"The weather in Whittier is sh!tt!er"

I awakened the kinder at an early hour in order to make the scheduled tunnel opening to Whittier in the hopes that the weather, though predicted to be rainy, would not be so bad as to preclude our scheduled sea kayak adventure. Alas the adage about the weather in Whittier held true. It wasn't the rain but the overcast thick fog that quelled everyone's desire, as this was to be a sightseeing trip, and our only sight would be of our shivering hands gripping the paddles....

So it was back through the tunnel, then a lunch at the hippie bakery in Girdwood, followed by a stop at Beluga point to watch the sweeping tidal current. Finally the day brightened and we had many close moose encounters as well as hand picked rasberries along the rasberry trail at Kincaid Park.

During one of the moose encounters, we met some tourists from Maryland who, in a small six steps from Kevin Bacon moment, used to live near us and would eat at our favourite chinese restaurant off Tuckerman lane.

For dinner we ate at the Thai restaurant in Wasilla, followed by ice cream and brownies in front of the television back at Andrew and Stacey's, watching Rip Torn in "Dodgeball"...."If you can dodge a wrench you can dodge a ball..."

Life is good...even without sea kayaking.

The photo above is taken overlooking Cook inlet at the juncture of Turnagain arm and Knik arm.

From wikipedia:

"Europeans to visit Cook Inlet include the 1778 expedition of James Cook who sailed into it while searching for the Northwest Passage. Cook received maps of Alaska, the Aleutians, and Kamchatka during a visit with Russian fur trader Gerasim Izmailov in Unalaska, and combined these maps with those of his expedition to create the first Mercator projection of the North Pacific. The inlet was named after Cook in 1794 by George Vancouver, who had served under Cook in 1778. Turnagain Arm was named by William Bligh of HMS Bounty fame. Bligh served as Cook's Sailing Master on his 3rd and final voyage, the aim of which was discovery of the Northwest Passage.
Upon reaching the head of Cook Inlet, Bligh was of the opinion that both Knik Arm and Turnagain Arm were the mouths of rivers and not the opening to the Northwest Passage. Under Cook's orders Bligh organized a party to travel up Knik Arm, which quickly returned to report Knik Arm indeed led only to a river.
Afterwards a second party was dispatched up Turnagain Arm and it too returned to report only a river lay ahead. As a result of this frustration the second body of water was given the disingenuous name "Turn Again". Early maps label Turnagain Arm as the "Turnagain River"."



(P.S. If anyone wants to read an incredible true-life sea adventure read the log of HMS Bounty by William Bligh).