June 19, 2008, the first full day on the ground as we began our inland portion of the Alaska cruise. Everything in this post will be from June 19. From the Fairbanks Princess Lodge we began with a tour on riverboat, Discovery, with a day’s end destination of the Denali Princess Lodge.
January 27, 2012: Tom: What would we do without your expert reporting. You will become a legend. ~ Crazy Dave
[Lupine, a/k/a, garnish for Crazy Dave’s mid-afternoon hydrations.]
[Discovery. It was really difficult to keep tabs on Crazy on a vessel this large!]
[Rita, Ray, and Mary all ISO, Crazy?]
[ . . . the wheel on the boat goes round and round.]
[Bill standing at the bow, i.e., front, of the boat calling out, “Mark Twain!” “Mark Twain!” I have reason to believe it did not involve a book club meeting.]
[Susan Butcher’s (of Ididarod fame) sled dog ranch.]
[Howie, Donna, Rita, and Mary eyeball the canines.]
[The dogs come out to say, “Hi!”]
[“Did you notice any lupine groves along the riverbank?”]
[Looking back from whence we came. A complete stranger on the right side is pointing her finger at me, a’ la Jan Brewer?]
[Ray and Don checking out Dixie’s place. There’s some fish smokin’ goin’ on!]
[This is Dixie. It seems anyone who has ever taken a tour of Alaska knows who she is!]
[So, here are Ida (standing) and Grace (sitting at ladder top), Athabascan college students (who were terrific), telling the assembled masses how the Athabascans (native people of interior Alaska) survived without a Super WalMart just down the street.]
[Appropriately attired in her moose jacket!]
[Sled dogs]
[Smokin’ & dryin’]
[Back to the boat. The first APB was issued for Crazy Dave.]
[On the bus trip to Denali.]
[One of those stops where we all get out and take pictures of everyone else taking pictures.]
[Our lodging at Denali.]
[The Biddies find a close personal friend.]
[“We’re having fun now!”]
[Cel-e-brate good times . . .]
[“Oh, waiter! Lupine garnish, please.”]
[Or why the tour provides the drivers.]
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About tomobert63
The Journey Begins
Thanks for joining me! This is the follow-up to the original, “alexandriacardinals.wordpress.com,” which overwhelmed the system’s ability to handle it any more. Thus, this is “Part 2.” As the original was initially described:
10-26-07-4
“It all began in a 5,000 watt radio station in Fresno, California” . . . wait a minute, that was Ted Baxter on the Mary Tyler Moore Show! Let’s see . . . oh yeah, it all began in 2003 when retirees, i.e., old people, in Alexandria, Minnesota, who had no desire to become snow birds, went looking for mid-winter entertainment here in the frozen tundra of West Central Minnesota. We discovered girls’ high school hockey, fell in love immediately, and it remains our favorite spectator sport to this day. Initially, and for several years, reports on these games were e-mailed to those who were actually snowbirds but wanted to keep abreast of things “back home.” It was ultimately decided a blog would be more efficient, and it evolved into a personal diary of many things that attracts tens of readers on occasion. It remains a source of personal mental therapy and has yet to elicit any lawsuits.
~ The Editor, May 9, 2014
p.s. The photo border around the blog is the Cardinal girls’ hockey team after just beating Breck for the state championship in 2008. It’s of the all-tournament team. The visible Breck player on the left is Milica McMillen, then an 8th-grader – she is now an All-American for the Gophers. The Roseau player in the stocking cap I believe is Mary Loken, who went on to play for UND; and the Cardinal player on the right, No. 3, is Abby Williams, the player we blame most for making us girls’ hockey fans who went on to play for Bemidji State.
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Photos contained herein are available for personal use. All you have to do is double click on any of the photos and they will become full screen size. You can then save them into your personal “My Pictures” file. They make lovely parting or hostess gifts, or holiday gifts for such as Uncle Ernie who wants to see how his grand niece is doing on the hockey team. If any are sold for personal profit, however, to, for example, the Audubon Society, National Geographic, Sven’s Home Workshop Monthly, Curling By The Numbers, or the World Wrestling Federation, I only request that you make a donation to the charitable organization of your choice. You have two hours and fifteen minutes. Pencils ready? Begin!
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alexandriacardinals 