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What A Wonderful World
For as much traveling as I do, I'm still like a kid when
visiting new locations. It never ceases to amaze me
what a wonderful world we live in.
The trip to the Netherlands was my first. Many times I
found myself just standing around, gawking with my
mouth wide open taking in all of the scenery and
wondering why I'd waited so long to visit. As if the
sites of Amsterdam's city life and windmills in the open
countryside weren't enough, the experience was
accentuated by the friendly, helpful people we met
along the way.
While in England we literally traveled from one end of
the country to the other visiting places like Alnwick
Castle (aka Harry Potter's Castle), Salisbury Cathedral,
the Yorkshire Moors and Dales, and a place called
Buckler's Hard located in the New Forest where they
used to build the old man-of-war ships in the 18th
century. Although I was born and raised no more that
20 miles from the place I had no idea it even existed.
And then there's Alaska. In summer or winter (there's
not much in between the two seasons) it's one of
those places where the scenery just takes your breath
away. Having visited the state over 70 times, its
beauty still amazed and surprises me. I mean, where
else can you see glaciers only miles off of the main
road or see bears lined up along the top of a waterfall
to catch salmon as they make their way upstream to
spawn, or moose wandering through downtown
Anchorage to find food. I have to admit, when I see
sites like these, the 1990's TV show "Northern
Exposure" usually comes to mind. It's easy to see why
so many people leave everything behind to move up
there.
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Intro |
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This past month has been a very busy travel month.
Linda and I had a great 15-day vacation in England and
the Netherlands with our friends Steve and Josie.
During the stay we also had a chance to visit my sister
Eileen and her husband, Roy. No sooner did we return
home when I barely had enough time to unpack my
dirty laundry and repack a fresh set of clothes - at
least, I think I remembered to pack the clean stuff -
before heading off again to Alaska on business. I
headed up a few days early so I could drive down from
Anchorage to Valdez with friends Eric and Christie to do
some sightseeing.
Although I never get tired of traveling, I must say it's
always nice coming home again for a few weeks and
not having to look at the inside of a plane for awhile.
Not to mention it gives my body a chance to recover
from crossing 10 time zones in four weeks. The upside
to all of the travel, though, is that I've posted 88 new
images to the Sceneramic web site. That brings the
total to 360 images! Not bad for an independent site!
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| Netherlands, Zaandam: De Zoeker Windmill | | |
 The Netherlands is probably most famous for its
windmills and canals. Although their numbers have
steadily declined over the years - having given way to
modern machinery - there are still a number of working
windmills to be found. Nowadays, though, it's more for
the sake of tourists than for commercial use.Built in 1672, the De Zoeker (The Seeker) mill in
Zaandam is one of only 20 left from an original 1,000
that made the Zaan district one of the oldest industrial
areas in the world.
In its hay day, the De Zoeker mill produced vegetable
oils primarily made from linseed and rape seed. Large
circular millstones crushed the seeds, after which the
powder was heated, placed in bags and pounded
repeatedly to squeeze out the oil. Once the oil had
been extracted, the left over "cake" was sold off as
cattle fodder.
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| Netherlands, Edam: More Than Just Cheese | | |
 When most people think of Edam they think of cheese.
Many don't realize it's a small village from whence the
name of the cheese came from. In the 18th century,
Edam used to be a whaling port better known for its
shipyards than its cheeses.If you're lucking enough to visit Edam on a Wednesday
during the months of July and August you're in for a
treat. That's the day of the famous
Kaasmarkt (Cheese
Market). Local farmers bring their cheeses to the
village - mostly by small row boats along the canals -
to the market. It's a very colorful event and one
definitely worth catching is you're in the area.
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| England, Hampshire, Buckler's Hard: Shipbuilding Village | | |
 Have you ever wondered where all of the "man-of-war"
ships in England were built during the 18th century?
Well, beginning with the first ship HMS Surprise built in
1745 to HMS Repulse in 1822 they were built in a small
village called
Buckler's Hard on the Beaulieu River in
Hampshire. Counting battleships and merchant vessels
86 ships all told were built there.Today, you can still see the original slipways where the
ships were built. Many of the houses and buildings of
the original village are still intact too. I'd recommend
staying at the Master Builders House Hotel located right down
by the river. A couple of days there and you won't
want to go back to civilization.
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| England, Northumberland: Alnwick Castle | | |
 I don't think there's a person on the planet who hasn't
heard of Harry Potter's Castle. For those of you who
remember the scenes in the first Harry Potter movie
where the students learned to fly on broomsticks,
that's really
Alnwick Castle. The castle was used
extensively as the backdrop for many of the outdoor
scenes.Built in 1138, Alnwick (pronounced Anik) Castle is the
homestead of the Duke of Northumberland and his
family. The castle has been in the Duke's family for the
past 700 years. During the off-season the family
vacates the castle so it can be opened for public
viewing. Stop by and check the castle and gardens out
if you're in the Duke's neighborhood.
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| USA, Alaska: Worthington Glacier | | |
 There are very few places in the USA where a person
can walk from their car a few hundred feet to see and
touch a glacier up close and personal. Worthington Glacier is one of those places. Located in the
Thompson Pass - the snowiest place in Alaska - the
glacier comes down off of Girls Mountain where it
passes within easy walking distance of the parking lot.The Worthington Glacier State Recreation Site was
created so that people could easily enjoy an up-close
experience with a glacier without having to walk for
miles. Although the glacier itself is too dangerous to
clamber over, if you don't mind a short hike up a rocky
incline along its side you can get a spectacular view of
the glacier and of the valley below. In the 1990's,
Steve Seagal used the glacier as a backdrop for his
movie "On Dangerous Ground."
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| USA, Alaska: Trans Alaska Pipeline | | |
 The
Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) is a 48" pipe
that runs 800 miles from the North Slope of Alaska to
the northern most ice-free port, Valdez. Since it was
built in 1977 it has transported over 13 billion barrels of
oil to the port of Valdez and has filled over 1,700 oil
tankers.Of the 800 miles of pipeline, 420 miles is elevated
above ground so as to protect the permafrost.
Permafrost is the permanently frozen soil that covers
approximately 75% of the pipeline corridor. The other
380 miles is below the surface because the ground
remains stable even if it thaws and refreezes.
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