In retirement a lot of people like to travel and if their health is good, they might take a bus trip to Branson or a museum trip to Chicago. But where is the last place on earth that you can imagine a couple of octogenarians to go? How about the NORTH POLE! My good friends Norma and Virg Dollar, who you might remember went to the Antarctic (South Pole) a couple years ago (the article was in the March 11, 2011 issue) went to the North Pole this summer. Virg has visited all 7 continents in the world, which few people can say. If you are like me the only thing you know about the North Pole is that it’s Santa’s mailing address.
Norma and Virg flew to Norway on June 11, 2013 and then on to Bergen. They took a ship north through the fjords (a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by glacial erosion) which from the photos I’ve seen is one of the most beautiful places in the world. My daughter and son-in-law went to Norway a few years back to visit my son-in-law’s Norwegian friends who had been his roommates back in college at IU. They were 30 somethin’ and of course hiking up to the glaciers was not a big deal, but to think of retired people hiking in that terrain is awe inspiring. Norma and Virg aren’t your typical retired couple — they go dancing every week and take long bike rides and look terrific doing it! Staying active is obviously their secret.
They took the ship up to Flam and then a train to Oslo. Oslo is a beautiful Old World city. Prices in Oslo were very high — a bottle of beer could be as much as $20 and gasoline was just under $10 a gallon. They saw the sites in Oslo, which included a trip to Vigeland, which is an 80 acre sculpture park of nudes. There were 214 pieces carved full size by artist Gustav Vigeland starting in 1924 until his death in 1943. Virg said there was “nothing vulgar about this garden — it was amazing.”
photo by Virgil Dollar
Small groups took Zodiac boat excursions to explore the Arctic.
After 10 days in Norway they boarded their ship — the same ship renamed the Silver Explorer — that took them to the Antarctic. They didn’t do this alone; they took along several of their best buddies. The first leg of the trip saw rough seas and many were a little seasick. They cruised through an archipelago (group of islands) occupied by both Norway and Russia. The ship went from open sea to crunching through packed ice that was 6” deep. This was not your typical cruise ship; this was an expedition so every day there were lectures by experts on what they had seen and were about to explore. They left in small groups on a Zodiac (rubber boat that held a dozen passengers) and explored. There was no set schedule, so if they found something interesting they would stay and enjoy. The first polar bear they encountered was eating a seal with seagulls hovering overhead for leftovers. The guides carried guns and if an island had seen polar bear activity they avoided it. The reindeers are very shaggy and Norma said “Rudolf is always shown with antlers, but during December only female reindeers still have their antlers.” The weather was often foggy and rainy so they missed some of their destinations. There were birds galore — 60,000 pairs. Norma said they “lay oblong eggs so they don’t roll off the cliffs.” They also saw huge walruses lining the shores, soaking up the sun and scratching, while the females were tending the young on higher ground (sounds familiar).
Virg really wanted to see the midnight sun, but there was too much cloud cover — the sun never set while they were there. Norma Dollar celebrated her birthday on board and the chef made an incredible cake with huge dollar signs covering it. There were 115 passengers on board and they enjoyed wonderful meals and accommodations.
They were able to go as far north as Ny-Alesund, which is the northern most year-round settlement on earth. Virg said it looked like an old frontier town of the Old West. There is no land mass under the North Pole, only an ice sheet that shrinks and expands with the season, so they were as far north as you can get. They stopped at Bear Island (no bears there, just a weather station) and 30 of their fellow shipmates did an ice dip in the frigid 34 degree ocean.
Another interesting stop was Tromso, which is a modern city about the size of Kokomo with 18 to 20 miles of underground roads, because they get 3’ to 6’ of snow all the time. There are even round-a-bouts underground! All the rock excavated for the tunnels help fill in their harbor area.
They actually only got within 700 miles of the North Pole since it’s a floating ice sheet, but as close as you can get unless you are a bird.
I asked Norma which she preferred, the North Pole or the South Pole. She said if you can only visit one go to the South Pole because there is so much more wildlife to see.
Norma is trying to talk Virg into a trip to China and Japan, so maybe next year the Great Wall of China will be on the cover. This couple is truly adventurous and awe-inspiring for the rest of us.
