Going out in a blaze of glory

We dined at Seven Glaciers Wednesday night, but saw no moose or bear, instead we watched the clouds come and go. We rode the tram up the mountain. It was Marilyn’s first tram ride, and I think she really enjoyed it. We passed kettle ponds, and beautiful green vegetation.

It was a wonderful dinner, worthy of the highest praise. We had an amuse bouche (a one-bite hors deurve) which was made from eggplant and had aged balsamic vinegar, bacon and pine nuts. Then we had wild mushroom and asparagus risotto, followed by a dish of halibut, cooked perfectly on a bed of carrot paprika puree and a parsley pesto with ground pistachios. A salad was next with butter lettuce, blue cheese, prosciutto and sweet tomato relish. Course four was salmon on a bed of quinoa with a green pesto sauce with cilantro (I did not eat the sauce). The fifth dish was wagyu beef tenderloin cooked perfectly on a bed of purple mashed potatoes and some kind of pointy spinach. The dessert was a terrine of passion fruit, green tea and mango with pistachio dust, there were edible flowers decorating it along with spun sugar ribbon. The entire meal was luscious. I think it was a perfect way to begin the final wind down of this lovely trip.

Yesterday, on the way home, we stopped at Crow Creek Mine in Girdwood and took a walking tour through the old mine and down to the river where people were panning for gold. It was a good walk with lots of hilly terrain, so periodically we would stop to take photos.

After we left there, we headed back to Anchorage and stopped at the bird sanctuary on the way home. We saw nesting arctic terns and mew gulls. Arctic terns have the longest migration route, every year they fly to Antarctica for their summer, and then back. They have been determined to be the creatures that see the most sunlight in the world.

Then we checked back into the hotel, and went out for our last Alaska dinner. We went to an out of the way place called Kinkaid, the food was wonderful. We had Alaska oysters done two ways and luscious salads.

This afternoon, we begin the trip home. I will be glad to get home, but I will always remember this trip. What a wonderful way to travel. I saw many “Stepford” cruise ship people, and was reminded again why traveling on your own is so much better. They have to live by rigid schedules. We had so much more flexibility. I will post more photos when I can get online reliably.