ALASKA May 2013

These pictures are when we went into Glacier Bay National Park...we picked up a Park Ranger on the way who spent the day on board explaining what we were seeing...it was cold, but beautiful.

In Skagway we hired a private guide who drove us down along White Pass, the area where the Gold Rush Stampede took place and now where the White Pass Railroad runs. We drove thru customs and into Canadian Yukon. We stopped at the Yukon Suspension Bridge before we turned around and came back. It was great because we could stop whenever we wanted to get out of the car and walk, take photos and enjoy feeling so small and alone in that great wilderness.

The cemetery in Skagway where many of the fatalities of the gold rush were buried

This is Lower Reid Falls behind the gold rush cemetery

The Yukon Suspension Bridge

More of the scenery in White Pass

In Skagway we also rented a Bush Hawk airplane which flew us into Glacier Bay National Park. Eventually we landed about 5,000 feet above ground on top of a snow capped glacier...we were sitting on about 50 feet of snow...we walked in the tracks the plane ski's left, if you stepped off you instantly went up to your hip in loose snow..the air was crisp, the sun was bright, and there was nothing but complete silence..no birds, no planes, no animals, just an amazing solace and crisp wonderment..

It's interesting to be so high up and surrounded my mountains, your sense of perception is completely off

The evening in Juneau we rode the Mt. Roberts Tramway up the side of Mt Roberts..they had experienced unusual snow fall for May and many of the trails, etc. were closed. We did see our first bear on the way up the tram, sadly the trams do not stop, so my pic is blurry..but it was a bear! Once on the top we enjoyed the views looking down on Juneau and found some nice local jewelry in the gift shop to buy for gifts.

The morning and early afternoon in Juneau were spent on a small boat Whale Watching for Humpbacks..we were so lucky and came across a mother and her calf...they had just came up from wintering in Hawaii...the mother's don't eat almost their whole passage back to Alaska with their young, they are literally starving by the time they arrive in Alaska..so mom was very busy eating and would deep dive for food, being gone from the surface for about 10 minutes at a time..baby however, was very happy to have an audience and provided wonderful breaching, dorsal flaps, pectoral waves and occasionally bob its head out of the water to see what was going on...it was breathtaking and amazing, I could have stayed there forever.

We also saw some Sea Lions- they were HUGE when you get up to them...the ones on the buoy were not
going to give up their seats for the ones in the water trying to belly flop up there...the large sea lion was
constantly "barking" and raising a fuss to keep the ones in the water at bay

Eagles sat everywhere

We also got to stop at Mendenhall Glacier on the way back from Whale Watching

In Ketchikan we went Sea Kayaking into the Tongass Narrows....we have only single kayaked inland lakes here, so we were slightly nervous going out to cross part of the ocean and to ride double, but the kayaks were well balanced and it was easier than I thought...there were so many starfish and we go to hold some...they were awesome colors, bright purple and bright oranges, sadly for me the following day on our way back to Vancouver-I accidently dropped my small camera overboard from the ship and with it went all my pictures from Ketchikan. Luckily Amy did have some on hers but I had taken most of the really cool ones from the starfish-

JoAnn and Crazy Cat -

Surprisingly, Alaska was never on my bucket list ( I tend to think internationally! ) but it was on Amy's and I came across a great deal on the cruise itself....so we booked it! I'm so glad we did and I would love to go back and do the land portion to Denali... It takes a lot of pre-planning almost a year in advance to narrow down the excursions. So many of the top rated excursion companies fill up by 6 months out and they are all small companies (which is what we love) so there is limited seating on them....There are no words for it...I've been on two other cruises (New England/Canada Fall Color Tour and Bahama's) but this is the first cruise where there is almost always a view of land from the ship...it is the first cruise we booked a balcony for and I'm so glad we did.. we spent hours on the balcony just enjoying the changing scenery going by.

The cruise left from Canada Place in Vancouver so we flew in there. We flew in the night before and the next morning we rented bicycles and biked the 6 miles around Stanley Park- it was gorgeous! I would love to go back to Vancouver and spend time just exploring the city..there is so much culture and nature.

Canada Place Cruise Terminal

It takes time to get used to seeing something other than an American Flag flying

The four of us on our rented bicycles leaving for Stanley Park

The bicycle trail was all paved and fairly flat- it was a pretty easy 6 mile ride

The view of downtown Vancouver from Stanley Park-it looks so gray!

A light house on the bike trail

Biking under Lions Gate Bridge

Sea Otters playing near the sea wall

A few food pics from the Cruise Ship's Main Dining Room- The 7 Seas

SANGRIA'S!

Here's Amy's pics from the Kayaking:

The Starfish:

The Towel Animals:

Thanks Jeff and Taratru ~!

Jeff, I think the insanity goes with my police occupation! Luckily, Amy goes with *most* of my lunatic ideas!

Yes, we all walked across the Yukon Suspension Bridge-it was only about 50 feet above the raging Yukon River and it really had very little sway, it just put a little bounce in your step

The small planes didn't bother me- but I had a friend who had a small plane and had been up before. Amy gets motion and sea sickness so she swears by Bonine (similar to Dramamine but better according to her). She starts taking one every 12 hrs about 2 days before we leave and continues them for two days after we are home and she has no problems.

The plane over the Tongass Narrows was the biggest, holding 4 of us, another couple and the pilot. It was the smoothest as we took off from the water and landed on the water (twice for both as we stopped in an inland lake for pics)- you could hardly even feel any sensation of movement. We also were only flying about 500 feet above the water, a little higher to get into the Tongass area.

The smaller plane held the four of us and the pilot and we were squished in it more (I'll have to upload some pics of the interiors). This one there was more movement for several reasons. First, we were flying about 5,000 feet up and above mountains, we had a strong head wind (common for Skagway) and there was more air pockets. Our one friend was feeling nauseated however I think the salmon she had for lunch just before we got on was a bad food choice . She never actually got sick but she was turning green.

I never felt unsafe in either plane, both pilots had over 20 years of flying and both are locals who do this year around. The plane that flew us over the Tongass has a four week inspection every early spring where its torn apart and put all back together to the tune of $40,000! These pilots rely on their planes for transportation, business and tourist trade-so they are well oiled machines. The snow landing on the ski's were awesome! It was like snow hopping on a sled when we landed! WHEEEEEEEEEEEE and taking off on the ski's we basically just ran right off the side of the mountain, all smooth as smooth can be.

The weather is completely unpredictable in Alaska, we took the cruise blog advice and packed layers. The temps stayed pretty consistent in the high 40's to low 50's. We were comfortable in layered sweaters/tshirts and a waterproof rain jacket most days. The day we were in Glacier Bay the temps dropped to around 30 degrees. You could feel the ice in the air the closer to the end we got and ice started floating in the water. We are from Michigan so we are cold weather girls..it was very comfortable for us. If you do go I can't stress enough the need for a lightweight waterproof (not resistant) jacket to put over your layers. Alaska is part of the temperate rainforest and rain showers are common. It was the best thing we took!

It's hard for me not to get on a ship and think about Titanic so the "queen of the world" always comes up, at least once! (our cruise to Canada we visited Halifax which operated as the body recovery crew for the Titanic, a very emotional and sadly fascinating history they have there).

A grizzly bear walking the beach front as we are pulling into Glacier Bay National Park , as seen from the cruise ship:

Glacier Bay:

Our plane over the Tongass Narrows:

The infamous rain jackets Water Proof!

The Red Onion Saloon and Brothel-Skagway:

What the trams going up the side of Mt Roberts in Juneau look like

Sunset over Juneau as seen from the top of Mt Roberts

Inside the smaller plane which flew 4 of us and the pilot up to land on the glacier:

The bigger plane which flew us to the Tongass Narrows..
It held the pilot and passenger, 3 of us in the middle seats but the middle person is staggered forward

Then one person in the rear seat.

I'm sorry my pictures are not in order, we are still sifting thru about 3000 photo's from the trip!

Courtney~ All of us loved your city! I think what surprised us the most is you have palm trees!
We stayed on the west side, English Bay at the Best Western Sands. We would have loved to have time to
go to your suspension bridge and the island market...maybe next time! I can only imagine your island is
even more breathtaking!

More of outstanding Stanley Park:

Hardy, I love that shot too! It's haunting to me, almost apocalyptic! Like something out of a movie

Hardy~ I think you will love cruising! It's nice to be all inclusive, almost a similar concept Disney provides. You unpack once and have your room the entire time, food is provided so no need to worry about paying for dinner, a nice variety of food choices, and entertainment on the ship (except for a few special shows on big mega ships) is included and free! I also like that fact the ship is doing the driving and I can sit back, enjoy dinner, a show, a drink and wake up in a different town refreshed and ready to go!

finngirl, make sure you leave from Vancouver if you want to stay completely inside the passage areas...if you leave from Seattle you will have one day of open ocean- that is partially why we chose to leave from Vancouver, we had a first time cruiser who was concerned about leaving the sight of land and of sea sickness, he had no problems on this trip!