St. Thomas Island 圣托马斯岛

Jan 9, 2024: Yesterday was another delightful day at sea. Besides attending lectures, taking several laps around the deck, bird watching and working out in the gym, we savored the exquisite cuisine on the Crystal ship, renowned for offering one of the best dining experiences in the industry.

Today, we docked at St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. Early in the morning, we took a taxi to Magens Bay Beach, renowned as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. When we arrived, there were fewer than ten people on the one-kilometer-long beach. Despite the warning signs about strong winds and waves, the beach was one of the calmest we've ever visited. We spent a long time playing in the water, swimming, and watching pelicans dive for fishes, with small fishes swimming around our feet. When we left the beach, we saw groups of tourists arriving in 20-person taxis converted from trucks. Back at the pier, we noticed another large ship with thousands of passengers had just docked next to ours, and their passengers were noticeably younger. Compared to theirs, our cruise ship seemed a bit quiet and lacking in energy. We had booked two kayaking shore excursions on our cruise, but both were canceled due to low participation.

After returning from the beach, we had lunch on the ship and then went ashore again to explore the town. We walked the "99 Stair Steps" and visited one of the oldest synagogues in the Western Hemisphere.

We walked over 20,000 steps today. In the evening, we dined at Umi Uma by Nobu Again. This time, we skipped the main courses and focused on sashimi, accompanied by sake and white wine. After eating and drinking, we ended our day by watching a show and dancing a little. What a wonderful day, we felt completely satisfied.

一月九日：昨天一整天又是海上行。除了听听讲座，沿着甲板绕船走上几圈或者去健身房锻炼，剩下就是继续享受邮轮上色味俱佳的美食。

今天停靠美属维尔京群岛（US Virgin Islands )上的圣托马斯岛(St Thomas), 俩人一早就下船叫了出租车去梅根湾海滩（Magens Bay Beach)。据介绍梅根湾海滩是世界上最美的海滩之一，我们到那里还早，一公里长的海滩上就不到十个人。在海滩上有大风大浪的警告牌，但对我们来说，这海滩是我们去过的最为平静的海滩之一。在水里玩了很久，一边游泳一边看着从天直下的鹈鹕抓鱼吃，还有小鱼在我们脚边游来游去。当我们离开海滩时，看到成群结队的游客坐着由卡车改装的20人的出租车来到海滩。回到码头时才发现原来我们的邮轮边又来了一艘几千人的大船，而且游客的平均年龄要比我们的船低很多。相比之下我们的邮轮有点冷冷清清，少点生气。我们这次在船上订了两次划船的岸上游，后来都取消了，说是报名的人太少。

从海滩回到船上，先去吃个午饭，接着又下船去市区转一圈，走了＂九十九级台阶＂，又去参观了西半球里最古老的犹太教教堂之一。

今天一天走了二万多步，晚上又去Nobu日本料理店，这次不点主菜，而是以生鱼片为主，再来点日本清酒和白葡萄酒，吃饱喝足后再看一场表演，真是心满意足了。

Returning to Miami & Crystal 重返迈阿密&水晶邮轮

Jan 5, 2024: The last time we visited Miami was in the winter of 1989. We don't remember much about Miami from that trip, except that we dined at an expensive Cuban restaurant, which was quite a luxury for us as poor students at that time.

Yesterday, we took an overnight flight from Phoenix to Miami, arriving early in the morning at our hotel  - InterContinental  Miami. We paid an early check-in fee, so we could catch up some sleep in our room. The room was very nice with great ocean view. Once settled into our room and well rested, we went out and spent the rest of the day exploring the Bayside area near the hotel. The cat and dog sculpture garden and the Jimenez Deredia’s sculpture exhibition on the street were quite unique.

This trip is not about Miami though, we have some exciting activities waiting for us. In early March 2020, we had to cut short our ninety-day world cruise trip with Crystal Cruises due to the pandemic. Today, we will board the Crystal Serenity cruise ship again to start a two-week Caribbean journey. The ship is still the same, but the cruise company has changed ownership. The new owner made significant interior renovations, reducing the number of cabins from hosting nearly one thousand passengers to just over seven hundred passengers capacity. Each cabin now comes with a butler, who can be contacted directly if needed.

We woke up early this morning and headed to the Claughton Island near our hotel before boarding the ship. We had some great breakfast from one of the local favorite spots. From there, we saw our beautiful ship, the Crystal Serenity docked at the cruise terminal.

The waiting game was finally over, we boarded the ship around noon. It was an incredible feeling. We went to the Marketplace for lunch buffet，and immediately we felt so welcomed by the crew members. We settled into our room after lunch, and walked around to check out the ship. The new owner did a fantastic job and the ship just couldn’t look any better. We even saw a few familiar faces, crew members and fellow passengers from our last world cruise trip.

Found a photo spot to duplicate the photo taken four years ago.

Our ship left Miami at 6pm, with the song of “What a wonderful world” playing loud, we sailed away and said goodbye to Miami.

Four years ago, there was a Chinese restaurant on the ship, now it  has transformed into an international restaurant, Taste, where we dined this evening. The waiter was one of the crew members from our world cruise trip, so we had a little catch up with him. We ordered four appetizers and two main courses, all in small portions, and the food was delicious. In terms of both cuisine and service, Crystal is above and beyond. None of the other cruise lines that we have cruised so far can compare.

The evening concert was scheduled for 9:45 PM. After attending the concert, we went to the bar and enjoyed some live piano performance for a while before returning to our room to call off the day.

上次来迈阿密还是一九八九年的冬天，当时的迈阿密是什么样都没印象了，只记得当时好像去了一家对我们穷留学生来说很贵的古巴餐厅。

昨天从凤凰城坐夜班飞机来到迈阿密，一早就到了州际酒店（InterContinental)。加付了提早入住费之后就先住了进去。补了个觉后，就在酒店附近的Bayside 区转了一大圈。狗猫雕塑花园和街头上的Jimenez Deredia 雕塑展都是别具一格。

这次行程并非是迈阿密游。二零二零年三月初由于疫情的缘故，我们无奈终止了水晶邮轮九十天的邮轮周游世界游。今天我们又将再次回到水晶尚宁号(Crystal Serenity)邮轮上，开始为期二周的加勒比海之行。邮轮还是同一艘，船公司却已换主人。新主人在收购之后对船作了重大内部装修，许多客房变大了，原本可供近一千人住宿的客房被改建成满客只能容纳七百多人。每间客房还配备了一位管家(butler)，有事可直接找他。

一早醒来先走去酒店附近的 Claughton Island。找了个当地人喜欢的地方吃早餐，简单却很好吃。 在那里可以看到我们的水晶尚宁号邮轮已经停在对面的码头，很兴奋。

中午的时候我们终于上了船，那真是一种难以形容的感觉。先来到 Marketplace 吃自助午餐, 热情的服务员让人感到宾至如归。午餐后我们在船上走了一圈，改建后的邮轮比以前更漂亮了。我们还看到一些熟悉的面孔，有四年前周游世界游时的服务员，也有当时一起的乘客。

晚上六点左右我们的船在“What a wonderful world”的歌声中离开迈阿密。四年前船上的中餐馆变回成了国际化餐厅，今天晚餐我们就选在那里。招待我们的服务员居然是四年前周游世界游时其中的一位，话题自然就从四年前开始了。俩人要了四个开胃菜和两份主菜，当然都是小份的，味道很不错。无论是船上的饮食还是服务，是目前为止我们所坐过的所有其它邮轮都无法与之相比的。

晚上音乐会安排在9:45, 听完后又去酒吧坐了一会儿后就回房睡觉。

Seward 苏厄德

Oct. 8, 2023: Yesterday was a sea day. In the morning, the ship first cruised around Hubbard Glacier, but the weather wasn't good; it was foggy and not very picturesque. The weather worsened in the afternoon with strong winds and high waves, and even the deck was closed. We spent the time in the gym and attended a concert.

Early this morning, we woke to find the ship docked at Seward, Alaska. We had been here before during the summer tourist season when it was bustling with people and various tourist activities. However, today, it was deserted, with nothing around. After breakfast, we quickly disembarked and walked along the seaside to the town center, but we couldn't find a single coffee shop. The tourist season ended in early October, and most businesses and restaurants were closed. The pedestrians on the streets were all from our ship. It was a bit disappointing, and by the time we returned to the ship, it was already lunchtime. While eating, we casually chatted with a few fellow passengers. It is our ship’s last stop in the United States, and next, we'll be heading towards the Bering Sea with some weather concerns.

十月八号：昨天一整天在海上，早上船先来到Hubbard 冰川转一圈。因为天气不好，雾蒙蒙的不怎么好看。下午天气越来越差，风大，浪大，都不让去甲板了。那就用健身房，演唱会来消磨时间。

今天一早醒来发现船已停靠在阿拉斯加的苏厄德（Seward)。这地方以前我们也来过，当时是夏天，旅游的旺季。人多，有各种各样旅游项目。但今天这里是冷冷清清，什么都没有。早餐后我们赶紧下船，沿着海边往镇中心走了一圈，都没找到一家咖啡馆。十月初旅游季节已过，大部分商家餐厅都关门了。路上行人都是我们船上的游客。有点失望，回到船上已经是午餐的时间。边吃边和几位游客聊天。这是美国最后一站，接下来要为过白令海担忧。

Icy Strait Point

Oct. 6, 2023: Today, the cruise ship docked at Icy Strait Point. This pier was constructed to promote the local tourism. Nearby is a small town called Hoonah, with around eight to nine hundred permanent residents. The entire area, except for the national forest, belongs to the Alaska Native (referred to as Native Americans in other states) Cooperation. The facilities are excellent; after disembarking, you can take a free cable car to the pier center, where there are restaurants, gift shops, and more. However, we did not stay there; instead, we walked along the seaside trail to Hoonah, about two kilometers away.

Initially, we were hesitant about walking there because this area has the highest density of brown bears in the world. We could take a shuttle bus to the town if we chose not to walk. Later, we met a couple walking to the town, so we joined them, which gave us some courage. The scenery along the way was beautiful, and it naturally compelled us to slow down and enjoy the calm and serene seascape.

The town of Hoonah doesn't have any particularly notable tourist attractions. After walking around, we still couldn't forget the desire to see brown bears and appreciate the natural grandeur of the forest here. Outside the town government office, we hired a local indigenous guide who drove us to Tongass National Forest to look for brown bears. He even carried a hunting rifle and led us on foot down to a small stream. Along the way, there were traces of brown bears everywhere, and we even saw the snow-white remnants of roots the bears had just eaten. He thought the bear should not be far away, asking if we wanted to continue. However, we decided to turn back, not knowing how we would react if we encountered a large brown bear. When we returned to the car, the guide told us that few tourists dared to go to that stream to look for brown bears.

Along the way, the guide also got out of the car to mimic the call of a deer, and one time, a female deer ran towards us from the woods. The guide said it was a hunting technique used by the locals. Throughout the journey, he shared a lot about their lives and culture, and we gained a lot of insights and learned many things. After four hours, we saw many traces left by brown bears but did not see any bears.

Upon returning to the pier and returning to the cruise ship, we unexpectedly saw a brown bear in the woods near the bridge, confirming that there were quite a few brown bears in this area.

十月六日

游船今天停靠Icy Strait Point，这码头是为促进当地旅游经济而兴建的。附近有个小镇叫Hoonah，有八，九百居民。整个地区除了国家森林外都归属于阿拉斯加原居民(其他州叫印地安人)集团。兴建的设施不错，下船后就可乘坐免费缆车到码头中心，那里有饭店，礼品商点等。但我们并没有在那里停留，而是沿着海边的步行道漫步走去二公里外的小镇Hoonah。起初还为该不该走去纠结，因为这地区是世界上棕熊密度最高的地方，不走的话可以坐专车去小镇。后来碰到一对夫妇也徒步去小镇，我们就与他们结伴，也算是给我们壮个胆。沿途风景优美，让人不由自主地放慢脚步，欣赏平静安逸的海景。

小镇Hoonah上没有什么特别的旅游景点，转了一圈后，还是念念不忘想去看棕熊，欣赏这里自然大森林。

在镇政府门外找了位当地原住民导游，他开车带我们俩去Tongass 国家森林找棕熊去。他还带着猎枪带我们下车徒步一段下到一小溪，一路上到处都是棕熊留下的痕迹，看到熊刚吃完的菜根，菜根颜色还是雪白的，他说熊应该就在不远，问我们是否还想继续往前，我们觉得还是见好就收，回头吧。如果我们真的碰上大棕熊，不知我们俩会有什么样的反应。回到车上导游告诉我们，少之又少的游客敢下到那个小溪去找棕熊的。

沿途导游还下车学鹿叫，有一次一只母鹿还真的从树林里朝我们奔来。导游说这是他们当地人打猎的技巧。一路上他与我们聊了许多他们的生活和文化，我们受益匪浅，学了不少东西。前前后后开了四个小时，看到了许多棕熊留下的痕迹，但就是没看到熊。

回到码头走回游轮时，却在桥边的树林里看到一个棕熊，也证明了这里的棕熊还真不少。

Ketchikan 凯奇坎

Oct. 5, 2023: Yesterday, we were at sea the entire day under cloudy and foggy weather, unable to see anything. We had breakfast and lunch at the Garden Cafe and had dinner at the main dining room, The Palace. This cruise is our fourth time sailing with NCL in the last twelve months, and it seems like their menu is pretty similar across all their ships. The remaining time was spent reading, visiting the gym, and walking around the ship on the deck; by the end of the day, we had walked over ten thousand steps. In the evening, we went to see a magic show.

Early this morning, the ship arrived at the first stop of this journey, Ketchikan. The ship docked at a small pier, a dedicated pier for NCL and another cruise company near Ketchikan. This time, we opted for an independent excursion rather than joining a tour. After breakfast, we disembarked and took a free shuttle to the city center to catch a lumberjack show. It was our first time watching such a show, and we joined in the cheering and laughter, thoroughly enjoying ourselves. After that, we explored the town. We had visited it six years ago during our first cruise, and it felt good. However, while walking along the river this time, we smelled the stench of dead salmon. The river and its banks were filled with salmon that couldn't make it upstream.

After a considerable walk, we found a seafood restaurant where we ordered a bowl of salmon chowder and a large crab. The taste of the crab was quite good, very fresh, better than what we had bought in a Phoenix store, and the prices seemed to have not increased much compared to six years ago.

We then took the shuttle back to the ship. We initially planned to go to the Chinese restaurant on board for dinner. However, when we arrived at the restaurant just as it opened, we were told it was fully booked, and we would have to wait an hour. We remembered having eaten there twice earlier this year during our cruise to Central America, and the experience was not great. Since we didn't want to wait long, we went to the main dining room instead. The menu there changes every day, so there's always something delicious. After filling ourselves up, we walked on the deck to digest. Surprisingly, we had walked over twenty thousand steps today. The evening's entertainment was a concert by the vocalist Melissa Mc Laughlin, and that's how the day ended.

十月五日

昨天是海上航行，一整天都是在云里雾里，什么都看不见。早中餐去了花园餐厅自助餐，晚餐在主餐厅。这是我们最近十二个月第四次乘坐NCL了，好像他们所有的船菜单都差不多。剩下时间就看看书，去了一下健身房，还有在甲板上绕船走走，一天下来也走了有一万多步。晚上去看了魔术秀。

今天一早船来到这次行程的第一站，凯奇坎（Ketchikan) 。船停靠在离凯奇坎镇不远的小码头, 是NCL和另外一家游船公司专用码头。这次我们自由行，不跟团。早餐后就下船坐免费专车去市中心，赶去看伐木工秀。第一次看类似的秀，跟着起哄搞笑，很开心。然后就在城里转转。我们六年前来过这里，那是第一次乘坐游轮，感觉不错。但这次沿着小河边走时，闻到死三文鱼的臭味，河里河边都是那些未能逆行而上的三文鱼。

转了一大圈后，找了一家海鲜店要了一碗三文鱼浓汤和一个大肉蟹，味道相当不错，很新鲜，比在凤凰城店里买的好吃点，好像价格与六年前相比也没涨多少。

然后就乘坐专车回船。晚餐原打算是去船上的中国饭店，结果掐着点刚开始营业我们就来到饭店门口，居然被告知已客满，要等一个小时。还记得今年初坐这艘船去中美洲时在这家饭店吃过二次，印象并不好，而今天我们只是想再试一下，同时也是想换个口味。既然客满了，不想等那么久，于是又来到主餐厅。那里每天的菜单都不一样，所以总是有好吃的。吃饱喝足先去甲板走走消化一下，再看一下今天走的路，居然有走二万多步。今天晚上的节目是听演唱会，一天就这样结束了。

Underwood Concert – 音乐会

Dec 11-15, 2021

Right after being fully vaccinated eight months ago, we booked a few nights at The Resorts World, the newest and most expensive built casino/resort property, in Las Vegas to attend Carrie Underwood's Reflection Concert. The Resorts World is also owned by the same parent company of Crystal Cruise Line, Genting Group. One unique feature of the resort is the Famous Foods Street Eats, a food hall with cuisines most from South Asia. On Saturday, we drove five hours directly to the resort from home and checked in Conrad, one of the three hotels within the Resorts World. After settling down, we immediately went down to Famous Foods Street Eats to try various Asian dishes. We were so excited about the claypot rice before our trip based on the information on their website. To be honest, the beef claypot rice from Geylang Claypot Rice (芽笼砂煲饭) was not very impressive, not served in a hot claypot as expected, and got cold quickly. Mama San Combo from Kuru Kuru PA was delicious, including a Chicken Wing, Kurobuta Pork Jowl, Chicken Hearts, and Rice Ball with Seaweed Seasoning. Since we were so disappointed with the claypot rice, we ordered another dish from another vendor, Googgle Man's Char Kuey Teow, the Rice Noodle with Chinese Sausage, Shrimp, Manila Clam, Crispy Pork, and Egg. The noodle dish was terrific and met our standards. Later in the night, we tried another vendor Fuhu Shack, ordered the Roast Peking Duck & Steam Rice Bowl after the concert. The roast duck was perfect.

As Delta variant was surging in the country, we started to question whether we should attend the indoor concert. We even put the tickets for sale until one hour before the show began. The tickets weren't sold, so we went to the concert anyway. The concert was almost sold out. Although the law requires wearing face masks indoor in Nevada, only about 60% of them wore the masks, and a lady, sitting next to us, was singing along all-time without a face mask. With precaution, we wore double masks during the performance. The Underwood concert was at the brand-new, state-of-art theater inside the Resorts World, the largest and highest stage in Vegas, and the performance was high-energy and impressive. We enjoyed the experience and hope we will attend more live music events in the future.

Sunday morning, we had traditional Chinese breakfast, 豆浆油条（soybean milk and Chinese churro), in Chinatown. Then we stopped at O'Reilly, the auto part shop, to figure out our vehicle's Check Engine Light code. Yesterday, on the way to Vegas, the Check Engine light suddenly turned on before arriving at the resort. The car seemed running fine. For precaution, we want to know the issue with the vehicle. A technician at O'Reilly told us that it was the issue of CAMSHAFT sensor. We had the same problem before and had replaced the sensors. We could do nothing at this point since the local Benz dealer was closed on Sunday. So we just kept our fingers crossed and hoped nothing serious would happen. Continuing our plan, we visited Seven Magic Mountains in the Nevada desert, an art installation by a Switzerland artist. On the way back to the town, the Check Engine light went off. What a relief! Las Vegas Chinatown has so many Asian restaurants. We went back there and tried Shanghai Taste for lunch. We had 生煎包 (Pan Fried Dumpling) and a few other dishes. They all tasted as good as those in Shanghai. We liked them so much that we went back there the next day.

We tried several other food venues within the resort in the next couple of days. We also had more food at the Famous Foods Street Eats, and we found our favorites. The best one was the rice noodle with Chinese sausage, shrimp, and veggies at Googgle Man's Char Kuey Teow. Watching the chef cook the noodle in a big wok using the traditional fired stove right in front of us was fun. Too bad we didn't take any pictures. Roast Peking Duck & Steamed Rice Bowl at Fuhu Shack was also delicious. We kept going back to these two places. We found the touchscreens all over the food hall were easy to use to order the foods, contactless.

Cross from the resort, there are many small restaurants. One taco place around the corner called Tacos El Gordo was standing out. It seems always packed with customers, a lot busier than any other taco places. So we decided to give it try. It’s a fast food place. You wait in line, place your order, pick up your food and then pay at the cashier’s window. We didn’t understand most of the items on the menu. Since almost 99% customers were speaking Spanish, we couldn’t get much help from the other customers, so we just went for the most popular tacos. The wait was worth it and the tacos were delicious.

We had a great time in Las Vegas.

New Telephoto Lens-长镜头

Dec. 5, 2021

We always felt our 70-300 mm lens was not powerful enough to get a clear picture of wildlife in the far distance on the previous trips. We had eyed a new Sony 200-600 mm Telephoto Zoom Lens for a while, and we bought it when it was on sale this holiday season. To check it out, we went to a birdwatching place in Phoenix, Tres Rios Wetland. The 700 Acre wetland is connected to the Phoenix water treatment plant. Tres Rios consists of a flood protection levee, pump station, overflow wetlands, mesquite forest, and open water marsh areas. There are an abundant amount of birds in the area. Seeing a Great Blue Heron was chasing a white Snowy Egret on the river was a treat. A significant number of Neotropic Cormorants were flying over the sky constantly. The lens worked great, but we just need more practice shooting fast-moving objects in a far distance.

Boston, MA - 波士顿

We didn’t write about Boston visit in detail in the previous two posts on New England trip. Our daughter joined us on this trip from New York City, as we mentioned earlier. We had flown to Boston at night on Oct. 2, and she took an early train to Boston the next day. Then three of us went to the Quincy Market to have a quick lunch there first. After lunch, we started our Freedom Trail walk from the Faneuil Hall, a middle point of a 2.5 mile-long path from Boston Common to Bunker Hill Monument. The trail connects many historic sites in Boston. We toured USS Constitution, built-in 1797, and the oldest commissioned ship in the world. Although it is designated as a museum ship, it can still sail with its own power. We were impressed by the complexity and size of the vessel built more than 200 years ago. Once we reached Bunker Hill, we turned around and walked back to the ferry stop next to USS Constitution to ride a ferry back to downtown. We finished the other half of the trail from the Faneuil Hall to Boston Common. It was the first time any of us had completed the Freedom Trail entirely. Felt tired, we found a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown and had a delicious Chinese dinner. We picked up our rental car the next day and headed out to Acadia National Park.

On Oct. 11, we drove back to Boston and returned the rental car. We preferred to take public transportation as we stayed in downtown Boston. At night we had a lovely dinner in Little Italy. The next morning, we visited MIT and Harvard while our daughter was working from the hotel. For some reason, both campuses were not very impressive to us this time. But we had a delicious lunch in a Chinese Restaurant nearby MIT. In the afternoon, we dropped off our daughter at the Amtrak station first, and then we did a walk around the bay. We were glad to have her on this trip. She was a good travel companion and had fun to travel with. Although we live more than a thousand miles away from each other, we always found a way to spend some quality time together throughout the year. 

The two-week New England trip was ending. The journey to the east coast was incredible; glad to meet our friends and fulfill our long-await dream to visit Acadia National Park. On Oct. 13, we visited Boston Public Garden in the Back Bay area in the morning. We flew home in the afternoon.

Vermont -佛蒙特州

Oct. 8 – Oct.11, 2021

We left Bar Harbor on the morning of Oct. 8. On the way to Maine's capital, Augusta, we saw an enormous "prison"-like building up on the hill, wondering what it was. After driving over the Penobscot Narrows Bridge nearby, we pulled over at the bridge lookout. We found that the bridge observatory was open to the public as well as "the prison," the famous historic Fort Knox, of which we were not aware. The bridge observatory offers 360-degree spectacular views of the Penobscot River and the Bay below. It is the tallest public bridge observatory in the world. Fort Knox is nearby, overlooking the Penobscot River. The massive fort was constructed between 1844-69, more than 150 years ago. The fort was commissioned but never saw the war. We all were amazed by this well-preserved pentagon shape building.

Left Fort Knox, we headed to Belfast for a quick lunch break. We didn't spend too much time there. Afterward, we went directly to the State House in Augusta, the capital of Maine. We missed the guided tour because of the side trip to Fort Knox, so we just walked around inside of the buildings. We try to visit the government buildings if possible while on travel. Typically, the government buildings in the states or the countries are among the best buildings in the area, being well constructed and maintained and offering some history.

Today's plan was altered once we found out that our old friends from Philadelphia would be in the same area. For some of them, we hadn't seen each other for more than 15 years. We were very excited to meet them at the footbridge in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, at sunset. We wanted to have dinner at the Boothbay Harbor to have some time to catch up. Unfortunately, we couldn't find any outdoor seating in the area as our friends preferred due to COVID-19 concerns. We decided to drive back to the inn our friends stayed in to have rice porridge, which they made in a slow cooker in the morning, along with many side dishes they brought home. With precaution against COVID-19, our friends were fully prepared with homemade food for the trip. The dinner was great and comfy. We chatted for hours before we left for our hotel.

On Oct. 9, we started our exploring in Vermont. The name of Vermont comes from two French words vert (green) and mont (mountain), the "Green Mountain State," as on the Vermont license plate. Three-quarters of the state is covered with forests. Vermont is the best place to see fall foliage in the country. Once we drove into the White Mountain in the region of New Hampshire and Vermont, the forest exploded with bursting red, orange, and yellow. In some areas, the fall color was near the peak or at the peak. It was the best fall color we had ever seen. We made a few scenic views stops on the way to Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park. Once in the park, we did a short hike to the Pogue and South Peak Loop. It was a lovely hike with a great view. Continuing our journey, we stopped at Woodstock, Vermont. We planned to have dinner at Woodstock. But the area was flooded with tourists, and we could not find a place to dine in, so our only option was to continue driving and go to Rutland, Vermont, directly where our hotel for the night is located. Once checked in, we had Chinese food at a local Chinese Restaurant. We all were starving, so anything would taste good to us.

On Oct. 10, we had a full schedule today. We visited Cold Hollow Cider Mill first. Besides selling cold-pressed apple cider, they also sell legendary cider donuts. The apple cider was made of McIntosh apples grown nearby. The juice was fresh and sweet, the best we had ever had. The donuts were also delicious. The whole store was full of tourists. Unfortunately, the cold cider mill didn't run on that day. A couple of miles from the mill is the Ben&Jerrys Waterbury Factory. Due to COVID-19, the factory tour was suspended, but the ice cream store was open. We ordered Ice Cream. They were good as always.

Speaking of Vermont, a photo of a little Stowe Church in fall colors is everywhere, on the internet, on social media, postcards sold in the stores, and displays in art galleries. After a Google search, we located the photo shot site near Aveda Salon. We went there in the morning to snap a few photos but were not satisfied because the weather was not so great, mostly cloudy. Our next stop was Stowe Foliage Arts Festival. The festival features over a hundred vendors with the best of local crafts, food, and art. It also had live traditional craftwork demonstrations. The exhibits were of high quality. We had lunch at the festival. The festival site is connected to a nearby park with a lovely trail. The weather got a lot better in the afternoon. So we went out hiking in the park. With much of the bright red, orange, and gold color in full display, we had a wonderful time enjoying the beauty of Vermont's fall foliage.

As the sun poked out through the cloud more and more in the late afternoon, we went back to the photo spot to take more pictures of that famous small white church. Everyone wants to take photos with perfect lighting conditions, just like the postcards. We had to park far away and walk to the photo site as many people and cars were there. After hundreds of pictures of that little white church taken, we finally made it to Middlebury, Vermont, late, where we stayed for the night. The dinner was a take-out from a popular local Thai restaurant in downtown Middlebury as no tables were available for dining in. Like any other day on this trip, we had to wait one and a half hours to get our food. But the food was not bad at all.

On Oct. 11, before we headed back to Boston, we toured the Lincoln Family Home. It is a beautiful mansion on more than 400 acres overlooking Green Mountain and the Taconic Mountain, with a Europe-style garden. The estate was a summer home built by Lincoln's son, Robert. After we toured the house, we drove back to Boston. Vermont is our 46th state to visit.

The Green Mountain

Acadia NP, Maine -阿卡迪亚国家公园

Oct. 4 – Oct.7, 2021

Acadia National Park is mainly located near Bar Harbor, Maine, on Mount Desert Island off the coast of Maine. We initially booked the trip for the fall of 2020; just like all the other planned trips in 2020, it got canceled due to Covid-19. We rebooked everything after both of us got fully vaccinated.

We flew to Boston on Oct. 2. The following day our daughter joined us coming from New York City. Together we did some sightseeing in the city. On Oct.4, we picked up the rental car in the morning and headed to Bar Harbor. We made a quick stop at Hampton Beach, a popular beach resort in New Hampshire, not too far away from Boston. It was very windy with dark clouds over; there was no one on the beach. Next, we visited Portsmouth, a New Hampshire port city founded in 1630. We tasted our first lobster roll of this trip at a small cafe at the Market Square. We went to see Strawbery Banke of 17-18th century-old houses. Our next stop was Portland, Maine. We toured the famous Portland Head Lighthouse and had our first clam chowder of the trip from a food truck, Cousins Maine Lobster, served on the lighthouse parking lot. Then we headed downtown and walked around before continuing our journey. Before arriving at Bar Harbor, we wanted to find a place to eat since it had already passed dinner time. As usual, we searched on Yelp. We decided to try out the Pho Hoa Grill in Banger, 45 miles away from Bar Harbor. The Pho Hoa is a tiny Vietnamese restaurant located in the residential neighborhood, with only two small dining-in tables mainly for take-out and delivery. Without Yelp, the tourists like us wouldn't find this place. However, the food is delicious. We arrived at our hotel quite late. Check-in was very smooth, and our room was spacious and clean.

On Oct. 5, the first full day in Bar Harbor, we planned to hike around Jordan Pond and sightseeing in other places. We left the hotel around 9:30 AM and headed to Acadia National Park. Finding a parking spot near popular hiking trails was almost impossible. We were driving around and looking for a parking space for a while until we decided to change our plan for the day. Instead, we went to a couple of less crowded scenic spots along the coast, Otter Cliff and Otter Point, before lunch. The weather was good, and we had a very lovely walk/hiking. We wanted to have lunch in downtown Bar Harbor. Once again, after driving around looking for a parking spot for more than 30 minutes without any luck, we ended up ordering to go and went back to the hotel.

The Otter Point

We had a reserved ticket to drive up to Cadillac Summit Road for the afternoon. To control the vehicle traffic to the famous summit, the Acadia National Park has adopted a driving up ticket system. The park releases the tickets for a nominal fee 90 days before the day of the visit. We hiked down, and up a half portion of the North Range Trail from the summit, then we stayed until the sunset. The Cadillac Summit is beautiful, and it has gorgeous panoramic views of surrounding bays. The fall foliage in the mountain has just started to change color but is not near the peak. The summit is worth visiting, but honestly, it doesn't have a WOW effect on us for some reason. After the first day experience, Acadia National Park is no longer on our best national park list. We had a late dinner. After waiting for a table for 45 mins, we finally had our first steamed lobster of the trip. The lobster was good but pricy. $49 gets you a small lobster only. We also had the local famous blueberry soda, steamed clam, and clam chowder (again).

View from Cadillac Summit

TheSunset at Cadillac Summit

A ticket to see the sunrise at the Cadillac Summit is also required. We only got the ticket for daily use before the trip. There is another chance to snap the tickets at 10 AM two days before the day of the visit. Luckily, we were able to get the sunrise ticket at 10 AM sharp for Oct. 6; all tickets were gone in a couple of seconds after 10 AM. The Cadillac summit is the first place in the United States to see the sunrise. The view of the sunrise is breathtaking, one of the best we have experienced. After the sunrise, we went back to the town to have breakfast at a popular local place called Jeannie's Great Maine Breakfast. The food was good, very homey style, but the portion was huge, way too much for any of us. The owner told us that it's meant to be that way so that you won't be hungry for the rest of the day.

We learned from yesterday's parking trouble and decided to take advantage of the park's free shuttle service. After breakfast, we took the Island Explorer bus, a free park shuttle for a park loop ride that stops at the Sand Beach, Thunder Hole, and Jordan Pond. We hopped on and off at each stop. Jordon Pond area is always crowded. Besides hiking trails, Jordan Pond House Restaurant is a historic spot for popovers and jam with a terrific view of the pond and surrounding mountains. The line to put a name down on the waiting list for the table was long. The wait to get the table was even longer. During our one and a half hour waiting for our lunch seating, we hiked a portion of Jordan Pond. The fall color around the pond was fantastic. Once seated, we tried out their famous popovers and seafood chowders. The popovers were interesting and tasted pretty good.  After recharging, we popped on the shuttle again to go to the Bubble Pond. We walked around the mirror-like pond, and it was beautiful and very peaceful. We then took the shuttle back to Bar Harbor downtown. It's low tide time of the day at the Bar Island Trail. As the ocean water is wading away, the path to Bar Island emerges above the water. Hundreds of people were walking on the path to the island. We spot many live starfishes, sea snails, and other small ocean creatures on the floor along the trail. The gravel sand bar connecting to the island is exposed only one and a half hours before and after the low tide every day. It was a fun experience. After the hike, tired of a long wait at the restaurant, we decided to have dinner at a less crowded India Restaurant.

Bubble Pond

Oct. 7 is our last day in the park. We decided to get out of the tourist crowded places in the park. We first stopped by at the most photographed bridge in Acadia National Park, the Somesville Bridge. The first time we learned about the bridge was at the Acadia Inn we stayed. Many copies of the framed pictures of this white-painted footbridge in front of a small house reflected on a motionless pond were on the wall through the inn. The beautiful picture got our attention and inspired us to see it. Left the bridge, we went to see Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse. The lighthouse is a popular spot, but the parking lot is small. We had to wait for a while to get a parking space. The lighthouse is picturesque, viewing from the granite boulders below the lighthouse. After the lighthouse, we headed out of Mount Desert Island, hoping to have some good lobster meals. Our first stop was the Gateway Lunts Lobster Pound. Unfortunately, they only opened for take-out, and no lobster was served due to the staff shortage. We decided to have a bowl of Clam Chowder. It was a different style compared to the clam chowder we had the other days, but it tasted terrific. Continuing on the road, a sign of a $9 lobster in front of a store caught our eye. We decided to make a U-turn to check it out. The deli and grocery store sells live lobsters for $9 per pound. However, since the store doesn't have a steamer, that is not an option for us to buy the lobster there. Instead, we ordered a lobster roll for $16, and it was good. We were on the road again, heading to Winter Harbor. We found a store called Winter Harbor Lobster Co-op that sells live lobsters for $10 per pound and a small fee for steaming. The store has many tables and benches up the hill for customers to enjoy fresh steamed lobsters there. We were so excited and ordered one lobster first. The lobster was so fresh, and the meat had a little bit of sweet taste. It was the best lobster we have ever had, so we immediately ordered another one.

The most photographed bridge in Acadia National Park, the Somesville Bridge

With two lobsters in the stomach and feeling satisfied, we got on the road again and headed down to the Schoodic Point, across the Freshmen Bay from Bar Harbor. The Schoodic Point is part of Acadia National Park, less popular with the tourists but has the best view of large veins of dark basalt between more giant granite boulders and sea surfing pounding the shore. Once there, we realized that it should be an excellent spot to see the sunset, so we decided to stay for a couple more hours. We were not disappointed. The sunset we saw from the Cadillac Summit was good. But this one was a lot better. It was one of the best sunset views we have experienced. On the way back to the hotel, we had another lobster dinner. $18 for a steamed lobster and an ear of corn is a pretty good deal compared to the first lobster at Bar Harbor's downtown restaurant. A lesson learned: wanting to have good lobster for cheap? Avoid downtown Bar Harbor. Going outside Bar Harbor, just 20 minutes drive, can save you a lot of money on the lobster meal. Two of us had three lobsters, two clam chowder soups, and one lobster roll for the day; what a good day is to end the trip to Acadia.

The Sunset at the Schoodic Point

Fairbanks, Alaska - 极光，淘金和鹤鸟

8/19-29/2021

Visiting Fairbanks is the last segment of our 2021 Alaska trip. We will stay in Fairbanks for ten days without too many must-see items except hoping to see the Northern Lights. The aurora season starts from Aug. 21, but it becomes more active after Sept. 15. Knowing the probability of seeing aurora light may not be great, we went ahead to book an Airbnb for ten days just to relax and enjoy the cool climate.
The Airbnb rental is a newly-constructed one bedroom above the owner's garage on a mountain ridge away from the city light, ideal for Northern Lights viewing. The contemporary room is beautifully decorated, and the owner lives in a house on the same property but separated from the unit. Here is what we say about the place in Airbnb Review.
"What a gorgeous place for us to stay in Fairbanks for the last ten days. The location is great. It's quiet with a beautiful view. It's also close to the restaurants and shops. The Chalet was extremely clean and very well decorated. Everything looks brand new. The kitchen had everything you needed. The washer and dryer were super helpful during our long stay. It's a home away from home, and we had a great time. Kristin was an amazing host. She was very helpful and answered all our questions quickly. This is the BEST Airbnb I have ever stayed in! I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking to stay in Fairbanks! – Connie"

Dinning Table in the Airbnb

Deck in the Airbnb

The unit is built on the garage.

The kitchen

Copper River Salmon over spaghetti

The University of Alaska Fairbanks, called UAF, is 10 min driving distance from our Airbnb place. Its campus on the hill is vast and beautiful. One afternoon, we visited Georgeson Botanical Garden on the campus, a well-designed and maintained research facility. Although the growing season in Alaska is short, surprisingly, we find that the vegetables growing in the garden are much larger than what in the low 48 states. Visiting the UAF Museum of the North is the highlight of the trip. We also attend the 75th-anniversary celebration of the Geophysical Institute to see the exhibit booths and tour the satellite antenna site.

Cold! 42 F degree at noon.

75 th anniversary celebration of Geophysical Inst.

Bear in the Museum of the North

Far away from New York City and Seattle

A table

Museum of the North

On Aug. 22, today's weather is one of the best during our ten-day stay in Fairbanks. We booked the famous riverboat tour in Fairbanks, Riverboat Discovery, a few days ago. The riverboat tour business started 100 years ago, and Brinkley's family still runs the company. Our captain is the great-granddaughter of the founder. It is not just a river cruise. It takes us to see an Athabascan Indian village, view a team of dogs mushing an ATV, and watch a small plane taking off and landing on water. Of course, the scenery along the river is also fantastic. It is the best riverboard cruise we have had, but we only have had three so far.

Discovery III

A plane landing on the water

Smoked Salmon

Dog mushing

Salmon and fish wheel

The next day, we go to Gold Daughters for gold panning, one of the popular tourist things to do in Fairbanks. We pay $20 for a bag of paydirt and using the panning equipment. They guarantee we would find gold in the bag from Fairbanks Gold Co. Before we try our luck on the paid paydirt, they recommend using the dirt from a pile of paydirt hauled from a local gold mine to practice. They teach us a few gold-pan techniques. We have spent about two hours there, and it was exhilarating to find a lot of tiny pieces of gold flakes, enough to put into a necklace locket we purchased from their store. The gold we panned is worth less than what we paid, but we are super exciting and fun to find GOLD. After gold panning, we drive across the highway to the other side of the road to see the Tran-Alaska Oil Pipeline, learning a few things about the construction and design.

Gold digging

Gold Panning

Harvested gold

Alaska Oil Pipeline

One morning we walked into a local bakery near our place. We noticed a post of the Sandhill Crane Festival in Creamer's Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge, 15 mins away from our Airbnb. That reminds us of our trip to Kearney, Nebraska, in 2018 to view Sandhill Crane's migration. We enjoyed seeing thousands of sandhill cranes and Canadian goose on that trip. It was a pleasant surprise to see the Sandhill Cranes here in Fairbanks. We visit the Creamer's Field several times to watch and take many pictures of those beautiful creatures in the next few days.

The Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum is a must-see place in Fairbanks. It is one of the best auto museums in the world, with a world-class collection of vintage automobiles and period fashions, telling the story of the rich and colorful auto and transportation history in Alaska. Among all other gorgeous and spotless cars, a single-cylinder car, 1905 Sheldon Roundabout, gets our most attention. It was the first automobile in Alaska built by 24-year-old Bobby Sheldon to win over the attention of a young lady without seeing a real car. Unfortunately, he didn't win the heart of the young lady, but Sheldon went on to become a legend in Alaskan automotive history.

1905 Sheldon Roundabout

We also visit a few other places, North Pole, Chena Hot Spring, Pioneer Park, and Wedgewood Bird Sanctuary. We had a terrific dinner at a historic Pump House on the shore of the Chena River.

The gift shop in North Pole, AK

The gift shop in North Pole, AK

Golden Heart Park

A vent in the park

Fairbanks Antler Arch

Fairbanks Farmers Market

A cce sculpture in Aurora Ice Museum

To see Northern Light is the main reason for our extended staying in Fairbanks. The aurora activity is moderate during that time. Plus, the weather is either cloudy or rainy most time. The chance to see the Light is not great. But we still try to stay late to hope to see the Northern Light on a few of those days. We check the website and find out whether the aurora is active or not—we set up our camera to take a picture of the sky every 5 mins. After we stayed all night until 2-3 am on consecutive days, not seeing any aurora light, we thought the chance to see it was slim, so we went to sleep early one night. The following day, we check out our camera, and we find a few pictures of the Northern Light taken from the window of our stay. We missed it! In the following few days, the weather continues not to cooperate. However, on the day we leave Fairbanks, the weather is nice. Our flight is a red-eye flight. After taking off, we finally see the Northern Light we desperately want to see on the plane. What a way to end our trip to Alaska!

The northern Light from the Airbnb's Window

The Northern Light from the plane

Denali National Park， Alaska - 灰熊，驼鹿和驯鹿

8/15-19/2021

Denali National Park is the fourth national park in Alaska we are going to visit. Since the Alaska Denali Star Train tickets were sold out before we could snap, we took the Park Connection bus from Anchorage to Denali instead. It turns out that an alternate is a good option. The bus ticket costs $100 per person and the total travel time is about 6 hours, cheaper and less travel time than the train. The bus ride is very comfortable, and we have a coffee/restroom break at Talkeetna. We arrive at McKinley Chalet around noon. Our room is not ready, so we go right to the Karstens Restaurant for lunch. McKinley Chalet Resort is on the shores of the Nenana River and a short distance walk to the commercial area of restaurants and shops. The room is comfy with a separate sitting room. The resort provides shuttles to the park and on property.

After settling in, we take the shuttle to the park to check it out. Again, the visitor center is closed due to COVID-19, but the gift shop is open, so we get the bear spray for $50. Since most people carry bear spray while they hike, having one with us provides a sense of safety protection. Dinner is Chinese/Thai take-out. The food is pretty good. After traveling for a while, we always want to have Asian food as comfort food, whether authentic or not.

On Aug. 16, we ride the park’s free Savage River Shuttle to the Savage River Loop Trailhead. The Savage River Loop Trail is a beautiful flat trail along the river. It is an easy hike for us and is pretty scenic. While waiting for the return shuttle, we decide to hike a small portion of the Alpine Trail to get a feel of the trail. Then we ride the shuttle back to the sled dog kennels near the park headquarter. Twenty-four sled dogs were in the kennels. All dogs start to balk loudly and jump up and down to their tiny houses when we walk in. Somehow a little mouse gets into the area under the bushes. One of the dogs catches the mouse finally, but the ranger takes it out of the dog’s mouth. It takes 15-20 mins for the ranger to get the mouse out of the area and calm down the dogs. It is a pretty funny scene for us. Since the next shuttle back to the visitor center is still an hour away, we hike on a roadside trail near the bus stop. Back to the resort, we have dinner at Karstens Restaurant.

On the third day, the 17th, we take the Eielson Visitor Center Transit bus, 66 miles into the park. This transit bus is the most popular bus route in the park. We made the reservation a couple of months in advance at $60 per person. The weather is cloudy and occasionally drizzling. Since we are on the bus most of the time, we don’t worry about getting wet, but in the beginning, we do fear that the poor visibility may prevent us from spotting any wildlife. It turns out to be a perfect day trip. We spotted so many wildlife, Bears, Moose, Caribou, Dally Sheep, and birds along the way to the visitor center. We spot a grizzly bear not too far away from the road before our bus driver does. We get a good shot of it. The bus arrives at the destination before 1 pm. Initially, we thought we would ride the same bus back, but we changed our mind at the last minute to spend more time exploring the area. We do a couple of short hikes then walk down on the Thorofare Ridge Trail. We spot a black bear lying down on the river bed and eventually move to a nearby tree from a far distance. What a treat!

On the way back, we get on an empty bus called a camper sweeper to collect the campers or visitors left behind. The bus driver is super informative. He cracks a few jokes and talks about permafrost. Because of climate change, the permafrost in some areas in the park is thawing to cause the landslide. He points out several permafrost landslides along the road. He says that one section of the road we drive through is sinking at the rate of 12 inches per day. The workers are constantly adding gravels from the river below. We don’t think we want to drive through it by ourselves even if we are permitted. We see even more bears, moose, and caribou on the returned bus. We take about 800 hundred pictures on that day. It is super awesome to see so much wildlife.

After a nine-hour tour and another hour of shuttling back to the town, we are hungry and crave good food. We want a take-out from that Chinese/Thai place, but the waiting time is about one hour and 45 mins, so we go to a Serbian restaurant, Moose-Aka’s, the next block. The restaurant has a 5-star review on Tripadvisor and has a long waiting time too. Somehow the host messes up the seating queue. After two hours, we finally are seated. We order Turkish coffee, which is different from the coffee we usually drink. We have a Russian Salad surprisingly similar to the one we make at home. The appetizer sampler platter and other main entrees are all very delicious. The staff apologized for keeping us waited so long and paid for an appetizer. It is a long day.

Today, Aug. 18, is the fourth day in the park. The weather is the best so far, partially cloud and sunshine. We go back to the park and ride the Savage River shuttle again to hope to see Denali Peak. We hike through the 4.1 mile Savage Alpine Trail, starting from the south side and exiting the north end. The hike is terrific. It can be challenging at some points but not too hard. The view at the top is fantastic. Disappointingly, we don’t see Denali Peak due to the cloud. Back to the town early, we have the Thai food for dinner without a long wait.

On the final day in the park, before catching the 4 pm train to Fairbanks, we do a short Horseshoe loop hike and have lunch at the Karstens Restaurant. The resort offers a complimentary shuttle to the Train Depot and handles all the luggage. We are in the GoldStar Service Class of Denali Star Train to Fairbanks. The GoldStar Service Class includes the dinner on the low deck. Due to COVID 19, we have an option not to share the table with others, which we choose along with the other 10% of the passengers. We have been very cautious about social distance and not having contact with others on this trip. The train ride is great for us to see the remote area of Alaska. At the end of the journey, the experience of picking up the check-in luggage is horrifying. The bag claim area at the depot is not big. The room is full of passengers waiting for their luggage, shoulder to shoulder. It is a perfect place for the virus to transmit. Unfortunately, one of our two bags is the last one coming out. After 45 mins horrifying scene, we wonder if we might get the virus now. We pick up our rental car at the airport, and we are on the way to our Airbnb place at Fairbanks.

Cooper Landing， Alaska -红鲑跳龙门

8/11-14/2021

Today starts the second segment of our Alaska trip. We check out the hotel around 9:30 am and drive to the Copper River Center at the Wrangell-St Elias National Park. The Visitor Center and Ahtna Cultural Center are closed due to COVID 19. A hand-built fish wheel by Ahtna people is on display. The river's current pushes against the submerged paddle and rotates the wheel, passing the baskets through the water where they intercept fish swimming against the current. Fish wheels are very effective in catching the fish so that they are banned from public use. We are told that there are eleven wheels in use on Copper River. On the way to Cooper Landing, we stop by a few places for scenic views. We also go to Sheep Mountain Lodge to look for Dally Sheep on the Sheep Mountain. We can not see any of them on the slope, and the café at the lodge also closes due to the lack of staff.

Hand-crafted Fish Wheel

Matanuska Glacier

Eklutna Historic Park

Today's weather starts with cloudy and drizzling. However, the rain stop when we arrive at the Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge. The resort is well built and maintained. Our cabin has a wood fireplace. It is the first time that we use a wood fireplace. We have to call the front desk to get the instruction on how to light up the fire. The resort's restaurant offers excellent food and has an incredible view of the mountains and the river. We have a great dinner on the first day there.

Our room in Kenai Wilderness Lodge

The cabin we stayed

At the lodge

Kenai River

On 8/12, we drive two and a half hours to Homer Spit to catch the Danny J Ferry to Ismailof Island in Halibut Cove. The ferry ticket to the island was purchased in advance. Danny J is a small fishing boat that can carry only 29 passengers. Everyone stays outside on the deck and wears masks. The boat ride also includes a visit to Gull Island, a bird sanctuary. We see Tufted Puffins, a lot of Common Murres, Gulls, and Bald Eagles. A Sea Otter floats in the sea on its back and is enjoying a meal of a live starfish. The ride to the island takes about 45 mins. After docking, we walk up a steep ramp into the Saltry restaurant due to low tide. We order a combination seafood platter and a Saltry taco. The food is good. After lunch, we walk on the boardwalk around the island. It is a great experience. At 4 pm, we embark and went back to Homer Spit. At the Spit, several charted fish boats are unloading their fish tour trophies, lots of fish. The largest one we saw is 70 lb Halibut. Before we drive off to the resort, we have another Fish and Chips. The Halibut fish is so delicious.

Danny J Ferry

A swimming Puffin

A flying Puffin

An Eagle

A Sea Otter eating a starfish

Birds on Gull Island

Lunch at Saltry Restaurant

Looking at 75 lb Halibut

The next day, we hike 4.5-mile roundtrip on the Russian River Falls Trail. At the base of the falls, a pond of salmons is waiting to jump up the cascading waterfalls and swim upstream on the homeward journey to their birthplaces. We take a lot of pictures of salmon jumping. Unfortunately, no bears show up to catch the fish. Seeing salmon jumping up the waterfall is one of the highlights of this trip.

A pond of Salmons waiting for jumping

A spawned Salmon jumping up the waterfalls

Asian Salad

a Prime-rib stew

On Aug. 14, before we head back to Anchorage, we do an 18-mile-long loop drive on gravel Skilak Lake Road. Alaska.org provides Audio Recordings for the road tour. Since there is no cellular service in the area, we couldn't listen to them. There is no option to download them either. We see no major wildlife except ducks and birds but have great views of a few lakes. Potter Marsh Bird Sanctuary is just outside Anchorage. We stop there for a quick visit and head to Anchorage downtown, and check into our hotel.

The reason why they are called Fireweeds

Ducks play in the lake

Potter Marsh Bird Sanctuary

The dinner tonight is at Crow's Nest on the 24th floor in Hotel Captain Cook, with stunning panoramic views of the city, Chugach Mountains and Cook Inlet. We order four appetizers, Pork Belly, Crab Cake, Raw Oysters, Caesar Salad, and one main entree, Seafood Cioppino. They all are outstanding. After dinner, we stroll around the downtown area and do a dry run from the hotel to the bus stop for tomorrow's bus ride to Denali National Park. Since the bus will leave in the early morning, at 6:30 am, and we have a few suitcases to move, we want to make sure we have the quickest and easiest route to the bus stop. 

Caesar Salad

Raw Oysters

Pork Belly

Seafood Cioppino

Crab Cake

Kennecott, Alaska - 冰川和铜矿

8/8-11/2021 -Glennallen/Kennecott, Alaska

As the daily new cases of COVID-19 were spiraling down many months ago, we started to plan an extended summer vacation for this year. Alaska was easily on the top of our list. The first time we visited Alaska was 2017 on a seven-day Holland American Cruise to Alaska. We visited several coastal cities and Anchorage during the trip but never made up to Denali and Fairbanks. Although the initial thought was to visit all national parks in Alaska, after some research, we decided only to see two national parks, Denali and Wrangell-St. Elias accessible by vehicle. We hope we could visit other parks in the future.

We flyto Anchorage on Aug. 8th and drive three and a half hours to Caribou Hotel at Glennallen for the night. The hotel is old and not well maintained. At least we have a few hours of good sleep. The shuttle to McCarthy/Kennecott picks us up at the hotel at 7:00 am. On the way to Chitina, the driver, Jason, picks up seven more passengers. Jason is very quiet but good at spotting the wildlife. The highway ends at Chitina. The road from Chitina to McCarthy is unpaved but well maintained. Many travel advisory websites warn not to drive rental cars on McCarthy Road. The road condition is better than any forest road we often drove on before. Although we could easily drive to McCarthy by ourselves without any issue, we believe we made the right decision to leave the driving to the other so we can enjoy the scenic view along the road.

After four hours slow ride, we get off the shuttle bus at the footbridge over Kennicott River near McCarthy. We walk over the bridge with our suitcases to the other side to meet our hotel shuttle from Kennicott Glacier Lodge. Our initial impression is that the only way to McCarthy/Kennecott is to walk over this long footbridge. We wonder how the people who live in the town get vehicles and other supplies over to the other side of the river. Do they drive across the river during the winter when it is frozen, we even asked? No. The fact is that the car bridge is not too far away from the footbridge for the residents of the towns to drive through. It is another Alaska tourist marketing trick we fall for. However, it is the best way to control car traffic in a remote town where the main road is muddy and poorly maintained.

Caribou Hotel in Glennallen

Gilahina Train Trestle, 90 feet tall and 880 feet long

The footbridge over the Kennicott River

Kennicott River

Dryas

Fireweeds

Kennecott is 5.5 miles away from the footbridge. We arrive at The Kennicott Glacier Lodge, the only public accommodation in the town. The lodge faces the rocky, dirty-looking Kennecott Glacier, not the clean white glacier we expected. Too early to check-in, so we store our luggage in the lobby and go to the dining hall for lunch. The lodge has a three-meal plan that costs $65 per person. As soon as we finish our lunch, our room is ready. We stay at South Wing Building, a new building with private bathrooms. The main building was a mine-worker dormitory many years ago. The rooms in the main building has only shared bathrooms. After settling down in our room, we walk across the street to Alpine Guide Office to sign up for the tour to the mill in the afternoon and the glacier hike the following day.

The dinner is one seating at 7 pm with a fixed menu. The food is okay, but the weather is perfect, turning from rain to sunshine before dinner. All couples are seated outside. We have a great time. Three tables down, we overhear an old lady and her grandson talking loudly to other guests about their trip. She is the famous Grandma Joy, visiting 58 th out of 61 national parks with her grandson. After the meal, we do a google search on her. Her story is amazing and inspiring.

Kennecott Mill, the tallest wood structures in USA

Look down from the top of the mil

Table for Two

The front deck in South Wing Building in the Kennicott Glacier Lodge

Wrangell-St Elias National Park is the largest national park in the US, with more than 13 million acres. It is a very primitive national park. However, inside the park, there is an old copper mining town, Kennecott. At the peak, the copper mill employed more than 500 people. $100 million had been invested in the infrastructures and equipment, and the mill produced $200 million worth of copper. It is a national historic site now. After National Park Service acquired the mill, the site has been renovated. The mill tour takes us to inside the building. The milling operation was highly automatic in the standard of its time. The mill was shut down in 1938 and became a ghost town until National Park Service took over it.

Copper Ore

Walking towards the mill

The junks left 90 years ago

The following day, we go on a glacier hike with a guide and another couple, Mary and Philips, from Maine. Our guide was Alex from the Alpine Guides. We hike 2 miles on the dirt trail, then 0.5 mile on the white Root Glacier. The weather is drizzling, but the scene is beautiful. The glacier extends miles and miles. After a five-hour hike, we get back to the lodge, have a quick lunch, and take the hotel shuttle back to the footbridge. Once again, we walk over the long footbridge with our suitcase to the other side of the river. Our shuttle driver Jason is waiting for us. On our way back to Glennallen, we see a black bear on the roadside.

Hike on Root Glacier in Kennecott

Root Glacier

Glacier Waterfall

Kennicott Glacier

Kuskulana River

Muddy Copper River

We have Thai take-out tonight. The food is terrible.

• We use Kennecott and Kennicott through the writing up. Kennicott was used for river and glacier. When the mill was started, someone misspelled the name with e instead i for the place.

Vaccine, RV and Zion

While the COVID-19 pandemic still dominates our everyday life, as more people are vaccinated, we see the light at the end of the tunnel. Both of us were fully vaccinated on April 17. On that day, we joined REI's Arizona Star Walk event. The tour guide took us on a two-hour hike under the stars in Tonto National Forest. It is the first time since the last March that we had physical interaction with other people, although we all wore masks and kept physical distance. The star walk was joyful and educational. We made the first step to come out of the shadow of the pandemic.

Superstition Mountain under the Stars

The next day, we were pondering where our next trip would be, from Cancun to Iceland. Then we decided to rent an RV to visit Zion National Park on Tuesday (4/20). It took us a couple of hours to make the reservations for RV and campgrounds. It is the shortest time from deciding to starting the trip. It illustrates how eager we for us to get out of home and go back on the travel. RV travel is always on our top of the bucket list. We used to talk about renting an RV from Seattle and drive it to Alaska when we retire. This trip could be our test drive for RV travel. We rented an RV from Cruise America. Cruise America has three different sizes of Class C RV, extended, standard and compact. To our surprise, the standard RV at $109 a night was cheaper than the smaller one, compact one. It has two beds and a full bathroom, comfortably for four adults. We rented it for six nights. After chatting with our friend, Steve, he and his wife, CC decided to join us on the trip. 

On Tuesday (4/20), we picked up an RV from Cruise America in the afternoon, packed our stuff, filled the refrigerator, and drove to Flagstaff. We stayed at the KOA Holiday in Flagstaff. The KOA campground was decent, and staying was pleasant. The next day we drove to Zion National Park.

On the way to Zion, we stopped at the world-famous Horseshoe Bend near Page, AZ. The outlook becomes the major tourist destination in reference by social media in recent years. It is our first visit to the site. The view is gorgeous, and there are not too many people around. We were glad to make the stop.

Private vehicles are not allowed to drive to the scenic canyon area inside Zion National Park. The park provides free shuttle service to various locations. Since the pandemic, due to a reduced number of seats available, the park requires tickets for the shuttles. A portion of the tickets for the shuttle was released online at 5 pm on the day before the day of the visit. Those tickets are usually gone within minutes. Since we had a late start from Flagstaff, we were still far from reaching Zion before 5 pm. We were driving on Highway 89, with no community nearby, before 5 pm. But somehow, we still had a strong 5G cellular signal. 15 mins before 5 pm, we pulled over to a national historic site on the roadside and got the phones ready to grab the tickets. Fortunately, one of three iPhones was able to get noon shuttle tickets for the next day. We were so happy and excited to visit Zion National Park.

Our RV campground, Zion Canyon RV campground, was just outside Zion National Park. One way to get there is to go through the tunnel in the park. It is free for small vehicles but $15 for an RV. Since the tunnel is narrow, the park ranger has to stop both traffic to allow RV to go through only. It is also the first time to use our lifetime senior national park pass. We made it to the campground before dark. CC made four delicious hot dishes with one soup for dinner. After the gourmet dinner, we lighted the fire and enjoyed our first day in Zion.

Our RV is on the right.

On 4/22, we got up early to get our morning coffee from a local coffee shop near the park. Interestingly, most customers wore the masks but not the workers. We felt great having the first-morning coffee walk with a magnificent view since the pandemic started. We got on the shuttle a little bit earlier before noon. There are nine bus stops, but half stops were closed due to loose rocks. We rode it to the last bus stop, Temple of Sinawava. We did a 2.2 mile Riverside Walk along the Virgin River and took a lot of pictures. We didn't go into Narrows because we didn't have the dry suit and were afraid of toxic Cyanobacteria Bloom in the river. Then we rode the shuttle back to the Grotto. From there, we hiked 3.7 miles going through Kayenta and Lower, Middle, and Up Emerald Pool trail to arrive at Zion Lodge. On that day, we did a 12-mile hike total and 26000 steps. Everyone was exhausted. However, CC still managed to cook four hot dishes with one soup for dinner. Life was good.

The next day, after yesterday's 12-mile hike, we just wanted to relax and made a moderate 3.3 mile Watchman trail near the visitor center. Finally, after climbing 370 feet elevation, we reached the top to have a beautiful view of the Temples and Towers, lower Zion Canyon, Watchman Peak, and Springdale. Then, we went back to our RV to get our next shuttle tickets.

Last day at the park, we decided to attempt Angel's Landing via the West Rim trail. The West Rim trail starts at the Grotto. Not long after short walking on the canyon floor, the steep incline goes up for a little bit until we get to a zig-zag Walter's Wiggles that takes us up to the top of the ridge above the Canyon. We took a break and had a light snack at Scout Lookout. The traffic at the entrance of Angel's landing was crowded since there is one way going up and down. After watching people going in and out, we decided to climb the first section of the chains and come back. We did manage to take some nice pictures of climbing Angel's Landing. It was worth the effort.

The first RV experience was great. The staying was comfortable, but driving was not. We had to switch the seats every hour or so to avoid car sick. We were not sure we would rent Class C RV again for a long distance travel and this RV life is not cheap either. It works out to be $250 per night and $0.69 per mile.

Goodbye 2020

Club West atAhwatukee

We started to post on this website a year ago as we were preparing for 90 days around-world cruise trip with Crystal Cruise. Connie was retired last year, and I was taking an extended leave of absence from work. We were very excited about the year ahead. Then as the virus spread worldwide, our 90-day trip was cut short, and we disembarked at Crystal Serenity in Sydney in early March. As we were back home, the COVID-19 was out of control, and the whole world was on lockdown. But who would guess we were in a worse situation today than nine months ago. 

Since March, we haven’t dined out once, and we only ordered a few take-out. Lacking social interaction with your friends, colleagues, and strangers on the streets is the worse part of this pandemic we had experienced. However, we are fortunate to be healthy and still have a job.

As the year is close in, I did 6 miles walking around a closed-down 18 hole golf course in the neighborhood today. I took a picture of our beautiful community. Hope 2021 would leave the COVID-19 behind, and we live a normal life again.

Escape the Heat

June 20-28 – Heber/Overgaard, AZ

This year could be the year everyone would remember forever. With one microbe starting invading a human body in Wuhan, China, eight months ago, the world has been halted to fight with this virus. As today, close to 10 million people were infected across the globe, and half of a million people have died. In the states, there are 2.5 million people with this virus. Millions of people have lost their jobs, and many businesses have closed for months. Unfortunately, we haven’t seen the light in the tunnel.

We booked this resort in Bison Ranch in Overgaard, AZ, nine months ago. Due to the pandemic, we weren’t sure that we could make this trip up to the mountain. But a few weeks ago, although the new virus daily cases are still high, the state has started the reopening. Bison Ranch has also followed the trend to reopen the resort. Tired of 110-degree heat, we decided to still come up to the mountain for a week despite travel risk with the virus. The resort is clean, and many common areas are closed. The staff at the resort wear a face mask, but most of the customers not. We are very cautious, washing hands all time and wearing bandanas when we are out in public. The weather in Overgaard is very lovely. The daily high temperature is around 85 F, but at night, the temperature drops down to 70s F. On weekdays, Chenggang worked from the room. We even brought a computer monitor to the resort. After dinner, we strolled around the neighborhood under very comfortable environment.