Bill & Maryalice, Sara & Steve's trip to Alaska, July 2006

Thursday, July 13
Depart JFK 7:45 AM Air Canada Flt 249 and arrive Vancouver 10:40 AM, checked into the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel. Had a decent dinner at an Irish pub in Gastown, their historic district, which features an interesting steam powered clock, and directly abuts their "skid row", which results in a lot of relatively aggressive panhandling. Vancouver is an unexpectedly ugly city, at least in terms of its architecture. A city planning commission powerful enough to make a Soviet Commissar envious seems to dictate that all new construction be high rise (at least near the city center), a nondescript green and have vegetation on the roof. The city has very high housing costs. And a very nice park that runs along miles of waterfront.

Friday, July 14
Transferred to ms Statendam, and sailed at 5 PM. We had booked a cabin without a veranda for the kids, so booked a large cabin with a large veranda for ourselves, figuring we could all hang out and enjoy the views from our veranda. But Holland America upgraded Sara & Steve to a veranda cabin, so we had much more space than we needed, but it was very nice indeed.

Saturday, July 15 At sea
Sunday, July 16 Ketchikan
In the morning, we took the Misty Fjords by Floatplane excursion. Our pilot spotted a pod of orcas in a fjord, so he landed the plane right near them and opened the doors so we could get better pictures! Spectacular scenery! Flew over several small cabins the Forest Service rents out (which can only be reached by float plane - they drop you off at the beginning and pick you up to bring you home.) Took a ride on the funicular to the top of the hill. Toured Creek Street, which is an old red light district, built on stilts over the creek. Visited Dolly's whorehouse museum. Had dinner at the ship's Pinnacle Grille, their luxury restaurant.

Monday, July 17 Icy Strait Point
Icy Strait Point is a little museum/village built by the local tribe just for the tourist trade – they limit it to 1 ship a day, so it is nice & laid back, with no jewelry stores. We took the Remote Bush Exploration & Grizzly Bear Search excursion: a bus out to the wilderness and a long walk through the woods to view points overlooking a stream. We saw several eagles and 1 grizzly bear. It really was out in the wilderness. There were 3 guides for our group of 30 or so people, and one of the guides carried a .30-06 rifle and kept a sharp eye out for bears.

Tuesday, July 18 Juneau
In the morning, Maryalice, Sara & I took the Four Glacier & Dog Sled Helicopter Adventure. This was the most amazing and awesome helicopter ride through the valleys and over the ridges of the multiple glaciers in the area. We then landed in an enormous snow filled valley where the dog camp had been set up, met the dogs and our musher (a 17 year old Californian) and went for a dog sled ride. Steve, being a little averse to helicopters, took a boat ride out to Mendenhall Glacier and saw some whales and other marine life. Right next to the ship at dinner that night on, a group of whales engaged in "bubble net feeding". This is where a group of whales cooperate to feed. They dive as a group under a school of fish, and all release a stream of bubbles in a ring around the fish, which drives all the fish to the center and up, then the whales rise through that compacted mass of fish, scooping them up by the ton! The naturalist aboard said he had been cruising Alaska for 10 years, and had never witnessed it before. And it happened right outside the huge windows in our dining room! Dinner service came to a complete halt as passengers and serving staff stood transfixed by the sight.

Wednesday, July 19 Sitka
We took the Captain's Choice Wildlife Quest & Beach Trek. A very nice small boat took us out to show us whales, eagles, sea otters, seals and puffins. We then landed on a remote little island and strolled around looking at the woods & shoreline. We also visited the Sheldon Jackson Museum, which has one of the best collections of native arts and crafts in the state.

Thursday, July 20 At sea. Resurrection Bay and Hubbard Glacier
In the morning, the ship sailed up Resurrection Bay, at the head of which Hubbard Glacier meets the sea. We sailed in circles for 3 hours within a few hundred yards of the face of the glacier, close enough to hear the roar of the calving - house size chunks of ice breaking off the front of the glacier and falling into the sea. It sounded like distant thunder. I took a series of pictures (not here yet) which I am going to stitch together for a panoramic view of Hubbard Glacier.

Friday, July 21
Arrived at Seward in the morning and took a motor coach up a scenic highway to Portage Lake where we took a cruise on the Ptarmigan to the face of a small glacier. We got pretty close, but there was no calving. Then we got back on the coach for Anchorage, where we stayed at the Westmark.

Saturday, July 22
In the morning, we got on the McKinley Explorer train to McKinley Chalets Resort in Denali. The train was great with huge domes above and a dining car below. It took 8 hours to get to Denali National Park, where we hustled out for our River Rafting. They wrapped us up in wool gloves and socks and waterproof boots and gloves over that, and a full "dry suit" that had rubber seals at the neck, wrists and ankles. When they were done you were inflated and immobile like the Pillsbury Doughboy. You had to stick a couple of fingers down your neck seal and crouch down to force the air out so you could move about. We took the Canyon Run 11 miles down the Nenana River, a glacially fed river that looked like liquid slate and was 37 degrees. We ran Class 3 & 4 rapids on this trip!

Sunday, July 23 Denali
At the crack of what would have been dawn anywhere else (the sun set at 11:30 PM and rose at 3:30 AM, but it still never got dark. You could read a newspaper outdoors at any time) we set out on our Tundra Wilderness Tour. This was an 8 hour ride on a school bus 61 miles into Denali National Park. The road is not built for anything heavier than a school bus! We had a lot of eagle-eyed wildlife spotters on board, and the driver would stop any time anyone saw anything. We saw 13 grizzly bears (some solo, sows with 1 cub, sows with 2 cubs and one sow with 3 cubs), eagles, countless Dall Sheep (like the bears, hardly more than white dots without good binoculars), harriers, ground squirrels, moose, caribou and ptarmigan. The day was gorgeous: warm and clear. Every time we came to a point where Mt. McKinley was visible, we could see it. Eventually we came to the point where we could see all of it, from foothills to the peaks, all clear and beautiful, with NO clouds obscuring it. We were told by numerous guides and natives that such days occur only about 10 times a year. We sure lucked out!
After dinner, we went on a Jeep Backcountry Safari. Bill drove the Wrangler over some pretty rough terrain, over rocks and through deep mud puddles (Maryalice & Sara were supposed to take turns driving, but chickened out) to some scenic views and a walk on the tundra.

Monday, July 24 Denali
We slept in and skipped our Horse-Drawn Covered Wagon Lunch, opting instead for strolling by the Nenana River and taking pictures. In the afternoon we got back on the McKinley Explorer train for the 4 hour trip to Fairbanks.

Tuesday, July 25 Fairbanks
First excursion was a fairly hokey tour up the river on big stern-wheeler, with stops to see Susan Butcher's sled dog training camp and an Indian village display. After a quick stop at the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, we went up to a Gold Dredge and panned for gold. They guarantee you will find gold. They have records from when the dredge was operating, and gather the tailings from days when it was operating relatively inefficiently. Then concentrate those tailings and hand you a bag of them. For the evening, we had signed up for a Midnight Sun Dinner & Chena River Float. We had expected a sort of riverboat restaurant, but went in an old van to a nice restaurant half an hour out of town. Then were driven another half hour to a sandy shore of the Chena River, where a few rubber rafts awaited us. We were pretty skeptical at this point, not being up (or dressed) for more white water rafting, but we went ahead. Turned out to be a balmy, serene, relaxing float through beautiful countryside. It was just so peaceful and beautiful it almost brought tears to your eyes. After an hour or two, the rafts were pulled ashore at the home of the family that ran the trips. A couple of cabins in a clearing by the river. These folks were so nice and friendly. They live entirely off the grid. They have a generator for electricity and wood for heat (5-6 cords a year) in a place where winter temperatures go to 60 below! And they are very proud of their outhouse!
They call Alaska the last frontier, and this is why. This kind of living is not uncommon up there. And there are many small settlements that can only be reached by floatplane (the Alaskan SUV). Seems everyone hunts and fishes for protein. Residents can take up to 6 deer per year per family member, and one of our guides said he had taken 18 so far this year. Salmon is a staple of the diet, of course. Some vegetables grow well up there. Even though the growing season is short, there is lots of sunlight during that period, and 100 lb cabbages are common.

Wednesday, July 26 Homeward bound
At 9:45 PM we started the long flight home via Minneapolis, arriving at JFK at 10 AM Thursday.