Some Alaska Trip Photos And Comments

Well, we took the trip, my wife took some photos and at least one of my readers lives in Alaska, so I will write up our trip.  Before our cruise, we stayed in Vancouver and Victoria there in B.C., Canada.  My two ladies (wife and daughter) wanted to go to the High Tea at The Empress in Victoria.  Please see photo (I was one of the very few fellas there):

The famous Butchard Gardens of Victoria (not looking very adventurous so far, eh gents?).  I asked where were all the poppies?  In France I saw poppies AFTER they flowered (you know, when, oh, never mind)...  They told us when the flower stops flowering, they yank it out and plant another that IS in bloom.

First port of call: Ketchikan, Alaska (famous for having the liveliest waterfront in the state and for all the rain it gets) is below.  Our tour guide sounded JUST LIKE Sarah Palin, is there such a thing as an Alaskan accent?)

Photo above is Mendenhall Glacier, near Juneau.  Why are all those people carrying umbrellas?

Alaska / Yukon border, near Skagway (jump-off town for the Klondike Gold Rush):

Above photo is of a glacier at Glacier Bay National Park.  Yes, you can hear cracks and booms as ice breaks off and falls from the glacier into the sea.

By chance the next day, we cruised past perhaps 20 Humpback Whales, these guys did not show their tails like the ones you always see when the pros take the photos.  You can see this whale's exhaled spout:

Mama moose and her approx. one year old calf (Denali National Park):

Below are caribou (reindeer) near Fairbanks, Alaska.  Not a whole lot to see in Fairbanks, and they told us it can get to -50 degrees F in the winter (at a tourist trap there was even a FREE special "experience -40 degrees freezer" you could check out, at -40 F, your mucus freezes instantly when you inhale).  But, go to Fairbanks if you want to have the bragging rights as to whose has been the farthest north (alas, not so in my case, a friend of mine in the USAF when younger stuck his toe into the Arctic Ocean at Barrow).

Au and Ag in Fairbanks, AK!

I pass along a short anecdote about a small part of our trip to Alaska.  This little story is really about the LAST thing we did before we left by plane back to the "Lower 48".

We were in downtown Fairbanks, an unimpressive place.  Not much to see.  But, my wife and daughter wanted to go see the Ice Museum (where they have a resident sculptor who makes works out of ice) there downtown.  I do not care for that kind of thing so I just wandered around, looking for coffee (and maybe a Wall Street Journal?  Ha ha ha!).  I saw a shop: Alaska Rare Coins.  OK...  Armed with my coffee I wandered in, and spoke to the proprietor, there was no one else there.  After a couple of minutes with the rather laconic guy, a local walked in. He wanted to buy 1000 oz of silver.  Generic.  This was the day AFTER gold cratered from its intra-day high of over $1900 to just below $1800.  (a BTFD kind of guy I guess!)   Whether coins or bars I do not know.  The proprietor then made a call to his main supplier for price and delivery info.  The deal was done and the local fellow walked out.  They clearly knew each other.

I was kind of stunned.

I then asked the guy running the store whether PHYSICAL NON-NUMISMATIC precious metals were selling stronger lately.  He said yes, very much so, lots of sales.  I then asked him if people there wanted US Eagles (like me) or generic (cheaper).  He said virtually ALL of his customers wanted generic, as they could get a little bit more bang for the buck.  I then told him that I too bought gold (mostly) and had some silver.  He did not say anything.  (I have learned to be OK with pauses in conversations)  I only had some $350 or so in cash left on this last day of our trip so was not able to do what I normally would do when wanting to buy gold.  Since gold was down more than $100 off its high, I asked him if he took credit cards or even debit cards.  He said no.  I then asked him if he had any fractional Gold Eagles (1/10th oz size).  He said yes.  So, I bought one.

So, let's review the score:

Alaska Local:   bought approx. $40,000 of silver
Robert Mix:     bought approx. $180 (cost: $198) of gold (high premium for 1/10th oz Eagles)

But, hey, I was on vacation!