Alaska part III

July 21 Friday

Ketchikan Alaska…  We had both awakened very early…  ordering coffee from room service… watching the forests go by…  now 10:30… passing small fishing boats as we enter the channel where Ketchikan is located…  The ship docked at about 11:00 am…  We walked off a few minutes later… heading up towards Creek Street, finding a  pop-up post office where we mailed letters and postcards…  then walked about a bit visiting a book store and several of the shops…  I may have found a tie, a neck tie, something I was looking for… a quest completed.

We asked about the Totem Pole museum… and found the trail along the creek (the “married man’s trail”) which would take us there… not the alternative, known as “huff and puff” aka the road not taken…  The married man’s trail started on a wooden walk way along above the river… passing above the fish ladder where no fish were to be seen… then followed the road along the creek and eventually to the Totem Pole Museum…

The Museum was fantastic… preserved but not restored totem poles… Six standing, the others laying in storage… there were other artifacts including robes, baskets and bent wood boxes…  There was a representative of the Native community present to answer questions… It was a very, very good museum.  

Leaving the museum, we tried to visit the fish hatchery which was closed for renovations… then walked back down along the creek… Back in town we wandered looking for food, returning to the New York Hotel, which we had found earlier… when looking for the museum…  We sat and ate… local sea food with local beer… All was good…

We returned to the ship, through the tourist shops…  then once aboard decided to go back out in search of a wifi connection… we found one… a fisherman’s dive bar… on the dock but not tourist forward… We found beer and a wifi password… sitting at a table away from the bar where a woman was looking for a boat in search of a deck hand…  We found our internet and I posted the next of the blog posts…

Having communicated with the outside world, we returned to the ship… in time to wander and watch them drop ropes and sail away, into the grays of the passage… To dinner and to bed only after walking the decks...

July 22 Saturday

We awake late to gray skys with some “shippy” motion… Cruising Inside Passage, yet not yet there… we are crossing a gulf, open to the ocean…  We look for whales… we find none… we explore the ship… Gael gets her nails done then does the kitchen tour… I attend the captain’s talk, then the “America’s Test Kitchen” demonstration, then we find each other for the Captain’s Mariner’s brunch… we get our ships tiles… we toast the crew… we have a wonderful lunch…

We continue to wander the ship… looking outward for never seen whales… reading (I am on Harry Potter II) and just enjoying the ship…

Eventually we enter the inside passage… we are again near land… heavily forested land… we are in a confined seaway, with ships and barges nearby…

We are consumed by packing for this is our last night aboard…  we pack then rework the packing and bags but eventually are satisfied.

We have dinner enjoying a bottle of wine I brought aboard… we attend the magic and comedy show… we end up on our balcony with glasses of single malt… watching the world turn to gray, then grayer, then disappearing… Near midnight we push the bags outside into the corridor and we are into bed, our final night to fall asleep to the sound and motion of the sea

July 21 Sunday

At Dock at Vancouver (7:00 am)…  Eventually all vacations must end…  We both awoke early…  We were in the outer harbor at Vancouver…  We showered and watched from our balcony as we passed under the bridge into the inner harbor, then docked…  

We went upstairs for breakfast, sitting at a table near the pool… then as they started to called groups to disembark, returned to the room… We were in what was supposed to be the last group to disembark, brown 3…   They are calling lime 1,2, & 3… which are listed on our schedule… but also yellow and red, neither of which appear in any of our information…  Our cabin door is open… our neighbors mostly gone… Our balcony has been taken over by crew, cleaning and preparing for the next batch of passengers… who will start boarding in a few hours…

Eventually, on time they call “brown 3,” our group, our number, and we make our way downstairs to the gang plank… off the ship to the baggage claim area, to Canadian immigration then out to the hubbub and confusion of people finding their way home… we find the luggage check area and check our bags, for our flight is some hours away…  Then head out to explore.

Once on the street outside, I find the railroad station where we can catch the subway train to the airport… then we look about… we have no expectations of plans… we find a kind woman who has a vest saying “ask me”… she suggests Grand Isle… we head out walking south towards Grand Isle… past bars, tattoo parlors and a store selling medicinal cannabis for dogs and a Fred Flintstone faux car…

We find Grand Isle but initially can’t find our way there… locals supply directions… we arrive to find it as wonderful as suggested… It is shops, markets, a children’s market, a bead store (Gael likes beads) and such… there are buskers… there is a cement plant decorated as to belong next to a market and a bead store… We wander, into and out of stores… into the market with wonderful flowers and inviting foods… eventually finding the local brewery where we have beers and pork sandwiches… the service is notable… we acquire sufficient Canadian currency to take the bus back to the cruise dock where we have stored luggage near the subway station…

We find the bus stop, board the bus but our currency is not correct for the bus… but the driver asks if we are taking the train, then gives us transfers to make us legal on the way, even without fare…  for the train would issue transfers for the bus…

We exit the bus, reclaim our luggage and consider a taxi but the locals all say take the train…  We do, at a fare substantially less than a taxi… arriving at the airport likely faster than the taxi… 

We check bags, (moving heavy items about again) then clear security, then US immigration, then with two hours before our flight find a place for a beer…

Eventually we board… find our seats and places for carry ons…  and settle in for the flight home to Vegas…  As expected we arrive… regain baggage, and Nat and Ryan pick us up… home to Gaels and the dogs, then Gael takes me home with my dogs to my home… Home…

I drag bags in… take a few minutes to look about and off to bed… my bed…   

Vacation over...

Alaska, Part II

Wednesday July 19         

Note... we are far from fast internet, so no photos... photos need fast internet... 

The ship docked early in Haines, Alaska, a smaller very Alaskan town.  Think Northern Expose... I suspect that for Holland America, this is an alternative port to the very crowded Skagway, a few miles up channel.  Many passengers are boarding a ferry for Skagway, then riding the White Pass & Yukon Railroad.  We are not…

We get off the ship to explore… There is a locally staffed information center at the land end of the pier… With maps and such, and a free shuttle about town…   We first visit the Bald Eagle Foundation, then the Hammer Museum (named for its subject matter, the hammer) then the Sheldon Museum, the local history and cultural museum,  the furthest only 7 blocks from the ship…  We stop for coffee and internet (posting part I of this tale)… We explore a few local stores… The town is thankfully devoid of the typical corporate cruise shopping opportunities.  Instead they have local shops with wonderful things…

Among the museums, the hammer museum particularly stood out… It was both wonderful and weird…  apparently the personal project of a single man obsessed with hammers… Out front is a giant hammer serving as a sign post… inside are rooms of hammers, well organized by industry or use, some with patents displayed… others speaking for themselves… I believe that the Hammer Museum knows that it is at best unusual, but is totally unapologetic about it.  In a competition of weird local museums it would likely win…  I recommend it highly and purchased a tee-shirt.

Heading back towards the ship we explored Fort Seward, the now abandoned Army base… Some buildings are now a lumber yard… others a bicycle shop and a adventure outfitter… we discovered an art space in the ruins of a burnt out barracks building.    One building is the Indian Arts Center… Where they let you explore the artist workshops.  One dedicated to large projects like totem poles, another to print making… These were not galleries but instead real work spaces with tools and such scattered about.  There was of course a gallery, but also a particularly chaotic cluttered office. It was welcoming.

We continued our tour by walking the parade ground, past the houses officer’s housing most now private homes but at least two now B&Bs.  Beyond was the fire house (now an office) with its hose tower where we discovered a small painted stone sitting on a displayed fire hose…  The stone was clearly placed there, but no explanation was offered…  We continued to explore…  We find a restaurant…  The Fireweed.  We had really good artisan pizzas and local beers.  We get directions to the brewery…   They told us that the mayor would be leading a native dance troupe which would be performing at the dock at 5:00…   

We re-board the ship, finding a second mysterious rock on the dock…  We are now intrigued… With time to spare before the dancing, we once again leave for “downtown” where we find the brewery… Along the way we find a third rock… We are now in search of more rocks… we ask about… no one will admit to knowing anything about our rocks… We have a beer… talk to man from Auburn CA…  We leave with an invitation to his cabin in Birney Falls where the fly fishing is good…

Heading back to the ship, we stop at one of the stores where Gael buys not cards… we continue to search for more rocks…  We fail to find any… back at the dock the rock there is now gone… Gail suspects that you are supposed to move them if you find one… I return to the fire station to photograph the first of the rocks… it is still there and when I turn it over it offers a link to a Facebook page… “Haines Alaska Rocks”…   Back at the dock the dancers are dancing… the Mayor one of two drummers leading the dancers…  Dancing for cruise ship passengers is traditional, but the motivation has changed…  Instead of entertaining us, they are now sharing their culture…  It is a subtle but significant change.

As we prepare to depart a cruise ship passes, outbound from Skagway… soon we are part of a parade of ships… lead by that ship, and followed by two more…  At the mouth of the sound we meet Holland’s Eurodam, heading north as we turn south…

Thursday July 20              

The ship docked early at Juneau, Alaska, the state’s capital.  Again, I awake very early and go out onto the balcony looking for whales.  It is dead calm… seas glassy… I should be easy to spot whales… Seeing none I return to bed.  Gael and I finally get up as we dock…  After breakfast in the Lido we head ashore.  We have not booked shore excursions, planning to find a way to Mendenhall Glacier…  We instead spontaneously choose a whale watching cruise, with a stop at the glacier on the way back…

We are aboard the green bus… research back home before we left has suggested that for glacier trips you want the white bus not the evil blue bus, but had not mentioned the green bus…  

The green bus took us north of town where our small boat awaited… a 16 passenger boat… With a captain and naturalist.   Leaving port we get the appropriate Coast Guard safety lecture… (if someone falls overboard keep pointing at them an laugh… so we can find them when we turn around… )

Quickly we find porpoises… small dark porpoises… Then sea lions on a bouy…  Beyond a whale is spotted.  The common local whales are humpbacks… Here to feed for the summer… while here they are generally solitary… we follow that whale (at a distance) as he (or she?) surfaces and blows several times then disappears for a longer dive in search of food…  Of course, as soon as a whale is spotted, a small fleet of boats converges to watch… and follow… until the whale gets bored and dives deeply, or until another whale is spotted beyond…   I suspect if you viewed the area from a small plane you would see clusters of small boats, each cluster with its own whale.

Our second whale takes deeper dives… and as we are running out time it dives, lifting its tail out of water, allowing the naturalist to identify the specific whale… based on the pattern on her tail…

It’s a quick trip back to the dock, then back on the green bus, and on to the glacier…

The glacier while crowded is a National Park Service site, so while crowded feels less exploitive… We climb the trail to the visitor’s center, then take the short hike to the falls, ending up below the falls on a sand bar in the lake, with a wonderful view of the glacier… The hike is not challenging… One woman is pushing her mother in a wheel chair..  another is wearing high heels…  The hike takes about 45 minutes… then back to the parking lot to get the shuttle back to town… in this case we are on the blue bus… which on this occasion is not particularly evil…   There had been a bear spotted on the way to the glacier, but by the time we reach the spot he is hiding…  So we don’t see him…  

Back in town we walk several blocks to the Alaska State Museum… Three years ago I had been here to advise museum staff on the way to restore a railroad locomotive.  That locomotive is now on display in their new museum, and I wanted to see it…

We found it, took pictures, then explored the rest of the museum… then headed back towards the ship, finding a Mexican restaurant, simply named Taqueria, which offered King Crab tostadas as well as cauliflower tacos and avocado enchiladas… It was wonderful… having eaten we walked through town, stopping at the Red Dog… then at the Alaska Brewing company store (the brewery, and beer were a short shuttle away…) and a gallery which had prints by a known local artist Rie Munoz…

We re-boarded the ship 30 minutes before sailing… Slipping down the channel past the Alaska Treadwell and Alaska Gastineau Mines… Then out into the main channel… southward as night falls and the world turns to gray… on to Ketchikan…  Reports to follow...

Alaska, 2017, part 1

Saturday, July 15^th  The Journey Begins…

That morning I get up early, finish most of my packing, work on the drip irrigation, attempting to give my garden a fighting chance on survival while I am away… I go to work… check in with the volunteers, then return home to finish packing, and take a deep breath before Gael arrives at 2:00… we load the dog beds, the dog food, the dog toys and such, then the dogs and finally my suitcase and bag… Then off to her house where we unload the dogs and dog accessories, and transfer bags to their pick-up…

Natalie, Gael’s daughter drives us to the airport, leaving us at terminal 3 where we find the Alaska luggage drop, and drop our bags, only after moving a few items about to get the weight below the posted weight limits… We clear security quickly, then find our gate and a nearby bar to sit until boarding…

The flight is full… we (Gail) have brought snacks… crackers and cheese and salami… We read, I write… eventually we land at Seattle but only after

 

Sunday Morning, July 16^th

Anchorage Alaska… 5:00 am… Its early, particularly considering that we only landed at the airport at 11:15 the night before…  But, we have a train to catch, a train that will take us to Seward to meet our ship, and that train is leaving early so we must get up to catch the train.  We get up, shower, and go in search of coffee and a taxi to the railroad station.

The taxi ride is short… or driver from Turkey… we discuss their (Turkey’s) current political situation, talk about life in Alaska… then arrive at the Railroad station… where we can check bags directly to the ship… losing responsibility for our very heavy bags… then inside to get our train tickets.  Inside it is crowded… We get our tickets, discover that the door out to the trains is roped off, so explore the gift shop, then retreat outside, in front, away from the crowd where I take pictures of the Alaska Railroad’s first steam locomotive, now resting on a plinth across the street.

As we wait busses arrive… several carrying Asian (Korean?) tourists… their guide is barking instructions while his charges wander past…  Other busses and vans arrive with other tour groups… In side the depot they drop the ropes and the crowd surges outside… then mills about wonder what to do next… We board our car, and find our seats… I explore a bit, and while exploring hear a report on a staff radio that some people may be late because there is a bear in the vicinity disrupting traffic.

The train is spectacular… (but you would expect no less a compliment from me) blue with yellow trim and lettering… we are seated in a new coach, apparently built in Korea by Dawou… behind us is a 1950’s dome car… ahead a snack car… converted from a Southern Pacific gallery commuter coach, with a former Union Pacific dining car ahead of that.  There are several other ex-SP cars, now converted into Explorer class cars ahead of the diner, and several more Dawoe coaches and an open end observation behind…  All in all a proper passenger train.  Eventually, with all passengers loaded the whistle sounds and we move first westward before turning south to follow Turnagain arm southward.  The train has traditional dutch doors in the vestibules… and they let you stand in the vestibule and lean out and enjoy the ride…   

Along Turnagan Arm we see Dall sheep… a bit below at Portage we see the ghost trees killed when the land subsided during the 1964 earthquake.  Below Portage we start to climb eastward over the spine of the Kenai Peninsula, passing 2 glaciers, then over Moose Pass and past Moose Lake… eventually reaching Steward on the other side of the Peninsula.

The train stops at the edge of the village of Seward, with our ship visible in the harbor.  Unencumbered by luggage, we wander the length of the town on the main street, then wander back along the waterfront, continuing to the cruise ship dock.  It was too early to board, but they were ready and we walked on… to a nearly empty ship, with at least a few guests from the previous cruise still wandering the halls, hesitant to leave.

We left our bags in our room, which was ready, then had lunch in the main dining room before exploring the ship… Gael napped a bit… I wandered a bit then again together we toured the spa, had a drink at the stern most bar and returned to the room hoping to find luggage… which had not yet arrived… Peering over the side of the ship, we realized that they had not yet started to load luggage, but were only then setting up the scanner and conveyors…  An invitation for the “Mariner’s reception had been given to me on check in… but we were still the blue jeans we had worn aboard the train… embolden, knowing that if they had not started to load the luggage aboard, that it was unlikely that others had clothing to change into, we headed up to the crow’s nest for the party as we were…   The party was not particularly well attended… possibly because many if not most of the passengers were not yet abroad…  We enjoyed a glass or two of champagne and hor’d voirs before going down to the room, where we found my suitcase… eventually Gael’s made its way upstairs as we watched the crew continue loading bags aboard.

We fresh clothes we changed and went down to dinner… wander the ship for a bit longer then went to bed… It had been a long two days.

Monday Morning, July 17^th

Somewhere in the Gulf of Alaska.  It is gloomy and grey… the seas calm with no white caps…  just a gentle slap of waves on the hull.   It is foggy with the soft white clouds merging into the fog which surrounds us creating a world which is something like a bubble, maybe 5 miles across, but without a reference point could be much smaller.

Today is a sea day… transiting the gulf.  We left Seward a little after 8:00 last night… they spent about 2 hours working our way down the sound and out to Blying sound, and from there into the gulf.  We have spent the night, and will spend today and most of the night to come transiting the gulf… then early tomorrow we will pass Cape Spencer as we enter Cross Sound. 

After two days of travel… truly via planes, trains and automobiles and now a ship, we are lazy, so are only stirring at 7:00…  Which would be at home 8:00… I have showered, dressed and am writing, Gael is showering.  In a few minutes we will go find coffee and food… on a cruise ship finding food is not an issue… deciding where and what to eat may be. 

Outside, it is slowly getting brighter… and as it gets brighter it seems our bubble is getting bigger…  the clouds tease us with hints of blue… not blue sky breaking through,  but white clouds that seem a bit bluish… suggesting that they are not completely hiding what lies beyond.  Ahead on the horizon there is a bright line of white hinting that the sun may be beyond.  By 10:00, after coffee and breakfast, the line of bright white is to starboard as well.  We are now planning our day, making choices… to we (or she) attended the flower arranging demonstration or do we meet the naturalist on deck 3 aft?   By 10:00 the fog has moved in closer, the bright white along the horizon is gone…

Gael attends the flower arranging lecture while I meet the ship’s naturalist and get a feel for our planned path… We attempt to attend the cooking demonstration but the auditorium was full and so abandoned that idea…  We sat topside with ice teas and books, then ate lunch then the beer tasting… (6 brews from the Alaska Brewing Company) then retreated to the room where I worked on this blog and Gail happily napped… I may join her…

I awake from my map to find Gael sitting out on the balcony… it is now sunny and warm… the sea still calm without white caps…  We look for whales… they are known to be about but so far none have graced us with their presence… we walk once around the ship, on the Promenade deck, in case the whales were only seen from the port side… but they are not there either.  We discuss Pixar’s Dory and her skill at speaking whale, and whether if able to speak whale one could call upon them at will…   Alas we can’t speak whale so were unable to test the hypotheses.

Now we are sitting on our balcony, still waiting for a whale to appear… A crab boat passes… Gael is  reading, I writing this… each with a glass of port… It is no longer sunny and bright, and is getting cooler… we have finally settled into our vacation.

Tuesday, July 18th

Very early, I awoke, dressed and went topside… it is cloudy, a world of grays… There are 5 or 6 passengers wandering… the crew is up, washing the decks… to port there was a dark area, with an adjoining light area… The ship’s naturalist tells me that that is a hanging glacier… I accept that I have seen a hanging glacier but it could have been a hippopotamus or a watermelon as well…  really all I saw was a light area next to a dark area along the horizon…

Now 7:30;  we are approaching the sound… the water is now milky grey… suggesting that it has come from glacial melt… there is a log and rafts of debris floating.  Question of the day, what is the difference between flotsam and jetsum?

Now 8:10 now in the sound… at some distance there is a creek meeting the sound… along one edge is a bear shaped rock… not a real bear, bit instead a quite convincing bear shaped rock. 

We made our way up to the Crow’s Nest… found wonderful seats and settled in to watch Galcier Bay go by…  First the water changed color from blue to milky teal.  Whales were seen.  Then came the glaciers… first hanging glaciers, then after the National Park interpreters joined us we began to see floating ice and tidewater glaciers.   All accompanied by a National Park interpreter’s narration…  Reed Glacier was particularly blue…  We went in the John’s Hopkins Arm, but stayed 4 miles from the face, so as not to disturb harbor seals with pups…. Then up the Taft Arm where the Grand Pacific Glacier looked like a massive dirty freeway, sitting for some time off the Margerie Glacier, which repeatedly calved.   Were, we abandoned our seats in the Crows Nest and had a massage… but while waiting for the massage we were in room with a view of the glacier, with rewarded us with an additional significant calving…

That evening the boat retraced its steps down to Icy Strait, where we turned south through the inside passage, heading for Haines, our first port of call.