Day 9 - Disembark in Seattle

We arrived in Seattle early on the last morning, and were one of the first groups off the ship. We had decided to take a late flight so that we could spend some time in Seattle, so we had the ship take care of our baggage, and we headed up to see the sights of Seattle. We started off by heading up towards the Space Needle. It was in the same area as the Experience Music Project and the Science Museum that we wanted to visit, but we arrived a few hours before anything opened. Luckily the weather was nice, so we just hung around outside, waiting for things to open up.



First we went to the music project which was more fun than I expected. There was an exhibit called "Sound and Vision: Artists Tell Their Stories" that was really interesting. It was a big room set up with lots of stations to sit down and listen to interviews with different people from the music industry. I really enjoyed listening to the stories, but the seats were very uncomfortable. If they would have had a couch to lounge on, I would have listened to them all day. There was also a Jimi Hendrix room, a guitar gallery, and an exhibit about The Supremes. The interactive part was probably the most fun - there's a room set up where you can try your hand at different instruments. They will teach you how to play whatever you want. There's even rooms set up for "Jam Sessions" where you can record your music. We skipped the jam session, but did attempt a few different instruments. Turns out I still have no musical talent.



Next we headed over to the Science Museum. Unfortunately, we had JUST missed the IMAX showing of Toy Story 3, which I would have loved to see. So we just enjoyed the museum. Nothing too exciting, just a typical science museum. There was a butterfly room which is always fun. And of course some hands-on exhibits to play around with.

We headed back to Pike Place to pick up a few souvenirs, stopped at Top Pot donut shop (which we had seen on the food network a few days before we left), and eventually called it a day.
Like all of our trips, we had a great time, and were sad to see it end. But we're always happy to come home and reunite with Wilson!

Days 7 and 8 - At Sea

Okay so this is what happens when I wait 7 months to write a post about my vacation. I will have no real details on days 7 and 8. Day 7 was fully spent at sea, traveling back south again. I thought we would sleep away most of the day, but we spent a lot of time enjoying activities on the ship instead. We watched an ice carver, played bingo, spent some time in the casino, played some board games, went to shows, and enjoyed all of the entertainment that she ship had to offer.
Most of day 8 was also at sea, but we did dock in Victoria, British Columbia that evening.

Apparently this is a "courtesy stop" due to some law requiring ships to dock in other countries when sailing through international waters. We decided to stay on the ship that night. We were only in Victoria from 6pm til midnight, and we didn't think we were missing much. Maybe if we had stopped in the morning, we would have gone out to the gardens or something, but we decided to stay on the ship and enjoy our last night in the dining room. We were the only people at our table for dinner that night; I guess most people were either out enjoying the Canucks, or getting ready for their trip to end.

See - told you I wouldn't have many details. But daggone it, I am determine to finish up my recap of the alaska trip on this darn blog! Just one more post to go....

Day 6 - Skagway

I knew this trip would include a lot of early, busy days, but also plenty of time for relaxing and napping, and I was completely right. Skagway was another early day, as we had a tour guide scheduled to meet us as soon as our ship docked. The 12 or so passenger van picked us up right at the ship, and took us into “downtown skagway” to watch a short video about the history of the gold rush. I’m not normally into history at all, but the video was interesting and it was probably good to learn a little about the area before embarking on our journey. Our tour was scheduled to take us on a 6-7 hour tour, including Carcross, Yukon and Emerald Lake. The best part about this tour was that it was a small group, and our tour guide was local and friendly. Her narration included historical tidbits, as well as local information, and gave us an idea of what it’s like to live in Skagway. There is no hospital in the town, but there is a new health center in which specialty doctors come in regularly for visits. There are local grocery stores, but the town residents have to drive a few hours north to Whitehorse (Canada) to do their big shopping trips. The winters sound very harsh, as expected. Travelling along the highway, the guide pointed out huge poles on the side of the road, that are what you use in the winter as guidelines, since the guardrails are covered by snow.

Along the route, we stopped at many of the overlooks for a quick leg-stretch or photo op. Our driver wasn’t a fan of the typical tour groups though, so we tended to avoid any stops that were crowded with the bigger buses. This was perfect for us :) We crossed into Canada and stopped at the railroad station, and then continued on the journey into Yukon territory. The views were great, and the ride was relaxing - a few passengers even fell asleep. There were lots of lakes and mountains along the roads, and even the world’s tiniest desert. At one point, we were lucky enough to spot some wildlife. There was a black bear on the side of the road, and our driver pulled over so we could get a closer look. I felt like I was in a sea of paparazzi, the way everyone on the bus huddled to the window, snapping pictures. The bear didn’t even seem to notice our van, he just went along his way, eating plants, and walking over trees. That was our closest encounter with interesting wildlife, and we were happy to be able to say “YUP!” when everyone asked “did you see any bears?!?!”



We stopped for lunch at a cute little local shop. It was small enough that none of the bigger commercial buses would fit, so it was just our group. The restaurant was run by a widowed woman, who had help from friends here and there. She served homemade soups, sandwiches, and baked goods. Delicious and (somewhat) nutritious!

We travelled as far north as the Emerald Lake, and then turned around to head back into Skagway. Another stop on the tour was Carcross. What an interesting little town. And I do mean LITTLE! I’m sure there’s some interesting history to go along with this town, but it’s basically just a tiny little town, with a general store, a post office, and a visitor center. The Yukon railway goes through the town. It was nice when we showed up - we spent a few minutes at the beach, and then went into the General store. But while we were in the store, the “others” in the big commercial buses started showing up. I got stuck in the store and couldn’t find my way out, it was so crowded! I would guess that the town population was quadrupled when the buses started showing up, and that was when I was ready to leave!





The ride back was smooth and uneventful, I probably dozed off a few times. Right before we got back into Skagway, the driver stopped off at the gold rush cemetery. This was one of the hikes that I had considered doing after the tour, so it worked out well. Actually, it worked out REALLY well because we learned it really wasn’t much of a hike after all. I always love walking through old cemeteries, so this was right up my alley. We took a short walk up to the waterfall, checked out the cemetery, and eventually took the ride back into town. Again, the downtown area wasn’t anything exciting. We went into a few buildings, saw a replica of an old saloon, and slowly made our way back to the ship.



Although we didn’t get to do any real hiking or much activity, we certainly enjoyed our last day on Alaskan land. We got a chance to sit back and relax, while also taking in quite a bit of scenery, and learning about the Alaskan life.

Day 5 - Tracy Arm Fjord and Juneau

Day 5 again started off early, as the ship was heading into the Fjord bright and early, and we didn’t want to miss anything. This was one of the days that getting the balcony cabin was completely worth it. We went upstairs for breakfast and hung out on the upper decks to listen to the Naturalist share his expertise on the Fjord. But whenever we got chilly, or just wanted to sneak away from the crowds, we were able to go back to our room, and watch the scenery from the room or balcony, bundled up in blankets. This was a great day for the binoculars. We tried to see some wildlife on the nearby land, but didn’t catch much. Once we got closer to the glacier, we saw plenty of seals resting on the icebergs, and eagles flying around. There were a few icebergs that looked a little dirty and we wondered why. Just ask and you’ll receive an answer! We saw a few eagles chowing down on breakfast on one of the icebergs. Apparently the “dirt” was leftover fish from Eagle meals. Lovely.



After a few hours, we approached the Sawyer Glacier, and apparently got closer than our ship had ever gotten before. We were about a half mile away from the glacier itself. The ship did a nifty little spin around thing - like a U-turn in water, kind of amazing - and we were on our way back out. The view of the glacier and the entire route in and out were perfect - exactly what you want out of an Alaskan cruise.



Once out of the Fjord, we continued our journey to Juneau. We had lunch on the ship, and arrived in Juneau around 2pm. Our schedule wasn’t as strict as in Ketchikan, but there were still a few things we wanted to do, so again, we were one of the first people off the ship. We took “the blue bus” out to Mendenhall Glacier. It was our first encounter with the local alaskan people. Our bus driver narrated as we rode out to the glacier. He pointed out all kinds of things, like the local library, and the McDonalds.

Arriving at Mendenhall, we checked in at the visitor center to get more information on the hiking trails. Unfortunately, the trails were either very short, or expected to be 3 hours long, which was more than we could allow. Of course, we always end up realizing (a little too late), that the estimates were off, and we could have done the longer trail with plenty of time to spare. But this is one trip where I didn’t want to be late for anything. I’d rather miss out on a cool trail than miss the boat and be stuck in Juneau! So we just moseyed around the glacier, took some pictures at the beach, and enjoyed the scenery. This was probably one of the most beautiful spots that we’ve been. It was amazing to stand in the sand, and spin around 360 degrees, with beautiful scenery everywhere. A huge glacier in front of you, a lake beside you, and mountains behind you in the distance. We walked out to the waterfall, took some more pictures, and then headed back to the visitor center.




We arrived back into downtown Juneau in the early evening, and immediately took the Mount Roberts Tramway up 1800 feet into the mountain. Again, we asked the experts for advice on the trail system, and they recommended a trail that would take about an hour. We hiked up to Father Browns Cross, as directed by the experts at the visitor center. On our way up, I touched snow for the first time in Alaska (can you believe I had snorkeled but not even made a snowball??), and we saw some hang-gliders flying off the mountain. I could have watched them for hours, it looked so fun. It was such great hiking, we couldn’t pass it up. We still had plenty of time once we got to the cross, so we continued up the trail a little farther. The Juneau trail was a lot more open than the wooded Deer Mountain Trail in Ketchikan. There were plenty of spots to stop and just enjoy the scenery. Once we were done with this trail system, we headed back down, checked out the visitor center and a few crappy shops, and then returned to the boat for the night.

Day 4 - Ketchikan

Another early start to a full, long day. We had a lot planned for Ketchikan, so we knew we wanted to wake up early. That wasn’t a problem at all - we slept with the curtains open again, and with the early sunrise, we woke up pretty early. I woke up a few times throughout the night, and once day started to break, and I looked outside and saw land, I got really excited and couldn’t go back to sleep. After such a rough day at sea the day before, I was ready to get on land! We also had a tight schedule, so we grabbed a quick breakfast as soon as we could, got decked out in layers and layers of hiking gear, and we were one of the first people off the ship once we were docked.

We had planned for a short morning hike on the Deer Mountain Trail, and stopped in the visitor center for guidance on how to get to the trail head and more details on the trail. We took their advice and took a short (but all uphill) cabride to the trailhead. We spent a secluded, quiet, early morning in the Alaskan rainforest. The trail was steep and I didn’t realize how out of shape I was until we started climbing, but we went as far as we could. We had to be back at the pier in time for our snorkeling excursion, so we only had enough time to hike up the mountain for about an hour before we had to return. Unfortunately, as soon as we ended the hike, we realized that Joe hadn’t set his watch back to Alaska time yet, so we actually could have had 2 hours in.




It was too late to head back up the mountain, so we just walked down into the town. We stopped at the Salmon hatchery to walk around, and walked through the old town. We tried shopping in a few stores, but soon decided that it was just huge tourist trap, not our thing, and we headed back to the ship. On the way back, we stopped for lunch at the dock to get some “authentic” (previously frozen probably) Alaskan food.


After changing into swimsuits and sweatshirts, we ventured onto our second excursion - snorkeling in Alaska. We took a bus ride out to Mountain Point, had a little training, and got all dolled up in our wetsuits. Covered from head to toe, we climbed down to the water and went for a swim. The tour guides led us around the waterways, pointing out things to look for. They would pull up sea urchin, starfish, and sea cucumbers from the floor for us to see. The water wasn’t as crystal clear as the snorkeling that we did in St Lucia, but there was still plenty to see. And how cool is it that we went snorkeling in Alaska!? How many other people are crazy enough to do that?!