Wednesday, June 6 – Wednesday, June 13

Cruising from Vancouver, BC to Whittier, Alaska

We boarded the Island Princess at the pier at Canada Place early Wednesday afternoon, settled into our stateroom on the Caribe Deck and soon rendezvoused with Mel’s brother Jim and sister-in-law Donna, our traveling companions on this Alaskan adventure.  They are also our next-door neighbors on this week’s cruise.  We toured the ship in an attempt to get the lay of the land and have look at our fellow passengers, about 1900 of them. 

Thursday was a sea day, with overcast weather, so we got our exercise at the gym and/or walking outdoors on the Promenade Deck.  Tom and Jim attended a digital photography workshop and Mel and Donna sipped our way through the Champagne Art Auction. 

By the time we awoke on Friday morning, the ship had docked in Ketchikan, a small town squeezed between high peaks and the water.

  It was once an important canning center, but tourism is now king, rather than salmon.  Shops offering everything from diamonds and furs to canned salmon and T-shirts line the streets, with the highest concentration of schlock and tourists on Creek Street, a boardwalk lined with former brothels and built on pilings above roaring water. All in all, a depressing little town…

While we breakfasted Saturday morning, the ship docked in Juneau, the state capital.  The clouds and fog began to burn off quickly and we were lucky enough to disembark right into the staging area of a big parade celebrating native culture.  We enjoyed the great variety of traditional dress, music, and dance as the parade began. 

Once the last of the dancers had moved on, we boarded a bus for the Mendenhall Glacier, about fifteen miles outside of the city.  We gasped at our first sight of the glacier, with its blue ice and icebergs floating in the lake at its base.

 We followed the East Glacier Trail through the dense rain forest to an overlook above the glacier and adjacent Nugget Waterfall.  After descending back to the Visitors’ Center, we took a trail to the lakefront beach at the base of the massive waterfall and glacier.

After the exertions of the day, we rewarded ourselves with some Alaskan beer at the Imperial Saloon back in Juneau. Once back aboard ship, we enjoyed happy hour on our balcony overlooking snow-covered peaks, a tranquil harbor, and the beauty of a crystal-clear sunny vista.

We spent Sunday exploring both the natural beauty and historic role of Skagway.  We made the short walk from the dock into the small (seasonal population 900) town and booked an SUV and driver/guide for a ride along the Klondike Highway to White Pass.  We climbed through glorious Alpine scenery, stopping to enjoy waterfalls, wildlife, pothole lakes, and majestic mountain scenery up to the Pass. In the Tormented Valley, we walked among knee-high century-old trees whose growth has been stunted by life in the harshest of climates.  Our trip took us over the border into British Columbia, necessitating a stop at a U. S. Customs station upon our return; our driver, who spends his days trekking up and down the Klondike Highway, and the border officer of the day greeted each other by name and caught up on their weekend revels!

Back in town, the Tom and Jim set off on the trail to Lower Dewey Lake which, though short, was steep and not terribly rewarding.  Mel and Donna explored some of the shops along the boardwalk sidewalks of Broadway, and took a walking tour of the Klondike National Historical Park.  The park ranger provided a peek into Skagway’s important role as a base for the Gold Rush of 1897, its frenzied boom and bust, and the lives of some of the town’s colorful characters.

By unanimous proclamation, Monday was a stellar day, from beginning to end.  We were on board for a day of scenic cruising in Glacier Bay National Park, with park rangers aboard the ship to enhance our appreciation of this most amazing place.  The ship stopped to allow extended viewing of the massive glaciers and we stood on the deck, in strong winds and light rain, simply in awe of what surrounded us.  The glaciers, the popping, thundering, and splashing when they calved, the blue/white/grey mountains, the clouds, fog, sun, wind, the vast distant vistas, the up-close views of gulls floating on lazily floating icebergs – it all seemed part of a foreign universe, and we were bowled over.  We were also rewarded with sightings of a grizzly bear, humpback whales, otters, and soaring eagles.  I’m hoping that Tom’s photos will show what words are inadequate to describe about our unforgettable experience in Glacier Bay…

Tuesday was our last day on board the Island Princess, and we spent much of it cruising in open waters.  Our sightseeing destination was College Fjord, which we reached after 5:00 PM.  Here, the glaciers were lined up, one after another, each named for the alma mater of members of the first expedition into the fjord.  The water was mirror calm, charcoal grey, scattered with icebergs – altogether majestic and serene.  The otters and seals seemed as placid as their surroundings, and we spotted some black bears on the shore, too. We were mesmerized and it was hard to leave the scene behind as we headed back down the fjord. 

Wednesday was disembarkation day, which Princess has down to a very efficient process.  We had arrived in Whittier, on Prince William Sound, around midnight, while it was still daylight, and our bags had been packed and removed after dinner yesterday, so there was little to do but enjoy one last breakfast on board and then assemble at our morning’s designated time and location for disembarking.  We boarded our bus in a steady rain in Whittier, a small, grey, and grim port isolated by steep mountains.  Once through the 2.7 mile long, one-way tunnel that’s shared with the rail line, the rain let up and we had an interesting, narrated ride to our rental car agency in Anchorage.

After lunch in town, we headed out on the Seward Highway and Sterling Highway to the Kenai Peninsula.  We stopped often to take in the gorgeous scenery along Turnagain Arm and detoured down to visit the historic little town of Hope before arriving at our destination, Cooper Landing.  We enjoyed several back roads along the Kenai River and Lake, but gave out long before the sun did.  There are 22 hours of daylight here in June, and it never seems to get completely dark at all; it is almost 11:00 PM as I write this, and the sky is blue and it’s as light as day!