1st off - I crossed off 2 Bucket list Items - Not that I have a Real list,,.... And I for me - the Biggest Bucket list Items are already done,, and some I have nothing to do with - Since I had Children - I always wanted Grandchildren - and now that I have them - I realize that they are the absolutely best things in my life. I only hope I live long enough to see them grow up a bit I'd be good with 10 more years - If the force that controls that is listening !! HA !
Nearly went to see the Rolling Stones when they did the Steel Wheels tour, but did not have the money at that time for tickets ..... so Put it off. When they announced the " No Filter " tour last year - I said we MUST go ,... Got tickets to the Show at Gillette Stadium because the date for Meadowlands fell right on top of our already planned vacation. Then Mick Jagger had to have to that heart procedure and the postponed the date into July 7th- I loved this show - Amazing - I like Gary Clark jr as the opening act,,, played for 45 minutes, then the Stones ..... Huge Stage - from Sideline to sideline in the Stadium and had a finger that came out into the crowd for about 40 yards or so,,, the Started with Street Fighting man - Paint it Black - Honky Tonk Women, Sympathy for the Devil, Tumbling Dice, were my favs and they ended with the double encore of Gimme Shelter and (I can't get no ) Satisfaction, 2 hours and 40 minutes later ! For the record - these guys are all in their mid 70's - they look like they are 120 years old and they play like they are 20 ! Mick never stopped ,,, walked, danced etc from Side to side (thats 50 + yards) and out to the Center of the field - non stop for over 2 hours....
and - like it's just Oh BTW .... We took a 2 week trip to Alaska - and if you ever get the chance to do it - GO ! It is absolutely incredible. the Scenery is amazin ! We did a week on the land and week on a Cruise. The land took us from a really long day of Travel - We started out getting up at4am and taking a 6am flight from Albany - that went to Minneapolis to Seattle to Anchorage - landing there at 2Pm (6PM EST) so like 15 hours of travel. Then rented a car and drove to Denali National Park for 2 days, down to Talkeetna for 2 days, then to Seward for 2 days, back to Anchorage to get a bus to Whittier to the Coral Princess - for a weeks cruise to Glacier National Park to Skagway to Juneau to Ketchikan. and then to Vancouver for a flight back home. We did some stuff that we do not Normally do.... 1st as a White water Rafting trip with III and IV class rapids - very exhilarating - Put us in these "dry Suits" and off we went for a 2 and 1/2 hours trip .... water was freezing cold - Glacier fed - it was from about 7:30 to 10PM and no , it's not dark at 10 o'clock - was in Mid Juse so never really got dark - just dim sunlight at 1AM ! - the next day was a bus trip into Denali National park - 12 hours worth - well 9 on the Bus with a break in the middle for Lunch and some talks on Sled dog mushing... we saw many Moose, Caribou, Dall sheep, a Fox , Alaskan Ground squirrels (prairie dog like) 6 Grizzly Bears, one was Mom and a yearling cub, the other was a Lone Male, and then near them was a mom with 2 - like 2 year cubs - they were are big as her,,, and the guide said most likely they would leave her this year. Plus amazin views of Mt Denali (formerly Mt McKinley) it's over 22, 000 feet high - and they say only 30 % of the visitors to Alaska ever see the Mountain, as it is usually shrouded in clouds - we were so fortunate to see it the Day prior on our trip up to Denali and to see it that day - the fact is that Mt Denali has on of the Largest viewable areas of ayn peal on earth - it starts at approx 2000 ft and goes to over 20, 000 so 18000 feet of viewable mountain - in relation to say Everest that starts at 20000 ft and goes to 30,000 - thats 10,000 feet of viewable Mt. Denali actually make sit own weather - as its so high... then onto Talkeetna to a Jet boat ride,,, a Flight Tour up to near Denali and a Landing on the Ruth Galcier that is simply massive - over 3 miles across... and BTW - was kinda warm there , 60 degrees,, but the snow reflecting the sun made it fine in short sleeve shirts ! Down to Seward on the Kenai Peninsula - For a Wild life boat tour - dozens of Humpback Whales, Eagles, hundreds of Sea Lions, Lunch on an Island out in the Fiord. Then Got a bus to Whittier for the Cruise - Skaway was great as we went on a Sled dog ride- and met the Dogs who were so friendly and sweet - all wanted to be petted ..... we missed Juneau with an Illness - so next stop for us was Ketchikan , and the Logger show - really good,,... Cruise was very nice, Good Food, very good Service, and a nice clean boat - the Coral Princess - a bit smaller boat if smaller is Just 1800 passengers and 900 Crew... we saw much larger ships - other cruise lines that had 3000 - 4500 Passengers, so the Coral is Small compared to that ! They put on some wonderful entertainment, - I don't think we are Cruise type people - we don't drink much (even though we had the Premier drink Package for free) we don;t gamble, but the food and all was great - they had some presentations, based on Alaska - and even met the 1st women to win the Iditorod sled dog race..
I'll post this and get back to it to add some photos;
Mount Denali
