North - to Alaska, of course.

So, it's ten o'clock (11 to me since there's an hour time difference) and it is not even dark yet.  In fact, it looks like an overcast evening out there - disconcerting!  Had fun, good food and wine in first class.  One could get used to this, but not unless it's complimentary.  There are TWO Cinnabons at Anchorage Airport!  Two!  Here are a couple pictures.  Don't you love the wallpaper in my hotel room?  I'll try to write more but it may be sketchy due to limited Internet access.
Today I ate reindeer sausage from a street cart - yummy and unbelievable.  Walked through aparkthat used to be an airstrip and goes through most of Anchorage.  They have yoga in the park on Wednesdays.   There is a huge office building called simply "Nana" (no idea) in the downtown area.
Things I learned on the bus: anchorage is only 100 years old.
There are more pilots per capita than anywhere.
Largest city and population in Alaska.
Saw this - Bang kok cafe Thai restaurant... Two words.
They have a Bowling alley.
There is a very long body of water between Anchorage and Whittier called Turnagain arm and a BBC place called the Turnagain armpit.  Turnagain Arm is so named because Captain Cook kept running into dead ends while searching for a route to the Orient from the Northwest and yelled, "Turn Again!"
This body of water is so full of silt from glaciers and snow runoff that it supports very little life - spawning salmon and another fish that's so oily that they are used as lamp oil (name forgotten).
The sand that is exposed at low tide is quicksand which has claimed the lives of many.  Some ingenious rescue methods have been introduced to save people.
There are many dead trees from the 1964 earthquake that the locals call Dead dog forest (the trees have no bark -har har).
There is one big ski resort that is very expensive and has some of the most difficult runs in the US.
Lastly, Whittier is called the unluckiest place due the earthquake and the Exxon Valdez oil spill, not to mention that the sun never shines there.
Now then - learning my way around the ship and I wish you all could be here, having a glass of wine, listening to a string trio, people watching, guessing the price of an original Picasso . . . and we haven't even sailed yet!