July 18-19, 2015. The long way home.

We had to meet the tour leaders in the lobby at 5:40 Saturday morning to get us to the ferry docks before 6.  Of course we were there on time. We boarded the ferry around 6:30, and it debarked a little after 7.

It was quite foggy in the harbor, but I took a photo of the boat used on a TV show called "The Deadliest Catch" because Dianne said it was her nephew's favorite show. I know nothing of TV, absolutely not my thing.

The fishing boats headed out into the Prince William Sound as the fog began to lift.

Dianne and I played a lot of Scrabble on the boat, but took a break to see Frithjof's card tricks--he is really very good at this!

As the fog lifted further we could see glaciers and ice bergs. A woman with binoculars said she saw some whales but they were too far out to see with the naked eye.

A boat passed in front of Billings Glacier while we were looking for whales.

We arrived at Whittier Harbor, and got right in line to go through the tunnel to get back to Anchorage. The tunnel was built as a train tunnel in the 1940s when Whittier was an important harbor during World War 2. About 20 years ago it was adapted to allow cars to drive through it. (Before the adaptation cars would be loaded on flatbed railroad cars to be transported to Whittier).

Now cars and trucks (and lots of motor homes) drive right on the railroad tracks and one way traffic is controlled by operators, with trains taking precedence.

We arrived back at Anchorage around 1:30 PM and received our Alaska Bike t-shirts. Here we are: Jackie, Clark, Connie, me, Dianne and Phil.

After our guides left us at the Marriott the 6 of us walked across the street to eat lunch and watch the sea planes land and take off from Lake Hood. We exchanged contact information and I hope we all stay in touch.

I'd been trying to get a photo of Flat Top Mountain, which I climbed the week before the bike tour, and finally took one through the glass at the airport. It is the flat topped one second from the right below.

We took an overnight flight from Anchorage to Minneapolis/St. Paul and it was horribly cramped. There was a very large woman next to me encroaching on my skinny space--I tried putting the arm rest down but she was in the way. When I returned from the rest room mid-flight I put the arm rest down BEFORE she got back into her seat and that worked better. Dianne and I played a few games of Scrabble but the seats were so small that it was nearly impossible to move.

We had a breakfast sandwich in MSP airport, then took a short flight to Detroit where our luggage did not come out on the carousel. We went to the lost luggage office and it was already there; apparently it was loaded on an earlier flight. Bill picked us up around noon and took us to lunch. Dianne bought lunch and drinks for Bill and me, and paid the rest of her substantial Scrabble debt in cash. Just remember: it was her idea to play for a penny a point!

We took her back to the airport for her flight to Tampa, and now I am home for 4 days. And it's true--there's no place like home!