The lack of posts for the last month is the result of a long-planned (and much anticipated) trip to the USA, taking in San Francisco, Southwest Alaska and Hawaii.
I really enjoyed San Francisco - a vibrant city. We visited Alcatraz, which I actually found interesting, but even more so was the one and only military thing I looked at on the mainland - when we got back to Pier 35 there was this thumping great Civil War Rodman gun on a casement carriage on display. I don't recall the calibre but it was big!
The Rodman at Pier 35
The largest part of the trip, eleven day in all, was spent in Alaska, with four days in Juneau and seven on a luxury cruise around the glaciers and inner waters. Juneau is a quaint place, although somewhat over filled with jewellery stores - much fun for her indoors, but of little interest to a wargamer on holiday. Once you got away from these stores and the hordes that came off the big cruise ships it was a great little town - it kind of reminded me of that TV programme "Northern Exposure" that was around in the 1990's, with lots of quirky people.
The cruise was everything a luxury cruise was supposed to be. Just 36 passengers and 15 crew, great food, good wine, stunning scenery, an abundance of wildlife (from bears, whales, otters, seals, sea lions, wolves, dolphins, porpoises, eagles and a huge number of different types of sea birds), kayaking and onshore excursions.
The final phase of the trip was in Honolulu. This was the wind down part if the trip and we pretty much just poked around the city. We did do two military things - visited the Arizona Memorial and the Missouri at Pearl Harbour. I am not a naval person, but the Missouri was fantastic.
We also visited the Hawaiian Army Museum at Waikiki. I had been there seventeen years ago, but it has had a make over and is a great little museum - and is free.
Two of the Vehicles on Display Outside the Museum
In Barnes and Noble I found a copy of the director's cut of "Gettysburg" and "Gods and Generals" that I had been drooling over on Amazon for the last few months and managed to slip that into the suitcase.
Well it is back to reality now and back to work on Monday - I have deliberately avoided checking my work emails for the last three weeks and previous experience tells me that there will be 600 or more waiting for me!
Great photos, Mark!
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy a visit to the Hawaiian Army Museum too. Terrific exhibits and the place is almost always deserted and a welcome respite from the heat.
My family enjoyed an Alaskan cruise last August and it was great fun. Know exactly what you mean about the plethora of jewelry stores. Did you know most of the those jewelry storefronts are run by the cruise lines? No wonder there is such a push to shop there.
Catching up with work emails is a very huge negative to going on vacation. Good luck catching up!
Thanks Jonathan. I have quite a few more pictures from the visit to the Mighty Mo, but haven't extracted them from the camera yet. Fortunately her indoors is very astute when it comes to sparkly things and had done her research well. She found a non-affiliated store in Juneau and bought wisely - with her own credit card I might add!
DeleteOnce you got away from South Franklin St, Juneau was a nice place, with some pleasant trails close to town.