The plan was to have 2 full days in Washington to visit family and take care of legal issues. It was rushed but got the important stuff taken care of. Most important, visiting family.
My traveling companion was my eldest daughter April.
We boarded the ship in Seattle and set sail. We had a balcony room and were treated to moonlight on the water and a lovely sunrise all from our balcony
Our first Port was Ketchikan where we went flight seeing in a float plane. But prior to boarding we had the most amazing breakfast at the George Inlet Lodge, huge crab cakes smothered in hollandaise sauce and a half crab with big crab legs and good instructions on how to break into them. Best meal of the whole trip.
The afternoon was spent visiting the shops in Ketchikan. I have never seen so many jewelry shops in one place and did find this unusual fountain.
The shops and history on creek street was interesting, just missed seeing the local bear as he popped out for a quick salmon snack before retreating back under a building. Watched some Salmon being pursued by seals. Tomorrow Juneau, the Capitol and considered a rainforest with no roads in or out of town. Have to arrive by water or air.
After arriving in Juneau we traveled to an old mining area now converted to Summer doggie camp.
Here we got to meet the dogs up close and personal.
My daughter was ready to take one of these oversized pups home
Saw a typical sled, learned about the origins of sled racing and why they have camps in Alaska. Many places where the dogs are raised are too warm for them to train in the summer, so they move them to Alaska to continue their training in the summer and return home in the fall. These dogs were Montana dogs. Our musher was fountain of information.
Next was the real fun a time. A team was hitched to a training sled and 8 dogs took 8 adults and 1 musher and one helper for a romp thru the woods on a training sled. They yipped and yelped and ran like their tails we on fire while the rest of the dogs in camp complained that they didn’t get to go. These dogs are unbelievably strong, happiest when running.
The afternoon was spent getting crab legs for lunch and touring the gift shops. My daughter had a list of things she was looking for, I did not.
Sunday we arrived in Skagway, weather still clear but definitely cooler. I thought Skagway an attractive town that offered more that just jewelry stores and t shirt shops. I was pretty well “walked out” by this point and didn’t tour the whole town, but none the less I found it interesting. By this point on our travels I had logged in over 37 miles and was definitely feeling it. It was our day to ride the famed Skagway Railroad and it was all that it is advertised to be. Gorgeous scenery, waterfalls and stunning views and with the curvy track sometimes it’s possible to see both ends of the train. I chose to just sit back and relax.
Monday morning as we anchored in Icy Straight with our only plan to do the gondola ride to the top of the mountain a pod of whales opted to perform for us for about an hour. They teased us by spouting and doing tail flips but not one full breach. It was a true whale watching show from our balcony. We were so lucky.
The gondola ride to the top of the mountain at Hoonah was breathtaking.
At the top of the mountain we opted to take another tram ride to visit the old cannery no longer in use and then went on a forest expedition trip. This trip was fascinating as April and I kept remarking how it all just looked like our former back yard where she and her brothers and sister grew up. We both knew we needed this trip for the tree and mountain fix we had been longing for and this was certainly it. Mission accomplished.
Our next stop was Glacier Bay, which is a fantastic experience. First you see small ice burgs floating in the bay, then larger ones. Then you see some goats on the hill sides if you have binoculars and finally the glacier walls. When suddenly you hear a crack and see the calving of the glacier occur. Almost a religious experience.
We spent the next two days enjoying the boat and all it had to offer.
Our last Port of Call before Seattle was Victoria on Vancouver Island. We had planned to meet up with a friend there,but I completely messed that up by having confused dates. So we opted for a pedicab tour under bright blue sky’s. It turned out to be one of the highlights. We saw neighborhoods, parks, tourist and business districts all narrated by a charming young gal.
Coming in to Seattle early morning was a beautiful welcome.
Over all it was a wonderful trip, by choice we both agree a smaller ship would have been our preference. We had sun every day and no rain. We thought there would be much more seafood on board, most seafood was found in ports and even though salmon and crab are native to Alaska, still expensive. Signing off KO
Zihuatanejo 