The Last Frontier

I'm going to try and sum up our Alaskan summer in one blog. Here goes: We started the summer by going as far North as we planned to go, which was Kodiak, and slowly made our way down south to Juneau. The highlight of Kodiak was taking a float plane to a bear viewing tour. The guide was amazing, she and her husband have been doing tours for 25 years so we all felt very comfortable and had an up close and personal bear experience. The fishing has been amazing, lots and lots of halibut. Salmon, dungeness crab, cod, and the occasional shrimp as well. Tease 'em, our fishing boat, and it's crew of 2 have been learning a new style of fishing. Diego and Erick are from Costa Rica so talk about fish out of water. The boat cruised through College fjord, which is a narrow passage with glaciers on both sides. The glaciers on one side are named after women's colleges and the glaciers on the other are male colleges. This is where I did the polar plunge with the other stews, Hannah, and Haylee. You'll see in Andrew's videos that most of the crew did the plunge at one point or another. Checked that off the bucket list! The crew went with the owner's grandkids in Hoonah, Alaska for a zip line. It is one of the world's highest and longest zip lines. Going as fast as 60 miles per hour. The zip line is one mile long. Pretty amazing views! To finish off our time in Juneau, the owner gifted us a trip to go dog sledding. All 11 of us loaded into helicopters for a 20 minute ride over glaciers and mountains to land on "dog camp." I felt like I was landing on the north pole. Amidst complete whiteness you start to see a camp with rows and rows of small grey dots. As you get closer you see the rows are huts for each dog and all the dogs are outside the hut sleeping on the snow. (These dogs are breed as racing dogs. We learned that their most comfortable temperature is -15 degrees F. So they prefer to sleep on the snow and keep their bodies cooler.) The dogs and their handlers were rushing around emptying one load of tourists to make way for the next load. This is where I felt like I was looking at elves and reindeer rushing around before Christmas. Anyways, behind each team of 13 dogs there are two sleds, 5 people can ride behind. The dogs get harnessed in and start to bark, yelp, and get really excited. They love to run. So when the musher gives the word, they take off. We went for a 2 mile ride and each of us got to do the mushing. Really an amazing experience. We stopped in quite a few different coastal towns but I think Sitka was one of my favorites. It has such character and charm. Some Alaskan towns have really sold their soul to the cruise ships that come in and out each day but I felt that Sitka was really great. My parents came to visit us there. We had a complete out of body experience at a local restaurant, Ludvig's. You definitely need reservations for the downstairs restaurant, but the upstairs is where we ate. It is a tapas room, wine, salads, desserts. The food was amazing, all fresh, local, and handmade by the chef that is visible in the back of the room. The atmosphere was great as well. There are few things I enjoy more than a great dining experience! Way to go Ludvig's. Enjoy the photos, and watch Andrew's videos on vimeo! The season is coming to a close so I knew I had to get a blog post out there to remember all these amazing, breathtaking sites and experiences. I am currently cruising to St. Petersburg with 8 guests, so I better get back to my day job! C

Making up for Lost Time

It's been a while since our last post. We are nearing the end of our Alasaka Adventure but before I get into that I will catch you up to speed. Andrew posted from Los Suenos, Costa Rica after we had taken a weekend and drove to Rafiki Lodge. Once we left Costa we headed to Mexico. A quick stop in Huatulco and then off to Cabo San Lucas. We had a couple guest trips and got to explore a bit. Wow, What a party. We had a proper Spring Break. It was great because we met up with some friends from back home. They come every year, drive up the Baja Coast and find the best surf spots. Andrew put some videos up on www.vimeo.com , just search "Andrew Hodnefield" and all the videos will come up. After Cabo we continued to San Deigo. We docked right downtown in the Gaslamp District. It was great being within walking distance of great shops and restaurants. Andrew and the crew went to the Wave House. They surfed a big wave in the middle of the restaurant. (videos on vimeo) The boat stayed there a few weeks but I went home for a while. Yay! Then I met Andrew in Arizona to see family before he flew to Ft. Lauderdale to take some maritime courses. He's well on his way to being "Officer of Watch." San Diego to Los Angeles, LA to Seattle. We were there just long enough to get the boat ready for Alaska and eat lunch at the Space Needle. I can't wait to go back and do that again. 360 views of the city while you dine. Andrew was still away at class so he missed Seattle. Once we left Seattle the traveling was long but absolutely beautiful! We can only travel during day light hours in the Inside Passage. With so many logs drifting it's unsafe to be underway in the dark. So each night we anchor up at some gorgeous bay and start again at 4:00 a.m. Long days up north. Getting used to the almost constant daylight has been an adjustment. The scenery is nothing short of breathtaking. After 3 months here I still have to pinch myself sometimes. We have had such a life changing experience this year!

Rafiki Safari Lodge

This past weekend we had a chance to do a little exploring of Costa Rica's more wild side. We took a 2 hour car ride into the jungle from Los Suenos and headed to Rafiki Safari Lodge. Bethany, myself and 3 other crew members decided to spend our Valentine's day road tripping, and to make it even more romantic all 5 of us shared one tent. The roads were mostly paved except the last 45 mins. If there weren't signs saying, "Your almost there," or "Your not lost," we may have turned around long before our destination. As we were cruising through the jungle going up and down steep rocky roads the sun had set making the experience even more adventurous. We made the most of the trip and got most of it on video. Once we got to Rafiki we had dinner and went down one of the fastest water slides I have ever been on! The ride lasts only 8 seconds and has one left turn but throws you out into this little pool that you think your going to skip over the water and land on the grass. Since it was night the owners of the lodge told us to take a flash light to avoid any snakes. The next morning we woke up with the birds, crickets, monkeys, and every other jungle creature that refuses to sleep as soon as light hits this part of the world. We had reserved a horse back ride to our white-water rafting tour. Since it is dry season here the white-water wasn't so white. It was pretty mild on adventure but was still a great time. We had a few stops to look at a water fall and jump off a 30 ft. cliff into the river. The horse ride was pretty entertaining. I wouldn't say any of us are expert riders but we managed to hold our own. At certain times the terrain was so rocky and steep I didn't think my horse would make it. I nicknamed him, "Ricky Bobby," because if he wasn't first in his mind he was last. The day finished with a nice dinner and some card games. Our trip wouldn't have been complete without our favorite dice game, "Farkle." The car ride home wasn't as exciting but we made a stop in a little surf town littered with backpackers, surfers, and tourist. Manuel Antonio was the town we stopped at due to its high population of monkeys. That was our weekend I would suggest the trip to anyone!