Fairbanks, Alaska - 极光，淘金和鹤鸟
Aug.19-29, 2021 - In Fairbanks, We relaxed at a beautiful AirBnB rental, and enjoyed gold panning, birdwatching, and river cruising. We saw the Northern Light from the plane.
8/19-29/2021
Visiting Fairbanks is the last segment of our 2021 Alaska trip. We will stay in Fairbanks for ten days without too many must-see items except hoping to see the Northern Lights. The aurora season starts from Aug. 21, but it becomes more active after Sept. 15. Knowing the probability of seeing aurora light may not be great, we went ahead to book an Airbnb for ten days just to relax and enjoy the cool climate.
The Airbnb rental is a newly-constructed one bedroom above the owner's garage on a mountain ridge away from the city light, ideal for Northern Lights viewing. The contemporary room is beautifully decorated, and the owner lives in a house on the same property but separated from the unit. Here is what we say about the place in Airbnb Review.
"What a gorgeous place for us to stay in Fairbanks for the last ten days. The location is great. It's quiet with a beautiful view. It's also close to the restaurants and shops. The Chalet was extremely clean and very well decorated. Everything looks brand new. The kitchen had everything you needed. The washer and dryer were super helpful during our long stay. It's a home away from home, and we had a great time. Kristin was an amazing host. She was very helpful and answered all our questions quickly. This is the BEST Airbnb I have ever stayed in! I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking to stay in Fairbanks! – Connie"
The University of Alaska Fairbanks, called UAF, is 10 min driving distance from our Airbnb place. Its campus on the hill is vast and beautiful. One afternoon, we visited Georgeson Botanical Garden on the campus, a well-designed and maintained research facility. Although the growing season in Alaska is short, surprisingly, we find that the vegetables growing in the garden are much larger than what in the low 48 states. Visiting the UAF Museum of the North is the highlight of the trip. We also attend the 75th-anniversary celebration of the Geophysical Institute to see the exhibit booths and tour the satellite antenna site.
On Aug. 22, today's weather is one of the best during our ten-day stay in Fairbanks. We booked the famous riverboat tour in Fairbanks, Riverboat Discovery, a few days ago. The riverboat tour business started 100 years ago, and Brinkley's family still runs the company. Our captain is the great-granddaughter of the founder. It is not just a river cruise. It takes us to see an Athabascan Indian village, view a team of dogs mushing an ATV, and watch a small plane taking off and landing on water. Of course, the scenery along the river is also fantastic. It is the best riverboard cruise we have had, but we only have had three so far.
The next day, we go to Gold Daughters for gold panning, one of the popular tourist things to do in Fairbanks. We pay $20 for a bag of paydirt and using the panning equipment. They guarantee we would find gold in the bag from Fairbanks Gold Co. Before we try our luck on the paid paydirt, they recommend using the dirt from a pile of paydirt hauled from a local gold mine to practice. They teach us a few gold-pan techniques. We have spent about two hours there, and it was exhilarating to find a lot of tiny pieces of gold flakes, enough to put into a necklace locket we purchased from their store. The gold we panned is worth less than what we paid, but we are super exciting and fun to find GOLD. After gold panning, we drive across the highway to the other side of the road to see the Tran-Alaska Oil Pipeline, learning a few things about the construction and design.
One morning we walked into a local bakery near our place. We noticed a post of the Sandhill Crane Festival in Creamer's Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge, 15 mins away from our Airbnb. That reminds us of our trip to Kearney, Nebraska, in 2018 to view Sandhill Crane's migration. We enjoyed seeing thousands of sandhill cranes and Canadian goose on that trip. It was a pleasant surprise to see the Sandhill Cranes here in Fairbanks. We visit the Creamer's Field several times to watch and take many pictures of those beautiful creatures in the next few days.
The Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum is a must-see place in Fairbanks. It is one of the best auto museums in the world, with a world-class collection of vintage automobiles and period fashions, telling the story of the rich and colorful auto and transportation history in Alaska. Among all other gorgeous and spotless cars, a single-cylinder car, 1905 Sheldon Roundabout, gets our most attention. It was the first automobile in Alaska built by 24-year-old Bobby Sheldon to win over the attention of a young lady without seeing a real car. Unfortunately, he didn't win the heart of the young lady, but Sheldon went on to become a legend in Alaskan automotive history.
We also visit a few other places, North Pole, Chena Hot Spring, Pioneer Park, and Wedgewood Bird Sanctuary. We had a terrific dinner at a historic Pump House on the shore of the Chena River.
To see Northern Light is the main reason for our extended staying in Fairbanks. The aurora activity is moderate during that time. Plus, the weather is either cloudy or rainy most time. The chance to see the Light is not great. But we still try to stay late to hope to see the Northern Light on a few of those days. We check the website and find out whether the aurora is active or not—we set up our camera to take a picture of the sky every 5 mins. After we stayed all night until 2-3 am on consecutive days, not seeing any aurora light, we thought the chance to see it was slim, so we went to sleep early one night. The following day, we check out our camera, and we find a few pictures of the Northern Light taken from the window of our stay. We missed it! In the following few days, the weather continues not to cooperate. However, on the day we leave Fairbanks, the weather is nice. Our flight is a red-eye flight. After taking off, we finally see the Northern Light we desperately want to see on the plane. What a way to end our trip to Alaska!
Denali National Park， Alaska - 灰熊，驼鹿和驯鹿
Aug. 15-19, 2021 - We saw many bears, moose, elks and other wildlife in the park. One day, we took 800+ pictures.
8/15-19/2021
Denali National Park is the fourth national park in Alaska we are going to visit. Since the Alaska Denali Star Train tickets were sold out before we could snap, we took the Park Connection bus from Anchorage to Denali instead. It turns out that an alternate is a good option. The bus ticket costs $100 per person and the total travel time is about 6 hours, cheaper and less travel time than the train. The bus ride is very comfortable, and we have a coffee/restroom break at Talkeetna. We arrive at McKinley Chalet around noon. Our room is not ready, so we go right to the Karstens Restaurant for lunch. McKinley Chalet Resort is on the shores of the Nenana River and a short distance walk to the commercial area of restaurants and shops. The room is comfy with a separate sitting room. The resort provides shuttles to the park and on property.
After settling in, we take the shuttle to the park to check it out. Again, the visitor center is closed due to COVID-19, but the gift shop is open, so we get the bear spray for $50. Since most people carry bear spray while they hike, having one with us provides a sense of safety protection. Dinner is Chinese/Thai take-out. The food is pretty good. After traveling for a while, we always want to have Asian food as comfort food, whether authentic or not.
On Aug. 16, we ride the park’s free Savage River Shuttle to the Savage River Loop Trailhead. The Savage River Loop Trail is a beautiful flat trail along the river. It is an easy hike for us and is pretty scenic. While waiting for the return shuttle, we decide to hike a small portion of the Alpine Trail to get a feel of the trail. Then we ride the shuttle back to the sled dog kennels near the park headquarter. Twenty-four sled dogs were in the kennels. All dogs start to balk loudly and jump up and down to their tiny houses when we walk in. Somehow a little mouse gets into the area under the bushes. One of the dogs catches the mouse finally, but the ranger takes it out of the dog’s mouth. It takes 15-20 mins for the ranger to get the mouse out of the area and calm down the dogs. It is a pretty funny scene for us. Since the next shuttle back to the visitor center is still an hour away, we hike on a roadside trail near the bus stop. Back to the resort, we have dinner at Karstens Restaurant.
On the third day, the 17th, we take the Eielson Visitor Center Transit bus, 66 miles into the park. This transit bus is the most popular bus route in the park. We made the reservation a couple of months in advance at $60 per person. The weather is cloudy and occasionally drizzling. Since we are on the bus most of the time, we don’t worry about getting wet, but in the beginning, we do fear that the poor visibility may prevent us from spotting any wildlife. It turns out to be a perfect day trip. We spotted so many wildlife, Bears, Moose, Caribou, Dally Sheep, and birds along the way to the visitor center. We spot a grizzly bear not too far away from the road before our bus driver does. We get a good shot of it. The bus arrives at the destination before 1 pm. Initially, we thought we would ride the same bus back, but we changed our mind at the last minute to spend more time exploring the area. We do a couple of short hikes then walk down on the Thorofare Ridge Trail. We spot a black bear lying down on the river bed and eventually move to a nearby tree from a far distance. What a treat!
On the way back, we get on an empty bus called a camper sweeper to collect the campers or visitors left behind. The bus driver is super informative. He cracks a few jokes and talks about permafrost. Because of climate change, the permafrost in some areas in the park is thawing to cause the landslide. He points out several permafrost landslides along the road. He says that one section of the road we drive through is sinking at the rate of 12 inches per day. The workers are constantly adding gravels from the river below. We don’t think we want to drive through it by ourselves even if we are permitted. We see even more bears, moose, and caribou on the returned bus. We take about 800 hundred pictures on that day. It is super awesome to see so much wildlife.
After a nine-hour tour and another hour of shuttling back to the town, we are hungry and crave good food. We want a take-out from that Chinese/Thai place, but the waiting time is about one hour and 45 mins, so we go to a Serbian restaurant, Moose-Aka’s, the next block. The restaurant has a 5-star review on Tripadvisor and has a long waiting time too. Somehow the host messes up the seating queue. After two hours, we finally are seated. We order Turkish coffee, which is different from the coffee we usually drink. We have a Russian Salad surprisingly similar to the one we make at home. The appetizer sampler platter and other main entrees are all very delicious. The staff apologized for keeping us waited so long and paid for an appetizer. It is a long day.
Today, Aug. 18, is the fourth day in the park. The weather is the best so far, partially cloud and sunshine. We go back to the park and ride the Savage River shuttle again to hope to see Denali Peak. We hike through the 4.1 mile Savage Alpine Trail, starting from the south side and exiting the north end. The hike is terrific. It can be challenging at some points but not too hard. The view at the top is fantastic. Disappointingly, we don’t see Denali Peak due to the cloud. Back to the town early, we have the Thai food for dinner without a long wait.
On the final day in the park, before catching the 4 pm train to Fairbanks, we do a short Horseshoe loop hike and have lunch at the Karstens Restaurant. The resort offers a complimentary shuttle to the Train Depot and handles all the luggage. We are in the GoldStar Service Class of Denali Star Train to Fairbanks. The GoldStar Service Class includes the dinner on the low deck. Due to COVID 19, we have an option not to share the table with others, which we choose along with the other 10% of the passengers. We have been very cautious about social distance and not having contact with others on this trip. The train ride is great for us to see the remote area of Alaska. At the end of the journey, the experience of picking up the check-in luggage is horrifying. The bag claim area at the depot is not big. The room is full of passengers waiting for their luggage, shoulder to shoulder. It is a perfect place for the virus to transmit. Unfortunately, one of our two bags is the last one coming out. After 45 mins horrifying scene, we wonder if we might get the virus now. We pick up our rental car at the airport, and we are on the way to our Airbnb place at Fairbanks.
Cooper Landing， Alaska -红鲑跳龙门
Aug. 11-14, 2021 - We hiked 2 miles to the Russian Falls and saw thousands salmons waiting for their turns to jump over the falls.
8/11-14/2021
Today starts the second segment of our Alaska trip. We check out the hotel around 9:30 am and drive to the Copper River Center at the Wrangell-St Elias National Park. The Visitor Center and Ahtna Cultural Center are closed due to COVID 19. A hand-built fish wheel by Ahtna people is on display. The river's current pushes against the submerged paddle and rotates the wheel, passing the baskets through the water where they intercept fish swimming against the current. Fish wheels are very effective in catching the fish so that they are banned from public use. We are told that there are eleven wheels in use on Copper River. On the way to Cooper Landing, we stop by a few places for scenic views. We also go to Sheep Mountain Lodge to look for Dally Sheep on the Sheep Mountain. We can not see any of them on the slope, and the café at the lodge also closes due to the lack of staff.
Today's weather starts with cloudy and drizzling. However, the rain stop when we arrive at the Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge. The resort is well built and maintained. Our cabin has a wood fireplace. It is the first time that we use a wood fireplace. We have to call the front desk to get the instruction on how to light up the fire. The resort's restaurant offers excellent food and has an incredible view of the mountains and the river. We have a great dinner on the first day there.
On 8/12, we drive two and a half hours to Homer Spit to catch the Danny J Ferry to Ismailof Island in Halibut Cove. The ferry ticket to the island was purchased in advance. Danny J is a small fishing boat that can carry only 29 passengers. Everyone stays outside on the deck and wears masks. The boat ride also includes a visit to Gull Island, a bird sanctuary. We see Tufted Puffins, a lot of Common Murres, Gulls, and Bald Eagles. A Sea Otter floats in the sea on its back and is enjoying a meal of a live starfish. The ride to the island takes about 45 mins. After docking, we walk up a steep ramp into the Saltry restaurant due to low tide. We order a combination seafood platter and a Saltry taco. The food is good. After lunch, we walk on the boardwalk around the island. It is a great experience. At 4 pm, we embark and went back to Homer Spit. At the Spit, several charted fish boats are unloading their fish tour trophies, lots of fish. The largest one we saw is 70 lb Halibut. Before we drive off to the resort, we have another Fish and Chips. The Halibut fish is so delicious.
The next day, we hike 4.5-mile roundtrip on the Russian River Falls Trail. At the base of the falls, a pond of salmons is waiting to jump up the cascading waterfalls and swim upstream on the homeward journey to their birthplaces. We take a lot of pictures of salmon jumping. Unfortunately, no bears show up to catch the fish. Seeing salmon jumping up the waterfall is one of the highlights of this trip.
On Aug. 14, before we head back to Anchorage, we do an 18-mile-long loop drive on gravel Skilak Lake Road. Alaska.org provides Audio Recordings for the road tour. Since there is no cellular service in the area, we couldn't listen to them. There is no option to download them either. We see no major wildlife except ducks and birds but have great views of a few lakes. Potter Marsh Bird Sanctuary is just outside Anchorage. We stop there for a quick visit and head to Anchorage downtown, and check into our hotel.
The dinner tonight is at Crow's Nest on the 24th floor in Hotel Captain Cook, with stunning panoramic views of the city, Chugach Mountains and Cook Inlet. We order four appetizers, Pork Belly, Crab Cake, Raw Oysters, Caesar Salad, and one main entree, Seafood Cioppino. They all are outstanding. After dinner, we stroll around the downtown area and do a dry run from the hotel to the bus stop for tomorrow's bus ride to Denali National Park. Since the bus will leave in the early morning, at 6:30 am, and we have a few suitcases to move, we want to make sure we have the quickest and easiest route to the bus stop.
Kennecott, Alaska - 冰川和铜矿
Aug. 8-11, 2021 - We did a 5 hour guided hike on Kennecott Glacier, and toured the tallest wooded building in the country, a 100 year old copper mill.
8/8-11/2021 -Glennallen/Kennecott, Alaska
As the daily new cases of COVID-19 were spiraling down many months ago, we started to plan an extended summer vacation for this year. Alaska was easily on the top of our list. The first time we visited Alaska was 2017 on a seven-day Holland American Cruise to Alaska. We visited several coastal cities and Anchorage during the trip but never made up to Denali and Fairbanks. Although the initial thought was to visit all national parks in Alaska, after some research, we decided only to see two national parks, Denali and Wrangell-St. Elias accessible by vehicle. We hope we could visit other parks in the future.
We flyto Anchorage on Aug. 8th and drive three and a half hours to Caribou Hotel at Glennallen for the night. The hotel is old and not well maintained. At least we have a few hours of good sleep. The shuttle to McCarthy/Kennecott picks us up at the hotel at 7:00 am. On the way to Chitina, the driver, Jason, picks up seven more passengers. Jason is very quiet but good at spotting the wildlife. The highway ends at Chitina. The road from Chitina to McCarthy is unpaved but well maintained. Many travel advisory websites warn not to drive rental cars on McCarthy Road. The road condition is better than any forest road we often drove on before. Although we could easily drive to McCarthy by ourselves without any issue, we believe we made the right decision to leave the driving to the other so we can enjoy the scenic view along the road.
After four hours slow ride, we get off the shuttle bus at the footbridge over Kennicott River near McCarthy. We walk over the bridge with our suitcases to the other side to meet our hotel shuttle from Kennicott Glacier Lodge. Our initial impression is that the only way to McCarthy/Kennecott is to walk over this long footbridge. We wonder how the people who live in the town get vehicles and other supplies over to the other side of the river. Do they drive across the river during the winter when it is frozen, we even asked? No. The fact is that the car bridge is not too far away from the footbridge for the residents of the towns to drive through. It is another Alaska tourist marketing trick we fall for. However, it is the best way to control car traffic in a remote town where the main road is muddy and poorly maintained.
Kennecott is 5.5 miles away from the footbridge. We arrive at The Kennicott Glacier Lodge, the only public accommodation in the town. The lodge faces the rocky, dirty-looking Kennecott Glacier, not the clean white glacier we expected. Too early to check-in, so we store our luggage in the lobby and go to the dining hall for lunch. The lodge has a three-meal plan that costs $65 per person. As soon as we finish our lunch, our room is ready. We stay at South Wing Building, a new building with private bathrooms. The main building was a mine-worker dormitory many years ago. The rooms in the main building has only shared bathrooms. After settling down in our room, we walk across the street to Alpine Guide Office to sign up for the tour to the mill in the afternoon and the glacier hike the following day.
The dinner is one seating at 7 pm with a fixed menu. The food is okay, but the weather is perfect, turning from rain to sunshine before dinner. All couples are seated outside. We have a great time. Three tables down, we overhear an old lady and her grandson talking loudly to other guests about their trip. She is the famous Grandma Joy, visiting 58 th out of 61 national parks with her grandson. After the meal, we do a google search on her. Her story is amazing and inspiring.
Wrangell-St Elias National Park is the largest national park in the US, with more than 13 million acres. It is a very primitive national park. However, inside the park, there is an old copper mining town, Kennecott. At the peak, the copper mill employed more than 500 people. $100 million had been invested in the infrastructures and equipment, and the mill produced $200 million worth of copper. It is a national historic site now. After National Park Service acquired the mill, the site has been renovated. The mill tour takes us to inside the building. The milling operation was highly automatic in the standard of its time. The mill was shut down in 1938 and became a ghost town until National Park Service took over it.
The following day, we go on a glacier hike with a guide and another couple, Mary and Philips, from Maine. Our guide was Alex from the Alpine Guides. We hike 2 miles on the dirt trail, then 0.5 mile on the white Root Glacier. The weather is drizzling, but the scene is beautiful. The glacier extends miles and miles. After a five-hour hike, we get back to the lodge, have a quick lunch, and take the hotel shuttle back to the footbridge. Once again, we walk over the long footbridge with our suitcase to the other side of the river. Our shuttle driver Jason is waiting for us. On our way back to Glennallen, we see a black bear on the roadside.
Hike on Root Glacier in Kennecott
We have Thai take-out tonight. The food is terrible.
We use Kennecott and Kennicott through the writing up. Kennicott was used for river and glacier. When the mill was started, someone misspelled the name with e instead i for the place.
Vaccine, RV and Zion
April, 2021 - After fully vaccinated, we went to a night hike in Arizona desert, and rented a RV with a couple of our friends to visit Zion National Park.
While the COVID-19 pandemic still dominates our everyday life, as more people are vaccinated, we see the light at the end of the tunnel. Both of us were fully vaccinated on April 17. On that day, we joined REI's Arizona Star Walk event. The tour guide took us on a two-hour hike under the stars in Tonto National Forest. It is the first time since the last March that we had physical interaction with other people, although we all wore masks and kept physical distance. The star walk was joyful and educational. We made the first step to come out of the shadow of the pandemic.
The next day, we were pondering where our next trip would be, from Cancun to Iceland. Then we decided to rent an RV to visit Zion National Park on Tuesday (4/20). It took us a couple of hours to make the reservations for RV and campgrounds. It is the shortest time from deciding to starting the trip. It illustrates how eager we for us to get out of home and go back on the travel. RV travel is always on our top of the bucket list. We used to talk about renting an RV from Seattle and drive it to Alaska when we retire. This trip could be our test drive for RV travel. We rented an RV from Cruise America. Cruise America has three different sizes of Class C RV, extended, standard and compact. To our surprise, the standard RV at $109 a night was cheaper than the smaller one, compact one. It has two beds and a full bathroom, comfortably for four adults. We rented it for six nights. After chatting with our friend, Steve, he and his wife, CC decided to join us on the trip.
On Tuesday (4/20), we picked up an RV from Cruise America in the afternoon, packed our stuff, filled the refrigerator, and drove to Flagstaff. We stayed at the KOA Holiday in Flagstaff. The KOA campground was decent, and staying was pleasant. The next day we drove to Zion National Park.
On the way to Zion, we stopped at the world-famous Horseshoe Bend near Page, AZ. The outlook becomes the major tourist destination in reference by social media in recent years. It is our first visit to the site. The view is gorgeous, and there are not too many people around. We were glad to make the stop.
Private vehicles are not allowed to drive to the scenic canyon area inside Zion National Park. The park provides free shuttle service to various locations. Since the pandemic, due to a reduced number of seats available, the park requires tickets for the shuttles. A portion of the tickets for the shuttle was released online at 5 pm on the day before the day of the visit. Those tickets are usually gone within minutes. Since we had a late start from Flagstaff, we were still far from reaching Zion before 5 pm. We were driving on Highway 89, with no community nearby, before 5 pm. But somehow, we still had a strong 5G cellular signal. 15 mins before 5 pm, we pulled over to a national historic site on the roadside and got the phones ready to grab the tickets. Fortunately, one of three iPhones was able to get noon shuttle tickets for the next day. We were so happy and excited to visit Zion National Park.
Our RV campground, Zion Canyon RV campground, was just outside Zion National Park. One way to get there is to go through the tunnel in the park. It is free for small vehicles but $15 for an RV. Since the tunnel is narrow, the park ranger has to stop both traffic to allow RV to go through only. It is also the first time to use our lifetime senior national park pass. We made it to the campground before dark. CC made four delicious hot dishes with one soup for dinner. After the gourmet dinner, we lighted the fire and enjoyed our first day in Zion.
Our RV is on the right.
On 4/22, we got up early to get our morning coffee from a local coffee shop near the park. Interestingly, most customers wore the masks but not the workers. We felt great having the first-morning coffee walk with a magnificent view since the pandemic started. We got on the shuttle a little bit earlier before noon. There are nine bus stops, but half stops were closed due to loose rocks. We rode it to the last bus stop, Temple of Sinawava. We did a 2.2 mile Riverside Walk along the Virgin River and took a lot of pictures. We didn't go into Narrows because we didn't have the dry suit and were afraid of toxic Cyanobacteria Bloom in the river. Then we rode the shuttle back to the Grotto. From there, we hiked 3.7 miles going through Kayenta and Lower, Middle, and Up Emerald Pool trail to arrive at Zion Lodge. On that day, we did a 12-mile hike total and 26000 steps. Everyone was exhausted. However, CC still managed to cook four hot dishes with one soup for dinner. Life was good.
The next day, after yesterday's 12-mile hike, we just wanted to relax and made a moderate 3.3 mile Watchman trail near the visitor center. Finally, after climbing 370 feet elevation, we reached the top to have a beautiful view of the Temples and Towers, lower Zion Canyon, Watchman Peak, and Springdale. Then, we went back to our RV to get our next shuttle tickets.
Last day at the park, we decided to attempt Angel's Landing via the West Rim trail. The West Rim trail starts at the Grotto. Not long after short walking on the canyon floor, the steep incline goes up for a little bit until we get to a zig-zag Walter's Wiggles that takes us up to the top of the ridge above the Canyon. We took a break and had a light snack at Scout Lookout. The traffic at the entrance of Angel's landing was crowded since there is one way going up and down. After watching people going in and out, we decided to climb the first section of the chains and come back. We did manage to take some nice pictures of climbing Angel's Landing. It was worth the effort.
The first RV experience was great. The staying was comfortable, but driving was not. We had to switch the seats every hour or so to avoid car sick. We were not sure we would rent Class C RV again for a long distance travel and this RV life is not cheap either. It works out to be $250 per night and $0.69 per mile.
Goodbye 2020
Dec, 2020- Goodbye 2020. Hope 2021 will be a better year.
Club West atAhwatukee
We started to post on this website a year ago as we were preparing for 90 days around-world cruise trip with Crystal Cruise. Connie was retired last year, and I was taking an extended leave of absence from work. We were very excited about the year ahead. Then as the virus spread worldwide, our 90-day trip was cut short, and we disembarked at Crystal Serenity in Sydney in early March. As we were back home, the COVID-19 was out of control, and the whole world was on lockdown. But who would guess we were in a worse situation today than nine months ago.
Since March, we haven’t dined out once, and we only ordered a few take-out. Lacking social interaction with your friends, colleagues, and strangers on the streets is the worse part of this pandemic we had experienced. However, we are fortunate to be healthy and still have a job.
As the year is close in, I did 6 miles walking around a closed-down 18 hole golf course in the neighborhood today. I took a picture of our beautiful community. Hope 2021 would leave the COVID-19 behind, and we live a normal life again.
Escape the Heat
June 20-28 – Heber/Overgaard, AZ
This year could be the year everyone would remember forever. With one microbe starting invading a human body in Wuhan, China, eight months ago, the world has been halted to fight with this virus. As today, close to 10 million people were infected across the globe, and half of a million people have died. In the states, there are 2.5 million people with this virus. Millions of people have lost their jobs, and many businesses have closed for months. Unfortunately, we haven’t seen the light in the tunnel.
We booked this resort in Bison Ranch in Overgaard, AZ, nine months ago. Due to the pandemic, we weren’t sure that we could make this trip up to the mountain. But a few weeks ago, although the new virus daily cases are still high, the state has started the reopening. Bison Ranch has also followed the trend to reopen the resort. Tired of 110-degree heat, we decided to still come up to the mountain for a week despite travel risk with the virus. The resort is clean, and many common areas are closed. The staff at the resort wear a face mask, but most of the customers not. We are very cautious, washing hands all time and wearing bandanas when we are out in public. The weather in Overgaard is very lovely. The daily high temperature is around 85 F, but at night, the temperature drops down to 70s F. On weekdays, Chenggang worked from the room. We even brought a computer monitor to the resort. After dinner, we strolled around the neighborhood under very comfortable environment.
At Home - 到家了
March 11, 2020 - We are going home today after 46 days of travel. Because of COVID-19, the world is upside down as no one……
March 11
We are going home today after 46 days of travel. Because of COVID-19, the world is upside down as no one can predict. Our world cruise journey we had been dreaming about for the last 18 months had ended prematurely, 49 days short. However, we were blessed in every way with the experience we had, the places we had visited, the food we had tasted, and the people we had met. “Are you going to be bored?” We were frequently asked this question when we told our family and friends about this 90 day world cruise. Now, we can answer this question firmly. No. We were not bored. We wish our first world cruise end differently but we still had a wonderful time. We are looking forward to another world cruise in the near future.
This will be our last post about this 2020 World Cruise Journey. We would like to thank our daughter and son for helping us to make this website happen. They are the real heroes behind the scenes to edit and publish posts after their long hour real jobs. Without their help, this website won’t exist. Christine and Cody, thanks.
Memorable 2020 World Cruise marked by red symbols.
All six bags are coming home too.
The Great Ocean Road - 墨尔本著名的大洋路
March 10, 2020 - We stayed with our friend’s family in Melbourne. They took us to the world-famous Great Ocean Road in……
March 10
We stayed with our friend’s family in Melbourne. They took us to the world-famous Great Ocean Road in Australia today. It was a long distance (3-4 hour) drive from Melbourne. We started the trip early in the morning and left the house at 7 AM. We stopped at Geelong for breakfast. Then we drove along a scenic winding road along the coast line. We had good weather again today. The Great Ocean Road was built by soldiers who returned after World War I as a war memorial. The road provides access to several breathtaking rock formations, including the Twelve Apostles, London Arch, etc. Even under the shadow of the Coronavirus fear, the parks were very popular. As the sun was coming down, we noticed smoking in the air. Fires were seen in far distance but we didn’t know if it was wild fire or intended fire. The sunset with the smoke was beautiful. We pulled the car over and took pictures.
The London Arch
The Twelve Apostles
At Geelong
Sunset under burning
We returned back to the city late after 9:30 PM. We went to a Szechuan Chinese Restaurant for dinner. We ordered several spice dishes. They were spicy but very good taste. Australia has good authentic Chinese food.
Moomba Parade - 蒙巴节
March 9, 2020 - Today is a public holiday, Labor Day in Australia. The City of Melbourne also held the Moomba Festival over ……
March 9
Today is a public holiday, Labor Day in Australia. The City of Melbourne also held the Moomba Festival over the weekend. The festival ends today with the Moomba Parade. The origin of the Moomba Festival might be controversial but based on what we saw, the Moomba Parade is just another multi-cultural celebration today. We took a bus from Blackburn to Melbourne downtown. Melbourne also has a transportation card with a daily limit of $9.00. The parade started at 10:45 AM. It was led by an Aboriginal group which was then followed by different floats with different ethnic groups and dance studios to show various cultures and performances. There were two dragon dances in the parade. There were a lot of people watching the parade - the coronavirus didn’t seem to scare people away. After the parade, we went to the National Gallery of Art. We had a simple lunch/snack in the café. We spent about an hour in their European Gallery. The museum is free except for the special exhibitions.
Afterwards, we walked to Shrine of Remembrance and other attractions nearby. We wanted to see the ocean too. We rode #16 light rail to St. Kilda Beach. The weather was perfect and the beach was beautiful. We stopped at a café guarded by two statures of a rabbit and a dog holding latte. We took a picture of them and that is the place to have another round of latte. We found a table sitting down with and that table number is 322. What a coincidence!
We watched people kiteboarding on the beach and running/walking along the beach. It looked like a perfect summer vacation place, beautiful and relaxing. We could spend another day or two there, but we needed to meet our friend in Chinatown for dinner.
St.Kilda Beach
We rode another train to Crown Casino first. We strolled around the area then went to a Chinese Restaurant for dinner. We had the Lucky Crab cooked with goose liver paste sauce. The Lucky Crab, as the restaurant calls it, is a deep sea white crab, similar to Crystal Crab online. Interestingly, cooked crab remained white, not red like typical cooked crab. The dish was delicious. It was one of the best crab dishes we have had but it was not cheap - $350 for the crab. The dinner was very good. We all say Australia has the best Chinese cuisine including China but they are not cheap. We had good time.
Melbourne, Australia -澳大利亚墨尔本
March 7-8, 2020 - We flew from Sydney to Melbourne on March 7 to stay with Connie’s best friend’s family for a few days before……
We flew from Sydney to Melbourne on March 7 to stay with Connie’s best friend’s family for a few days before going home. Our friend picked us up at the airport. We didn’t do much that day and just relaxed.
On March 8, our friend took us to the Dandenong Ranges area to visit a couple wineries and Dandenong Ranges National Park. We had wine and cheese tastings in the winery. The William Ricketts Sanctuary was very interesting but also very strange. It is a sculpture park displaying many Aboriginal inspired spiritual sculptures created by William Ricketts. There was no way we could stay in the park after dark. After visiting the sanctuary, we wanted to visit a tea house but it was fully booked. There was no sign of COVID-19 in the town. Instead, we had lunch at a café at the summit of Mount Dandenong. At the top, we had nice view of Melbourne downtown.
At a winery
View from the summit of Mount Dandenong
Cockatoo Island - 悉尼鹦鹉岛
March 6, 2020 - Cockatoo Island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site at the junction of the Parramatta and Lane Cove River in ……
March 6
Cockatoo Island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site at the junction of the Parramatta and Lane Cove River in Sydney Harbour. The small island was used for imprisoning convicts. The prison on the island was even built by the convicts. The island can be reached by ferry. Later on, the island became a shipyard for military and commercial ships. Now, the island provides staycation accommodations. An array of tents are spread across the lawn facing Sydney Harbour with a view of Sydney Bridge. It has beautiful view of the harbor. There were a lot of high school students visiting the island when we were there. The weather was nice.
Tents in Cockatoo Island
We ferried out to Darling Harbour from the island. The people working in office buildings in the area were having lunch in the restaurants in the harbor. It was very busy and popular. We didn’t have lunch there since we had a place in mind: Peter’s Fish Market. We walked to the market and had fried fish, oysters, etc. over there. Then, we walked back over Pyrmont Bridge to another market, Paddy’s market. In the market, there are many small booths selling various goods from luggage to shoes. We did a quick tour in the market then we took the L2 light rail back to the hotel.
Connie was so tired so she stayed in the room. Chenggang adventured out for another historic site visit, Susannah Place. This three-story former cottage and store buildings were built in 1838. But in 1900s, after the outbreak of plague, just like today’s COVID-19, the government took over the area to make public housings for low income family. The tour of the house and the stories associated with it were very interesting and fascinating.
Connie’s college friend took us to Little Snail restaurant to taste nice French Cuisine. The restaurant is located in the Darling Harbor. Connie had snails and Chenggang had grilled kangaroo meat. Kangaroo meat tastes like beef. It was very good, delicious.
A Raining Day - 下雨天
March 5, 2020 - We bought two Opal cards for local transportation including train, light rail, bus and ferry. It had a daily cap of ……
March 5
We bought two Opal cards for local transportation including train, light rail, bus and ferry. It had a daily cap of $16.15. Today’s weather forecast was not very good; it rained all day but we still went to the Manly Beach via ferry. There were nice stores and restaurants along the beach. But because it was raining and windy, there were not many people on the beach. After walking for ten mins or so, we felt cold and decided to find a place to sit down and have a warm latte and half dozen of oysters. After the rain and wind seemed to slow down a little, we continued to walk along the beach in the rain. People were still surfing and swimming in the ocean. We ended at Shelly Beach and had another latte and half dozen of Sydney Rock Oysters and shrimp flatbread at the Boathouse café. Today was not the day to stroll along the beach. The weather was just not cooperating today. It just reminded us of the weather issues during our partial world cruise.
Manly Beach
We’ve hesitated to go on any cruise for last 30 years because we were afraid of motion sickness. But this time, we thought since we sailed through the Drake Passage in the last Antarctica trip, we should handle this trip well. Even with prescribed patches for motion sickness, we don’t think we’ve overcome motion sickness. If there was one negative thing about this trip, it was the motion sickness. It bothered us a lot. First, the patches had some side effects to deal with. Second, with >100 knots wind and 30 ft waves bombarding the ship, we just weren’t able to do anything except lie down on the bed. Weather issues also resulted in missing two ports and two sounds. Crossing the Tasman Sea was extreme. At the time, four major storms were converging on the path over the Tasman Sea. The captain decided to skip Hobart port and go up north to avoid the storms. Although no one said anything, we believe we were actually hit on the spots when the storms changed its course. The ship was shaking really hard even though the stabilizer was on over the night. We were a little scared then. Once the storms were over after the Milford Sound, the sea became calm again.
Once we were back to the hotel, the rain stopped. We had dinner in the hotel using $100 dinning credit they gave us. After dinner, we rode the L2 light rail to Chinatown then transferred to the L1 light rail. The plan was to go to the Fish Market and then walk over to the Darling Harbor, but instead we got off at the train at a stop before the Fish Market. To our surprise, the stop was underground. We didn’t even notice that the L1 light rail had already went underground from the surface. We were lost. We walked one direction towards the water but the streets were dark. Then we walked the other direction to a main commercial district as a couple advised us. We walked over Pyrmont Bridge into the Darling Harbor. The Darling Harbor looked like it had much more of a night life than in the Town Hall or the Ferry Terminal. There were a lot of things going on at night in Sydney. We really like Sydney.
Darling Harbor at night
The Journey Continues -继续我们的旅程
March 4, 2020 - Our World Cruise ended prematurely but this journey continues. We will stay in Sydney until March 7 then visit
March 4
Our World Cruise ended prematurely but this journey continues. We will stay in Sydney until March 7 then visit Connie’s best friend in Melbourne. We will fly back home on March 11.
Our plan was to visit a few historic sites today. On the ship, we attended several lectures about Australia history by Jill, a writer of 102 children books. We learned that modern Australia was first built by convicts from Britain. We visited the mint and the Barracks Museum, all built by convicts. Some of the convicts were sentenced to 7 years exile at age of 11-12 for stealing someone’s hat or chicken. It was pretty harsh punishment. We also visited the parliament of New South Wale (a state or province). Most westernized countries have open door government buildings. We like to visit them when we have a chance. It just reminds us how a free society, open government would be like. We also like to see churches on trips. We visited St. Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney. Then it was time for lunch. We decided to go back to Taste of Shanghai again to have fried pork buns, rice cake and dale cake. It was a yummy lunch. After lunch, we paid a visit to Anzac War Memorial and the Museum of Sydney.
Crystal Serenity is leaving Sydney today. On the way to the Opera House, we took a few pictures of the ship to say goodbye. We picked the world cruise on Serenity based on an article from USA Today. However, after a 40-days journey with the ship, we felt a special connection with Crystal Serenity. There were more than 800 passengers on the ship - 327 of them were on the world cruise. Only 40 of them were first-time Crystal cruisers like us. We were considered young among the passengers - the average age on board seemed to be about 70 or higher. Many of them had been on a cruise many many times and some of them knew each other from previous cruises. We definitely felt strange or different among them at first, but by the end, we felt we had become one of them. We started to know some of them, having dinner together and touring together. We also promised to have dinner with a couple from Scottsdale together at their in-law’s restaurant when we got back to Phoenix. The passengers on board were easy to interact with and eager to share their stories about world travel. The crew on ship were also very friendly and helpful and after 40 days, got to know them more closely. We were disappointed to say goodbye to them prematurely. We liked the social aspect of the cruise but wish the population was younger.
Serenity is leaving Sydney Bay
Tonight, we watched Opera Carmen in the Opera House. The opera was Carmen in a modern setting. The tickets were not cheap, $170 each on the second floor but it was worth it.
Our World Cruise Ended Today - 2020年环球之旅半路终止
March 3, 2020 - Unfortunately, our 89 days world cruise is ended today, 49 days shorter than planned. The Crystal Cruise has ……
Unfortunately, our 89 days world cruise is ended today, 49 days shorter than planned. The Crystal Cruise has decided to cancel all port calls to Asia, adding a few more port calls in Australia and more sea days in Java Sea. They also offered us an option to end the world cruise in Sydney. They will refund all unused nights plus provide some credits for future cruise and $500 each person for travel assistance. We decided to take the offer and get off in Sydney to spend some time in Australia and then go home. Putting all of our stuff back into six suitcases was a stressful process but we finished in a couple days. We booked four nights at the Four Seasons Hotel not too far away from the cruise terminal via our travel agent. Because we booked through our Virtuoso travel agent, we got extra amenities like free breakfast, $100 credit, and a free upgrade. This is the first time we have booked hotels via a travel agent. We may consider this option more in the future travel.
Room Number of The Cabin We Stayed During the Partial World Cruise
LAST DAY - March 3, 2020
So today is the disembarkment day for us. We left the ship at 9:45 AM and were picked up by a private car. Four Seasons Hotel is a 5 mins walking distance away from the terminal but it took 10 mins to drive over there due to street traffic in Sydney. We were allowed to check in earlier and placed in a room with a partial harbor view. The room was nice. After settling down in the hotel, we headed out for sightseeing. We had Fish and Chips at the Rocks Café on the rocks first. Then we walked over the Sydney Bridge to Kirribilli. We saw Luna Park from outside and strolled along the coast line. We passed by Admiralty House and the Lady Gowrie Lookout. Then we got on a ferry nearby to get back to the hotel. Our credit card didn’t work for us at the Kirribilli Ferry Terminal but the workers were very nice and let us get on and off the ferry without tickets.
We visited the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. It is a beautiful garden and well maintained. We met Connie’s friend at the train station and took an Uber to a Shanghainese Restaurant, Taste of Shanghai. We had so many Shanghai cuisine dishes, like fried pork bun, smoked fish, etc. After dinner, we walked back to the hotel. The streets in Sydney are busy at night. There were a lot of tourists and locals. We really enjoyed a full day in Sydney.
COVID-19/Going home - 新冠肺炎
Feb 28-March 2, 2020 (Day 38-41) - The COVID-19 epidemic is out of control as no one can predict. The confirmed cases were ……
Day 38-40 (Feb 28-March 1)
The COVID-19 epidemic is out of control as no one can predict. The confirmed cases were popping up everywhere around the world, especially in Singapore and Italy. One day we were told the Serenity would cancel the port call to Singapore and next day they canceled all port calls to Asia. The cruise revised the itinerary after Sydney to add more ports in Australia and more sea days from Sydney to Mumbai. Crystal Cruise also offered us an option to end the world cruise in Sydney. We took the offer and decided to get off in Sydney. As the COVID-19 epidemic is continuing to develop, it was hard to picture the ship safely docking in Mumbai or Rome. As today, Australia looks like a safest place to get off and go home from there.
Day 41– (March 2)
The ship anchored in Sydney not too far away from the Opera House in the morning. The immigration inspection process was a no-event process but took a little longer than expected. Again no one stamped our passports. Because we were expecting many port visits during this trip, we actually renewed our passports and asked for the 52-pages version to add more pages for all the entry and exit stamps. Funny enough though, we haven’t had a single immigration stamp. In a port in New Zealand, you could pay $2 to get a stamp on the passport.
Sydney in the morning
We went on a tour of “Blue Mountain Adventure”. The Blue Mountain is a mountain that may look blue from a distance. It is not too far away from Sydney. The tour took us to a wildlife zoo first and then we had lunch in a historic hotel in the blue mountain. After lunch we went on a scenic tour around the mountain including a steep train ride down to the valley, 30 mins walking and a cable car riding up. It had spectacular views but the tour was just long enough for everyone to take a few pictures then leave. Today was hot, close to 100 F. After lunch, the bus driver told us the AC unit on the bus was not working and he already asked for a new bus. Fortunately, the scenery tour would take about an hour, enough for the new bus to pick up us. Because of the late start of the tour, we got a 20% refund from the cruise line.
Blue Mountain
The ship relocated from the anchored site to Oversea terminal tonight. We took some pictures of Opera House from the ship.
Opera House
Milford Sound - 米尔福德峡湾
Feb 27, 2020 (Day 37) - s the captain expected, the ship was rocking and rolling last night. A big storm hit the ship really hard……
Day 37 - Feb 27
As the captain expected, the ship was rocking and rolling last night. A big storm hit the ship really hard. We could hear water running as the boat swept back and forth. We were woken up several times as waves hit the boat. It was the worse experience at sea we ever had. In the morning, we decided not to go up to the Marketplace at Deck 12 for breakfast. Instead, we went down to the Bistro at Deck 6 in midship to eat something. We felt a little bit better at Deck 6.
As we approached Doubtful Sound and Dusky Sound in the morning, the weather turned for worse. The Serenity skipped both sounds (a narrow water passage between land) and went directly to Milford Sound in hope that the weather would be better. At 1:30 pm, the park ranger was on board and gave a presentation on Milford Sound. In the afternoon, the sea started to calm down and the rain stopped. At the end of the scenic cruising, even the sun tried to break out. Milford Sound was beautiful. Water was rushing down on both side of the sound. We never saw so many waterfalls in one place. That is definitely one of the highlights in this trip.
At Dunedin, NZ - 新西兰达尼丁
Feb 26, 2020 (Day 36) - We anchored at Port Chalmers, ten miles away from Dunedin. This time we did separate shore excursions for ……
Day 36– Feb 26
We anchored at Port Chalmers, ten miles away from Dunedin. This time we did separate shore excursions for the first time on this trip. Chenggang went hiking and Connie did Dunedin Architectural highlights. The hike took him to Mount Cargill Summit. It was not a hard hiking but it was pleasant.
The architecture tour took her to see buildings around two. The train depot building was the best. After both tours, we went out to town together again and had fish and chips for lunch instead of eating on the boat. We strolled around town and took a lot of pictures of various buildings. The weather was perfect. We had a starter, Fish Liver from Umi Uma.
The next few days we would sail cross the Tasman Sea. The captain spoke on the PA today. There were four major storms emerging in the sea. He expected 10-15 meter high waves in Tasman Sea. He said no mariner would cross it under such sea condition and decided to skip Port Hobart and going directly to Sydney. We would have an extra port day in Sydney. Tomorrow we plan to do a scenic cruise in Doubtful, Milford and Dusky Sound in New Zealand.
As we were leaving the harbor, we passed by an Albatross colony at the outlet, the largest one in New Zealand. We took some pictures with long lens and enjoyed nice weather for the moment.
At Akaroa, NZ - 新西兰阿卡罗阿
Feb 25, 2020 (Day 35) - Akaroa is a small town on Banks Peninsula in the Canterbury region of the South Island of New Zealand, not ……
Day 35 – Feb 25
Akaroa is a small town on Banks Peninsula in the Canterbury region of the South Island of New Zealand, not too far away from Christchurch. Since Christchurch was damaged by a 2011 earthquake, all cruise ships have been anchoring in Akaroa. We didn’t go to Christchurch and instead picked a tour of “high country adventure”, which we were attracted to because it seemed more adventurous. It was 2.5 hours driving to Springfield, a small town not too away from Christchurch. It was longer than everyone on the bus expected. Plus the driver went to a wrong place. The tour has two main parts, off-road drive and jet boat ride. The jet boat ride was fast and exciting. The speed can go up to 50 miles per hour. The driver did several 360 degree turns. We recorded the journey with our action camera. The tour ended in nine hours.
At Akaroa
Picton, NZ - 新西兰皮克顿
Feb 24, 2020 (Day 34 ) - Picton is a town in the South Island, not too far away from Wellington. In order not to damage the coral reef,….
Day 34 – Feb 24
Picton is a town in the South Island, not too far away from Wellington. In order not to damage the coral reef, the sailing speed of all ships was limited. We arrived at Picton in the morning and signed up for kayaking again. The weather was very nice. We kayaked about 5 km in 2 hours in Queen Charlotte Sound. We saw two stingrays pass by our boat. Kayaking was very satisfying. We had great time on the water.
After the tour, we went back to the town for a quick walk. We had a Hokey Pokey ice cream, a New Zealand favorite.
Logs are stacked up in the port because the import to China is stalled.
