final impressions blog - June 2007

June 11 - 20, 2007 - Alaska

We started the month with the Fairport Canal Days Festival, then packed up and spent two weeks touring Southeast Alaska for both pleasure and business. You see my son Ryan “Zieak” McFarland lives and works in Petersburg Alaska. He and his wonderful companion Cena invited us up for a vacation to this beautiful town with a strong Norwegian heritage. Ryan works for the city as the Parks and Recreation director, and Cena owns the Lux Boutique on Main street.

It was a tough trip to Southeast because we had to overnight in Seattle for about 5 hours. We got in at 11:30 PM and had to be back at the airport at 5:30 AM, which left about 4 hours for sleep.

We spend about one week in Petersburg and drive the many logging roads of Mitkof Island, as well as took a skiff through an ice field into the LeConte Gacier Bay. We had heavy clouds and bright sunshine, a wonderful week of different weather conditions.

After Petersburg, we traveled to Juneau and Skagway, rode a Fast Ferry, took a train and small plane ride over the glacier field at 5000 feet, and in general, had a magnificent time with Ryan as a guide. We got to see and experience Southeast Alaska as few tourists can.

I just hope my Alaska portfolio will live up to the experience we had.