The students in my last class at the Valdez Quilt Festival were nice enough to take a short lunch and let me leave town at 3:30 PM which meant that I was in daylight for the majority of the drive back to Anchorage. This should be a 6 hour drive. I stopped to take lots of photos on the way to Valdez so it took longer to get there. It took me 5 hours to make the return trip! I only stopped twice on the way back – and I drove faster.

It was clear and the skies were blue. I saw the mountains that were shrouded in the clouds when I drove to Valdez. The trees were even more beautiful. The photos don't do them justice.

There were mountains lining the drive the entire way. Sometimes they
were close and roads were very winding – at other times the peaks were
farther away. My rental car was small-ish with a tight suspension and some get-up-and-go. It was fun to drive! It would have been more fun in a sports car – not safer, of course, but more fun.

The gold treetops glowed in the green. I took this photo at a 'photo stop'. It was an impressive peak.

There was a stretch of what looked like aspens. They stood out because of the white tree trunks. Some had gold leaves and others, like the one below, had not yet turned.

These had turned…

I watched for moose and bear by the road. Didn't see any. I did see a massive number of vehicles that obviously belonged to hunters. They were all attached to flatbed trailers which puzzled me until I saw some hunters speeding along off the road on 4-wheelers equipped with huge rifle holsters. In one area they were so dense that I wondered if they ran along in packs (the hunters, that is) chasing moose.

It didn't start out sunny. In fact every day in Valdez has begun in a blanket of fog and clouds like this or thicker. In fact this is a photo after the deepest fog. That's the terminus of the Alaska pipeline across the harbor (I found out that there is indeed only one AK pipeline).

At midday the skies turned blue but the fog still hovered over the harbor. It was really bright and crisp and happy!

The next time I walked past a window I noticed that there really was water in the harbor. Amazing!

My hotel is near the ferry docks and the day stayed clear long enough for me to take these photos. The deepest white high on the mountains in the background are glaciers unless I am very much mistaken.

Imagine kayaking here!

This was supposed to be a short flight, less than an hour. Remember that song about a 'three hour tour'? Here's the plane. It was actually bigger on the inside than it looks on the outside. Era only flies inside  Alaska and that's important because you don't have to go through security to get on their planes. After years of succumbing to searches I found this to be unnerving.

We took off around 7:30 AM and flew over dense clouds. I took photos but they look a lot like the clouds from yesterday's posts. We got to where Valdez was supposed to be (who could tell?) and started descending into the clouds. Thick clouds that did not get any thinner as we got lower.

Scott, a nice man sitting next to me, was very calm and assured me that this was normal and if it was dangerous the pilot would pull up – and about that time he did. Quickly. When we got back above the clouds I could see snow covered mountain tops in the near distance. We circled 25 minutes and tried it again (by that time I was ready to forget it.) The fog was still too dense and we flew back to Anchorage.

After the 2nd attempt Scott (who is a private pilot with his own plane) said he doesn't fly into Valdez because fog is common. He also mentioned that the control tower at the Valdez airport is remotely controlled – there wasn't an actual person in there to talk us in. They have ground crew in Valdez but that's it. Oh my.

After some discussion with seasoned Alaskan travelers and after consulting the weather I decided that it might be better to drive the 6 hours rather than hope the fog cleared enough to land later in the day (which it did). Sheila, my contact at the Valdez Quilt Festival, agreed so I rented a car and took off.

The leaves are turning in Alaska and the scenery was beautiful! I stopped often to take photos (the drive back should be faster). This is my little car next to the elk crossing sign. If you look closely you may notice that the sign has been shot. It's a problem here – most of the signs I saw had been shot. I tried not to think about who might actively be shooting signs while I was on the road.

More leaves:

It was overcast and a bit rainy all day.

The drive was winding enough to keep my attention.

There are a lot of rivers and streams here. And fishermen – lots and lots of fishermen. And hunters are out because it's hunting season too. They tell me the elk and moose stay off the road during hunting season which is good. I would like to know how they know now is when to hide.

The Alaska pipeline (is there more than one?) ran near the road as I got closer to Valdez.

And there were glaciers! The next photo is more about where the glacier isn't. I think that ice covered the rough black ground in front of the ice not that long ago. It looks newly uncovered to my untrained eye.

This glacier with the split in the middle is about 30 miles outside of Valdez.

I drove in on the marked road and could have walked up close (at my own risk on unstable ground according to the signs) but it was late. I did go far enough that I ran into a couple who were nice enough to take my picture! It was blowing as you can see by my hair sticking up.

I can tell you that Alaska is BIG. Bigger than Texas, although I believe it has a much smaller population. It struck me that if I lived here I would think of nature differently. Nature is in your face here. It is easy to feel both insignificant and magnificent at the same time when you breath this air.

Three planes to be exact with a couple of short stops at LAX and Seattle. I'm in my hotel in Anchorage now and I can't believe I'm not asleep. But my eyes are awake even if my body is tired. I took some photos out of the window of two of the planes. I was both happy to see how pretty the view was and really tired of that view – both at the same time. This is just after dawn near the end of the 14 hour flight from Melbourne to LAX.

There's a story that goes with this flight. We were late taking off because we were waiting for 2 passengers who never showed up. Guess where they were sitting? That's right – I had 3 seats all to myself. I was very excited until I looked around and realized that these were probably the only free seats on the plane. I knew I could claim them but then I'd feel guilty sleeping on 3 seats while everyone else was sitting up. So I did claim the window and the middle seats (see I'm not completely altruistic) but I asked the flight attendant if he knew of some poor soul stuck in a middle seat with long legs. He found one (I knew he would). I felt a little less greedy and I still got to put my feet up and Ted (the lucky recipient of the aisle seat) was happy too. And I'll bet the people next to his old seat were happy.

By the time I took this next photo that story was a fuzzy memory. I took this before getting to Anchorage.

Tomorrow, if all goes well, I fly to Valdez early and go on a ferry ride of the bay. I'll take more photos. Now it's time to call it a night!

This will be my last post from Melbourne. Tomorrow morning I fly to Los Angeles, then on to Seattle and Anchorage. Time and distance are strange. I leave Melbourne at 10:10 AM and land at LAX at 7:20 AM on the same day. I'm gong to get back that day I lost on the way over and it's too bad that I'll be spending it traveling.

Several of the ladies in my classes brought treats for class. Here is Carol's date cake. Notice the rotary cutter… we didn't actually use it to cut the cake.

Fi (owner of that great pincushion in my last post) gave me one of her handmade pins. I will wear it with pleasure! You can find Fi's web store here and her blog here.

I can't believe how tiny the hexes are…

I shopped in Melbourne. To be honest, maybe more than I should have BUT I shopped for things that you can only find here. Like these resin bracelets from Dinosaur Designs…

I have a very small wrist that usually looks stupid in a bangle. These are the first bangles that I have ever worn that fit me. The shapes vary and I love them. The only US outlet in in NYC, a place I rarely get to.

I walked this morning and saw some new flowers like this fuzzy red one:

And I found a gum tree (better known as a eucalyptus in the US) in flower:

Many of the houses here have fences around the front yard. Some tall, others not. Most are interesting to look at. Here's a view down the street where I've been staying. I was surprised to learn that the trees planted nearest the street are planted by the city and don't belong to the home owners. In fact, the city chooses the type of trees that are planted there. They often plant the same type of tree down the street. I'm having trouble imagining US homeowners going for this idea.

I particularly liked this gate – and the fence that surrounded it. I like galvanized metal, the large timbers in the fence, and the river rocks below the gate. (Steve, if you are reading this help me remember this idea for the next time we have to build a gate.)

I went to a boutique grocery store – with mood lighting! The veggies were beautiful…

Here's a detail of turnips which really do look good enough to eat…

Gayle, my hostess, feeds the magpies at her house every morning. These are smart, interesting, graphic birds that I've seen everywhere I've been. I got this shot:

The photo below goes with the black and white magpies. There is a lot of wrought iron in Australia. I took this photo near our hotel in Melbourne. The shift from black to white trim in these… what are they? town houses, condos, apartments, houses? Whatever, it's nice to look at.

I've been thinking today about what I will miss the most once I'm back home…

• Australians. They remind of the people I like best at home – warm, friendly, interesting.
• I'll miss the look of Australia. There is a thread of good design that runs through this country. Even the traffic signs are stylish.
• The public art. It's everywhere.
• The food. It's hard to find bad food here.
• The bakeries! Oh my, I wish we had even one bakery with bread and cookies and cakes in Sherman that compared with those here. It's probably good for my waistline that there isn't one but I sure do wish there was.
• Footie – also known as Australian Rules Football. I'm a Cowboys fan and very much enjoy 'gridiron' football but footie is a great game and I'd certainly watch it if it were in the US. I have to admit that it makes our football look slow and sort of boring – and I really, really hate to write that.

Next up, Alaska!

I taught at Amitie today. This is yet another great Australia shop, owned by Jenny Kingwell. The shop has lots of great fabric, some from the US and a lot from Japan. I'm buying (more) fabric that I never see at home – like these spots with the leopards.

More Cloth – wish we had this in the States, but it would be expensive. It's hand printed on linen – love it.

I did break out my camera in class and got some lovely shots. This is Kerry at the end of the day. She was both happy and tired from a full day of work. Her red Bernina case is brilliant.

And Carol is loads of fun – not that everyone wasn't loads of fun – but check out her outfit!

The back of her leggings first caught my eye… and then I paid more attention to the fronts. With the shiny black shoes – I really wish I had this outfit! I've looked online for more of the leggings (made by P.A.M.) but haven't found them. I'm not sure I could pull this off nearly as well as Carol does so maybe it's better that I don't find them.

Fi's pincushion came from a Flikr exchange. I want one like it but to get it I'm going to have to make one. Look at the tiny hexagons pieced together on the top. Really pretty.

Last but not least I found the photo I took of the (not quilt life-sized) Mick Jagger poster from the lobby of the Bloomfield Albany hotel…

…and I found this photo of schoolkids at the Hall of Remembrance, a memorial to Australian soldiers that is somber and lovely. I saw many, many school kids in uniform out and about in Melbourne. Older students were on their own or traveling in groups, off to lunch or going from one place to another on the buses and trams. Other, younger, school kids were in groups on outings with teachers. It's spring here and, if it's like the States, the time for outings.