Alaska 2026: Turnagain, Again
More about what True Love looks like. For fourteen years, I have talked about a blueberry pancake I ate in Homer, and how I wanted to eat there again. I couldn’t find it. AdventureMan didn’t give up, he followed all the clues, and he found it. We packed up and as we were leaving, he suggested we stop at this place, Duncan House, for breakfast.
It was in the right location. It had the right feel. AdventureMan found the exact place, and I was able to order the exact pancake, an order known as Bear 1-1-1 because it has one piece of bacon, one egg and one bear pancake with blueberries or chocolate chips. Again, I chose blueberries.
In the Duncan House lot, a new customer drives up . . .
The four-hour trip to Anchorage was all on roads we’ve traveled before, but it didn’t lessen their impact – Alaska is full of stunning beauty. A new perspective, different weather, we see different things.
We had leftover pizza from last night’s dinner at Fat Olive’s, so we stopped along Turnagain Sound for a small picnic en route to Anchorage.
We arrived a little ahead of schedule, but our room at the Alaska House of Jade, an independent B&B, was ready for us, and our welcome was warm and gracious. It is another beautiful, clean, very quiet, and private place to stay. The hosts, Linda and Greg, keep it spotless and in good repair, and have fresh cookies ready on arrival.
Tonight is a special night. We are invited for dinner at the home of a pair of Alaskan doctors, one of whom I graduated high school with 60 years ago. (How can that be??)
We found their house easily, following their instructions. While my friend poached a fresh salmon, his wife showed us her show-stopper garden, full of a huge variety of edible berries and fruits and beautiful flowers.
with the salmon, we had special coated potatos and a Caesar salad. For dessert, his wife made persimmons in yoghurt with a sprinkle of brown sugar. The dinner was delicious, and the conversation was even better. When the evening ended, we had trouble saying goodbye; there was still too much to learn about one another’s lives. The conversation was as delicious as the dinner.
We left with three jars of Alaskan-made jam, made by our friends; we can’t wait to try them and to share them with our family.
These heroes, Bill and Jane, spent their careers in Bethel, Alaska, running a hospital treating mainly indigenous Alaskans, far from anywhere. These are people who believe in public service and have lived their beliefs, serving others.
This is a perfect photo of Mt. Denali which Bill took during one of the rare days when the mountain was not shrouded in clouds.
Alaska 2026: Wonders En Route to Homer, Alaska
We awake to a different day, warm, with fog rising off the water.
We have a sweet farewell breakfast up at Northern Lights B&B (Sarah manages several allied B&Bs in the same area as Front Row B&B) with Sarah, and we pack up for our short drive to Homer.
We have a couple of errands to run as we leave town, and AdventureMan indulges me, I want a photo of the big new cruise ship that has arrived in Seward.
Seward is tourist-friendly, with its train terminal, trolley, good restaurants, and lots and lots to do and see. They recently built a much larger dock, with which to welcome much larger cruise ships. It has caused some controversy, as when a big ships come in, the tourists outnumber Seward residents. Just after we left, the Celebrity Millenium arrived, and sadly, an endangered whale was caught in her propeller, and died, stuck there. Seward loves their whales, visible from most homes and businesses lining the channel. It’s a sad circumstance.
We also need to stop on our way out of town at the Safeway; my lips are dry and I’ve used all my Vaseline. My pens are all leaking on my hands, my purse, ruining anything I write by hand, so I need to pick up some pens I can leave behind. And the local grocery stores are just fun.
Driving past the entrance to Exit Glacier, we get back on Alaska 1S to Homer, spotting elk along the highway and fervent fishermen heading to the salmon-rich rivers and through Cooper Landing and Soldotna.
Heading south from Soldotna, we start to see the far-off beginnings of the volcanic mountains heading down a long chain to form the Aleutian Islands. The day is sunny, and the view is stunning. Every new perfect snow-clad mountain is showing off for us on this gorgeous day.
We keep trying to find a good spot to stop and take a photo – the frustration of trying to capture the wonder of a chain of perfect mountains is a challenge. AdventureMan spots a Russian Chapel and says “Let’s try here!”
We drive down to a church, an onion-domed chapel, and a much larger church overlooking an old village. As I walk out to a vantage point, another group drives up in a van, from one of the cruise ships, to have a picnic on the church grounds. We stroll around, loving the old cemetary surrounding the old Russian church, and the new military veterans cemetary under creation. We’re not that far from Homer, so we head on, gassing up in the roadside version of Ninilchik, at one of the Three Bears (Shell gas) stops we see so often selling gas, groceries, and the variety of items people living in relative isolation might need.
As we come into Homer, still a little early for our hotel, we spot Fat Olive’s. We’ve never eaten at Fat Olives, but we’ve tried, and it has been too full too many times. This time, we are in luck. We are eager for some Tomato Basil Soup. I have something called The Trio, and AdventureMan has the meatball pan, sizzling hot out of the oven. It’s all served with more sourdough bread, so much food that as good as it is, we pack up enough to take with us for dinner.
Welcome to the Ocean House Inn; we can’t get out of the car because there is a moose crossing the parking lot to get to the roses.
The Ocean House Inn is on a bluff, high above the water, looking out at the Homer Spit.
It is small, and beautiful. We love our room, which has a small refrigerator, microwave, and a coffee maker, with some cups and utensils – enough that we can work with. Life is sweet.
We settle in, sit outside on our deck, enjoying not-driving. The sun is shining – this is something to celebrate in Alaska. The mountains across Katchemak Bay are gleaming. We have neighbors, but they are all very quiet.
On our way into town, we got a call from the people we are going on a bay Wilderness Game tour the next day, asking if we would like to be moved to an afternoon tour, they have room. Oh no, we respond, we prefer the mornings. “Uh, OK,” they say. I can worry about anything; I am a little worried the boat is overloaded or something.
We take a quick drive to 2 Sisters Bakery, only to find it closed about ten minutes before we got there, and we hit the local Safeway to pick up some milk and granola. The Homer Safeway is a happening place on a Friday afternoon, and lots of fun.
So late Friday night that it is actually two Saturday morning, I get up to check if I can see the aurora borealis; reports say with sun activity, the borealis should be very active. Alas, at two in the morning, it is not dark, just a glimmery grey and no aurora borealis is to be seen.
You can still see the bay and the mountains. No aurora borealis.
Alaska 2026: Hot Times in Seward, Alaska
When we opened our blackout blind (Alaskan summer days are very long, and it stays bright until around midnight. The dark doesn’t last long, and it is light again by 4 am.) we couldnt believe our eyes. It’s our free day – we can do anything! We have nothing scheduled! We slept with the window open last night – it was a hot night, but the open window kept us comfortable.
We walk to another nearby B&B for breakfast; they operate cooperatively under the same management. We met Sarah, our hostess, and once we all started talking, we couldn’t stop. We had so many interests in common! We talked about Athabaskan culture and language, we talked about the importance of friend groups for managing life’s joy and crises, we talked about the love of adventure, and taking calculated risks – we could have gone on and on; it’s wonderful when you connect.
She fixed AdventureMan eggs exactly as he likes them, and thin pork sausage patties. She brought out all the ingredients for home-made meusli, exactly as I make it with oats and nuts and seeds and fruits, so I could watch my blood sugar. She took really good care of us, all the while able to converse non-stop. She was amazing.
We have a map and we want to find the big anchor in front of the Seward Harbormaster’s office; it’s a hike, but we are up to it. As we walk along the lovely smooth waterfront path, I see something I find astounding and wonderful. All along the waterfront are parks – and camping spots. Some areas provide porta-potties, some more permanent restrooms. This is prime waterfront property, and the city has chosen to make it accessible to people who want to visit Seward. Not just a little – a lot of waterfront space devoted to campers.
I also love all the public art in Seward, starting just in front of our B&B with statues honoring original founders and participants of the annual Iditerod race. Seward has several kennels that provide opportunities for vistors to get to know the dogs and their training in pulling sleds across a variety of terrains.
Another thing I love is the sound of seaplanes coming and going. It was a part of my growing up in Alaska, across from a seaplane airport/hanger, and watching the seaplanes taking off and landing from the windows of our home. I haven’t heard the sound for years. and I find it very comforting.
Seward Main Street
Seward’s Pride crosswalk.
The old train station, now a cafe and restaurant with a fabulous view.
Seward also provides a free shuttle, circling to main stops in the community. We want to get to the Alaska Sealife Center, so we hop on the shuttle.
The driver was a man from Utah who was truly impressive as he asked each entering passenger their destination, and once we reached the train depot, also would stop and get out of the bus to load and unload baggage. He had a positive attitude, and was gracious, kind and patient with everyone. Two of the passengers were Native American; they wanted to be let off at the Chamber of Commerce stop which was adjacent the local Safeway. (The Safeway also has a Starbucks.)
The train station was chaos! A hundred people were trying to get their baggage checked for the evening departure. Arriving passengers were seeking their rides to their hotels. Those without pickups got on the bus to be dropped off near their hotels.
Three girls from Mexico got on and sat near us; they were in Seward to catch a Royal Caribbean cruise and wanted to know what to see while in Seward. We told them they were staying in a wonderful area for walking, shopping and to visit the Alaska Sealife Center – where we were getting off!
The shuttle bus let us off at the Alaska Sealife Center, where the 2 Seward girls at the desk gave AdventureMan a double discount for being military and for being a senior, and gave us directions to get us to the Highline for lunch.
We headed upstairs, starting with the outdoor collection of puffins, gulls, and all kinds of seabirds with a rockery and a huge pond, doing what seabirds do. One puffin took a liking to me, coming closer and closer. We later watched them from underneath windows as they dove and swam at amazing speeds through the water.
The next stop was the sea lions, looking like enormous golden sea slugs, but very fast sea slugs, whirling round and round their huge enclosure.
We found a fabulous display of sea terms of measurement, about half of which I knew and several I’d never heard of but was glad to know existed for measuring and accuracy.
We were so impressed with the young people who served as guides to all the dazzling exhibits of sea creatures. They were delightfully nerdy (as a nerd, I use this word with intentional honor) in their knowledge of the most minute details of the creatures they tended, and delighted in sharing their appreciation and wonder for all sea life.
We found another area with sea lions, (or maybe they got to go to this other area for feeding time) and watched for a while as they horsed around (can sea lions horse around? Yes! They can!)
After a thorough tour, we were ready for lunch and walked to the Highline, recommended by both our VRBO host/manager, Sarah, and the local girls at the Sealife Center. There we split a smoked salmon spread with sourdough bread, and a halibut sandwich.
We’d walked several miles by this point, so we walked a little more, back to our beautiful Bear’s Den on the waterfront, and we grabbed a short nap and then headed out to hike to the Exit Glacier, just 8 miles out of Seward.
Exit Glacier has . . . exited. It is in retreat. We walked to the closest viewpoint, but the glacier was too far away, so we walked further and we could see it – divided into two sections now, and continuing to recede. It was a great time to be there, late in the day, all the tour buses loaded and gone. We weren’t alone, but few were on the hiking trails.
One family asked us, as we were returning to our car, if we had seen bear. We told them no, but to keep talking to one another, and if any bear were around, they would wander away.
We had an agenda for dinner. We are heading out on an all day wildlife and fishing expedition tomorrow, and we need snacks and sandwiches. Sarah had recommended Primrose Provisions, a repurposed railway depot, so we stopped there for dinner and to get provisions – but they were sold out of sandwiches.
Did I mention the sun was shining in Seward? It was in the high 70’s F., and people were sporting sunburns? We sat on the porch, drinking good wine, waiting for our dinner to come – an Alaska charcuterie board. It was lovely, with smoked salmon, smoked cod, two spreads, sourdough and strawberries. Beautiful to look at and delicious.
We had only a short walk back to our Front Row B&B, through the small park honoring Iditerod race creators and supporters, celebrating the Seward connection. We need to think about our clothing and day pack for our sea excursion. I needed to make sure I had my fishing license with me!
This was our route for today – the big red dot is the Alaska Sea Life Museum.
Alaska 2026: Denali to Seward, Not That Bad
Our day was off to an inauspicious start; AdventureMan slept poorly last night, and thus, so did I. I also had some concern because I had been without internet and had received no information about how to get into our Seward VRBO. And I wondered if having scheduled a 6 hour driving day was such a wise idea, maybe I stop half way? Once that chain of anxiety gets started, it’s hard to bring it back down.
I was up early and noticed it was a truly glorious day, even better than the day before, not a cloud in the sky. Was it possible we would see Mt. Denali in all its glory before leaving the area? And then AdventureMan woke up and was optimistic about being able to drive all the way, with a stop for lunch in Anchorage. Life started looking a lot better.
Within minutes on the road we were exhilarated. Every mountain was showing off peaks against a deep blue sky. The air was fresh, but not cold. There were few cars on the road. We got to the viewpoint for the north face of Mt. Denali and – there it was! We entered a nearly empty parking lot, but by the time we left, it was like a big party, more and more cars arriving and everyone is excited – the mountain is out! We get to see Mt. Denali!
A Swedish woman saw us doing selfies with Denali and offered to take a photo, then said, “No, that is not good with the fence behind you,” and moved us to another place.
The end of winter in any state our country with snow and ice means the inevitable road work. In Alaska, whole roads can wash out from the winter snow melts.
The second viewpoint was even more crowded – everyone celebrating this great surprising day, after weeks of rain and an extended winter, people were feeling optimistic again. You could even see Mt. Denali from Anchorage.
It was a long day. We stopped along the way at a Veterans Memorial Park to read about Alaskan veterans who had fallen in various conflicts. We stopped for gas. We stopped and took photos, anything to stretch our legs, get in a few steps and break the drive.
We had thought we would have lunch in Anchorage, but as we turned south onto Alaska 1 South, it was all industrial, with a scattering of fast-food places we didn’t want. Then we hit Turnagain Sound, and our hunger disappeared in our wonder at the snow-clad mountains, the long flat inlet and the hope of spotting whales – the scenery was spectacular.
Life is funny. We had thought this would be a hard day, a six-hour drive. We had dreaded it. To our amazement, we are loving this day, full of sunlight on snowy white mountains, a gasp as we make a turn and see another breathtaking sight.
We finally went into Girdwood, a really fun hippy-era town with a lot of highly individualistic inhabitants. AdventureMan spotted a restaurant with a great name, Base Camp, and we decided to check it out.
This is not my photo. I cribbed it from Google. It captures the amasingness of this place.
We hadn’t expected much. It was 2:00 pm and we were starving and just about any place would do. As it turned out, this place was a great find. It was like a big diner, with a wonderful menu, including a halibut main course that came with half a plateful of stir-fried vegetables. I also had a blueberry ale, and it tasted like blueberries! You can see it in the top photo, below.
We were so happy when our plates arrived – full of vegetables. And not soggy, tasteless vegetables, but vegetables that taste so good that you are happy to be eating them! The halibut tasted fresh, and was cooked exactly right.
Everything was delicious, and just what we needed to revive our spirits for the remaining hour and a half of our trip. And we received a text with our instructions for our B&B!
We drove into Seward, carefully following the instructions to our B&B, turned into a house facing a waterfront park, just steps from the historic part of downtown Seward. We held our breath as we entered – and discovered it was all that we hoped for – and more. We looked directly out on a small waterfront park, and beyond that – Seward Bay and and the sunlit snowy mountains beyond. It was stunningly beautiful. The unit was clean and had a full kitchen, heat and hot water, storage, AND fresh orange juice, a basket of blueberry scones, and another basket of fruit awaiting us.
We also learned there was a shared space above us, with a huge, fully supplied kitchen, a living room from which we could watch for whales in the bay, coffee makers and even an entire drawer full of tea bags. After this long drive, we felt we had arrived into our own personal paradise.
We napped. We needed it.
Then we walked up to the main street, passing an old train station, now a restaurant and cafe, and found a wonderful restaurant where we had two of the most delicious salads, ever. Mine was a blueberry quinoa salad, with crispy quinoa, lots of pecans, and lots of blueberries on a mixed salad/spinach base, with a balsamic vinaigrette. Light, textured and delicious – my favorite kind of dinner.
The waiter was from Puerto Rico, working in Seward for the six months of the tourist season, and having a great time. We were so impressed with all the servers we met, from all different countries and states, each excited to be working in Alaska, full of adventerous spirit.
We explored downtown Seward; it reminds me of Juneau, where I grew up, and Edmonds, WA, where I have also lived. Our B&B is just like a corner in Edmonds, right on the waterfront, where traffic is negligible by nightfall.
We were so glad to settle in and get to bed, and we slept ten hours!
Alaska 2026: The Tundra Wilderness Expedition
(Maps are courtesy of the U.S. National Park Service)
We get a great night’s sleep when we fall into bed around 6 pm local time – a combination of our bodies still being on Pensacola time and the body cost of a full day’s drive following a full day’s flight to get here. We were wide awake before 6 a.m., a really good thing because we had reservations on the Denali Tundra Wilderness Tour and needed to be at the pickup point by 7:40.
Denali Park Village is just across busy Alaska Highway 3, which is not busy on a Sunday morning so we get there, get a parking place and AdventureMan asks me if we have our paper with the confirmation. No. As we left the cabin, we were busy unplugging all the heating devices – fireplace, radiator, and the coffee maker and the microwave, washing up the breakfast dishes.
No, I had left it on the table, where I had put it, so I wouldn’t forget. We got back in the car, drove back to our cabin, I ran in and got the paper, and we were back in the same parking place in five minutes, still early so we would be on time.
The lobby was packed! There must have been two hundred people there for tour pickups. The first pickup was the Denali Raft Trip. It’s 40 degrees outside, and the rivers are formed from glacial runoff. Still, a group of hardy twenty-somethings is headed out on the waters for an Alaskan adventure, and a part of me momentarily forgot I am not a twenty-something and longed to be going on that trip.
We discovered that many of the guests to be picked up were from cruise ships – the Princess Line and the Holland America Line maintain their own hotels just up the road at a busy, very tourist-oriented center with lots of shops and fast food restaurants. A group of Windstar people arrived and were being given their instructions when our tour bus drove up, stopping in front of AdventureMan and I. We got on, and sat a few rows back from the front.
AdventureMan said “This is a Blue Bird bus!” We used to see them all over Doha, old school buses with names of American schools in cities that had long since updated their buses. It was not roomy or luxurious, but it was heated and had windows that you could pull down when we spotted bear, or moose, or other game.
Our guide, Mike, was excellent. Without sounding the least bit authoritarian, he laid down some routines which would make our next few hours together more civilized – he formed us into a working team.
“If you see something,” Mike said, “Yell ‘STOP!’ and I will stop. Don’t yell ‘BEAR!’ or anything else, just yell “STOP.” Then he explained about the clock system of pointing out a location, like twelve is the front of the bus and three is 90 degrees to the right, etc.
“And even if it turns out to be just a log in the field and you think it’s a bear, yell STOP! Don’t be embarrassed if it’s just a big rock or something, that just happens. If we all work at spotting, we’ll have a great day.”
And he was right. The people on the bus went up and down, and we spotted. It was a grand day.
I probably should tell you that it was a cloudy day, and then we had some heavy showers, and then we had an hour or so of snow. Truly! And between all that, we had some great game sighting, and heard some wonderful stories of the founding of Denali Park, and even had a Ranger get on the bus briefly and quote from a poem by a poet named Abby, a poem about the magical transformation we experience surrounded by the natural world. It was a lovely moment.
One of the funniest things that happened right off the top was one of the Windstar passengers talking about the hotel he had stayed in in Anchorage coming in a day before meeting up with his cruise.
“It looked good on paper,” he said. “It had all the bells and whistles, on paper,” he said. “But it was like a Motel 6 that was really a Motel 3.” I laughed along with everyone else, very happy that I was not the only one horrified by the hotel I had chosen in Anchorage.
Even before we entered the park, we saw a Mama Moose and her baby, and then another Moose. We stopped for photos for the first, but not the second, as it was on the railway tracks and Mike did not want to stop on the tracks, as there are trains arriving in Denali all the time.
Soon after, we saw Ptarmigan, the Alaska state bird, and little rabbits, and then, out sleeping in the tundra, a Mama Bear and her cub, maybe a year old. Mike had special equipment, a large camera connected to monitors throughout the bus, so even those not on the left side of the bus (us) could see the bear. We thought it was one big bear until the cub raised its head. Mike was also very patient every time we saw something, we could spend a lot of time until everyone was able to take photos, and the group worked together very politely.
Finally we reached a potty stop, with lots of potties, but thanks to Mike, we were the first bus to arrive, and even as we were walking to the potties, other buses, many many buses, began pulling up. We ran into some people we had met at the Mt. Denali North Overview, and had a delightful, if short, reunion before having to reboard our separate buses to continue our tours.
More bear. Dall Sheep. Ground squirrels, which Mike described as “Denali fast food for bears.”
I had no idea! Because tundra is a thin layer of soil atop permanently frozen soil, bear eat a lot of roots (we saw them digging furiously for roots) until berries and nuts begin to ripen. A bear will eat about 200,000 berries a day. But their most efficient protein is ground squirrel.
At the turn around point, a raven’s nest on the support of the bridge we had just crossed. We got out and stretched and walked at every opportunity – it is a long tour.
On the way back, more bear, and this time, they walked right up to the bus and alongside without seeming to be aware we were there.
And a fox! I didn’t think I had caught him; he moved so fast. It wasn’t until I uploaded my photos that I saw I had captured him:
I did tell you, didn’t I, that it was snowing once we got to the second set of bear, and the Dall’s sheep?
The raven’s nest on the bridge at Mile 43, where we turned around. The white stuff is snowflakes falling.
All in all, it was a lovely day, a great wilderness tour, and a lot of fun. We were bundled up, and we had heat in the bus, but we had so much fun we forgot it was drizzly for a short while, and then we also had snow. It was more than six hours before we got back to the drop-off point and back to our cabin. It was a long, exciting day.
Time for a nap. After a day so full of learning, exploration and the excitement of spotting different game, we needed quiet time just to soak it all in.
We had dinner at the Denali Park Village, and it was a combination of the divine and the ridiculous. I ordered the Halibut, and it was really good. It had a crisp, tasty coating, as cooked perfectly, and had a delicious sauce. It was served on a bed of wild rice, and had corn and peas with it – simple and simply delicious.
AdventureMan ordered a charcuterie platter, and when it came, his face couldn’t hide his dismay. He just laughed. His first charcuterie board ever was at the Lake Restaurant in Glacier National Park, where the server showed him which was elk, which was venison, and which was wild boar – all locally sourced and processed. Even the mustard was local, with local jams, fruits; it was an abundance of delicious flavors and textures – at the Lake Lodge. At Denali, he had expected something with Alaska specialties. Not at Denali Park Village.
What he was served on this night was the equivalent of Ritz Crackers and store bought cheddar cheese, something that approximated blue cheese and supermarket cold cuts. Worse, the meats were very fatty. It had some really nice grapes, lots of grapes.
We laugh at things others might not find funny. We laughed at that dismal charcuterie board. I shared my halibut with AdventureMan. The halibut was really good.
We had gotten chilled on the Wilderness Tour, and even with the fireplace and the radiator, we couldn’t seem to get warm enough. We took hot showers, piled on every blanket, and snuggled under them until we fell asleep. We slept wonderfully.
Alaska 2026: My Favorite Photo of the Entire Trip
We ate a quick breakfast the next morning and made some new friends. They were intrigued that we brought our own breakfast cereal, and we explained that we are trying to eat well for our health. As we went back to the lobby to check out, AdventureMan spotted something we had missed the night before, and insisted on taking my picture.
The best picture from the worst place we stayed during our entire trip:
Some things are just meant to be.
Map of Alaska 2026
AdventureMan first started talking about going back to Alaska in mid-winter. He found a very expensive, exclusive six-people tour. As a frugal Alaskan, I objected. “Let me see what I can do,” I said, “I’ll try to put together something where we can choose our own adventure, but include the places you would like to see.”
This is what we came up with:
The drawback – we did the driving ourselves, but the longest drive was six hours. We won’t do that again, but we had some wonderful breaks and was not a bad day.
There were hazards:
By the grace of God, we managed, amidst this glorious beauty, to stay on the road.
Autumn Plum Torte
We are watching the farmer’s markets for the first of the Italian plums, those elongated plums that show up around this time of the year. We are getting eager for Pflaumekuchen, or Autumn Plum Torte.
It’s really more like a pie. And I hate to tell you how easy it is to make.
This is my mother’s recipe:
Autumn Plum Torte (Pflaumekuchen)
1/4 Cup Butter
1 T Sugar
1/4 t. salt
2 eggs
1 c sifted flour
10 – 12 purple prune plums
1 c sugar
1 T Flour
Dash nutmeg and cinnamon
1/2 cup half and half
1. Cream butter and sugar, add salt and 1 egg yolk. Blend well, add 1 cup flour, mix well.
2. Press mix into bottom of greased 8” pie pan.
3. Cut plums in half or quarters; place cut side up on top of mix. It is pretty if you make a kind of circular pattern out from the center.
4. Combine sugar, 1 T flour and spices. Sprinkle over plums.
5. Beat 1 egg and 1 white, add half and half, pour over top.
6. Bake at 425 for ten minutes, then turn down to 350 for 40 – 45 minutes, until custard sets and plums are cooked.
The smell as it is cooking is divine. You can serve it in wedges, warm or cold.
You can also double this, and make it in a 9 x 14 pan, to serve to larger groups. It goes FAST!
British Isles: Lerwick, Shetland and Jarlshof
We are finally here! Were were excited about visiting the Shetland Islands back when we did The Wake of the Vikings, but the weather made the water too tough to dock or tender in, and we had to skip the Shetland Islands. It was particularly disappointing to AdventureMan, as he had watched every episode of Shetland, a mystery series on Netflix.
As it turns out, he wasn’t alone – one of the first things the guide mentions is that everyone wants to see where the murders were committed (and through the trip, she showed us!) but that the show made The Shetlands look like the murder capitol of the world, when in truth, daily life tends to be very routine, and crime of any kind is limited. And everybody knows everybody.
Probably half of our bus had watched the show, or read Ann Cleeves addictive books about Shetland, and there was a lot of enthusiasm and appreciation from the people on the bus when the guide pointed out the places where the crimes really did not take place.
On our way this morning, this cracked me up. The local ferry, the North Link, with a big Viking on it passes the huge Viking ship as if we were barely moving, LOL. I guess it just struck me as funny. Maybe he’s pointing the way, thinking we are lost.
Today, it is cloudy, but they are high clouds, and foggy, the kind that burns off by late morning, and AdventureMan spots a seal sporting in the Viking Jupiter wake as we are docking.
I was wearing a skirt, but I change into Levi’s because it is chill, this is Juneau, Alaska, where I grew up kind of August. I wear a shirt under a sweater, and carry a windbreaker, which I later don when we hit Jarlshof, our destination today.
En route, we pass gorgeous bays, fields full of fat, happy sheep, contented cows and frisky Shetland ponies. We stop for a break in Hoswick where I find a gorgeous handmade coffee cup, and love the old crafts demonstrations set up there. It was still very early – barely 8:30, so they had gone to some trouble to be open when we passed through.
In this village I see something that blows my mind, an entire hedge which is a fuchsia shrub. Fuchsias are special to me; I used to buy one for my Mother for Mother’s Day. I have tried to keep hanging fuchsia’s almost everywhere we have lived, but they are very particular – don’t like heat at all, and need just the right amount of water. The guide tells me this is a hardy fuchsia, and they are grown all over the Shetlands because they love it there. What luxury!
We see a tall ship out in the adjoining bay. Our guide is smart, and a good story-teller. She tells us not much really grown in the Shetlands to support life; the trees are mostly gone, some grow potatoes and vegetables in family plots, but the main industry, until the oil fields came, has been fishing, particularly herring. There are herring stations near where our boat is docked, and she tells us there were women called the “gutting girls” who would flay and salt the herring and put them in barrels to ship around the world.
We learned the Shetlands have only been a part of Scotland for the last 500 years; before that they were largely settled by Danes and Norwegians. The streets are named after Norwegian kings, and their language is a marvelous combination of Norwegian language patterns coupled with Scottish vocabulary.
We reach Jarlshof, literally the house of the Earl, and there is a ruin of a medium sized stone house with more-or-less modern dimensions. The treat, though, is that (like Scara Brae in the Orkneys) a large storm uncovered ruins of dwellings dating back more than 4,000 years, built partly underground but covered by sand over the years.
The people who lived here were smart, and inventive. They created archways and strong tunneled wheel-houses, for living, for storage, or so the anthropologists and archaeologists surmise. The truth is, no one knows how or why, or even who made these dwellings. No one really knows whether they died out, or were driven away when the Northmen invaded, or if they assimilated – most of the Orkneys and Shetland Islands have a large portion of Nordic blood running in their veins.
Seeing these early dwellings is a thrill, and it is further thrilling knowing that there may be even earlier dwellings underneath these ones. No one wants to destroy what they have found so far to search for earlier peoples.
Equally thrilling is that while we are touring Jarlshof, the sun breaks through and the landscape looks different, no longer shades of grey and diffuse with fog, now it is bright and shines with energetic colors.
You never know when suddenly you will find a treasure, and today, as I was exiting through the Visitor Center, I saw some truly gorgeous scarves, in classic colors with classic patterns, created by a Scottish Heritage foundation. I couldn’t resist. Sometimes you see something special and you know it. This scarf thrills my heart.
Leaving Jarlhof, we are stopped by a gate across the road and a red light. The road crosses the airport landing strip, and a plane is landing, stopping all traffic in both directions until the gates are lifted once again. We watch the plane land, and then we proceed. I’ve since learned from Ann Cleeves that this is Sumburgh Airport, into which investigators and medical examiners fly from Aberdeen when there are all these murders in Shetland.
Our ride home is beautiful, again the hills with sheep and cows and ponies, even a few goats. We see small farms, we reach Lerwick where the Viking Jupiter is docked and see granite and sandstone buildings, a high street for shopping and modern supermarkets. Our guide is very proud to tell us that most of the shops in the Shetlands are privately owned, with very few chain stores. Shopping is more personal. Mail order through the internet is iffy – because everything has to come in by air or by sea, weather plays a big role, particularly the wind and rain, and no one guarantees “next-day” delivery.
Back on board, we both choose Malabar beef curry with roasted carrots and are delighted. Afterwards, we go down to the main lounge for coffee, then to the spa to exercise and to recover from our morning.
I try to carve a time each day when I can write this journal while our memories are still fresh, but there is so much! I wake up in the middle of the night remembering new things I need to tell you about!
We are starting to think about packing. Every time we think about it, we put it off. Our ship just departed Shetland for Bergen, Norway, where we will spend the day tomorrow, then depart on Monday for home. We can pack tomorrow.
Leaving Shetland – even the skies and seas are the Shetland colors of my scarf!
Maybe this was the best day of our trip?
British Isles: Aberdeen Exceeds Expectations
We had low expectations for Aberdeen, but thanks to a truly great guide on our Aberdeen historical and architectural tour, we now see Aberdeen in a whole new light.
Our first impression as we drive around, is how very clean Aberdeen is. Our guide, Andy, told us that when COVID struck, and tourism dwindled to nearly nothing, the city took a very preemptive move to ask the oil and gas companies for funds to pressure wash and clean all the granite buildings. The difference is astonishing. The grey granite of Aberdeen sparkles!
The Historic Aberdeen tour started with a drive through the area with the private schools, leading to a visit at two universities where they had recently cleaned everything, and it was stunningly beautiful. We were able to visit the old library, classroom and chapel.
Continuing on, we go to Fitbee/Footee, a picturesque fishing village tired of all the tour buses coming through and taking photos into their windows (!). My great favorite at the beach in Fittee is the mobile sauna booths. Such creative enterprise!
We hit the high points of downtown, the shopping streets, and the architectural highlights.
Then we stop at Union Terraces, surrounded by the King’s Theatre, St. Mark’s Cathedral, The Andrew Carnegie Library, and a modern apartment complex built around an old church tower. We visit an impressive statue of William Wallace; Andy tells us to be sure to read the inscription and narrative at the bottom of the statue:
“Go back to your masters, and tell them that we came not to treat, but to fight and set Scotland free.”
(Answer of Wallace to the English Friars sent to negotiate a pacific treaty with him before the battle of Stirling Bridge.)
We end the day with our old friends, having dinner in Manfredi’s. AdventureMan and I had the Brodetto, an Italian seafood stew, tasty – some might call it spicy, but it was not hot spicy, just tasty spicy. We shared stories, talked about our time in Saudi Arabia and in Germany, talked about common family issues and advice columns, and we laughed a lot. It was a delightful way to end a wonderful day. Below is our sunset en route to Kirkwall, in the Orkney Islands!
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