When hubby and I were recently in Savannah, we went on a Foodie Tour – more about that another day, and one of the places we stopped was Perk - coffee roasters!  We ate some fine food samples on this tour; but this was a highlight for me.  I don’t even drink coffee!  But, I did taste the sample that was offered – and what was completely fascinating to me was the tour of the one room roasting production and the explanation by the owner of how it’s done.  (And, by the way, for a non-coffee drinker, the sample was fabulous!  If I had this stuff around the corner, I might actually have to have a cup every day!).  The tour itself rushed the guy a bit, but the 20 minutes was so worth it!  Explore the website,maybe even order some to try – you won’t regret it — and if you are in Savannah, stop by!

Forsyth Park beauty

Do and her Dad

Lady in waiting

Don't know if she's a lady - but for a little lady who loves horses...

Another horse for the little lady...

Almost 400 years old...the tree that is.

Victorian Lady Tours

A few photos as we pack up and ready ourselves for our return to New England work and weather tomorrow – what a great stay we had in Savannah!  Southern hospitality is very real!

Once finished at the SCAD, it began to pour cats and dogs.  Off we trudged a few blocks to find that the next museum we were going to visit was closed!  And, then a trudge through the pouring rain to find out that the next museum where we were told the other day a new exhibit would open this week in truth the exhibit was to open next week!

Okay, off to find some food and try to dry off — here’s where you eat when you are soaking wet and have no wish to run any further for a meal (pretty good sandwiches but NO hot tea or coffee for sale – WHAT?!)   Name of Restaurant:  Larry’s Subs  (New York Deli Style says the window out front with bathrooms named Kong and Fay)

Then back to a museum where a flyer had said there would be a workshop on Augmented Reality — guess what?  No surprise — it wasn’t at that location and needed a car to get to — so we weren’t going to be doing that either.   So, the heck with the whole thing — finally the rain slows down and we are able to walk several blocks home without getting too much wetter.   (Deal of the day found in a shop still open a few blocks from our apartment:  a $155. sweater on sale for $38)

Today proved that our last minute packing was not good — we brought along a small umbrella that was hiding a broken spoke; and we didn’t even pack our very good packable raincoats.

This is Forsyth Park Fountain in the pouring rain (a few blocks from our place.)

Annie’s Mac and Cheese for dinner.  At least these are the days that vacation apartment renting is for: no empty hotel room to go back to; but a sweet house with kitchen and the ability to make a nice hot cup of tea!  This picture was taken yesterday before the rain hit!

We’ve walked many miles already in the historic district:  just lovely.  Huge homes from the early 1800s that survived the “War of Northern Aggression” since Sherman gave this town to Lincoln as a Christmas present the year he was marching across the South.  The town had several fires and epidemics, but the homes were reclaimed by historians and preservationists in the 1950s and some of them are astounding.   What has particularly surprised me and means I have some reading to do is how much colonial and revoluationary war history took place in this town.

The many many squares in the district make for an even lovelier place to explore.

Some lovely photos over the last few days:

A day or two ago, we saw Portage Glacier by boat, then we walked to Exit Glacier on foot.  What is quite fascinating is the sheer size of these things — try to find the people in the photo of Exit Glacier. 

Can you see the people in this photo? 

Here is Exit Glacier from the road a little ways away.

Today we encountered Aialik Glacier via boat in the Kenai Fjords National Park (as well as humpback whale, puffins, stellar sea lions, seals, and more).  The boat we were on was able to get within 1/4 mile of the face of the Glacier and we beheld the spectacle of it calving!  The sound is astounding.  I was close to tears with the wonder.

The spouting of a humpback!

Here is the Aialik Glacier as we motor up to it — it is a mile across the front.

The same glacier with an iceberg in front of the it.  You see only 1/10 of an iceberg above the water.

The glacier up close — please remember that it is 600 feet high here!

The glacier calving — huge groans happen, huge crashing of pieces of ice as large as cars from flying down!

The two pictures of the bear and folks at the tent was this:  the captain had pulled the boat closer to shore to allow us to see the bear when we all realized that it was strolling up the beach toward the tents and the folks were clueless that a bear was heading their way!  Just as we folks on the boat began to shout, they noticed the bear and began to do their bear shouting too!   (Yesterday on a group hike, our leader suggested to hubby and I we take a different route back to the parking lot from a hike to a maritime rain forest.  We went a ways and came upon bear tracks — we decided to turn around and rejoin our group!) By the way, for another lesson in perspective, that bear on the beach was 200-300 pounds – a juvenile.

Bear by the people!

People by the bear!

American history, Native peoples history, and climate change take on a whole new meaning here in Alaska.

First, here’s a picture of animals from the zoo — a small but enchanting place. We thought of our daughter and granddaughter as thy are both animal lovers: no lions, but bears aplenty!

Another place our theatrical daughter would love: Cyrano’s. We saw a two Women cast tell “Tales of the frozen north” — a play based on journals of the gold rush days in Alaska.

The few pictures don’t do justice to the event we took part in yesterday at the Alaska Native Heritage Museum.

We spent the afternoon at the Alaska Native Heritage Museum. We were privileged to be part of the installation of a totem house post in the long house of the southeast native peoples of Alaska. We had met and heard a lecture at the Anchorage Museum by a Tsimshain carver: David Boxley.

The pictures don’t do justice to the glory and moving beauty of an afternoon participating in an event the elder said very few people get to do. There was welcoming songs and dances, a carver’s dance, and then 4 teams of 16 people carried the totem around the entire lake before installing it inside the long house (only the native people were allowed to be part of that portion). I found it deeply moving. It was an afternoon’of great spiritual importance to the Tsimshain people and the gift of participating was one of the best I’ve ever been given.

As we walk back and forth each day to our bed and breakfast,  actually depending on the cloud cover which so far (and we’re told is most times) is always there; we get peeks of the Chugach Mountains.  This morning they were particularly majestic and bright in the bit of sun we were treated to today!

Native art is everywhere.  This is hubby standing next to a Totem placed in front of a Court House.  When I have time another day I’ll write more about a special lecture we went to by David Boxley, a Native totem maker.  We hope to see more of his work on Wednesday at a celebration of a totem being raised in the local Native cultural museum.

And, this is for our Avi-do – our lover of all things dog.  We haven’t seen any sled dogs yet; except for a puppy and I’ll post that  photo another day.  But we knew that our Avi-do would like to make every single one of these stuffed huskies her friends!

Anchorage is so different from the rest of America — much of which we have traveled over the years.  It is rich in history, rich in art, rich in culture, rich in peoples with opinions, and rich in respect.  The lower 48 could learn a lot from these folks.

We are staying in a beautiful B&B for the first few days about 6 blocks from the tourist downtown. Yesterday we spent the day in the art/culture museum — lovely. And, in true Sharon & hubby fashion, walked miles!

And lest you think we are in a “city”: here’s a quote from a travel brochure: “Did you know there are more than 1,900 moose, 250 black bears and 65 brown bears in the municipality of Anchorage?” Of course, Anchorage has a park that is 1/2 million acres!

Another destination that has been on my personal list since I was a child; and one hubby and I have shared! As usual, I’m nervous about the flying part — never ever my favorite part of the event. But, with enough decongestant and airport food; I’ll forget!

We hope to have wifi every few days to post pictures — so join us if you can!

The packing has been an interesting part of this trip. There’s not a piece of clothing in this luggage that isn’t intended to layer and peel as weather requires! I do believe at least 7 lbs of each piece are the boots alone. From t-shirts to fleece coats; we probably have too much! But hidden in this luggage is also a duffel — it will make it easier to lug the hiking boots and rain gear while we’re there, and just might end up being checked on the way home with all of our souvenirs!

We start in Anchorage on our own for about 5 days — check out where we’re staying: Mahogany Manor. Then, we’ll be joining a group of other folks led by a professor emeritus in geology for 2 weeks.

Here’s to Alaska here’s to the people
Here’s to the wild and heres to the free
Here’s to my life in a chosen country
Here’s to Alaska and me

P.S. If you know Rich and I, you’ll know whose song these lyrics are from!

Lions in front of the Concoran Museum.

And lions at the zoo!

The Lincoln memorial  (she loved the echo inside, although we had to ask her not to try it out too many times.)   And she thought that the statute of Mr. Lincoln was the size he was when he was alive (I must admit a metaphor I never thought of before.)A fabulous picture she took of the flags around the Washington Monument.

And her tired feet!