Anchorage/Whittier

We got off the Cruise ship in Whittier.  Why Whittier, there is nothing there!?  There is one hotel right off the dock, but you can't stay there, it is for the cruise ship and town employees only.  That's ok, there is not much else here, but we do come back for some really cool excursions!  We had a coupon for a buy one get one, shuttle into Anchorage.  So the reason ALL the Cruise ships stop here is so they would not have to spend another two days going around the peninsula to Anchorage, it's cheaper to bus you into town from here.

We got to Anchorage and picked up our RV rental we had booked for 4 weeks.  Great Alaskan Holidays is a great place to rent your RV from.  All units are 2 years old or newer!  We picked up a 31' Winnebago Class C, (I think all their units are Winnebago's) complete with generator, all the manuals if you have to trouble shoot, a few basic tools, good instruction video. On the road, no problems. Camped half way to Whittier, just pulled off the road in a nice secluded spot.  Oh, after this trip, I was informed we MUST get a generator.  Well, we did, for about a year, then we upgraded from a fifth-wheel to a '08 Winnebago Tour.  So this Alaskan trip was pretty expensive..........

The next day, our Milepost book, pointed us to Portage Glacier, "Take the 5.5 mile spur road to Begich-Boggs Visitor center. To take the hike, take the road toward Whittier, it branches off to the left just before the Visitors Center. Stop at the pullout just beyond the first toll free tunnel.  Take a short 1 mile hike to Byron Glacier". 

Very nice Visitor Center, nice folks, got the whole story on the three Glaciers we could see there. Hiked part way up to Byron, could go all the way up and touch it, but we did not have on good water proof shoes at the time. Windy down at the Vis Center, but once on the trail we were sheltered, and quickly got hot!

On our way to Whittier we had to go through a tunnel.  We went through this just yesterday on the way to Anchorage, but now we get to drive it ourselves. Cost us $12 for round trip through the tunnel, what a deal! This tunnel is a one way train track 2.5 miles long, north bound cars are on the hour, for 15 minutes, then 15 minutes for a train; south bound cars are on the half hour for 15 minutes, then 15 for a train. The tracks are built up like a RR crossing, but still a little squirrelly driving on them.

We got to Whittier and boarded another Cruise!  A 26 Glacier Cruise. 

The Glacier Cruise was worth it! Fast boat, went way out, we saw Sea Otter, Harbor Seals, one Whale,

Eagles, and oh yea- 26 Glaciers. We got up real close as they were Caving, a little concerned as the boat went through the ice burgs (Titanic style). We had a Forest Service Guide on board to give us the whole history of the Glaciers, all the flowers and animals in the area. Very informative!