into the high saddles of surrounding mountains.

A storm blew in across the way while we were on top and this view, much like a classic Japanese print, turned out to be one of my favorite photos of the entire trip.

Looking to the south from the top the very end of Turnagain Arm was every bit as spectacular as the glacial heights.

Tides in the Arm are among the highest in the world and at low tide the mud flats stretch for miles.

Out in back of the tram house were trails leading to additionl ski tows.

Summer hikers were encouraged to stroll, but not without reading this admonition.

Since the paragliders didn't set down until they reached the meadow down at the hotel, I guess they didn't need to worry about the sign.

As we glided back down on the tram, we saw a brave group of walkers working their way up the hard way. Road Scholars do have some perks.

Returning once again to sea level, we re-mounted our sturdy coach and left the Turnagain Arm behind.

In another hour we had finished our run into Seward and were resting contently at the immaculate and scenic in its own right, Windsong Lodge.

We sipped a gin and tonic on the porch outside the dining room and enjoyed this view that evening.

It was a tender chicken breast with mushroom sauce for dinner, topped off with homemade ice cream. Tomorrow it's down to the Seward Harbor, a visit to the Sea Life Center, and then on board our cruise ship the S.S. Zaadam.

Alaska: Quick Visit to Anchorage

2011-08-22T19:37:00.002-05:00

We arrived at the Anchorage Westmark Hotel fairly late in the day on July 15th. From our eleventh floor room we had a nice view of the harbor.

There was just enough time to take a short stroll from the Westmark to a park a few blocks away. There were flowers everywhere and they were Alaskan sized and colorful.

We also stumbled upon a mural of swimming Orcas painted on an old building. Yes that's a real truck in the parking lot in front of the painting.

I guess you just never know what you will find on the streets of Anchorage.

The following morning (July 16th) saw us walking to the Anchorage Museum for an excellent tour of their native history section.

The all-glass front of the museum looks pretty cool from the inside looking out as well.

Our guide for the morning was superlative and she took us through the histories and development of some of the main native tribes such as the Aleut, Athabascan, Eskimo, Tlingit, and Haidas.

we saw dioramas of native life,

examples of the native art of scrimshaw,

and once again gorgeous example of ceremonial masks.

The museum also had a hall full of working scientific gadgets that were fun for both kids and the kid in us older folks as well. Here one of our road scholars gets ready to encase himself in a giant bubble.

We would have loved to stay longer, but we had to get back to our hotel by 11:30 in order to board our coach for the trip to Seward. That will be the subject of the next entry.

Till then

Alaska: We Saw It! Gimpse of Denali on Train Ride to Anchorage

2011-08-21T15:29:00.001-05:00

All Aboard!

We got back on the Alaska RR train at McKinley Park around noon on Friday, July 15th for the five hour run to Anchorage.

AND THEN IT HAPPENED.

It was almost like seeing "Big Foot." About an hour or so out of McKinley Park we caught a glimpse of Denali. It was not visible for long and it was way out there in the distance, but I did get a couple of shots. Even at 70 miles away, it still looks big and white and overpowering as it rises 20,000 feet to the highest point in North America.

Look sharp. It's almost like an extension of the clouds. With the telephoto in place you can suddenly see it in and up and over those clouds. It ain't much but for hand holding a 300mm lens while riding in a moving train, I'll take it.

The rest of the journey to Anchorage was probably a bit anti-climactic, but Alaska really doesn't stop being beautiful just because you saw one big mother of a mountain. We completed the day in the magnificent dome cars of the Alaska RR and each bend continued to reveal new delights.

Steve, our Holland America guide, kept us up to the minute on the sights

Thirst was never an issue either

And before we knew it we were gliding down the Knik Arm and the Cook Inlet into Anchorage

From our hotel room that evening I pointed the camera back toward the Alaska Range and reminded myself that back there in the clouds somewhere was Denali and that you really could see it from here on a clear day.

Alaska and Denali: Where the Word "BIG" is Redefined

2011-08-20T12:25:00.001-05:00

Only 20% of Denali National Park visitors will actually see "the high one."  We were a bit disappointed, therefore, to join the majority of visitors, but what we did see was enough to leave an indelible imprint on our understanding of that vast space called Alaska.   Private vehicles are for the most part forbdden on the single park road in Denali and that road is open only during the short intense summers.  For most of the rest of the year dog sled patrols remain the only human on-ground intrusion.

Our motorized traverse of the Denali Tuntra, courtesy of the Nationl Park Service, began with an early morning pickup at our hotel by a mustard colored  converted school bus.

Our guide and driver (Sarah) was a cheerful articulate school teacher, who also cleaned our windows at every stop.

About thirteen miles of pleasant blacktop ended at a bridge over the Savage River and a brief stop at the Ranger Station there. "The High One", we were told was somewhere beyond those clouds.

From the Savage River you do take off into the tundra.

Our first stop, about fifteen miles later, was at Igloo Creek.  We saw some arctic ground squirrels closeup

and our first of many Dall sheep literally silhouetted on the tip of Igloo Mountain. They must have suction cups for feet.

From Igloo Creek you begin a long and torturous climb up toward Polychrome Pass. The bright bands of color were created by volcanic magma that spilled out over other rock beds.

The vast Murie Valley spreads out below cut by braided rivers and patches of rich vegetation and wildflowers.

The weather, as we were warned was highly changeable. We went through patches of sun, light rain, chilly winds, and even a few snow flakes, but the biggest excitement was always when someone spotted an animal. We missed moose and wolves (along with the big mountain), but we did catch sight of Dall sheep, grizzly bears, golden eagles, and caribou.

Across the valley and in the generally misty distance were the Alaska Range foothills. Behind that, shrouded in clouds, were the higher peaks of the Alaska Range, the great glaciers, and of course the elusive "high one"--Denali .

Our furthest penetration into the Denali wldeness was the Toklat River Rest Area (mile 53).

There was time for some high jinks as we stretched. I tried out the new antler look.

On the return we stopped at the Polychrome Overlook and were treated to some of the best views of the day.

as well as a hillside packed with lots of arctic wildflowers.

We returned to the McKinley Lodge in the late afternoon.

The Alaska Railroad to Denali National Park

2011-08-16T21:06:00.002-05:00

If you like trains you will be in seventh heaven riding the Alaska Railroad to Denali National Park and beyond. Each mile brings vews of magnificent scenery and you see it all from the ARR dome cars.

Each car comes with its own personal guide and a drinksmaster. What more do you need?

We started out from Fairbanks early and

zipped past the test plots for the University of Alaska-Fairbanks agriculture school shortly after leaving town. This is where they do cutting edge research on how to take advantage of the state's short but intense growing season.

In less than an hour out we were called down for a lovely breakfast in the dining car.

Then it was back to the scenery.

We were hoping to see a bit more animal life but had to make due with some beaver lodges and a few swans.

As we approached Denali we headed into the rugged Nenana Canyon.

The gorge deepened and we spotted a group of rafters threading their way along the river below.

It wasn't long after that before we muscled our way under the bridge that carries Hwy 3 into McKinley Park. If you are not planning to camp in Denali proper, this is where you stay.

McKinley Park is primarily hotels and resorts surrounding a strip of eateries, adventure trip organizers, and souvenir stores.

We hopped off the train and found a coach waiting to deposit us smartly at the front door of the McKinley Chalet, which would be our home away from home for the next two days.

A beary nice welcome awaited us at the chalet.

The Mckinley Chalet lobby was pretty impressive too.

More in the next couple of days. jdy

Alaska: Up A Lazy River to a Chena Village in Fairbanks

2011-08-08T22:08:00.003-05:00

On the afternoon of July 12th we journeyed to a boad landing and boarded the Discovery III, a nicely appointed paddle wheel steamer, for a trip up the Chena River. Five generations of the Bingley family have taken a "supply the local inhabitants business" and turned it into an immaculately oiled tourist machine that shuttles hundreds of folks at a time up the river and through a reconstructed native Athabaskan village.

You were barely clear of the dock before you got an up close demo of a bush plane landing and taking off from the water next to the boat.

The next stop was the sled dog kennels of Iditarod winner Susan Butcher and her Dave. Susan died of leukemia in 2006, but her husband is right there on shore with a wireless mike and he gives you a quick run down on the care and training of sled dogs and the fine art of mushing.

Then they harness up a team to an old ATV and zoom out of the yard with wild barks and yelps breaking the way.

They tear across the back forty and pile back into the yard again.

As the dogs are unhitched they all bound into the river for a refreshing cool down. It was a marvelous show.

Further on we reach the confluence of the Tanana and Chena rivers and can clearly see what happens when a milky silt laden glacial fed river meets up with a normal run off river. Interesting.

This is the turnaroud point for our cruise and now we slip back to the Chena Village reconstruction and dock. Here we get off and are neatly broken down into several groups of about fifty to a hundred.

Each group gets a lovely young Athabaskan girl guide and she moves you through exhibits on native dress, housing, transport, food gathering, and hunting.

Back on the boat we get one more demo from shore on how to butcher a salmon and ready it for the drying racks.

From the Chena village we steamed smartly back to our original dock where we were greeted exhuberantly by all our bus drivers.

Our driver Toni was exceptional and she clearly didn't want to lose a single one in the parking lot.

Back aboard the coach we made one final stop a few miles out of town to take a peek at the famous Alaska Pipe line that snakes its way down from the north slope to Valdez. Again a fascinating stop.

From there it was back to the Westmark and dinner. I'm sorry I didn't think to take a picture, but I had a huge bowl of squid ink colored black pasta smothered with clams, shrimp, scallops, and various chunks of fish. Delicious!

P.S. Did I mention that the wild and cultivated flowers were everywhere and at their peak?

Next we will board the Alaska Railroad for a trip to Denali National Park.

Alaska Here We Come

2011-08-07T18:27:00.002-05:00

"How did you enjoy your latest trip?"
" Gee, don't know, I guess I'll ask a."

With that cornball opening we begin our "Road Scholar" trip of a lifetime to the great state of cold storage pleasure--Alaska. In order to get a bit of an edge on jet lag we flew a day early from Chicago to Anchorage and then hopped a commuter flight to Fairbanks where our program began.

Off we go!

Alaskan glacial field from air outside of Anchorage

Fairbanks Airport

Fairbanks, on first impression. has a kind of gritty frontier ambiance. From the small airport the ride down to the central part of the city was along a stream of dingy strip malls, punctuated wth a fair number of abandoned buildings and fast food eateries. A walk through the downtown shortly after our arrival revealed a similar feeling. The buildings were mostly old and there was an almost total lack of auto traffic or pedestrians. Nothing slummy but nothing that electric or brimming with life either. Our hotel, the Westmark, was quite nice though. Their bar had some kickin Alaskan beers on draft and the restaurant put out gargantuan size meals at quite reasonable prices.

We hit the hay early. I woke up at midnight and it was still light out. Woke up again at 2:00 AM and it was still kind of like twilight. Around 4:00 AM it looked like the sun was ready to rise again. Welcome to summer in the near Arctic. We learned that Fairbanks has about 22 hours of daylight and 2 hours of twilight during June and July. This is cool until you think about the real cool that comes when you have the reverse of that in the dead of winter.

After a lumberjack buffet breakfast, we decided on a trip out to the University of Alaska campus to see the Museum of the North. A cab from the hotel priced out at over twenty bucks so we puddled off to the local bus station where we discovered that all seniors ride the public transport system free of charge and that a bus goes right out to the university. Buoyed by that discovery we jumped on.

Our local bus driver

Our bus driver, who grew up in Indiana, was the epitomy of Alaskan friendliness. She greeted everyone who got on and said good bye and have a great day to everyone who got off. Although there are formal bus stops on he route, you can flag one down anywhere and it will stop for you. That is public transport with a heart. For us, as we were literally going to the end of the line, our driver kept up a constant patter about the town, its weather, the people, and the cost of gas, food, and electricity. We felt that we had received a good education by the time we got to the university.

A three block energetic uphill walk on the hilly Univesity of Alaska campus brought us to The Museum of the North.

It is striking architecturally (as is the rest of the campus) and inside we found a treasure chest of delights that covered Alaskan geology, history, and the native populations both human and animal. There was also a gorgeous collection of historic and contemporary Alaskan art. You could pace your viewing efficiently as every hour they had a thirty minute film playing in the auditorium. If your feet got a bit tired you could take a short rest and watch the film. We watched one on the Northern Lights and another on Winter in Alaska.

We literally spent the rest of the day in the museum even opting for a tasty sandwich in the snack bar for our lunch.

Museum Foyer with striking stairway

This horse was made from bent wood pieces

Jim and Jan pose with local fauna

Another more modern take on local animal life

Jan enjoys a sound and light creation

A whale skull gives you some size scale

Out to hunt in a small boat

A native mask

The free bus got us back right in front of the hotel in plenty of time to meet the other members of our Road Scholar group for dinner. We are off and running.

Peoria's Wildlife Prairie Park Continues to Please

2011-07-04T11:03:00.000-05:00

Peoria's Wildlife Prairie Park continues to please both young and old alike, but it more than returned its value a coule of weeks ago when it hosted a magnificent Medieval Faire alongside its normal fauna and flora. Everywhere you turned colorfully garbed period royals, palace stalwarts, yeoman, and peasants were on view.

The costume was not period but the ardor was evident

When it got too warm for the open field you could always take to the cool of the wooded trails and enjoy the animals.

The cougar was on the prowl.

The Bison herd seemed oblivious to all excitement

As did some of the celebrants. Good night fair knight!

Escape Winter Visit Arizona

2011-06-30T15:01:00.000-05:00

For the past several years our February/March travel plans have include a trip from cold and snowy Illinois to the idyllic desert of Arizona. We are always mindful that higher elevations like Flagstaff have real winters and bring out the skiers and snow boarders in great numbers, but we have come to expect that we can look up from the relative comfort of Saddlebrook (outside of Tucson) and only think of snow when we peer at the lofty summit of Mount Lemon.

Last year brought a change in that expectation. It got cold in the valley. So cold at one point that the fountain in my cousin's back yard took on the aspect of ice blue popsickle. Then a little later on we went to bed serenely and woke up to a "what to my wondering eyes did appear" frosting of white stuff that turned the desert environment into a strikingly unusual new postcard material. It didn't last long, but while it was there I snapped and snapped. From the cactus in the snow to hummingbirds mystified by the new covering on their feeder, it was a new experience for us. Below are a coupleof samples. See some more at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/83918664@N00/

Ride the Apache Trail Outside of Phoenix

2011-06-27T12:02:00.001-05:00

For the utmost in day tripping out of Phoenix you cannot go wrong with a drive on the Apache Trail Circuit. You can find a great old western mining town, super-scenery surrounding crystal blue lakes, twenty-eight miles of mountainous desert landscape on reasonably smooth gravel, the magnificent Roosevelt Dam, and cliff dwellings at the Tonto National Monument.

You start your circuit at Apache Junction and take State 88 out of town.

Stop for a stroll and mine tour at Goldfield. If desert flora is on your list, you could also stop briefly at Lost Dutchman State Park. Then head on past the scenic Canyon Lake. A paddle wheeler cruise is available at the marina.

There's a great restaurant and souvenir shop at Tortilla Flat, but that's also where the blacktop turns to gravel. From there for twenty eight miles it's rugged but well maintained. The scenery on this leg is worth the dust and you can negotiate it with a normal vehicle.

This is Apache Lake

You finally reach the Roosevelt Dam and the story of its construction and rebuilding is fascinating.

The dam creates Roosevelt Lak and th Hwy Bridge just above it is a marvel of symetry.

From here you are back on the hard road and it's time for a stop at the Tonto National Monument. It's quite a climb to the cliff dwellings but well worth it for both the ancient site and the views of Roosevelt Lake.

From the Tonto monument you cruise down Hwy 88 until you get to Hwy 60 where you can dive back down out of the mountains and back to Phoenix. Lots more pics can be found on my Flickr site at http://www.flickr.com/photos/83918664@N00/sets/72157626960995074/

Desert Botanical Garden-- A Phoenix Area Must Visit

2011-05-02T10:45:00.002-05:00

Our last visit to the Desert Botanical Garden was during the great Chihuly show two years ago. There is only one Chihuly left (at the entrance), but you can see a few more in my 2009 blog entry. Today we will discuss some of the additional pleasures of this delightful Garden.

The layout is comprehensive and impressive. Their docents are impeccably trained and whether you stop at one of their stations or take a walk with them, you will be delighted. Even if you don't wish a guided journey, you will find that most critical plants are labeled and explanatory signposts accompany the key desert environment sections of the garden.

Docent explaining some of the many native uses of the Creosote Bush

The outdoor restaurant serves delicious drinks and sandwiches at a reasonable price.

Both times we have visited the garden we have seen school groups on site. It is clear that they take their educational mission seriously. The children are indeed lucky to have such a resource available to them.

A school class working on a project.

But the star of the show is still the desert flora and fauna. Here's a few additional photos.

Have you ever noticed how the pattern on this cactus seems to be echoed in some of the southwestern basketry?

A woodpecker makes a new home in a saguaro

Fireweed shines brightly

Need I add that photo ops are around each and every turn in the paths.

Nothing Like the Queen Creek Olive Mill in Arizona

2011-04-29T20:27:00.000-05:00

Not very far out of Phoenix/Mesa is a lovely little eatery/tourist attraction that will please you no end in my judgement. Take yourself to the Queen Creek Olive Mill and spend a pleasant few hours. First off there is a tour of the only working olive farm in Arizona. This includes an informative lecture on growing olive trees and the actual making and pressing of the oil.

You will also get a chance to taste some of the various oils. If you are lucky you may actually be there on a day when they are actually pressing.

After you are finished with the tour you will definitely want to have a scrumptious and reasonably priced lunch in the restaurant. Lots of great choices and don't forget to sample their local draft beer.

Seating is both indoors and outdoors under a ramada or at a picnic table amidst a small grobe of olive trees.

And then there is the store. It is packed with delicacies and sauces and breads and pastas and I guarantee that you will leave with something. We stocked up on pastas as they travel well and need no special handling, but the varied sauces and oils are also appealing. If you are at all into cooking, don't forget to pick up some of the great recipes that are scattered around the store in little card boxes. Everybody had a great time here, including my wife and good friend Sue.

Five stars for this little known attraction that deserves more attention. For more information including directions and opening hours go to their web site at http://queencreekolivemill.com/

Traveling to Arizona the hard way.

2011-04-27T21:25:00.001-05:00

There is nothing like getting round to covering a few Arizona highlights from this past year before it is actually next year. We left for sunny AZ from Peoria on Feb. 12th. It was to be a quick direct three hour flight. What is wrong with this picture? Only a few things. After a smooth check-in we boarded the plane only a few minutes late. A slight additional delay our pilot said, "For de-icing." With the spraying completed out trusty pilot came on again to announce that he had some disconcerting warning lights on the hydraulic systems. Back to the gate we went to see if a mechanic could be found. Hmmmmmm. Looks like a more serious problem. "Sorry folks", said our pilot, "we are going to have to deplane."  Back in the terminal we were finally informed that the problem could not be fixed. The only solution was to fly in another plane. Oh yes, it would have to come to Peoria from Las Vegas. Our 8:00 PM departure would be delayed a bit. Actually more than a bit. Just after midnight three of us potential passengers celebrated our birthdays in the Peoria airport. The only good thing about it was we were also enjoying pizza provided by Allegiant Airlines.

It was marvelous actually as they rolled the pies in on the wheelchairs normally used for disabled travelers.

About 2:30 AM the plane arrived from Las Vegas and we managed to roll out of the gate around 3:20 AM with our pilot announcing pleasantly that we were first in line for takeoff.  By 3:30 AM we were airborne and three hours later (6:30 AM) we set down in Mesa at 6:30 AM. Our stewardess, who somehow had managed to keep her sense of humor through it all, announced "Welcome to Mesa, the time is, oh what the hell. Who cares what time it is. We are here!"  Luckily the car rental agency had already re-opened and so we were able to collect our car and head for Sue Van Kirk's house and some well deserved shuteye. Needless to say Sunday was a bit abbreviated and just a tad foggy.  Still it was great to be there and to stroll out in our shirtsleeves early Sunday evening and get into our neat little red car.

And celebrate with a truly delicious dinner at the Bella Italia restaurant.


More of our adventures in the next few days. And maybe even some Southwestern cuisine.

The Tempest Blows Through

2011-04-16T10:30:00.001-05:00

Matt Shumaker as Stephano (using an instrument made for the play)

Last weekend (April 9-10) the Monmouth College Theatre Department presented William Shakespeare's The Tempest at the Orpheum Theatre in Galesburg, IL. Faculty member Bill Wallace anchored the cast as Prospero, but this was an effort that truly allowed many to shine. First kudos to Nick Munson the student scene designer and then to all of Prof. Doug Rankin's technical staff for a rousing storm complete with parachute sails wafting off to the ceiling over the audience's heads. Student acting honors go to Matt Shumaker's hilarious antics as Stephano, the principle clown, though the languid grace of Mike Carioto as Ariel also deserves mention. Challenging modern music played live by Guest artist Dirk Stromberg, Music Professor Julia Andrews, and student Connor Shields added another layer of complexity to the performance. Holding it all together was director Janeve West who gave us an ever moving and highly physical production. Yours truly was honored to be included as one of the guest speakers at a Tempest Seminar on the Saturday afternoon before the show opened as well.

A lively and informative look at the music composed for the play was presented on Wed. April 13th at OFTA's (Old Friends Talk Arts) regular meeting. This was anchored by Brian Baugh of the Art Department who made some of the instruments featured in the production.

Brian Baugh talking to OFTA

Connor Shields demonstrates one of the instuments constructed for the play.

Janeve West, Director of The Tempest, talking about the music for The Tempest at OFTA

Arcadia in New York brings on fond memories of Tom Stoppard

2011-04-16T10:04:00.001-05:00

One of my few faithful blog readers complained that they had seen nothing new since February, and I do apologize for finding myself so innundated with travel, grandchildren, reading for a talk on Shakespeare's The Tempest in April, and yes a deep case of procrastination--always a lurker on boardwalk of life.

What brings me out of my cocoon is the New York revival of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia. So much said by others and so many thoughts of my own about my relationship with the show. First a reminder that this blog takes its title from Stoppard's Arcadia. "Stirring the Pudding" comes from a line in the play.

My Stoppard journey starts a long time ago. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead spun me around on my ears in the 1970's and convinced me that the best theatre took on great ideas with both literacy and good humor. Then it was directing my own production of The Real Inspector Hound. Along the way I saw, in London mainly, Jumpers, Dirty Linen, Travesties, Night and Day, and the Real Thing. I missed Arcadia at the National Theatre, but caught up to it during its West End run at the Haymarket. I still remember it clearly. We were stuffed together toward the back of the first balcony; it was June and the theatre was like an oven, but my wife and I were transfixed and delighted. Later we saw the Chicago production and I knew we had to do that show at Monmouth College. And we did. Doug Rankin's set for the show did us all proud and several of the students in that production have gone on to real careers in the theatre. It was an outstanding cast and included Mike Fotis, Joe Bozig, Sherry Jirgle, and Beth Dickey. One of Doug's former professors has an excellent comment on the play and I refer you to it if you want to read some more. Check it out at http://davidgoingon.blogspot.com/2011/03/arcadia-reflection.html

The Liberal Arts, Going, Going, Gone! I Hope Not.

2011-02-12T15:16:00.000-06:00

I often think about my parent’s desire to see that my sister and I got an education. My father, who had not been able to graduate from high school because the poverty in his large family demanded that the older siblings go to work, never stopped pushing and hoping. My mother, who had been a housewife most of her married life, went back to work in order to help with my sister’s education.

How deeply it would have offended both of them to see how literacy, education, and social responsibility have been devalued in today’s political environment. Empathy for the people, and basic knowledge of how the political system can and should work is no longer even a requirement for seeking political office; it is in fact often seen as a drawback. Populist rage rather than reason fuels our campaigns. Candidates and their supporters mock informed judgment at best and lie through their teeth (think death panels here) at the worst.

Meanwhile the center of gravity in our culture and our education system is shifting. My college education and my career as a liberal arts college faculty member seemed to balance the shaping of a thinking moral being with career knowledge. Now, more and more schools seem only to be expensive certification factories. Efficient “thruput” drives them to raise class sizes and grades in order to speed students through the system. Parents look for value for money as measured by the professional entry ticket that is delivered. In my judgment increasing specialization tends to rot both faculty and students. They are cut off from social problems, civic participation, and the beauty of everyday life and art. What is left is the insular business of teaching people how to succeed or be competitive in their field instead of how to think and feel in a human fashion. And I am not sure that we can test our way out of this predicament.

The Big Snow of 2011

2011-02-06T09:56:00.000-06:00

They warned us for days and the warning was true.

Da snow came down and down and down and the wind she blew and blew and blew. When it died down we had around 18 inches or so, but it was the drifts the went higher. The driveway needed the attention of more than my little snowblower, but we did mange to punch an aisle out front for the mail carrier and the itinerant pedestrian or two.

We gone through winters when we barely shoveled at all and once every ten or fifteen years we have received one of these monsters. It's sort of the midwestern equivilent of Arizona's so called "dry heat."

Spring is just around the corner. Hang in there.

The Very "Royal Resorts" of Cancun

2011-01-28T20:01:00.002-06:00

For my final report on our trip to Mexico, we will deal with an unreal world I have chosen to call the Cancun Cocoon. There is a Mexican city called Cancun, which we visited on a bus trip to Wal Mart in order to stock up on provisions for the week. Then there is the Hotel Zone. It is located on a long narrow barrier island.

The fronts of the hotels, condos, and time shares—each one more resplendent than the next, face magnificent white sand beaches and the oh so blue Caribbean.

The back of the buildingss look out on a placid lagoon. Far in the distance on the other side of the lagoon (a world away in so many ways) is the real Mexican city of Cancun.

But back to the fabulous Royal Resorts.

Each and every facility has its own complex of outdoor pools--some of them with swim up bars. Happy Hour may officially begin at 3, but in truth it is Happy Hour 24 hours a day if you are a guest in the Hotel Zone.

The Zone even has its own separate water purification system. It may be one of the few places in all of Mexico where the tap water is perfectly safe to drink. We can vouch that we drank it all week in our villa and at various restaurants without Montezuma ever once paying a revenge call. We were staying with friends at their time-share residence in the Royal Islander Resort.

Entrance of Royal Islander

Royal Islander from the Beach

Pool Area at Royal Islander from balcony of our villa

We saw four other Royal Resort properties while visiting and one of the attractive benefits of staying in any one of them is that your access card and room key for one is valid for food, drink, or general purchases at any of the others. Three of the Royal Resort complexes are right next to each other and you can walk between them.

Our base resort was sleek, clean as a whistle, and posessed an impeccably trained and friendly staff with good English language skills. The front of house and concierge staff were especially fluent. Our villa had a small, well equipped kitchen, a nice living room with flat screen TV and DVD player, a spacious balcony overlooking the pools, and two bedrooms each with baths. One of the bedrooms is called a lock-off and has a separate outside entrance, lockable connection doors, refrigerator, and microwave so it can be used as a closed off unit if desired. Since we were were staying with friends the connection doors were kept open so we could access the living room and kitchen of the main part of the unit. We could dine comfortably indoors or on the pleasant balcony.

A short stroll north along covered walkways was the Royal Carribean Resort and a bit further along was the Royal Mayan. We visited the Mayan for a meal at their up-scale gourmet restaurant called The Conquistador. It was not cheap, but each course was beautifuly presented and delicious. My fresh shrimp were cooked at the table and a chateaubriand for two arrived to be carved before our eyes.

A live guitarist added to the pleasure of the evening.

At the Captain's Cove restaurant on another evening (just down the hill from The Royal Islander) we were treated to a flaming after-dinner production of four Mayan Coffees.

We took a hotel shuttle (free of charge) several miles south to sample the pleasures of one of the newer Royal properties, The Royal Haciendas. It is a massive complex with gigantic pools and a broad beach. We had a nice lunch on an ocean view terrace at their on-site buffet restaurant and lounged on the beach.

and then in the afternoon attended a mini cultural fair that featured a talented corps of Spanish Folk Dancers.

On our final day we took the hotel shuttle north to the Royal Sands Resort where we once again did a pleasant walk-around before strolling out the front door and along the main Hotel Zone road. We visited one up scale shopping mall

and then a giant more carnival like mall that had an eclectic mix of entertainment , food emporiums, souvenir peddlars, clothing outlets at all price levels, and even a major Aquarium. Our final destination, as the sun set over the lagoon, was a perfectly ambianced Thai Restaurant that had tables in little palapa structures set on piers out over the water.

It was a most perfect way to end a most perfect stay. Our friends were the perfect hosts and we hope a return visit will be in the cards. We aren't water sport enthusiasts or bake on the beach folks, but the magnificent food and lush surroundings in tandem with easy access to exciting day journeys to sample the ancient Mayan historical heritage made our entire Cancun trip a Royal Resort five star experience.

And with that, "Hasta la vista amigos."

Cenotes I have Known--Chichen Itza, Suytun, and Las Mojarras

2011-01-25T10:00:00.001-06:00

Typical Cenote (Las Mojarras)

Millions of years ago the Yucatan peninsula was under the ocean. Over the eons seabed deposits turned into layers of limestone. When the seas receded the land became a mostly flat rocky plain. Limestone is porous and surface rainfall does not collect into surface rivers or streams. Instead the water filters down into the the limestone ultimately dissolving some of it to create large water filled sinkholes, caves, and even entire underground rivers. The roofs of some of these holes often collapse over time creating open pools while others have only small surface openings and exist as water filled caves. The ancient Mayas used these features as a water source (there are literally no rivers or streams in the Yucatan) or for their religious rituals. They called them “dzonot.” The Spaniards translated it as “cenote” (pronounced seh-NO-tay). Over 1000 cenotes have been documented in the Yucatan and there may be as many as 4000 in existence. When used for religious purposes cenotes were often thought of as pathways to the underworld and its Gods. Today many of them are commercialized and cater to swimming and diving enthusiasts as well as the general tourist. "Cenote" was a word I had never heard of before our visit to Cancun and the Yucatan earlier this month.

Sacred Well at Chichen Itza

We visited three Cenotes during our stay. The first was the great sacred well at the Chichen Itza complex, which is an open cenote. Its roof has fallen in and it now looks like a deep circular pool surrounded by steep rock walls. I discussed it briefly in a previous blog post. The name Chichen Itza literally translates as “the mouth of the well of the Itza people.” Divers have found various precious artifacts and human sacrificial remains in the depths of the Chichen Itza well. It was apparently used primarily for religious purposes.

On our way back from Chichen Itza we stopped at the Cenote Suytun, which had a ranch like atmosphere with various fowl wandering about and a horse corral out back.

There was an inviting snack bar and a place to change into swimming togs. Cenote Suytun is more of a cave than the open well at Chichen Itza. There is a small outside opening at the very top of the cave which the owner has strategically put a wall around to keep folks from tumbling through and some 60 feet to the water level. It was originally explored from that opening by having someone lowered with a rope.Today you enter the space down a steep set of stairs dug into the rock.

Once inside you are perched on a ledge about 1/3 of the way down. From there you can view the magnificent stalagtites in the ceiling as well as the entire pool.

Additional stairs then bring you down to some seating tiers near the shore and a nicely built platform juts out into the pool proper. Many cenotes do not have shallow areas; they just drop off to depths of 80 feet or more. Suytun has an extensive shallow area allows you to dip your toes even if you don’t wish to take a full plunge.
If you do, according to some of the younger members of our party, it was pretty pretty cold but you got used to it quickly.

The following day on our trip to the countryside we stopped mid-afternoon for a native Mayan lunch at the Cenote Las Mojarras. It is over 2 km off the main road and down a pot-holed dirt track through the jungle that would certainly have turned me back had I been driving. When we finally reached the parking area, there was only one other vehicle there and they left shortly—perhaps wanting to get out before the road became totally impassible. But what we found was entirely delightful.

Cenote Las Mojarras

Las Mojarras is an open cenote like the Chichen Itza well. There are some diving platforms and a zip line contraption that can carry you out on the water where you can drop yourself off and swim back to a ladder on shore. There is a lovely path that goes around the pool and many of the trees and bushes are labeled. In one section along the shore path hammocks beckon you to take a rest and at the far side there is a bit of a shallow section that sports a lovely collection of lily pads.

Close up of the lily pads

There are also rest-rooms and a large palapa with a concrete floor. This is where we took our traditional Mayan lunch. Our trusty guide first made us some fresh quaccamole.

while an assistant manned the grill cooking chicken wings, flank steak, potatoes, and of course rice and beans.

It was a delicious meal and well worth waiting for.

Dinner was well shaken down by the road from hell on our way back to the main highway, but then there was a thankfully smooth trip back to our hotel in Cancun.

A final entry on the miraculous hotels of Cancun will be forthcoming in a few days.

Leona Vicario--A Town to Remember

2011-01-23T19:18:00.002-06:00

Leona Vicario, Mexico is a small town of around 10,000. That makes it just about the size of my home town. According to our trusty guide Rob, the Mayans have started moving to more modern small towns so that their children can go to government schools and learn Spanish. The native Mayan language is totally unrelated to Spanish and knowing only it means linguistic isolation from the rest of Mexico as well as the world at large. Leona Vicario has also just begun to look for tourist income and the residents are building a new palapa in the town center to serve as a visitor and craft center.

We stopped first at a small market area where we saw a small tortilla factory (the sign out front called it a tortileria). After we had a sample of their freshly produced wares we walked over to get some fresh squeezed orange juice from another vendor.

We then were bundled into a bunch of three wheeled pedicabs that Rob called “triciyclettes” for a rolling tour of the town.

A Swiss expatriot named Christian was one of the pedicab operators and a friend of our guide. He also came, stayed, and married a Mexican woman. He is currently the only foreigner living in Leona Vicario.

Native Mayans are fairly short and Christian (in red hat) is a good head taller.

Our route through the town took us down typical streets where people were going about their normal routines of hanging out laundry, shopping in the market, or escorting children home from school.

One of our stops was at the home of a young woodworker and his family. He constructed his two lathes out of spare parts and now turns out mortars and pestles, bowls, pots, and vases. His sons have started to help at an early age. We admired the work ethic, but with no child labor laws or OSHA regulation here, the homemade machinery has no protective coverings and noone wears eye goggles.

Here are some of their finished products.

There were lots of kids everywhere we went and as usual they were curious, coy, and always cute.

With our town tour complete we piled back into our van and headed for a home-cooked Mayan meal at the Cenote Las Majarras. You don't know what a Cenote is? Well we'll tell you and show you in the next entry.

Into the Jungle for a Visit to a Chicleros Camp

2011-01-22T16:38:00.005-06:00

On our second trip out of the "Cancun Cocoon" we returned to the Yucatan jungle. We were a group of ten people in a van with a guide and driver. The guide was an expat German named Rob who arrived on holiday some fifteen years ago and stayed. He married a Mexican woman and now sells real estate and guides tours for a living. You couldn't ask for a more lively and knowledgeable fellow.

Our first stop was at what Rob called a Chicleros camp. Workers stay here during the week and go home to their wives and families on the weekends. Each day they go two to four kilometers into the jungle to tend and harvest the gum from the manilkara tree. The end product is chicle-- the rubbery substance that ancient Mayas used to use to clean their teeth--and originally the main ingredient in chewing gum. Synthetic materials are now used for most chewing gum, but the name still remains if you buy "Chiclets." The harvesting is similar to the sugar maple or the rubber tree. Below are a couple of shots of a tree and its chicle trickle.

A slash or slit is made in the tree and the sap runs slowly out. This can only be done every three years on a tree.

The gum is collected in canvas bags that are hung on the trees.

Everyone was off to work when we visited so we had to make do with the resident cat named "Puma." Had he not been so skittish we could have said that we petted a puma while in the jungle.

The resident milk producer was also around, but she was busy too.

While in the camp the men live off the land and their animals. Our guide said there were usually some chickens around but there had been bad hunting last week and the chickens had disappeared. All the workers, he said, carry guns to pick off game they may encounter as well as any unwelcome strangers who might happen into their territory. Hopefully that was a joke, but he wasn't laughing when he said it.

The general living conditions are pretty rudimentary.

Eggs decorate the roof of the sleeping area--to promote fertility according to our guide.

Here is the living room. Didn't see a TV anywhere.

Here is the shower. Note ladder on left that you climb in order to pour water on the showeree.

The kitchen is fully equipped.

After work recreation appeared to be liquid in nature. Note pile of crushed beer cans around tree.

Rob also gave us a short lesson in jungle remedies and dangers. He showed us some termite poop that grew inside hollows in trees that could be used to treat sores and cuts.

He pointed out some leaves that if crushed and eaten would mediate diabetes and then said that drug companies were not interested in these kinds of natural remedies because they could not be patented. "The drug companies are not interested in your health" said Rob, "only your money." He also pointed out a tree that if you came into contact with it would cause you to burn fiercely and also a tree not twenty-five yards away that he said would relieve the pain. Noone in our party volunteered to try it out. Nor did he.

On the way back to the van we stopped to inspect a wild cotton bush that was all ready to harvest.

Then it was on to Leona Vicario, a small Mayan town which you will tour with us in the next chapter of Stirring the Pudding.

CHECK MARK CHICHEN ITZA!

2011-01-19T13:57:00.005-06:00

It began with a boy reading and loving Richard Halliburton’s Book of Marvels when he was around eight years old. The boy dreamed with all his might of seeing some of those fifty-five wonders of the world for himself someday. Sixty five years later there are twenty-five little checkmarks in the Table of Contents of my copy of that book. That means that I've only reached about half of the places that Halliburton visited and wrote about in the 1930’s, but I am beginning to make a dent in the planet’s magnificent natural and man-made wonders. Specific dreams already fulfilled (all of which Halliburton covered) range from the Pyramids to the Parthenon and Mount Fuji to the Matterhorn. In the past few years three more checkmarks have appeared.

My wife and I traversed the Panama Canal (though we did not swim it as Halliburton did); we have visited Niagara Falls (only fifty-one years after we were married); and this past week we experienced the thrill of walking on the sacred ground of the Maya at Chichen Itza in Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula.

There are four major structures to be seen at Chichen Itza. The signature temple called “El Castillo” (pictured above) is over 200 feet high. The ancient ball court is the largest ever found and the astronomical observatory was the central location for the Mayan priest’s study of the skies and the development of their astonishing calendar.

But my interest always centered on Halliburton’s description of the sacred well where (according to his somewhat hyper-ventilated narrative) gold bedecked Mayan maidens and armored Mayan warriors were sacrificed to Yum Chac the God of Rain by propelling them off a ledge and down some eighty feet to their watery deaths.

Although Halliburton's prose is a bit too breathless for today's media generation, to a kid in Milwaukee in the late 1940’s it sounded like heavenly music. To top off his visit Halliburton wanted to experience what it might have been like to be thrown into the well so he jumped in himself. A grainy picture of his leap appeared in the book and that photo entranced me then and fired my drive now to see that place.

Here he is dropping like a stone to the green algae covered surface of the water. He said he got quite a headache from hitting the water. Luckily they don’t allow jumpers anymore, so I was spared from trying to completely emulate my hero. And besides it was already raining so Yum Chac didn't need my contribution.

Look for more in the next week as I put up some additional material on our trip.

What a Wonderful Christmas This Year!

2011-01-02T11:21:00.000-06:00

Our Christmas season worked beautifully as we managed to hit all the marks inbetween snow storms. We drove to Cedar Rapids in nice weather and saw the snow come down while we were there. A beautiful scene from the patio captured the calm essence of a snow frost morning.

We celebrated our grandson's birthday--not quite but almost a Christmas baby.

Then it was on to Christmas itself.

Grandson two was really excited about the guitar that his uncle David brought him. And grandpa loved his Chia Obama

Back home in nice weather and then the snow came down once more.

But were snug inside and had a lovely Christmas day. We opened more presents, got to know David's friend Lotta who traveled all the way from Finland over the holidays, and settled down to a great dinner.

Our Minnesota guests headed back north on Sunday and made it back without problems. Although there was more cold and blowing snow west and north of us we got a warm spell midweek and rain that melted every last bit of the snow. We are now looking at bare ground once more.

New Year's day was quiet and subdued. The last of the lights were taken down and the tree, which was one of our nicest in several years, is now sitting a bit forlornly on the curb waiting for the trash pickup next week. We shall choose to remember it as it was.

And Happy New Year from the guy behind the camera.

Wanted: Lexus Quality Yugo Price!

2010-12-29T09:47:00.000-06:00

With the Governor of Pennsylvania accusing the NFL of “wussiness” this week, I admit to a temptation to haul out the old “In my day . . . “ platitudes. There was a time my little ones when wind chill, bike helmets, and seat belts did not exist. Are we wusses for adopting scientifically proven safety supplements? Probably not. But a side effect of our move toward added comfort and safety has been to magnify our expectations for a trouble free existence in spite of curves thrown by Mother Nature. It is our fickle, liability ridden, and irrational expectations that are the real issue.

I noted in my Christmas newsletter that I was an ornery, strong and independent cuss who didn’t like taxes, regulations, or big government of any kind. All I wanted from my government was “ good schools, smooth roads, national parks, efficient air traffic control, safe food and drugs, fast response from police, fire, and rescue services, a strong military, insulation from all terrorist threats without any inconvenience to me, and by the way, don’t you dare touch my Medicare.”

To that we must now add, “clean my streets of twenty-four inches of blowing snow by morning so I can walk my dog in comfort.” The obvious irony remains. We don’t want anyone to interfere with our lives or our pocketbooks until we have need of the services we somehow have been made to think we are entitled to without much cost or inconvenience.