A year ago this month Karen and I were on a wonderful 21-day Holland America cruise to Alaska. We had been especially interested in this particular cruise itinerary because it included a number of ports that we had never before visited, including the Borough of Haines, a picturesque small town that is an alternate port to Skagway, which is a ferry-ride away.

We normally like to explore most ports on our own, but luckily we  booked an excursion in Haines billed as “Nature Photography” or something to that effect.  When we got down the gangway and walked to the excursion meeting area on the pier we were greeted by a really friendly tour guide and professional photographer, Cindy Schultz (be sure to check out her work here), who led the group of a dozen or so of us to her van and off we went.

Cindy took us to four of her favorite nearby locations north of town along Lutak Road that follows the Chillkoot River and ends at the incredibly beautiful Chillkoot Lake. On the return we stopped and spent a half-hour or so just outside town at Nukdik Point where I got more good camera shots to be used as painting source material. Karen and I agreed that the tour was absolutely the most enjoyable of all from the many cruises we have been on, in no small part because of Cindy, her knowledge of the area and her enthusiastic guidance.

Two days ago on Monday morning I opened my email and, after deleting about 25 campaign fund-raising requests and a bunch of “Senior” targeted spam emails, I was delighted to be presented with a message featuring the image below. The winning piece is an oil, the second of my Alaska paintings since returning from the cruise, and the award notice is almost exactly one year since we were standing in that exact spot.