Where do I begin???

This trip is just so packed with activity and with unbelievable photo ops that there's no time to keep up with blog postings. So I'll just give you a whirlwind tour of the past few days.

A couple of days ago, I have no idea when (I'm suffering from "vacation brain"), we drove from Talkeetna to Girdwood, where we checked in at the Alyeska—the only major ski resort in Alaska. Very fancy place. Big contrast to where we would spend the next night, which was a bunch of cabins on an uninhabited island. At Alyeska—pronounced "alley ess kuh"—many of us took the tram ride up to the top of the mountain...

...where we had a great view of Cook Inlet, followed by dinner at a four-star restaurant at the top called the Seven Glaciers. Also very fancy.

The next morning, yesterday morning, we set off again (we often spend less than 24 hours in one place!), this time for Seward. In Seward we strolled around the small-boat harbor, stopped in the Kenai Fjords National Park Visitor Center, and then boarded a boat for Fox Island, in Resurrection Bay about 12 miles south of Seward. There we had a "salmon bake"—salmon, corn on the cob, etc.—and were shown to our cabins. Rustic, but sweet. Timber construction and what you might call an open floor plan....

There's limited electricity on the island—you can charge your laptop or camera batteries in the small lodge, but there are no electric outlets in the cabins. There are, however, a few battery-powered fluorescent lights (you can see them on the walls in the photo above), and there is propane-fueled hot water for showers.

Among the built-in entertainment at Fox Island are the Steller's jays, which are sort of like grey jays ("camp robbers") in that they aren't too shy around people. The cook put a few croutons on the railing and said, "Stand back," and sure enough—in swooped the jays.

That night I slept in my cabin under a stack of comforters and blankets and listened to the wind howl. I like fancy hotels as much as the next person, but there was a charisma about Fox Island that can't be beat.

Today, after a breakfast of Eggs Benedict—not bad for a wilderness lodge, huh?—we left Fox Island behind and took a small charter boat out among the Kenai Fjords area. Kenai Fjords was named a national park in 1980, and what a gorgeous place it is. We dropped anchor at Holgate Glacier for lunch.

Throughout the day we looked for, and saw, all kinds of wildlife: orca whales, sea otters, puffins, murres, kittiwakes, Steller's sea lions, and a bald eagle or two. Many of them were too fleeting or too far away for great photos, but that didn't stop us from trying. I took eight bazillion photos during the day and haven't had time to see what I have. But this shot of the back side of Fox Island on our return to Seward may prove to be one of my favorites of the whole trip.

That's all for now! Gotta get ready for dinner.