Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve

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Not Just a National Park

Glacier Bay is not just a National Park. It’s also a World Heritage Site. I don’t think you can really refer to Glacier Bay as a “port of call” as there is no port. You are cruising through this huge bay surrounded by icy mountains, glaciers and ice bergs. The ice bergs were a good sign. It meant that it was warm enough to cause the glacier’s to calve, that amazing falling ice that you see on the nature shows. 

Magarie Glacier

Warm is relativeTidewater Glacier

I just said it was warm enough for the glaciers to calve. That’s not to say it was warm. It was still gray and overcast. The misty rainy weather that had been following us since Vancouver continued to be the norm. The rawness of the wind just cut through any coat you were wearing. I counted on the excitement of seeing the glaciers to keep me warm; that and running from one side of the ship to the other so I wouldn’t miss anything.

Bald Eagle on an ice floeIce Bergs and Glaciers

We maneuvered into Glacier Bay from Icy Strait, named for the abundance of ice floes. The ice floes and mini bergs bumped and rattled along the sides of the ship. We took our time so that there were no big collisions. At one point we watched an eagle sail by on one of the ice flows. The glaciers were the high point. The ice was made up of  ribbons of colors. Blues and greens abounded. 

Our Own Private Balcony

Eventually it was just too cold so we went back down to our room and settled on our balcony. That’s where I finally saw one of the glaciers calve. It was just a small piece of ice. It seemed to hover before it dropped into the ocean below. It turns out that we had a much better view from our balcony than from the top deck and we were out of the wind so it felt much warmer. 

calving Glacier

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Across the Canadian Border

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The Rugged Canadian Wilderness

Once across the Canadian border we were able to see both the beauty and the wildness of the Canadian Rockies.  And it was cold here too. Lots of snow and ice.

Ice covered lake

At the Summit Rest Area we picked up our passports with our Yukon Stamps, grabbed a quick hot chocolate to ward off the cold then returned to the outside to explore the Yukon Suspension Bridge over the Tutshi River.

Crossing the Suspension Bridge

Yukon Suspension bridge

Tutshi RiverOK I’ll admit I am a bit of an adrenaline junky. More so when I was younger and I trusted my body a bit more but I still like things that make my heart pound a little. Crossing the Yukon Suspension Bridge did that. Stopping in the middle as it swayed and bounced so I could take pictures of the river was even more of a jolt. But it’s worth it. The Tutshi River was a raging maelstrom of white water. Its almost impossible to believe that the gold rush miners tried to raft down this river with their supplies.

Story Boards tell the Tale

Between the rest area and the suspension bridge were a series of story boards. They told  the miners’ tale of their hardships and extreme toil. Each miner was required to bring a year’s supply of food by the Canadian government to prevent starvation. In all, their equipment weighed close to a ton!

fog bound gulchThe Return

We loaded into buses for our return to Skagway. The fog continued to linger as the bus followed the same route as the train had in the morning. We were on our way to wrap up the trip with a “Garden Party” lunch. The lunch was forgettable as I can’t remember much about it now but I do remember the photographs of huge rhubarb leaves. The long hours of sunlight make up for the short growing season.

 

Garden Party

Back to the Ship

After the lunch it was back to the ship. As I recall we skipped any afternoon excursions to relax on our balcony.

Ports of Call

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Ports of Call on our Alaska Itinerary

If Vancouver is the first port of call, then we have 4 additional stops on our journey to the Big Land. There’s Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway and Anchorage. Three other locations of interest, although not ports, were Glacier Bay, Prince Williams Sound and College Fjord.

Port of Call, Ketchikan

It was raining in Ketchikan as we embarked on our shore excursion to Saxman Native Village. Here we witnessed a Native  American Ceremonial Dance and watched experienced totem pole builders carve their next creation. We learned that being on the bottom of the totem pole is not necessarily a bad thing! It’s the most honored position. We spotted out first bald eagle too.

 

 

 

Then there was Juneau

Juneau is the capital of Alaska but conducting business can be a challenge. There are no roads. Juneau can only be accessed by boat or plane! I have fond memories of Juneau. Although it was cold and still raining off and on, we did get a glimpse of blue sky. We took a very chilly boat ride looking for whales but the Stellar Sea Lions were the stars of the day. We saw a lot more Bald Eagles too!

While in Juneau we also hiked up to Mendenhall Glacier. It was an easy walk and the the glacier is beautiful. It’s well worth the hike.

Skagway, Alaska

Skagway, Gateway to the Yukon! Our excursion in Skagway was the White Pass and Yukon Railway. Seated in vintage train cars we followed in the steps of the Klondike Gold Miners. We were allowed to stand on the platforms between cars so we could look down into deep mountain gullies as we crossed trestle bridges and clung to the side of mountains. It was still raining and cold and it got colder the higher the train climbed.

At the end of the line a bus was waiting to take us across the Canadian border in the Yukon territory.

Cruise to Alaska Begins in Canada

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The Alaska Adventure starts in Vancouver

Our Alaska Cruise departs from Vancouver, Canada. We flew into  Vancouver the day before we had to board. This time we were cruising on Princess Cruise Lines. So far I’ve been on Royal Caribbean, Carnival and now Princess.   I had been to Vancouver years ago for a convention. Its a beautiful city.

Cruise terminal

MountyWe didn’t have much time to explore but we did get a chance to walk along the waterfront after breakfast and before we headed to the ship. The staff at our hotel, The Best Western Sands,  were awesome; helpful with our luggage and transportation to the ship.

Strolling along the Seawall

Our morning stroll started in a sculpture garden. The main sculpture is  A-Maze-ing Laughter by the Chinese artist Yue Minjun.

laughter

Even though it was raining the gardeners were working on the landscaping so flowers were abundant.

gardening

So were the birds. There were Herons, gulls, ducks, geese and loads more that I couldn’t identify. I shouldn’t have been surprised about the rain. Vancouver and much of southwestern Alaska are part of a temperate rain forest! Who knew? I think of rain forest as the Amazon or Brazil but the Pacific Northwest is also rain forest! Little did we know that the rainy Vancouver morning foreshadowed what we would experience on our cruise.

Great Blew heron in Flight

Time to head to the ship

The morning flew by and before we knew it, it was time for lunch and then we needed to find the ship. The hotel concierge told us we were close to the port but with our luggage we felt a cab was a good choice. The front desk made a call bringing a cab right to the front of the hotel. It really wasn’t far to the port but there was a lot of traffic. We probably could have gotten there faster walking but I’m pretty sure we would have gotten lost! Taking the cab was the right choice.

Cruise #3 Alaska- Land of the Midnight Sun

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The #3 Cruise was Alaska

A cruise to Alaska is on so many people’s bucket list that I have to share our experience. Looking back on it I can see where we made some big mistakes. This should have been the trip of a lifetime. But let me fill you in and you can let me know what you think.

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Alaska Land-Cruise

There is so much to see in Alaska that we didn’t want just a cruise. Most of the cruise lines offer land/sea packages so that’s what we looked into. When the time came to book our cruise I turned to a travel agent for help. Usually I plan and book all of our trips myself but we were spending a lot of money so I wanted to be sure we had the right cruise.

The First Mistake

We weren’t sure about the best time to take the cruise so I met with the travel agent. We talked about what we’d like to see. Were the Northern Lights important or maybe 24 hours of sunshine or were the abundant animals the draw? Having previously discussed some of this with my sister I said we’d like the animals, especially baby animals. The agent then went on to sing the praises of an early  spring cruise. The flowers would be blooming and baby animals would be everywhere. Alaska is beautiful in the spring. Sounded good. Sign us up.

No one can control mother nature but spring came late that year. Our cruise was cold and rainy. Baby animals were rare. Many animals were not around at all. And as for wildflowers, the were still snow covered.

The Second Mistake

While on the land part of the trip in Denali National Park  we took a tour into the park. We saw a moose or two and some caribou but no bears. It was a little disappointing. Turns out our travel agent  signed us up for the short half day excursion. The folks that went on the full day saw a  lot more animals, went deeper into the park and at one time had 3-4 grizzly bears surround their bus.  Note to self, next time take the long tour!

The Good Advice

 We had a choice of starting in Denali and then sailing south to Vancouver or doing the cruise first. Our Travel agent advised since this was a spring cruise that we go south to north. Good advice. We signed up for 3 days in Denali at the end of the cruise. We really would have missed out if we had gone the other way. It would have been way too cold in Denali.

Denali

But Wait There’s More

Before I rate this cruise I want to go into some more detail about the excursions and ports of call so stay tuned for more details. This was just an overview.