What a day! A good day. A full day. I slept in determined to get a good night's sleep. I woke up early having to pee but since I'm in a hotel with shared bath, I was too lazy to put on pants and go down the hall. So with my full bladder I dozed in and out until I was about to pop. When I did surface I went to the lobby area and met a couple of other TnT folk (Bay Area) who told me that there is a free shuttle for all Marathon Participants (not TnT). Yay! Just a couple of blocks away I can get a shuttle to the Start Line. This is indeed good news. After showering and going outside and then coming back to change clothes (temp had dropped!) I headed over in the gray to meet up with our Team at the Sheraton. I thought it was just overcast but it turns out that there were some fires set by lightning last night and it was just really smokey. I picked up my race packet and my ugly finisher's T. Geesh. I hope the medal is more attractive!! Then I had my needed caffeine. Oh and I called Stanley to postpone the car. Penny, Veronique and I went to grab lunch. Veronique is on our SB Team and her mom used to live in Anchorage. Veronique called some family friends and then someone named Alan was meeting us at the restaurant to show us around.

We went back to his place and met his partner, Arnie, and their 2 dogs. Gorgeous house!! We told Alan we wanted to see moose (and bear) and while he doubted the latter could happen, he was determined to help us see the former. We went off to Flat Top (?) -- a hill or mountain in the area. We walked about 1/2 mile and then came to a nice overlook. It was beautiful. Alan had binoculars and was scanning the valley and surrounding slopes for moose. Nothing. So we walked back to the car and found moose poop and evidence that a moose had munched on a tree. But we still hadn't seen the creator of said poop.

We're in the truck headed back down the hill and then we see this bizarre looking creature off the side of the road. It looked like an awkward donkey or horse with floppy dark brown ears. We all squealed. Alan first looked to see if there were others because the cows recently had calves (usually twins) and you don't want to get out of the car if there are babies. He determined it was safe and was pulling off the road when the moose freaked and ran away. We didn't even get to take photos! But at least we had seen our moose. It was really odd looking. Alan said it was a young female. It seemed awkward -- reminded me of when Shiva was an ungainly adolescent puppy. Alan told us that it was probably the most "ugly-ass moose" he had ever seen! How's that for something?? I hope to see another and get a photo but at least now I have seen a moose.

Then we went to the Air Force base where Alan works so we could see bald eagles. There is an eagle rehab place so we saw 2 in there and then outside of that caged area we saw a bald eagle perched in its nest. It was too far away to get a photo but we could see its white head as it sat in the nest. Very cool. Then we went to see king salmon running upriver. It was a research area and there was a waterfall that the salmon couldn't get up. I guess it was mean setting the poor buggers up to fail. I didn't realize how HUGE king salmon were. Damn! There was also a duckling that was obviously lost. We watched it tumble down the waterfall and then bounce back up to the surface. We cheered. Alan said as it made its way to shore, "I hate to say it, but that's fox food. It is lost and will be eaten." I wanted to rescue it but hey, fox need to eat too.

This evening was the Team in Training Pasta Party so we went to that. Now I'm back at my hotel and I should foam roll, get my stuff ready for tomorrow and go to bed. The half doesn't start until 9 but I will probably get up by 6 so I can figure out how I'm getting around and other details. I'm kind of nervous about tomorrow since I haven't been training. But I'm also really looking forward to it. Hearing people talk about the course for the full made me quite envious of those who will be out in nature. The race director warned them to yield to bear and moose on the trail even if that mean not finishing as quickly. Wow.

I'm sure tomorrow is going to be a great day for all of us.

It's Solstice. I saw a sign here that said 19 hours and 21 minutes of daylight for today. Well I wonder how they define "daylight." It's nearly midnight and cars don't need their headlights (It's actually an hour earlier than the time stamp -- my blog automatically stamps California time).

First let me say something about rental cars in Alaska. No, I haven't yet met Stanley. But I did rent a car from Budget the day I arrived. With tax it was $119 for 24 hours! This is why I have learned how to use the bus. Anyway - in my previous experience rental cars usually have low mileage and that "new car smell." Have you ever wondered where the old rental cars go? Wonder no more! My little Hyundai from Budget (don't know what year) had 34,600 miles on it. I don't recall ever renting a car with that kind of mileage. It was also scratched to hell -- gouged even. No cracks in the windshield but major paint transfer all over the body. And let's just say "new car" is not how I would describe the interior aroma. But that little Hyundai took me up to Independence Mine and that was pretty cool. The drive up was lovely but I didn't see any Moose and Squirrel. Whoops - must be the relative proximity to Russia that made me channel Natasha Fatale. I meant to say that I didn't see any Moose or Bear. Bummer. I did see some angry magpies. They had built a nest over the entrance to one of the buildings on the tour and the wind had knocked the nest down before the chicks were ready. Mom & Dad Magpie were angrily dive-bombing anyone who tried to get near. It was pretty cool. I had been warned about not being bear bait (thankfully that's not an issue for me this week) but no one had warned me to watch out for the maladjusted magpie. I guess that just goes to show you that no one else is going to look out for you... I tried to stop at Eklutna on the way back from Independence Mine. Lonely Planet needs to update its Alaska book -- it said that Eklutna closes at 6pm but when I pulled up at 4:03 the padlock was on the fence right next to a sign that had 4pm as the closing time. Oh well. So I came back and returned the rental car at the airport and then took the bus to downtown. Waiting for the bus were 6 people in their 50s and 60s who had just gotten off a cruise ship and had a few hours to kill before their flight back to Colorado. They reminded me of my parents because I could just picture my folks making crass jokes and generally being obnoxious-in-a-non-offensive-way like these folks. The difference? My parents wouldn't have taken the bus!

But today Lonely Planet did me well for breakfast. I bussed downtown and had the homemade granola at Snow City Cafe. Then I walked over to where my motorcoach (called the "Magic Bus") was departing for Whittier. Our driver told us that yesterday the bus riders saw 5 brown bear. Wah. That was then... Again no bear! To get to Whittier you have to go through this 2.5 mile one-lane railroad tunnel through the mountain. Yes, you read that correctly. It is only 1 lane AND it is for the railroad. So, you drive on the tracks. Trains have the right-of-way. Aside from the train schedule, vehicles can use the tunnel. On the 1/2 hour traffic goes one way; on the hour it goes the other.

In Whittier I boarded the Klondike Express for the 26 glacier cruise which was full of Team in Training folks from all over the country. I met ones from Palm Springs, Riverside, Nashville, and Pittsburgh. We had a lame lunch of almost-still-warm fried halibut but I wasn't really there for the food. The glaciers were amazing. I had seen some glaciers in Torres del Paine (South Chile) about a decade ago (geesh - was it really that long ago??) but I didn't go on a boat to see them. I remember just standing on the shore and looking across at them. I don't recall seeing any "calving" in Chile either (that's when a chunk of glacier breaks off). I do remember, however, this guy in Chile hauling away a huge piece of glacier and when I asked him why he said, "Pa' loj pijco sours!" Ah how I miss the acento chileno. I didn't see anyone prepping for cocktails from these glaciers although I did see some tents in unlikely places near the glaciers. Speaking of cocktails, it was weird to see these chunks of ice everywhere in the water. Why hadn't they melted? In a way it was like riding in a cup of something out of Janet's blender -- pleasant and smooth and cold with chunks of ice. I also got to see some calving. Quite a bit of it, actually. One of the chunks that broke off was so large and dramatic and the sound thundered toward us as the blue ice crashed into Prince William Sound. I hadn't anticipated that glaciers would be noisy.

It was funny when they showed us how to use the life jackets they didn't mention that with the cold water temp there was really no point putting on a life jacket. I was told the water temp was 38F. How many minutes until hypothermia? I guess the bright orange jackets makes it easier to find the bodies. Maybe that's what they are for. Thankfully we didn't need them.

We saw plenty of sea otters. Damn they are cute. There were a few that were swimming on their backs and had to skedaddle to get out of our way. I wish I could have captured that little guy kicking his back webbed feet as he skated across the top of the water to let us go by. Another one was just hanging out on a piece of ice and I swear he was giving us the thumbs up as we went by. Well, maybe he was flipping us off. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure which finger he was holding up. Did you know that a group of sea otters is called a raft? We were told that on the cruise and then later on the cruise I won a prize for remembering that in the "trivia" contest. The prize? A leftover cookie from lunch and a postcard. Yippie!

I hope to have some good photos to put up here from the cruise. Unfortunately I didn't pack the cable to get the pix from my camera to my laptop so that will have to wait until next week. One of the crew members on board, Coby Brock, is an amateur photographer and he grabbed my camera and took some shots of me with different glaciers in the background. I typically do not like photos of myself (oh my god - is that really how I look???) so I haven't reviewed them yet. I'm planning on waiting until I can just download them. I'm hoping that since he is a photographer at least one of them will be presentable. He told me that there was a bbq in Whittier tonight for the Solstice and I think that telling me was the prelude to an invite but since I had to catch the Magic Bus there was no way I could entertain the idea. So it was back to Anchorage and while I kept my eyes peeled for wildlife the most I saw was a glimpse of mountain goats. AND I saw a bald eagle. That was pretty cool.

I was wondering how many people take that cruise and think about what they are seeing. When hearing about how the glaciers are receding, do they think about why? Do they contemplate their role in this? Or do they just say "Wow. Glad I saw them before they're gone" and then go back to their Hummers? People can really suck. Coby told me that the cruise doesn't recycle the plastic containers from our lunch or the bottles, cans, etc from the boat. Why the hell not? A company that is making its profit from nature doesn't do anything to help nature's survival? That pissed me off. He said it was partly due to the whole tunnel thing and how difficult it would be to get the recyclables out of Whittier. Seems like a lame excuse to me (I'm not blaming Coby - he's just an employee). It's so easy to make excuses instead of just doing something. Maybe I should write a letter to the company. Nah - I'll just think of a good reason to not get around to doing so.

Back in Anchorage I went to Snow Goose to try their IPA. Not as good as the others and with a lot more attitude (the place, not the beer). They had an upper deck. I went up there and there were no tables (there is no table service up there; you have to bring your drink from the bar) but I saw a table with 3 guys and 5 chairs. I approached and asked if I could grab a chair and they said they were leaving. Whoops. Did my boldness offend them? Oh well. I sat down and they left. Buh-bye. Then I noticed a couple in their 40s? 50s? sitting in 2 chairs with no table. I told them they could join me at my table. They were quite appreciative. Turns out they are from Wyoming but moved up here about 6 years ago. They offered to buy me a second IPA but I had a goal and that was to get some King Crab so I politely declined and then headed over to what ended up being a mediocre place for crab. The crab was pretty good but I think that I could have had better if I had been willing to spend more.

I want to go to the Native Heritage Center tomorrow and I have to pick up my race packet and I have the pasta party and I might be getting a car from Stanley. So many things to do! I guess I better get some sleep.

So I made some guy's day. That's what he said at least. Let me back up a bit....

I'm now in Anchorage. I rented a car for the first day so I could go up to Independence Mine. My thought was after today I wouldn't need a car. Well, when I got to my hotel I had some doubts. I'm in "the heart of mid-town" but that's kind of like being "in the middle of nowhere." Downtown is where it's at and where I'm not. I think for the TnT pasta party and victory party I'm going to want a car. My hotel is not what I was hoping. Looks groovy, right? Well, had I known that there was an absolutely ZERO ALCOHOL policy I would not have made a reservation. I was looking forward to sitting in my room, surfing the net, and sampling some of Alaska's microbrews. Nope. And the form I had to sign to register was a promise that I wouldn't smoke (I'm fine with that) or have any alcohol on the premises. That's a bunch of crap. AND since they have a 7 day cancellation policy I can't switch hotels without losing $$. Of course I quickly looked around for Jesus Stuff to see if the owners are some fundies or something but nope. I don't know if they are AA extremists or what. But with a liquor store 2 blocks away it seems unfair.

So last night I found a brewpub that is only a mile away. I didn't know it was that close and it took me a while to find it but then when I drove back I discovered it was only 1 mile. AND since it is light out until extremely late (tomorrow is Solstice) I should be able to walk back. Last night I tried their IPA. Quite tasty. But since I had to drive I was limited to 1. IPAs have such high alcohol content -- they hit this lightweight quite quickly. This evening I tried the Glacier Brewpub where I again had an IPA (pint) and then a 1/2 pint of the same IPA as a cask conditioned ale. I also had a fabulous red salmon served over a rice & crab cake. It was more than I wanted to spend on dinner but seeing as how breakfast was lame and lunch was handfuls of Trader Joe's trail mix, I went for it. And since it was downtown and I was taking the bus, I could have 1.5 beers. Yay!

So - Stanley. I forgot to finish the story about Stanley. Thinking that I probably need to have a rental car Friday - Sunday for the marathon events I tried calling some local places. One (called A1 car rental -- I'm kind of worried!) still had cars. The guy answered just "hello" instead of some businessy phone greeting. Anyway, when I asked if he had cars for the weekend he said he did. He wanted to know where I planned on going but I tried explaining that I didn't have any real plans. To hold the reservation he asked my name but when I said it he repeated, "Barnyard??" I said "No. Not BarnYARD..." and he said, "I'll never remember that. You're now Barnyard to me." I said, "Well, that's better than the kids calling me 'Barnfart' when I was little." He cracked up and said "Ok, Barnyard, you've made my day." And just like that I have a car reserved for Friday.

I have more to write but I'm tired. Time to put on my blindfold (even with the blinds drawn there is enough light at midnight for me to be able to read!!!) and try to sleep through the noise of the next room's TV. They are watching Letterman.