At gå ind I Greenland

Sunrise on the North Atlantic Ocean, looking astern

Without a doubt my favorite day on board was when we cruised through Prins Christian Sund. The Sund is a 60 mile (100 km) long, sometimes only 1,600 foot (500 m) wide passage that connects the Irminger Sea with the Labrador Sea. This shortcut through the tip of Greenland is one of the most scenic places I’ve been. We awoke to a beautiful sunrise at about 5:30AM; at 6:30 the first foghorn sounded. I hoped that the fog would be gone by the time we got into the fjord at about 7:30 – 8:00. Sigh…supposedly there were whales we should be able to see at the mouth of the fjord. The fog in this area is fairly common because we have moved from over the relatively warm Gulf Stream to over the cold arctic current. At just about 7:30 the fog lifted and we had a gorgeous day of cruising. What greeted us were sheer cliffs of rocks that had been deformed by volcanic activity, erosion and intense metamorphism, during and after which they had been unceremoniously pushed down by the weight of a huge ice sheet that covers most of Greenland. The land is slowly rising because the ice sheet is shrinking due to global climate change. This long fjord system is mostly surrounded by steep

Arkansas Art and Reviews

Yellow wildflowers

I’d heard about the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and since it's spring I thought it would be nice to drive up to the northwestern corner of Arkansas. I’d expected lots of wild flowers and was a bit disappointed that they hadn’t made their appearance yet, but the vistas were still lovely in their shades of new spring green. One of my favorite places to go in either the fall or the spring is Queen Wilhelmina State park. Getting to the museum and back was surely going to consume more than one day, so an overnight at the Queen Wilhelmina Lodge seemed like a great idea. Just like the late-blooming flowers, the lodge was a late-bloomer, opening this summer after extensive renovations. Oh well, the views from the Talimena Scenic Drive were lovely.