Once I moved to the open air car I had a chance of getting a few pictures. Good thing because I get very grumpy when I can’t take pictures!
I got the train going around a curve
Another of the train going around the curve.
Lake Fontana
The Trestle Bridge
Train going around a curve.
Back of the train coming around the curve. See the little red caboose.
Lots of foliage.
By late afternoon we were well past the snow line and the title says it all…Are we there yet?
People were getting restless. We had tickets to the dinner show so we didn’t want to eat in the dining car again but Lynn said we were still several hours out. In fact we were running so late that they were going to hold the start of the show for us. She said we were stopping a lot to get animals off the tracks. Interesting because you’d think someone would see the animals running away from the train.
At another stop a couple of people got on to do a presentation about the Iditarod and dog sledding. I think they were pitching one of the tours that featured the dogs and mushing.
While they were doing their presentation more shouts went up. This time the shouts were “bears”. And sure enough there were 3 of them. (Photo compliments of the internet)
Goldie Locks and the 3 bears sprang immediately to mind too. They were quite far away on a still frozen river but they were identified as “grizzlies”. Probably a family group of a mother and 2 older cubs. They were too large to be this year’s cubs and mature males are solitary except during mating season.
The “mushers’ gave up trying to pitch their tour saying that they couldn’t compete with grizzly bears but they must have done a good job because we booked a tour and so did the couple we were sitting with, Robert and Julia.
We crossed a huge trestle bridge. Robert came back from the platform and said he’s gotten a shot as the train approached it. I took mine through the window and got the shadow and look at that gorge! I was a lot warmer than Robert when all was said and done. 🙂
Around dinnertime we ordered a snack of a cinnamon roll. It came warm, all gooey, melty goodness. 🙂 That should hold me until we get to the lodge!
Shortly after that we had another bit of excitement. Again the action was way off in a valley along another river. This time the excitement was caribou. Looks like just one here.
But look what you see when I really enlarge this picture! There’s a 2nd one heading into the brush.
We spotted 2 first and than a bit farther on another 2. At least this was making the ride more interesting.
Here it is enlarged. I’m showing both pictures so you get an idea of how tiny and far away they were from the train.
Finally we spotted some buildings. We thought sure they must be the lodge but we were told no but soon.
When we finally pulled into the depot we still had to load onto buses for the last leg of the journey. We were handed a packet with our room keys and a map so we didn’t have to go through check in. That saved some time as we hot-footed it to our room to drop off our carry-ons and turn around to get to the dinner theater.
No time for pictures, as the white rabbit once said “I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date.” But we did get waylaid for just that…a picture.
Once in the dinner theater the usher asked if we were from the train that had been held up by the landslide! So now it was a landslide not animals. I think they need to get their stories straight. 🙂 In any case, dinner was served family style and they started serving almost as soon as we were seated.
I don’t know about Sandy but boy, I was ready for a good meal!
College Fjord to Whittier 24 Nautical Miles 8 Knots
As the Island Princess came about and started her return trip through College Fjord we kept our eyes peeled for animals. So far we hadn’t seen the abundance of wildlife we’d expected but maybe the unusually late spring and cold weather was partly responsible. At least the scenery was spectacular.
We did spot something. I’m not sure what. Just a dark head moving through the water leaving a wake… otter? seal? certainly not a whale or a porpoise. I’m really not sure. Now it’s easy to see how legends like the Loch Ness Monster come into being.
As we headed back to the stateroom we stopped to linger near the enclosed pool, not to swim but to say good by to the little stowaways we’d been watching the whole cruise. There were some little sparrow/ finch type birds that had apparently joined the ship in warmer climes but they seemed to be doing ok for themselves in the enclosed part of the deck.
But we had to get back to the room. Tonight we’d deal with luggage. It will be tagged and placed outside our stateroom door. We are going on to Denali and the luggage is limited. I sent some on to the Captain Cook Hotel in Anchorage, things I didn’t expect to need but with the camera as my “carry on” I was still pushing the limit.
In the morning we’d be in Whittier where we’d board the dome train to Denali. That would take most of the day. The brochure says it’s 9 1/2 hours. For a number of reasons our train ride turned into 11 hours. The folks that took the bus arrived before we did! More on that later.
But I wanted to tell you a little about Whittier. We didn’t get to see much of it but we did get some basic information. All of our itineraries listed Whittier (Anchorage) so I wasn’t sure if Whittier was a neighborhood of Anchorage or if the names were for the same place or what.
Turns out Whittier is a little town in its own right. It sits at the head of Passage Canal, a deep fjord that connects with Prince William Sound. It’s location provides easy access to the interior of Alaska. The town was originally established in World War II to allow for the movement of troops and supplies but it had a long history of being a supply route for the Chugach Indians, fur traders and gold prospectors.
One thing that I found amazing is that most, if not all, of the 180 full-time residents live in the same building, the multi story Begich Tower originally built to house operations and personnel when the railroad was extended. The railroad tunnel has been converted to allow both rail and auto traffic so Anchorage is now only 90 minutes away.
We got a glimpse of Begich Tower as we were escorted from the ship to the train. Once out of the cold we settled in for the next leg of the journey.