So after our first night of sleeping in the RV, we hiked around at the Eagle River Nature Preserve, but didn't see much. Well, we DID see our first round of bear poop. Lots and lots of animal poop up there. Then we headed south on Seward Highway towards... seward. Stopped at a place about 16 miles S of anchorage called Beluga Point. The local beluga whale population is often sighted there... and we were STOKED when we actually got to see them! We prolly saw 12-20 whales, nothing crazy (like spyhopping, where the whales pop their heads up out of the water to look around...lots of types of whales do that) but just to see the alabaster backs and spouting of those adorable whales...in the wild... was pretty fantastic. My heart actually skipped when I spotted one. Wasn't sure how we'd be able to see white belugas in the water, thinking they'd be about the same color as either the whitecaps or the greyish water... NOPE. these things are WHITE. as WHITE as Kathryn Morris (cold case tv show). can't miss them white... we watched them for a while til they all disappeared, then we got back on the hwy and off to our campsite at Ptarmigan Creek. (the ptarmagin is the state bird, and they kind of look like a cross bw a wild chicken & a quail. weird, jumpy ground-based birds that scared the shit outta me on a hike - they;'re quite camoflauged too).
Our site was a bit more secluded this time, but we could still hear everyone around us, particularly the fucking dog that wouldn't shut the fuck up. People- have some RESPECT for the others in the area! Why the hell do I wanna be in the wilderness and hear your stupid dog? Skooch tried to start a fire, but all the wood we gathered was wet...basically still alive, even tho someone had chopped it down. so we had a bunch of smoke instead. s'all good. helped keep the bugs away.
Next morning, we were up early to finish the drive to Seward, which is on the Kenai Peninsula. We were going on a day cruise thru the Kenai Fjords National Park. We went with Kenai Fjords Tours, which seemed to be the best option among all the companies. They were very organized and had a young, spunky and informative crew. Again, the scenery was breathtaking. Heaps of cool craggy rock formations jutting out of the sea (tiny islands?). We saw a baby humpback and its mama. Mostly just their backs and some spouting. Some folks saw another humpy breaching and got a flute (tail) sighting, but we didn't catch it. Watched puffins trying to take off and land, which was extremely entertaining, as they're terrible flyers and that was very obvious. when they were trying to take off from the water, they'd basically run on the water til they could gain some air. Many times it didn't happen. Kinda looked like a cartoon version with its legs going around in circles. Also got pretty close to a sea otter, which was so cute! A pod of Dall's porpoises (which look like mini-orcas) played around the boat for a while; we were really hoping for an orca sighting- we love orcas- to no avail.one of the crew members told me he witnessed itinerant orcas (not the native population) kill a sea lion. WOW. That would've been absolutely incredible to watch.
The coolest (literally and figuratively) we saw on the cruise was a calving glacier. It was really active, according to the captain, and we hung out there for a bit, getting ever closer. The glacier groans loudly, and snaps, crackles, and pops- sounded a lot like artillery fire. All the passengers' heads were swiveling trying to catch a big piece falling into the water. I hear it there! No, over there! and we saw some big ass chunks crashing into the sea, creating waves that we rode as well. And the blue color- you've never seen a blue like this. everybody was excited and hoping for more calving action, when Skooch yelled out, thank goodness for global warming! (joking of course, but we were pretty much cheering it on- more pieces melt and fall!!). The boat erupted in laughter...
OK, gotta get back to work. lunch is over again...
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
TMZ gig
Dunno if anyone has watched the new TMZ show that is syndicated on Fox (not even sure if it's nationwide or not)... it's the gig I applied for a while ago and really really wanted. Now I am overflowing with relief that i didn't sign a 2-yr contract with them. (of course, in reality, having an assured 2 yr gig would be fantastic). That show is unfathomably (is that a word) awful.
awful awful
i could barely watch it. and no, it's not some stupid jealously thing. i thought their website was poorly put together (difficult to search)...the show...wow, with all the $ they have? i guess i shouldn't bag on it too hard, as the people they hired (instead of me) are most likely working their asses off. plus, it's a small circle in this biz...
my jaw was on the floor... that's the end of my rant.
awful awful
i could barely watch it. and no, it's not some stupid jealously thing. i thought their website was poorly put together (difficult to search)...the show...wow, with all the $ they have? i guess i shouldn't bag on it too hard, as the people they hired (instead of me) are most likely working their asses off. plus, it's a small circle in this biz...
my jaw was on the floor... that's the end of my rant.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Ahhhhhlaska
Back in the Lost Angels area from the most glorious of holidays...
Alaska is more spectacular than I ever imagined! Or researched! Or watched on TV. We watch a ton of those NatGeo/Travel CHannel/Animal PLanet shows and they have great footage, but nothing compares to being there, breathing in the sweet-smelling, clean air, hearing the silence of being the only humans around or of the sinuous rivers flowing over boulders or the wind rustling through the brilliantly hued trees.
Holy shit.
Alaska rocks.
There is so much to write and so little time...plus, I seriously need a thesaurus when describing the place. All I come up with is beautiful, incredible, stunning, gorgeous, unbelieveable and so on. So forgive me if I sound like a tool using the same verbiage. It's really hard to describe it- the pictures we took (and some are kick-ass) don't even do it sweet justice. All I can say is you MUST get up there as soon as you can (and of course, during the right time of year).
The right time of year is EXACTLY when we went- end of August thru mid-September- the Autumn colors are out and you wouldn't believe the mountainsides - covered in reds (cherry to maroon), yellows (soft to almost neon), oranges (fiery) and of course, all the greens (bluish-green, kelly, and everywhere in between). The crowds are much less overwhelming, the prices have decreased (in some sense- everything is SPENDY up there, but in the "shoulder" season, some lodging costs go down), the bugs aren't as annoying, the weather is perfect, and you get enough darkness at night to see millions of stars. Stars behind stars behind stars. The big dipper is always within reach- you can actually see and feel the curvature of the earth up there- it's kind of a strange feeling.
So we started our adventure in Anchorage, where most people start. We rented a 25 ft. RV from the best place up there _ Great Alaskan Holidays. There is really *no* need to even look into renting from any other company up there. The folks there are ON it... and it's the only company that you don't have to pay for shit like dishes, linens, towels, a coffeemaker, and a couple of lawn chairs. Plus, you don't have to dump it before you return it, nor do you have to clean the interior...which makes it so much easier. And they have the newest fleet. They rock, and we will return and we will rent from them again.
The RV experience was way cooler than I thought- both Mr. McGhee and I thought we might get tired of it quickly, but neither of us did- we were turtles, carrying our house on our backs...or his back rather. He drove the whole time, which was great for me. Up in AK, you can pretty much pull your RV over anywhere and camp, unless there are specific instructions against it. You can always go to campgrounds, but we found that it was pretty sweet to just find a secluded spot and park for the night. On occasion, it seemed a bit sketchy to do so, but it was always fine. The sketchiest place we parked was about 300 yards from a runway of a tiny ass airport in Healy, 15 miles from Denali National Park (DNP). I was all quivery b/c I thought for sure an airplane would swoop down and miss the runway. haha... i'm such a wuss about shit sometimes. I also figured that right as we'd finished smoking a joint and downing a few vikes that someone would knock on our door and tell us to get the fuck out.
What happened instead was the most magnificent night ever- after the best day (more on that later), that night we saw more stars that we'd ever seen before- dazzling- and we saw the Northern Lights! Now, they weren't as spectacular as you may have seen on TV (or if you're lucky, in person)- they weren't undulating in the sky- but there was a cool white glowing stripe across the sky that slowly shifted. When that stopped, just as we were falling asleep, we saw a bright white glowing orb above the closest mountain. What the hell is that?? After a few minutes of watching, we saw the Moon rise. WOW! I've never seen that, and it was so ...cool? a giant sliver of the moon perched above a dark, tree covered mountain, with a billion stars around. While it was just a sliver, we could actually see the whole outlined moon. And through the binocs- it was extra neat-o. (haha, i'm trying to bring that stupid phrase back, altho i have no idea why). Mesmerizing.
Anyway, I just jumped way ahead. We started in Anchorage and the first night we stayed in a campground near there at Eagle River Nature Preserve. Immediately after we parked the RV and got out to explore, we saw a brilliant rainbow- don't believe I've seen one with such definition between the colors. It was Labor Day weekend, so the cg was pretty full - we ended up in the "overflow" part, which was a gravel parking lot. We discovered that night that we weren't into the public campgrounds- people suck! Some fucking jackass arrived really late (2 am?) and started CHOPPING WOOD for literally hours. We were beyond pissed. Ohh it's getting me angry thinking about it. lame...
I didn't get very far in this post. Gotta go, as my lunch break is over... more later!
Alaska is more spectacular than I ever imagined! Or researched! Or watched on TV. We watch a ton of those NatGeo/Travel CHannel/Animal PLanet shows and they have great footage, but nothing compares to being there, breathing in the sweet-smelling, clean air, hearing the silence of being the only humans around or of the sinuous rivers flowing over boulders or the wind rustling through the brilliantly hued trees.
Holy shit.
Alaska rocks.
There is so much to write and so little time...plus, I seriously need a thesaurus when describing the place. All I come up with is beautiful, incredible, stunning, gorgeous, unbelieveable and so on. So forgive me if I sound like a tool using the same verbiage. It's really hard to describe it- the pictures we took (and some are kick-ass) don't even do it sweet justice. All I can say is you MUST get up there as soon as you can (and of course, during the right time of year).
The right time of year is EXACTLY when we went- end of August thru mid-September- the Autumn colors are out and you wouldn't believe the mountainsides - covered in reds (cherry to maroon), yellows (soft to almost neon), oranges (fiery) and of course, all the greens (bluish-green, kelly, and everywhere in between). The crowds are much less overwhelming, the prices have decreased (in some sense- everything is SPENDY up there, but in the "shoulder" season, some lodging costs go down), the bugs aren't as annoying, the weather is perfect, and you get enough darkness at night to see millions of stars. Stars behind stars behind stars. The big dipper is always within reach- you can actually see and feel the curvature of the earth up there- it's kind of a strange feeling.
So we started our adventure in Anchorage, where most people start. We rented a 25 ft. RV from the best place up there _ Great Alaskan Holidays. There is really *no* need to even look into renting from any other company up there. The folks there are ON it... and it's the only company that you don't have to pay for shit like dishes, linens, towels, a coffeemaker, and a couple of lawn chairs. Plus, you don't have to dump it before you return it, nor do you have to clean the interior...which makes it so much easier. And they have the newest fleet. They rock, and we will return and we will rent from them again.
The RV experience was way cooler than I thought- both Mr. McGhee and I thought we might get tired of it quickly, but neither of us did- we were turtles, carrying our house on our backs...or his back rather. He drove the whole time, which was great for me. Up in AK, you can pretty much pull your RV over anywhere and camp, unless there are specific instructions against it. You can always go to campgrounds, but we found that it was pretty sweet to just find a secluded spot and park for the night. On occasion, it seemed a bit sketchy to do so, but it was always fine. The sketchiest place we parked was about 300 yards from a runway of a tiny ass airport in Healy, 15 miles from Denali National Park (DNP). I was all quivery b/c I thought for sure an airplane would swoop down and miss the runway. haha... i'm such a wuss about shit sometimes. I also figured that right as we'd finished smoking a joint and downing a few vikes that someone would knock on our door and tell us to get the fuck out.
What happened instead was the most magnificent night ever- after the best day (more on that later), that night we saw more stars that we'd ever seen before- dazzling- and we saw the Northern Lights! Now, they weren't as spectacular as you may have seen on TV (or if you're lucky, in person)- they weren't undulating in the sky- but there was a cool white glowing stripe across the sky that slowly shifted. When that stopped, just as we were falling asleep, we saw a bright white glowing orb above the closest mountain. What the hell is that?? After a few minutes of watching, we saw the Moon rise. WOW! I've never seen that, and it was so ...cool? a giant sliver of the moon perched above a dark, tree covered mountain, with a billion stars around. While it was just a sliver, we could actually see the whole outlined moon. And through the binocs- it was extra neat-o. (haha, i'm trying to bring that stupid phrase back, altho i have no idea why). Mesmerizing.
Anyway, I just jumped way ahead. We started in Anchorage and the first night we stayed in a campground near there at Eagle River Nature Preserve. Immediately after we parked the RV and got out to explore, we saw a brilliant rainbow- don't believe I've seen one with such definition between the colors. It was Labor Day weekend, so the cg was pretty full - we ended up in the "overflow" part, which was a gravel parking lot. We discovered that night that we weren't into the public campgrounds- people suck! Some fucking jackass arrived really late (2 am?) and started CHOPPING WOOD for literally hours. We were beyond pissed. Ohh it's getting me angry thinking about it. lame...
I didn't get very far in this post. Gotta go, as my lunch break is over... more later!
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