Yeovil and Portsmouth, England

Well, that was a whirlwind trip to England! I left Phoenix on Saturday night and arrived back in Phoenix on Friday evening. I stayed in three different cities and drove (was driven) around most of the southern coast of England.

I was traveling for business , so unfortunately I didn’t get to do much sightseeing or exploring. Although I did get to fly business class on my way there and back, so that was pretty amazing. Plenty of legroom, seats that recline into beds, better food than coach plus free drinks…awesome!

Anyway, I spent the first two nights of my trip in Yeovil. The hotel wasn’t very close to anything and I was too jetlagged to figure out the bus route or find a cab, so I pretty much just stayed around the hotel after work. I did see some cows…

The next two days we stayed in Portsmouth. Luckily there was a lot more to do there, so I finally got a chance to get out of the hotel. Unfortunately, I didn’t leave work until after 5 p.m. each day, so I didn’t have much free time to explore. However, I finally got some free time after work on Wednesday, so I decided to walk around and do some sightseeing. We were staying near the Royal Garrison Church, so that was my first stop. It was closed by the time I got there, but I still stopped to take a few pictures. It was originally part of a hospital founded in 1212 by the bishop of Winchester. The nave was badly damaged during a fire raid in 1941, but the chancel remains roofed and furnished.

From there I followed the sea wall/walk that runs along the coast of Portsmouth. It was a great walking trail and it eventually lead me through Clarence Pier to the rocky shore.

I ended up walking around that for a couple of miles because I was determined to see Southsea Castle. I mean, you have to see at least one castle while you are in England, right? Of course it was closed by the time I got there, but I was able to get a peek through the gates and take a couple pictures.

If I had been there earlier, there’s also the D-Day Museum and an aquarium nearby. I did get to see the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.  It was built to commemorate the members of the Royal Navy whose lives were lost at sea (and therefore have no known grave) during WWI and WWII.

I loved the lion and unicorn statues that were guarding the entrances. Someday I’m going to buy a big house and put cement statues out front…I’m sure my neighbors and HOA will LOVE that...

I spent my last day at the Wattisham Airfield and at our hotel in Ipswich, but I don’t have any pictures of those places =(

Although I didn’t get to do much sightseeing, I did get to do a lot of eating. Hooray for a generous business travel per diem! I think my favorite meal was the lamb lollipops at Jamie’s Italian in Portsmouth. My favorite dessert was the banana toffee crumble tart with honey and fig ice cream at the Yeovil Court Hotel and Restaurant. I also had an amazing parma ham, fresh mozzarella and pesto baguette sandwich there.

Even though it was a quick trip I still had a great time and I’m happy I had the opportunity to visit England again. Hopefully I’ll get to make another trip there within the next few years.  

Travel Tuesday: Kenai Fjords National Park

Today I’m taking you all along on a boat tour to see glaciers and wildlife in Kenai Fjords National Park!
 
Honestly, my only request for this trip to Alaska was to see a glacier. I promised I wouldn’t complain about spending my entire vacation fishing if I got to see a glacier. This cruise was our solution, so Thursday morning we made the two-hour drive to Seward to catch our Kenai Fjords National Park cruise. 

We chose the 7 ½ hour tour from Major Marine Tours. We ended up booking through Alaska Tour & Travel because they offer a deal that includes the all-you-can-eat salmon and prime rib lunch (normally an additional $19/person). The tour was really well organized and we also really enjoyed the food. Next time we’d probably only take the 6-hour tour because my boyfriend was getting pretty antsy by the end of the tour. That might be a better option if you are taking little kids too. Although, we had some kids on our boat and they seemed to really enjoy it…probably because we saw so many animals. Anyway… 

While we were walking along the dock my boyfriend spotted a jellyfish. It was just floating in one of the empty boat slips. It was the first wildlife we’d seen on our trip (not including salmon), so we thought it was pretty cool. 

Once we boarded the boat, we found our seats inside the cabin (Major Marine assigns everyone seats/tables inside the upper and lower cabins). We decided we’d rather sit outside while the weather was nice, so we grabbed one of the seats on the back deck (the seats outside are first come, first serve). I’m glad we decided to sit outside because right as we were pulling out of the harbor we saw a couple sea otters. So cute! 

Not long into the trip, I saw my first glacier! Actually, three glaciers – from left to right: Prospect, Spoon, and Porcupine glaciers! These glaciers are called alpine glaciers and they don’t extend to the valley or water’s edge like the ones we’ll see later. 

A few minutes later we saw a pair of humpback whales! I’d never seen a whale before, so I was pretty excited. We also saw some fin whales later on the tour!

Eventually we made our way into Aialik Bay to eat lunch and see Holgate Glacier.  

The captain turned off the engines while we were stopped in front of the glacier so we could hear the ice cracking and breaking off (called calving). It sounded like loud thunder. We saw a few chunks break off while we were there and I got some great action shots.  

While we were stopped, the crew pulled up a chunk of glacier that was floating in the water and made margaritas out of it! Of course I had to try one =)
 
Our next stop was Aialik Glacier, which is a tidewater glacier like Holgate Glacier. 

It’s always hard to tell how large something actually is in pictures, so I’ve circled a tour boat in the picture below. You can barely see it, but it’s a great way to show scale in this picture and show you how large this glacier actually is.  

Nearby we saw a large group of seals lounging on some ice chunks. We also saw a mama sea otter swimming her baby around on her stomach! It was definitely a great day for viewing wildlife!  

As we travelled out of Aialik Bay we saw a smack of jellyfish in the water. There were thousands of them in the water! 

We also had a couple Dall’s porpoises approach our boat. I’d never seen or heard of them before, but they kind of look like small killer whales. They were really cool and it was fun watching them play in the boat’s wake. 

And finally our last stop, the Chiswell Islands, is home to puffins and stellar sea lions! Now, I’m going to be completely honest and tell you that I don’t like birds (actually I’m kind of scared of them), but I love puffins! I think they are the cutest little things! The park ranger told us that sometimes puffins will eat so much food that they aren’t able to fly! We actually saw a couple struggling to get into the air. How can you not like little fatty birds?!

And on another island, a group of stellar sea lions were busy sunbathing on the rocks.  

Except for this guy – he’s king of the rock and had to keep an eye on things while everyone else rested.  

After we finished watching the sea lions, we headed back to the harbor (we did see more whales on the way) and then drove back to Soldotna. It was a long day, but it was a great way to see another part of Alaska and see some amazing wildlife!

Travel Tuesday: Salmon Fishing in Alaska

Today we’re talking about my favorite part of our trip – fishing! Now for those of you who know me, you might be a bit surprised because I’m not really known for being an outdoorsy person. I go fishing with my boyfriend every once in awhile (he goes pretty much every weekend), but I’m not a huge fan of fishing or any other outdoor activity and I hate camping (I’d rather sleep in my own bed thankyouverymuch). But I do like exploring new places and trying new things, so I jumped at the chance to spend a week fishing in Alaska. And you know what? I had a great time!  

We arrived in Alaska late Monday night and then drove to the small city of Soldotna the following morning (read more here). Later that day we met up with our friends and we joined the rest of our group at the river. I’m so thankful we knew someone who had been there before. They showed us a great spot to fish that we would have never found on our own. It was down a couple dirt roads and then a mile or so hike to the perfect spot on the river. Otherwise, I think we would have had to hire a guide. 

We fished until late Tuesday night – most of these pictures were taken around 10 p.m. I ended up catching my limit (3 sockeye per person per day) plus one pink salmon! I caught more than my boyfriend…and yes, I rubbed it in a bit =)

The following day we tried another spot on the river, but it was really crowded. We had to wait for another group to catch their limit before there was enough room for the four of us. I didn’t catch anything in that spot, so I was glad we didn’t go back there. 

But my boyfriend caught one of the biggest fish of the trip there, so he wasn’t complaining. 

Later that night we tried another spot close to where we fished the previous day. The water seemed way colder in that spot and my legs were freezing by the end of the night (even with the waders and 2 pairs of leggings). I didn’t catch anything there either. That’s what I get for bragging the day before…

Thursday we had reservations for the Kenai Fjords National Park cruise, so we didn’t do any fishing that day. I’ll share all of the cruise details next week. Anyway, Friday morning was our last chance to fish so we went back to our original spot. I caught four sockeye salmon, but one got away like two feet before I could get it on shore. That was kind of a bummer, but I’m still telling everyone I caught eight fish on our trip…close enough. Everyone else caught their limit too, so it was a very successful morning and a great way to end the trip (despite the rain). 

By now I’m sure you’re wondering what we did with all that salmon we caught…
 
After we finished fishing each day we cleaned and filleted the fish by the river. Although, I didn’t do any of the filleting because a couple people in our group were way more experienced (don’t want to waste any meat). Then we bagged up the fillets and took it to the processor. They cut it into meal size portions and then vacuum sealed and froze it for us. They also held the fish for us and packed it for travel.

We ended up bringing home 45 pounds of salmon! Two shelves in our freezer are now packed with fish. We’ve already cooked up a couple portions and it’s delicious. Definitely a lot fresher and more firm than store-bought salmon! 

Long story short – I’d definitely recommend salmon fishing in Alaska even if you aren’t outdoorsy! And we're going to be eating salmon every week for the foreseeable future!

Travel Tuesday: Alaska

I’m back from Alaska and I’m exhausted! We had an amazing time, but it was definitely the most physically demanding vacation I’ve ever been on. There was a lot of hiking whilst wearing heavy, uncomfortable waders and sore shoulders from fly fishing for hours, but it was all worth it. I’m still sorting and editing pictures from our trip, so today I’m only going to share the first couple days, including our drive from Anchorage to Soldotna. Next week I’ll share all of our fishing stories and pictures and the following week will be all about our Kenai Fjords National Park boat tour. 

OK, let’s recap:
 
We landed in Anchorage around 9 p.m. Monday night. It was almost 10 p.m. by the time we picked up our luggage and rental car and made it out of the airport…and it was still light outside! We knew it would be, but it was still really strange. It completely messed up my internal clock during our trip and I never seemed to know what time of the day it was. We checked into our hotel and turned in for the night. We were tired from traveling and my right ear never fully popped during our flight so I was pretty uncomfortable. Luckily it felt better in the morning and popped during my shower.
 
The following morning we checked out of the hotel and went to Cabela’s to buy some fishing gear. We had bought waders ahead of time and we already had fishing reels, so we really only had to buy fishing poles, flies, and our fishing licenses. Once we had everything we grabbed breakfast and drove out of town. 

We headed towards Soldotna, where we would be staying for the remainder of our trip. It’s a small city along the Kenai River and is a popular spot for salmon fishing. It’s about a three hour drive from Anchorage. I have to say that it has to be one of the prettiest drives I’ve ever been on. The first part of the drive is along the coast with the bay on one side and mountains and trees on the other side.

The rest of the trip is through the mountains, surrounded by trees and rivers. We stopped at one point to walk down to the river to take some pictures and stretch our legs. Alaska really is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been.

We arrived in Soldotna in the early afternoon and explored the town a bit. We also went to check out one of the lakes in the area, but never ended up fishing there. Trout just didn’t seem that exciting to catch once we started fishing for salmon. 

We ended up fishing that night and Wednesday night/morning. Thursday we drove to Seward to take a boat tour of Kenai Fjords National Park. Friday was our last day in Alaska so we fished in the morning than drove back to Anchorage in the evening for our 2 a.m. Saturday morning flight (ugh). Anyway, I’ll be sharing more details over the next couple weeks.
 
Before I wrap up this post, I do want to talk about a couple of my favorite meals while in Alaska. For dinner Wednesday night I had a caribou burger and it was delicious! The following night I had a reindeer sausage chili cheese dog. That was also delicious. Neither was gamey at all. I ordered both of them at Buckets Sports Grill, so if you are ever in Soldotna, I recommend trying at least one of those dishes.  

Next Week: Fishing for salmon in Alaska!

Exploring AZ: Tombstone

If you’ve been following my blog for awhile, you know that I love to travel. Two years ago my parents and I went to New Orleans, last year my mom and I spent two weeks in London and Paris, and in July my boyfriend and I are going to Alaska (I can’t wait!). I would love to travel more, but I only get two weeks of vacation from work a year plus I’m not made of money...which brings me to my new series: Exploring AZ!  

Sometimes I forget that I don’t need to take a full week off of work or spend thousands of dollars to travel. There are so many great places in Arizona that I’ve never seen and I want to start enjoying more of what the state has to offer. Today’s post is more of a weekend getaway, but I also want to include day trips and attractions around the Phoenix area. Hopefully you’ll enjoy seeing more of my home state. Or for those of you who live in AZ (or plan to visit), maybe it’ll give you some ideas.
 
OK, so I’m kicking off the series with a trip to Tombstone!  

I’m sure you all know about Wyatt Earp and the Gunfight at O.K. Corral…or you’ve at least seen one of the many movies based on the events (Gunfight at the O.K. Corral/Tombstone/Wyatt Earp). Actually, I’m pretty sure I only got my boyfriend to go with me because Wyatt Earp is one of his favorite movies…although he prefers Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday (Tombstone).
 
Anyway, Tombstone is about three hours southeast of us, so we decided to make a weekend of it. We headed down to Tucson Friday night after work (it’s about a two-hour drive). While in town we had to try a famous Sonoran hot dog (as seen on Man vs. Food). It was good, but not great. I don’t understand the hype. 

The following morning we headed to our first stop of the day: Kartchner Caverns.

Kartchner Caverns is a “living” cave (living means the cave is still active and formations are still growing). Because the caves are still active, tour groups are limited in size and nothing is allowed in the caverns…which is why I don’t have any personal pictures from inside to show you. The average temperature inside the caverns is 72 degrees and near 99 percent humidity. The caverns were pretty amazing and I really enjoyed them.  

(source)

After we finished touring the Caverns, we headed to Tombstone.  

Founded during the mining boom, silver brought wealth to the town, but lawlessness and violence brought notoriety. Once the epitome of the Wild West, Tombstone is now mostly a tourist destination.  

One of the highest-rated attractions in Tombstone is the Goodenough Mine. It’s a 45-minute walking tour through the original silver mine. We thought it was awesome! It was our favorite part of our whole trip. If you ever go to Tombstone, you must take this tour! Someday we’d like to go back and take the longer tour that takes you further into the mine.

Of course we had to watch a re-enactment of the gunfight at OK Corral while in town. They perform three times a day and it’s $10/person. 

We also toured the Bird Cage Theatre. It’s the only building in Tombstone that’s still completely original from the 1880s. It’s also supposed to be haunted and has been featured on all of the TV ghost shows. We didn’t see or hear anything, but I wouldn’t want to be there alone at night.

We spent the rest of the day exploring the town: shops, courthouse, and Boothill Graveyard.   

We had originally planned to spend the night in Tombstone, but ended up driving home Saturday night instead. Although it was a short trip, we had a great time. It was nice to get away, even if only for a couple days. 

What are your favorite places to visit in your home state?