On the Boat! (Day 1; 6-9-12)

Hey Everybody!

It's nearly 11:30pm - of course, time means nothing in a place where every hour looks like Noon! We are about 7hrs into our trip. We've got great weather conditions. The only possible negative in terms of conditions is that the ice charts show clear passage in many areas. Great for boat safety, but not so great in terms of polar bear activity since they use floating ice for hunting. I'm still hopeful for sightings though.

Here are a few pics to get you started.

Top deck of the boat. Yes, that's a picnic table! Yep, I've sat there after 10pm to watch in amazement as we pass mountain after mountain, glacier after glacier.

As we left Longyearbyen, we got a good look at the global seed vault. I cannot tell you how difficult it is to find. Hidden in plain sight; looks like a boulder until you know what you're looking at.

Some of the mountains surrounding the fjord in Longyearbyen.

Because the weather was so nice we wandered into another fjord to see an active mining town, Barentsberg. We only viewed it from the boat.

More mountains....

Back in Longyearbyen

Hey Everybody!

I am back online, for the moment at least, we returned to the Longyearbyen port a little while ago & then I head off in search of Internet since I don't leave for the airport 'til 1pm. First I found a place that charged $20 for an hour or two (at the most)...did I mention it's expensive here?! Thus, I kept wandering until I found the library and the people camped out on the floor.....free Internet!

So, here's my plan....I wrote my posts every day or so & hope to be able to post a couple a day to get you caught upon the trip...starting next post.

By the way, we had more good weather than bad the entire trip....very lucky! As we got closer to Longyearbyen I could feel the cold air and occasional rain drops in my room. Yes, I sleep with the window open... These cold countries keep things painfully hot!

Longyearbyen (one last look)

Hey Everybody!

Have been wandering around today - still a couple hours before we board the boat. I met some other travelers at the local museum & learned there are only about 50 people on this trip. Love it! Probably not great for business, but it's awesome for the 50 of us on this trip!

I walked to the edge of town - basically as far as the polar bear sign & beach before turning back toward town.

This is a building from the "old times" - it's a mining building and was used to transport coal. The building is no longer used but cannot be touched because everything here before 1947 is protected.

Gotta exercise your dogs in the summer too....so locals hook them up to wheels. Looks fun!

Speaking of dogs, two kennels on the edge of town:

Reindeer for Captain Heidi! They are stuffed and in a museum, but they will have to do until I see live ones :-)

This is the museum's library....

The hotel bar... Reindeer skins are put out each day for the guests to use as blankets while they drink. Up the street is a club for the younger locals - last night I saw a couple guys bring a couch and pillows outside to hang out and listen to music.

My wi-fi access expires in a few minutes so I need to get this posted. I will be in touch....eventually.

Longyearbyen, Svalbard

Hey Everybody,

Made it! Landed at Longyearbyen's airport this afternoon. It's quite small - check-in, departure gate and baggage claim are in the same place. From the airport it's barely 5 minutes to the hotel. We did make a very quick stop at the expedition boat to drop-off staff. Starting Saturday this will be home for the next 10 days.

As you can see the town itself doesn't have much snow at this point - so the locals have parked their snowmobiles for the season. It's in the upper 30s and not much wind. The local kids are out on their bikes. And the main street has one skateboard ramp that the boys use for foot racing. I didn't see one skateboard as I wandered the town this evening. The town has a movie theatre - it is open on Wed. & Sun. nights.

As you can tell it's is a pretty small town, and it seems like tourism is one of the main sources of income. During the long summer months people can hike up neighborhood mountains at 10pm. There are 2 hikers with a guide in the lower left..but locals climb just to write in the snow.

Longyearbyen was named after an American who founded a mining company here in 1906. The main entrance to the mine is still visible, and other buildings from that time remain. The town is now home to the doomsday (or seed) vault, which has 2-3 million seeds from plants all over the world.

This Arctic island lies 400 miles north of the mainland & I am north of the Arctic Circle - more than half is covered in glaciers. The sun doesn't set in the summer. And there is currently a rabies outbreak....imagine my first thought when I was walking along the water (without a gun. They can be rented for those who were wondering) and heard a growl. Luckily, it was only a guard dog & he was chained.

This might be the last time I have easy access to internet for about 1.5 weeks, but I hope to be able to email directly to the blog from the boat at some point during the trip.

Hope everyone is doing well. Thanks for stopping by! More soon....

Oslo, Norway (sneak peek)

Hey Everybody,

Since 3:30am Denver-time on Wednesday morning I haven't slept much (it's 11:30pm in Oslo as I write). So, really, it's only about 26hrs that I have relied on a couple of power naps to get me through. The sun is still out, the sky has just started to fade from blue, and I am in the Oslo airport for the night. In order to go on this trip with me....you gotta read about the technical stuff sometimes.

For example, after a 5 hour layover in Newark (oh boy!) we made two attempts at boarding & then sat on the runway for two hours (oh boy!). Thus a reasonable 7.5hr flight turned into nearly ten hours on the plane. But I got my aisle seat and could stand and walk around easily once we were off the ground. The good news is that SAS (Scandinavian Air) was so nice to fly. They feed you meals & give you a hot towel in the morning to refresh. I was especially glad for the meals because Newark's International terminal was awful. But to be fair....they are supposedly renovating.

Upon arrival, I caught the train into Downtown Oslo. The central train station has luggage lockers, which I planned to use so I could spend the time sightseeing. However, the security personnel are on strike. Who knew this would impact me: no lockers due to strike (oh boy!). So, since I paid for the train into the city & bought a ticket for a 2hr boat tour I was determined to find a solution. Tourist information recommended walking to the bus terminal to use their lockers, so I did. All working lockers were full; lots of lockers were broken. So, I spent the day walking the streets of Oslo & going on the boat tour with my duffle bag in tow (oh boy!). Now I know why I forced myself to bring only one bag on this trip - plus my carry-on of course. And I wasn't the only one pulling a bag today...

Oslo wasn't what I imagined....probably because the first store I saw was a 7-11. First restaurant, Burger King. First street performer: Elvis in a metallic gold costume from head to toe! It mostly reminded me of San Francisco. At least it did until I started walking through the center of town toward the royal palace on my way to the harbor. The bad news is that taking photos on today's walking tour was not convenient, so I hope to have some for you another day. The good news is that once my bag was on the boat I didn't have to touch it for two hours, so we still got some photos.

Oslo's new Opera House. It was constructed to look like an iceberg. People are invited to walk all over it for free & the architect believes they look like penguins. What do you think? In front of the opera house is a glass sculpture floating in the water.

There are 40 islands in the Oslo Fjord. This island used to be uninhibited as building was forbidden. Norwegian families would camp here in the summertime. Over time those families began to erect walls and/or roof for shelter over the tents. Thus, an island of summer homes was born.

These used to be bath houses before nudity was acceptable. Now they are often used as sheds. Each little house belongs to a summer home on the island.

A traditional Norwegian home on one of the islands. The grass helped to keep the place cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. Families put their goats on the roofs to trim the grass.

An old lighthouse (1870s I think). Bet you thought you weren't gonna see anymore of those for awhile! :-). This lighthouse can be rented for weddings, parties, etc. I'm pretty sure it's expensive. By my calculations, bananas are about $6 here!

A very old fortress - Akershus Fortress - from 13th century. It was never penetrated by the enemy & the water used to come up to the wall. All this according to the guide on the boat.

Speaking of the boat.... This is Johanna. She was built in 1892 and worked for 100 years before "retiring" into the tourism industry. Ths is a close up of the main deck...They have a bar that serves food and drinks.

And here is the Nobel Peace Prize Center. I hope to go inside another day, but not with the luggage!

That's it for now....I will be in touch again when I can. Right now...I am off to find a place to power nap.

A brief stop in Denver area....

Hey Everybody,

I will board plane #2 soon, but thought I'd try to get a couple photos posted from Colorado. Have been catching up with college friends for the past couple days. Sometimes we met for dinner, sometimes for a hike.

This is Red Rocks - think Red Rocks Amphitheater, although it's more than just a concert venue. Red Rocks is one of three sites where these red rock formations dominate the landscape. All three sites are beautiful. I'm told that these are the old Rocky Mountains, created as the new Rocky Mountain Range formed.

This is Roxborough State Park.

The third site is Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, but I have no pictures from there this trip. It is spectacular though & I highly recommend a visit.

Finally, how cool are these dinosaur footprints?! This is Dinosaur Ridge in Morrison, CO. This place is just a few miles from a friend's house. I might never have known about it without their local knowledge. Thank you!

A little further up the road ( and in several other spots) are these ripples. You are looking at what was once an ocean floor. These ripples were made by waves.

One last pic from an old dinosaur playground. This is believed to be a Brontosaurus Bulge - when these big dinosaurs walked in the soft sand they sank & created these funky layers.

I am off to Norway after this post....will write again when I'm able. Enjoy June and thanks for stopping by! Cross your fingers for polar ears and narwhals!

Montana!

Hey Everybody,

I hope this finds all of you well and enjoying some better weather than most of us had over the holiday weekend. I am preparing for the big trip...but when the long lost sun came out today I took a short break to visit the Pictograph Caves just outside of town. This place used to be home to prehistoric hunters & lots of artifacts have been discovered here over the last several decades. I had hoped to wander a bit more, but then a storm rolled in...guess I should have checked the weather before paying the out-of-state visitor park fee!

I hope to show you a little more of Montana over the coming months.... For today just a couple photos. I know some of you have seen this place before, but it's so pretty that I like to stop here when I come to town. If you look closely at the last pic you can see the two best remaining examples of the pictographs (center & far right).

That's all for now...better get back to work. More soon.