Hubbard Glacier

I have been home for two weeks but just downloaded some of my photos today.  We visited the Hubbard Glacier.  This is one of the few glaciers that is still growing.  It is hard to see the scale from the pictures but it is several hundred feet high and several miles long.  Hubbard is my maiden name so I was thrilled that we visited.  It is named for the Hubbard who started the National Geogrphic Society, something I did not know until we visited.

Anchorage Flowers

Glacier

We could not go to Tracy Arm because of weather so the Captain took up to a glacier that had a better entrance.  No one was disappointed by the choice.  I was one of the people who spent their time outside during the 3 hours were cruised to and were in front of the glacier.

 The Glacier from a distance.  You cannot tell how large it is because there is nothing to use for scale.

Me on deck of the ship with the glacier in the background.  You can tell how windy it is by how my hair is blowing.

That is a good sized ship in front of the glacier.  It gives some idea of the scale  and how far away we were.

Everyone outside on the front of the ship.  You got here from deck 6.  I took the photo outside on deck 11.

Seals taking a ride on one of the ice flows from the glacier.

One of the hanging valleys along the route.  The water is coming from another part of the glacier.

Ketchikan, Alaska

This is my second time to Ketchikan.  The big difference this time is the sun.  This is the rainforest capital of the US so we all expected rain and were very happy to get sun.  I took a self-guided walking tour this time and am posting some of the photos below.  My favorite is the cat. This did not email right so the photos that go with the info are at the bottom of the post.




Leaving Seattle.  The haze is the smoke in the air.




The first view as I got off of the ship.




One of the totem poles around Ketchikan. This one is
Raven Stealing the Sun




Info about Raven Stealing the Sun Totem Pole




Entrance to Creek Street.   This is the old red light district and is now filled with shops.




View of the creek.  There are places where you can see salmon in the creek.




Ladder for the salmon to use when going upstream to lay eggs.




Sign says it all.




This is my favorite photo.  The cat turned just as I snapped the picture so I got him face on.  He was sitting on a part of the bridge outside the rail and appeared to be hunting.  It had a very thick coat with great colors and looked like it would be very soft and nice to pet.
Jo Jones
http://mixedbookbag.blogspot.com
http://jojonestravelinglady.blogspot.com

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Jo Jones
Http://mixedbookbag.blogspot.com
Reviews and Recommendations of Books, Series, Authors, and Book Related Materials
Http://jojonestravelinglady.blogspot.com
Photos and comments on my RV trips

Seattle

I made it to Seattle yesterday and will be on the cruise ship later this morning.  More later.

Sasquan 73rd World Con - Saturday 2015

I just returned from my last program.  Like previous World Con's I was tired after two days and did not do as much.  Forty Seven North put on a party with free books at my hotel and the is what I just came back from.  They had free food, a free drink, and free books.  I got Boundary Crossed by Melissa F. Olson, Porr Man's Fight by Elliott Kay, Through the Door by Jodi McIsaac and The Far Time Incident by Neve Maslaovix.  We started out with two books and as everything was ending we were invited to take as many as we wanted.

I only went to two other panels today.  The Aliens Among Us was based on C.J. Cherryh's books.  The panel included Jo Walton, Jack Campbell and Ann Leckie.  All agreed that Cherryh influenced all of their writing and she has not gotten the attention she deserves.

The other panel was on online magazines.  Mike Resnick was on the panel with three other people I did not know.  All had online magazines.  It was interesting but did not offer much new information.

Helsinki won the 2017 World Con.  I voted for Washington DC first and Montreal second.  Will have to see who will host the North American Science Fiction Con now that 2017 will in Europe.

One last thought.  Did anyone notice that I did not attend a panel related to Science Fiction Romance?  I saw one that mentioned romance in SciFi.  I only saw one author I associate with SFR.  That is Sharon Shinn who writes what I call gentle romances with a Sci Fi background.  We need a bigger voice.  Next year World Con is in Kansas City.  Surely we can get authors to attend and hopefully have several panel to push our books.

The Hugo's are tonight but I will probably Google tomorrow to see who won.  I leave tomorrow for Seattle and the Alaska Cruise so more later.

My new friend Susan took my picture with my books at the 47 North Party.

Sasquan 73rd World Con - Friday 2015

My first full day at the con.  Spokane has fires burring all around and yesterday the wind brought a lot of smoke to the city.  It was so bad that there were signs telling people to stay inside.  It is better this morning as the wind  has shifted.  My hotel is connected to the conversion center so I do not have to go outside.  Even so the smoke was so strong that it smeledl was even in my room.  On to the convention.

I started the day learning how to drape a sari.  The presenter was late so all we got to do was watch instead of watching and the giving it a try.  Photo attached.

From there I went to a panel about aging and SciFi fans.  One of the presenters does research on the brain so we got some very interesting real science to go with the fiction.

A visit to the dealers room and the art show followed.  I found a pair of earrings that I quick picked at the the art show.  They are by the same man who did the ones I picked up at a previous con.

From there it was on to a panel featuring C.J. Cherryh.  I love her books and this was the first time to see her.  There were some interesting questions and she had short answers for all.

From there I listened to authors read.  Kevin J. Anderson, Beth Cato and Jack Campbell (John Hemry) all shared a reading from their works.  Anderson read a short story from a future release, Cato read from her current book (Her room was small and full with no seating when I arrived so I did not stay for the entire time), Campbell read from his next release and shared what was upcoming.

From there it was What's New from Ace/Roc.  Anne Sowards did the presentation.  She edits several of my favorite authors.  I could tell she loves her work.

After that it was Eric Flint.  It was suppose to be a reading but he does not read.  Instead he opened it up to question so it was like a mini Kaffe Klatche.  This was my third time to see him at a con and it has been interesting to see how he has changed over the years.  I first saw him in St. Louis.  He reacted to fans like they were something that got on his shoes and smelled bad but he could not scrape off.  I decided he was one of those authors whose books I like even if I did not like the author. I saw him next in North Carolina where I went to his Kaffe Klatche.  I did not expect much but he surprised.  He was much more in touch with how important fans were and I had a great time listening to him.  This time the big difference was in how he talked about his work.  In North Carolina he talked a lot about how he used blue collar workers as his main characters.  Here he talked more about works in progress and how he works with his collaborators.  It was a really good session.

Last but not least at 7:00 p.m. I went  to the Broad Universe Speed Reading.  All of the authors in this group are female and each participant has5 minutes to read from something they wrote.  At the last World Con I attended they were given only one hour in the middle of the day.  It was very rushed, the room was full to overflowing and not everyone got to share.This time they had a two hour slot but at the end of the day.  It was very well organized but the time meant that attendance was low.  Many of the authors shared fantasy but two were Space Opera and I will be looking for their books.  There was only one author I recognized and that was Elizabeth Bear.  She was also at the session at the previous con.

That ended my day at 9:00 p.m.

Group playing at a being from Galaxy Quest

One of the costumes in the big costume display

Model and presenter at how to drape a sari.

Sasquan World Con 73 - Thursday - 2015

I drove 315 miles on Thursday.  That put me in Spokane around noon (gained hour with time change).  I checked into the hotel and then went to the Con and registered.  After that I went to lunch at TGI Fridays and went over the program to see what panels I wanted to visit.  I don't choose as much on subject as I do on who is on the panel.  I love to hear from authors whose books I read.

On Thursday I started with Learning to Love the Deadline.  Patricia Briggs was a panel member and I love her Mercy Briggs and Charles and Anna books.  She did not disappoint.  She added a big touch of humor to the discussion while giving information on how she met deadlines.  Also why sometimes she did not meet deadlines.  Gillian Redfearn was the moderator and she came with some very good questions for the panel that added my enjoyment.

I stayed in the same room for the next panel on The Changing Face of Hard Science Fiction.  Nancy Kress and Karl Schroeder were both panelists.  I have read and liked books by both.  It was interesting but in the end each had their own idea about what made something Hard Science Fiction.

From there I went to What's New at TOR.  That was a short program with information about all the new books through January.

My big disappointment of the day was missing the Baen presentation.  Since I arrived in the middle of the day I was rushed in checking the schedule and missed seeing the Baen program.

I visited the dealers room and the Art Show from 2:00 until 3:00.  I paid my $40:00 to vote on the 2017 site selection before starting the programs. I started panels at 3:00 and ended at 5:45.

From there I visited the Con Suite where I was thrilled to see a Gluten free room so I could get a snack before returning to my hotel around 6:30.  I was still tried from driving so I made it an early hight.

Road Trip this August

I am off on a long road trip that is taking me from Arkansas to Washington state.  It is a lot of driving and I am not stopping that much along the way.  I did stop at an overlook on the Lewis and Clark trail.  There are a lot of fires in the west and in places the smoke was blocking the view.  While I was not near any of the fires I still saw how widespread the smoke was.  (See photos)  I am in Spokane, Washington for 3 night attending World Con then on to Seattle for an Alaska cruise.  Look for more posts later.

I am following part of the Lewis and Clark trail.  This is a picture from one of the overlooks along the way.  I loved the sign telling me to watch out for snakes.  I skipped that path.

Lewis and Clark would not recognize the Missouri as it looks today.

Smoke was obscuring the view in Montana.

The sun was having trouble showing through the smoke.  Also in Montana.

The clear sky after I drove out of the smoke.

Avon, CO

I haven't traveled much lately.  Just a trip to Denver in December for my son's wedding and now two week in the Colorado Mountains in the spring.  I have timeshares here.  The pollen was getting bad at home and my allergies were really kicking up so I decided to give them a rest by going where I have not lived long for them to bother me.  After a week and a half I have to say it is working great.  This is off season here.  Most of the ski resorts have closed down and there are not that many people staying here.  April is a mix of seasons.  There has been several days of snow.  I loved the hot tub in the snow.   Today it is very spring like.  You can still see snow on the ski runs but none is left down here in the valley.  I am still having to be careful with the altitude but am enjoying seeing a little of winter and spring.  Some on the same day.

This is the heated pool and one of the outdoor hot tubs taken from the balcony of my suite.  This is a winter day.

My favorite hot tub.  This is the one on the roof at the Sheraton Mountain Vista.  Another winter day.

One of the many bronze statues here in Avon.  This is a spring day.

Another spring day.  Look close and you can see a fly fisherman.  This is just a short walk from where I am staying.