Danube Cruise, October 2011

Our goals for this excursion were to introduce Claudia to Lew’s favorite city Vienna and to find out if river cruising would be OK when health begins to limit us.  It worked on both counts.  Vienna’s giant Ferris Wheel (the Riesenrad) gave breathtaking views, and the White Chimney Sweep Restaurant rendered the best dining experience of the trip.  And you couldn’t ask for a better river cruising experience than our journey from Romania though Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia to Hungary on the not-so-blue Danube.  Budapest presented unparalleled beauty, particularly while illuminated at night.  In fact, it was our most memorable scene.

Excursions along Owens Valley and US 395

We paid a brief but exciting visit to California’s Owens Valley in late August and September.  Highlights included horseback riding in the High Sierra above 10,000 ft, and excursions to the ghost town of Bodie, Mono Lake, filmdom’s Alabama Hills, Devils Postpile, Rainbow Falls, the Bristlecone Pine Forest, and a gondola ride to the 11,053 ft peak of Mammoth Mountain.  Bishop was our base and the weather was perfect.  To pick a favorite in this wondrous area is too challenging, but the ancient 4,100-year old forest of Bristlecone Pines would be hard to beat.

The bears of Alaska and more...

The most exciting part of our 13-day tour was the float plane excursion to Katmai National Park to see grizzly bears feeding on migrating salmon.  A platform protects viewers at the main waterfall site, but rangers often need to guide visitors away from bears wandering elsewhere.  We took the opportunity to tour nearby Valley of 10,000 Smokes, the eerie site of a catastrophic 1912 eruption larger even than the record-setting Krakatoa blast.  

Then by a combination of rail, ferry, rental cars, and tour boats (Claudia did all the planning) we visited Valdez (terminus of the Alaska pipeline), the abandoned Kennecott copper mine complex in the Wrangell-St Elias National Park, Cordova, the “Million Dollar” bridge, and a host of awesome glaciers.  Wildlife was plentiful--humpback whales (one even breached like you’ve seen on TV), cute and playful sea otters, moose (or whatever its plural is), Stellar sea lions, Dall sheep, bald eagles and more.  The blue-white glaciers were exciting to watch as they calved giant blocks of ice, particularly if you approached by small boat.  First, if you were lucky, you would see the block break loose, then you’d hear the rifle-shot report, followed by a wave forcing the boat to rock.  

Such a visit reminds us once again that the American West (including Alaska) has a beauty riveling anyplace in the world.  We recommend it.

The bears of Alaska and more...

The bears of Alaska and more...

The bears of Alaska and more...

The most exciting part of our 13-day tour was the float plane excursion to Katmai National Park to see grizzly bears feeding on migrating salmon.  A platform protects viewers at the main waterfall site, but rangers often need to guide visitors away from bears wandering elsewhere.  We took the opportunity to tour nearby Valley of 10,000 Smokes, the eerie site of a catastrophic 1912 eruption larger even than the record-setting Krakatoa blast.  

Then by a combination of rail, ferry, rental cars, and tour boats (Claudia did all the planning) we visited Valdez (terminus of the Alaska pipeline), the abandoned Kennecott copper mine complex in the Wrangell-St Elias National Park, Cordova, the “Million Dollar” bridge, and a host of awesome glaciers.  Wildlife was plentiful--humpback whales (one even breached like you’ve seen on TV), cute and playful sea otters, moose (or whatever its plural is), Stellar sea lions, Dall sheep, bald eagles and more.  The blue-white glaciers were exciting to watch as they calved giant blocks of ice, particularly if you approached by small boat.  First, if you were lucky, you would see the block break loose, then you’d hear the rifle-shot report, followed by a wave forcing the boat to rock.  

Such a visit reminds us once again that the American West (including Alaska) has a beauty riveling anyplace in the world.  We recommend it.

On Visiting Shangri-La (Nepal), November 2010

Buddhist temple in Khatmandu

Searching at Chitwan Royal Park

White Rhinos at Chitwan

Hindu holy men

Claudia and Lew in Nepali attire

Mount Everest from a small plane

The highlight of our visit to mystical Nepal was an excursion atop an elephant chasing rhinos at the former Chitwan Royal Park.  Our group of 11 mounted six elephants and set out across the Rapti River through a chilly morning fogbank.  After fanning out through thick elephant grass we spotted fleeing wild boars and hog deer, then circled a clutch of rare white rhinos.  Back in the days of the British Raj that would have meant a certain kill for a wall-mounted treasure, but our arms were only cameras.  We then sought the elusive Bengal Tiger, however paw prints and claw marks on nearby trees were all we found of these magnificent nocturnal felines.  The morning concluded with our elephants bathing and cavorting in the Rapti, fortunately after we had dismounted. 

This was the final major phase of a 19-day adventure that began in Kathmandu, Nepal’s traffic-chocked, culturally diverse, and exotic admixture of Hindu and Buddhism coexisting in rare harmony.  The striking temples and pagodas fetched the expected oohs and aahs, but the culture’s handling of death, though compatible with Asian mores, sorely tested our western sensitivities.  We witnessed close-up the sacrifice of a water buffalo in a main Kathmandu plaza and the active funeral biers in a nearby town specializing in Hindu cremation rites.  A counterpoint was the heart-warming daily greeting ritual where you say “hello” by clasping hands in a prayer-like gesture, bowing your head, and exchanging the Nepali greeting NAH-MAH-STAY.

The next phase was trekking with Sherpa bearers to a sanctuary lodge in the foothills of the Annapurna Range of the Himalayas.  Eye-catching views of the storied Annapurna seen best from a swaying footbridge over the Modi River was the highlight there.  Lew’s trekking was curtailed by a parasite he contracted, but Claudia did it all.  Then we boarded rafts for three days along the Seti River, shooting rapids and exploring remote villages. 

The trip concluded with a special flight aboard a small airplane for close-up views of Mount Everest, and a farewell dinner clad in Nepali wedding attire.  What a trip!