So, we flew into Seattle and next day took a bus to Vancouver and the ship. It was a good trip, the driver was full of information for the 4 hour trip. A few people didn't listen to directions going through Customs, so we were delayed a little.
We've been on a lot of Cruises, but it still amazes me, the size of these things! And I can eat all day long! (I had to prepare myself for all the hiking we're going to be doing) We had great entertainment all week long and were just always busy doing something. The water was very calm in the Inside Passage, but that changed when we got to open water.....
Ketchican was the first Port of Call. We found a Trading Post that had some nice coats embroidered with Alaska, for only $20. We did some Geocaching, and took a 4 mile hike up behind the town on a pretty steep trail. We had our Bear Bells with us, so we didn't surprise anything, but we didn't get to see any wildlife either. This is the Ketchican Rain Forest.
The next day we were in Juneau. We went off on our own again, exploring and Geocaching. Took a city bus as close as we could to Mendenhall Glacier and hiked on up the road. We hiked about 8 miles that day. Once you get to the visitors center, then you have to hike on up to the Glacier! We had to watch the time so we could catch the bus back to town, but we got up and personal with the muddy block of ice. Riding the bus back to the ship our muscles all seized up and we were like old cripples getting off the bus.
We hit Skagway the next day. We bought a tour on the Ship for the
Whitepass/Yukon railroad. It was about a 4 hour trip, up and back. Old vintage cars that have been fixed up nice.
You can take a Steam Engine, but ours was a vintage diesel. Nice trip, a little pricey but our guide was very knowledgeable and told great stories about the area; everything was about the Gold rush; Dead horse canyon where a thousand horses died as they gave out packing stuff up the pass to the Yukon. Real pretty scenery with deep valleys, and water falls along the tracks. I like old trains, so it was well worth the price.
The next day we got into the open water on our way to Sitka. In all my Cruiz'n, this was the roughest water I'd seen. There wasn't much to see in Sitka, so we took off for a 5 mile hike. I have to work it off so I can eat more.
Then we were back on the open water and the next day got into Prince William Sound and College Fjord to see some more ice. We just crept up the Fjord watching for wildlife and looking at the huge ice flows coming off the mountains. We got in close enough to see the Glaciers "caving" into the sea. It was really cool, I've never seen it in person before. That ice is really blue, it's like a million years old and so compressed that it turns blue. Very pretty up in there, nobody around but the big boat and 2000 of our closest friends, but very peaceful.
The next day we got into port at Whittier and back on solid ground at 7am. Now Whittier is something. Why would a Cruise ship dump us off at this place?
Tune in to find out........
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