9.18.2010

Alaskan Travelogue: Part 2

Just as soon as we got back to the ship from our Kayaking trip in Ketchikan, we got some surprising news from the ship’s Captain about our next stop. The tiny town of Hoonah was in the midst of a serious situation involving the perpetrator in the murder of two police officers who was still barricaded in his house. The coast guard had temporarily closed the port and our ship had to adjust its plans. Although it took them a while to tell us the details of our new itinerary, the first thing I wanted to do was call the independent tour companies that we booked our excursions with. We decided to book outside the cruise line because you generally got longer excursions with smaller groups for the same price. However, I never thought the cruise ship would change the order of the port stops! Luckily it all worked out thanks to some flexibility by the excursion vendors.

We ended up taking the long trip to Skagway instead of to Hoonah and just arrived at 8:30 in the morning before our bus tour with Chilkoot Charters and Tours to the Yukon was supposed to depart. We rushed to get off the ship, but luckily we ended up having plenty of time thanks to some flexibility by the tour company. The weather cooperated and despite the 60% chance of rain, it stayed bright and clear. The tour took us over the White Pass trail, through a small desert that appeared after a glacier lake receded, to the beautiful Emerald Lake. We even saw some real Alaskan sled dogs relaxing in the warm weather.


Emerald Lake, Yukon

Our next stop was the capital city of Juneau. We didn’t book an excursion and decided to just take a shuttle up to the Mendenhall Glacier and National park. The weather held out for another unexpected sunny afternoon, and although no bears were spotted we did see some spectacular views of the glacier. After taking a short walk to as close to the glacier as we could get, we headed to a 3.5 mile nature loop trail that showcased the types of vegetation that emerge after the glacier receded.


Mendenhall Glacier

The final port before the end of our cruise was at Icy Straight Point near the small town of Hoonah. The port had reopened after the Juneau Swat team stormed the house and arrested the shooter. Aside from the huge zip line (which we didn’t try after doing some serious zip lining in West Virginia the week prior), the main attraction in Hoonah is whale watching. We took the Glacier Wind Charters tour to Point Aldophus, which is the feeding grounds for about 30 whales. Although it poured down rain for a good hour of the trip, the whales were being very active. We saw several even do a complete breach. On the way back to the port, away from most of the action, we seemed to disturb a relaxing whale who surfaced right next to our small craft and then proceeded to leap right in the air behind us. It was pretty amazing stuff, I even got a short video of one of the whales jumping in the distance.




Next we saw what perhaps my favorite site of the cruise was and the main reason I was happy with our choice for the North bound cruise: the Hubbard Glacier. This glacier is about 6 miles wide and 10-15 stories high. The ship pulls right alongside it with the hope to see some serious calving. Despite our best attempts to make enough noise to shake up the glacier, we didn’t see any major ruptures. However, the glacier didn’t completely disappoint. Its normal activity was still very impressive and the slightly overcast sky really made the blue glacier ice stand out.

Hubbard Glacier

From the Hubbard glacier, we had one final day and night at sea before reaching the last stop in our cruise, Seward Alaska. Although we missed the seminar on how to fold towels and wash cloths into animal shapes, we did get in some more mini golf and ended up on a winning team in a quite windy volleyball tournament consisting of two teams. Luckily only two volleyballs were lost to the ocean. It ended up being an early evening since we had to grab a quick breakfast and be ready for the scenic train ride to Anchorage by 5:55 AM. Mainly as a matter of principle, one of my major goals of the morning was to figure out how to get my previously confiscated surge protector back. We eventually figured out we had to go to a separate table where all forbidden items ended up, most of which were Ulu knives (traditional Alaskan rounded blades that are big with tourists). We had no receipt to give them (very confusing for them) but we eventually spotted our contraband with our room number taped on. They had Sarah fill out a surprisingly long form but eventually the surge protector was ours again. Once on the train, I was able to get some nice pictures of what you think of as typical Alaskan scenery: snow topped mountains with glaciers, green forests, lakes, and even some wildlife. We saw some moose and even some goats up high on the mountains.

Our flight (which included the first meal that I’ve had for free in a flight in 6 years) got us to Seattle fairly late Friday night. We had a great time in our one day in Seattle. In the morning we walked over to the Seattle center and saw the Space Needle, and then went on a “Food Tour” of Pike’s Place market. The market is so huge and so crowded, the tour was really a great way to focus in on about 10 different shops and get to sample something from each. The tour guide provided insight and historical tidbits that also made it more interesting than a normal walkthrough. From garlic hot-smoked salmon, to seafood bisque, to chocolate covered cherries, we got a lot of good food. At the famous fish market, Sarah also got to be about as close as possible to the fish catcher without catching the fish with her face.

In the afternoon we met up with Marie and Adam at their place in Seattle. They were excellent hosts and we ended up deciding to go on the Redhook brewery tour and visit a nearby winery. Although it was close, we decided to go with beer and wine instead of the other kayaking options we discussed. It was a fun afternoon and after getting some dinner and eating some ice cream we rushed off to catch our red-eye flight back home. It was great end to a wonderful vacation.

Redhook Brewery Tour

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

beautiful! looks like you guys had a great time!