Trip to Alaska

Train to Denali

What a beautiful place. My good friend, Sue, and I had a wonderful vacation and got to breathe clean air and see wonderful sights. We started with a train and bus trip to Denali Park. Beautiful views all the way.  We went to the park and heard about its history, history of the people there, and how some of the native Alaskans still live in a sustainable way with little of the comforts we take for granted. A beautiful country in the summer - but it gets to 41 degrees below zero  in our guide's hometown of Fairbanks.  We had beautiful weather all but one day that we were there, when it rained a little off and on.

 We stopped in Talkeetna the day after being in Denali and were able to see the Mt. McKinley in the morning at two locations before we left for the ship. On the way to the ship we stopped at an animal rehab center and saw most of the animals we were looking for but didn't see in Denali. The Muskox was the most unusual - had never heard of it before. It's fur is sought after to make very warm garments. They comb it out of this very mangy looking animal!

View from Denali Hotel

Muskox

Hubbard Glacier

Sue at Glacier

 Ten we boarded the Celebrity Millennium. Cruised to the Hubbard Glacier which was amazing! The colors were spectacular, This picture doesn't do it justice! We watched ice fall from the glacier and it goes into the water all over the rivers in Alaska. It is difficult for the Salmon to live in it, but they manage to traverse it.

Juneau from top of Mt Roberts

We stopped in several ports of call. Juneau was our first stop. This is the smallest capital city  in the US. We took a tramway to top of Mt Rogers and you can see all of Juneau from there. Saw a great movie about the native people of Alaska - very well produced showing the impact of others moving to Alaska but done in a very nice way.

Outside Skagway, we took a ferry to Haines and took a rafting trip on a glacier river and saw beautiful views and many eagles and their nests.  We saw a moose by the river too, best view we had of one, though had seen the "behind" of a mother and two babies in Denali.

One view from raft

Rafting adventure

Bald Eagle Couple

Crab lunch

Icy Strait Totem

 We next stopped in Icy Strait where they had the best stores. If you go, don't assume (like I did) you will find the same items elsewhere. Some you will, but they also had the best native crafts for a reasonable price.  Here we saw a salmon processing plant, walked through a lovely wooded area with many interesting plants and trees, walked along a beach and saw many, many bald eagles flying about, a couple of totem poles, and had the most wonderful lunch of Alaskan King Crab.
         
 In Ketchikan, we took a fast boat ride (not the canoe we had planned- one of two mix ups in tours) to a rain forest area and on the way saw many more eagles and beautiful landscapes. We saw interesting things such as Moose Bread - a fungus that grows in trees that moose like to eat, trees that had been stripped just enough to build a canoe but not enough to kill the tree, and trees such as in the picture below that was clear cut to sell, but is managing to re-grow itself.

Rainforest

We cruised the last day, giving us plenty of time to pack, reflect on our trip and see our last shows. All the entertainment was really good. We enjoyed the therapy pool and gym (a little). And we enjoyed happy hour and all our meals on board too. We ate twice in specialty restaurants and both were wonderful and indulgent!

Wine time on ship

Once we got off the ship, we thought we were spending the day in Vancouver, but tour number 2 mixup occurred and we had a short tour by bus and then spent many hours in the airport with our luggage. What little we saw, it is a beautiful town.  All in all a memorable trip.

Vancouver from park

Then back to Florida for a day and half before returning to VA.