Alaska!!!

Ok, I haven’t blogged but the trip was amazing – and busy! – and internet was scarce.  So, here it is, allll of my Alaska blog.   Believe me, it was tough picking out the 43 representative pictures.  Few words, I promise – mostly pictures!

Aboard at noon-ish.  Our stateroom!  (why, yes, this IS my first cruise….)

 

The deck in the center of the ship, passengers ready to depart.

 

Seaplanes are common In Vancouver.  They take off and land almost continuously.

 

Good bye, Vancouver!

 

Approaching the Lions Gate Bridge, indicating our departure from Vancouver and into open water.

See that nice windbreak that every one is standing behind?  Boy, that was invaluable later in the trip!

 

Oops!!! Airlines aren’t the only one that do this – luggage!  Forgotten luggage!  But the ship was slowed, a fast transport boat sent out, and luggage was put aboard. When we met the captain later, he explained that any further delays and he would have had to leave the luggage behind, as the timing for navigable currents levels  in some of the Inside Passage narrows is critical.

 

Our first day ended quickly, great meals and adjusting to the ship.  Glad we were on a small 640 passenger ship – it still took a while to learn our way around.  I can’t imagine being on a ship that carries almost   4000 passengers!  The second day was a day at sea, steaming towards our first stop, Juneau.  It was chilly, but we were on a cruise ship and wanted to recline in a deck chair and watch the world drift by. So we did!

 

Evening and darkening clouds begin to set in.  At about 10:30 pm.  Love those long days! 

 

The next day was rough and terribly windy and cold.  Look carefully.  The water in the pool is sloshing and rocking.

Snow capped mountains are more common.

Here is a fishing boat, off for wonderful seafood.  This is the type seen on the TV reality show.

 

Finally at Juneau!  The nice Italian captain (the one in the white slacks with all of the gold bars on his shoulder) oversees the docking of our ship.

 And she is docked!  Glad Latitudes isn’t this much of a job!

 

Juneau  is the state capital, has about 30,000 residents, about half work for the state government.  They say the winter is long and quiet!  Not much town, but believe me, there are plenty of jewelry shops and junk shops. 

 

Next day, Skagway.  Skagway is located in the northern tip of Alaska’s inside Passage. Yulp, the weather is definitely cold, windy, and gray from here through the rest of the trip.  Oh, and the Cruise Companion book says that with only 26 inches of rain per year, Skagway is warm and sunny.  Nope, not for us!

And the town is small, with a population of about 600.  Just as many jewelry stores it seemed.

 

 Our shore excursion here was a rail ride on the White Pass And Yukon Railroad.  Skagway is known as the Gateway to the Klondike.  During the gold rush, it was here that the boat stopped and the hard task of climbing by foot over the White Pass began.  It took prospectors up the snowy 3,500 foot pass and down into the Yukon on the other side.  Canada was afraid that the men would not be prepared for the harsh winter and conditions, so demanded that each man have 2000 pounds of provisions before they could enter the Yukon.  SO….at about 50 pounds on their back for each trip, that is 40 trips up and down the 3500 foot pass.  A lot of them didn’t make it.  The White Pass railroad takes you up to the summit of White Pass.  The misery and hardship of the prospectors seems unthinkable.

The landscape is becoming more rugged.

 

Headed back to sea, headed for Glacier Bay the next morning.

 And here is Glacier Bay, opening up her waters for us.

 

Excitement!  The first of our glaciers comes into view!  This is the Lamplugh Glacier.

 

Next, the John Hopkins glacier.

 Here is a close-up of the glacial ice.

This large glacier is the Margerie Glacier.  It is almost at the very end of the Bay.  It actually calved several times while we were watching!

 Lucky catch!  Looks who is taking a free ride on a small iceberg!  A lazy eagle.

 

 
For perspective on size, here is a much larger cruise boat in Glacier Bay.  This one holds over 2000 passengers.  The national park service limits the number of cruise boats per day in the bay to 2.  I think that is great!  Actually, I forgot – the park service sent 3 rangers onto the ship to give presentations and a running commentary while we were in the Bay.  Really interesting!

 

The water is filled with ice.

 Last, the premier glacier in the Bay.  Huge but slowly receding and thinning is the Grand Pacific Glacier.  But she is black.  Not the beautiful glistening blues of the others.  A landslide covered the glacier a few years ago and the debris is still there.  I was very disappointed.

 Tourists in the rain at Glacier Bay…did I mention that it rained the entire day we were in the Bay?

 

One treat as evening drifted in and the rain began to subside.  A rainbow that started on the surface of the water!  It slowly lifted and eventually shaped into the usual rainbow arch.  It was beautiful and amazing to watch.

 Last shore stop was Ketchikan, a town of about 10,000.  Yes, lots of jewelry stores...

 

 
Ketchikan has the highest rain fall in the US – up to 22 FEET per year!  It lived up to the reputation.  Yelp, it rained.

 

Of course, rain does bring beautiful flowers!

 

The most popular attractions around Ketchikan are the large totem poles.  About 20% of the population of Ketchikan can trace its heritage to 3 predominant regional tribes.   The stories and legends from these tribes are told in the totem poles.

 We took an excursion to visit the Saxman Native Village.  A display of dance was one of the features.

 And more totem poles, made in the village.
 

 Creek Street is a little shopping street, along …well…a creek!
 

 And of course, an ageless business…

 

Fishing is still the number one industry in Ketchikan.  The town has more boats than cars.

 Finally, on our last day at sea, sunshine!

 

More snowy mountains (this time in the sun).

 

This is a salmon fishing boat.  Not sure just how that works…

Early morning and we are headed for Vancouver on our last day.

By 7 a.m., we are back in the waters of Vancouver, our cruise finished.

 We did see a few whales at a distance, 3-4 eagles, and a couple of sea lions but no bears, no moose, no fox, no puffins.  It still was a wonderful cruise and experience. We loved it!

Smokey loved the fact that we came back and got her.  She talked to us incessantly for about 15 minutes, and then kept up conversations for hours.  Attention is top on her list and she has really been a pain – but, of course, we love it.  Nice to have my little princess back again.

 A couple of days here in Vancouver, then back to the States to explore the northern Pacific coast.