We lifted off from the Grand Rapids airport early in the afternoon on a beautiful day. The sky was blue with just a few little white clouds along the horizon. Soon we were soaring over the coastline of West Michigan. I took a beautiful photo of the Lake Michigan shoreline. The horizon is diagonal as I wanted to get the full length of the curving shoreline that was visible from the airplane window. If you look closely at the shore you can even see several rows of sandbars all along the edge in the water.
After an hour or so in the air we landed in Minneapolis before flying on to Alaska. I found the repetitious shapes of roofline and plane windows interesting and took a photo of the sight while we were waiting for the plane to take off again.
As we flew north and west I snapped a lot of pictures out the window. The buttermilk sky below us was beautiful. It was almost as if there was an upside down view of the ocean and sky but the dark blue was really the clear sky we were flying in and the clouds were below us.
As we got further north and near Alaska the clouds became very small and far between. I could see lakes below. Some of them were smooth and reflected the clouds and sun like mirrors. Others were rippled with wind currents that made them shimmer and glitter in the sunlight. I could see little clouds above the lakes and the shadows they cast on the water below. Occasionally we flew over more dense banks of white clouds all beautiful expanding puffs of moisture in the blue sky. Since I love the color blue I could hardly stop taking pictures it was all so beautiful. Once I had just put my camera away when Don said “Oh! Look” and pointed to a small jet below us. I quick grabbed the camera and turned it on again in time to snap the shot of jet and jet trail zooming out of a big bank of clouds.
As we got closer to our destination, mountains began to appear below us. Blue and blue green and mossy green, they were jagged and still covered with snow in places. One mountain had what looked like a glacier flowing in stripes of white and blue green. At other times there were small lakes and crazy looking rivers that glinted in the sun. A spot of sunlight seemed to be following us on the ground and reflecting in the water like a silver mirror. It moved along as we moved over the ground. The sparkles progressed over the landscape as we continued towards Fairbanks.
Once we landed in Fairbanks it was a short bus ride to our hotel which was owned by Princess Cruise Lines. It was located on a river and had a lovely deck overlooking the water. We ate burgers in the little restaurant in the hotel and then relaxed on the deck for a while before turning in for the night. It was still daylight as we were near the longest day of the year and this was Alaska. It was still early in the evening Alaska time too, but at home it was probably after midnight as Alaska is one time zone further out than California and we had been up a long time.
To see all the pictures that illustrate this blog please go to my photostream at Flickr.
If you haven’t been to Flickr before, it is a huge photo sharing website with beautiful pictures from all over the world. It is free and you might have to “sign up” to get into the photos but it is easy to do and well worth it if you like photography.
Soon I will have Day Two photos edited and the journal entry edited for a blog so check back soon for the next installment.
This heat wave in Michigan makes me wish I was still in Alaska !
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