Dahlia & Lance's Travels: September 2006

Cruise from Seward, AK to vancouver, BC and Home - 1-8 Sep 2006

Sep 1 (Fri) – Anchorage to Seward, AK
The transfer from Anchorage to the cruise ship MS Statendam (http://hollandamerica.com/cruiseships/Statendam)went very smoothly. On the bus trip down we finally got to see the Turnagain Arm on a clear day. The welcome on the ship was very pleasant and attentive with a piano player livening up the spirits at the lobby. Our stateroom although not grand seemed luxuriously spacious after the 2 weeks in the RV. We spent the next few hours exploring the ship and getting oriented. Right near our room was a three deck high atrium with a large maritime fountain in the middle of circular stairs. There was a casino with slot machines, a pleasant and cozy library with a large selection of books comfortable seating areas and computer terminals with an espresso bar. There was no shortage of Bar/lounge areas with comfortable seating and nice views playing various types of music and live bands in the evenings. A movie theater was showing 2 movies every evening. There were, of course, lots of shops and an art gallery with frequent art auctions. There were two swimming pools, one in an area with a sliding roof, with a couple of Jacuzzis, and another outside with an open sun deck (probably for Eskimos only). There was a spa area that offered a variety of massages and treatments and a fitness center offering Yoga and other classes every day. In addition there was a large theatre for live shows, where you could order drinks as well and a large two deck dining room. In addition there were also a cafeteria style restaurant and a “fine dining” restaurant which offered more intimate dining for a fee. There was a nice walking deck. 4 cycles equaled a mile. We walked 1-2 miles every day. Lame but better then nothing.

Sep 2 (Sat) – Seward to Hubbard Glacier aboard Statendam

Set the alarm for 6:30 to make sure we don’t miss the expected whale sighting. Sure enough we saw many of them spouting and diving in the distance. We saw several Orcas or Killer Whales swimming in pairs with their characteristic dorsal fins and several Humpback whales as well. A little later in the day the ship pulled into a bay at the foot of the Hubbard Glacier, a huge field of ice 350 feet tall and six miles long. The ship spent two hours within a quarter mile of the face of the glacier cruising in circles to allow us to see and hear the glacier calving. The ice was incredibly blue, and there were many ice bergs floating in the water in front of it. Thundering cracking noises could be heard before chunks of ice would break off. It was a great experience but somehow not as thrilling as the first time we saw the Aialik glacier calving furiously in Kenai Fjord a couple of weeks before.
We had dinner at a table for 8 in the dining room and met our dinner companions for the cruise: a “kiwi” couple (from NZ), a couple of "Ausies" a Canadian and some “Okies” headed to upstate NY,

Sep 3 (Sun) – Hubbard Glacier to Icy Strait Point-Hoonah village Bear Sighting, Aboard Statendam

We arrived at a place called Icy Strait Point and a town called Hoonah. A fairly new cruise stop. A local Indian tribe which lost it’s livelihood due to restrictions on logging and fishing was given a grant to refurbish an old cannery and turn it into a cruise ship destination, allowing only one ship per day to help retain some of the local character. The Ship anchored some distance from the Island and we went ashore using small tenders and really enjoyed the experience. There was a very interesting cannery museum showing how salmon canning was done and, of course, lots of gift shops. A native community house had native dancing shows. We signed up for a bear spotting tour and took a school bus out of town to a place where a boardwalk trail had been setup along a creek filled with salmon. Along the way we crossed a road bridge where several bears were feasting on salmon that came to spawn in the creek. They were literally reaching into the creek and grabbing either dead or very weak fish, eating parts of it and going for next one. The bears were huge and being only about ten feet from them on top of the bridge was about as close as we wanted to get. It was fascinating watching them just eat one salmon after another.

Sep 4 (Mon) - Skagway, Aboard Statendam

Skagway is a cute little town with old restored Victorian buildings whose main economy is the cruise ship trade. As you can imagine this means plenty of T-shirt and jewelry stores. The highlight of the visit was a ride on the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad (http://www.whitepassrailroad.com/) from Skagway to Frasier, British Columbia. This old narrow gauge railroad goes through an awesome gorge with steep cliffs and waterfalls from glaciers in the high mountains. There are several incredibly high bridges, several tunnels and spectacular views. Wonderful experience!! Dinner tonight was formal and we got dressed up for dinner (it was the only time, the rest of the time we either wore casual or skipped the dining room on formal nights.)

Sep 5 (Tues) – Juneau, Aboard Statendam

The next stop was Juneau, the capital of Alaska, accessible only by plane or boat. We took the cable car to the Mt. Roberts observation deck which towers above the Juneau harbor. From there we hiked higher up the mountain fro a couple of hours enjoying some beautiful views of fall colors, waterfalls and tall snowcapped mountains until it got too foggy. After lunch we visited the Alaska State Museum (http://www.museums.state.ak.us/asmhome.html) which had a wonderful native culture section. The final thrill of the day was a float plan excursion over the Mendenhall Glacier and the seemingly endless ice fields which feed it. (http://www.fs.fed.us/r10/tongass/districts/mendenhall/index.html). Although we had seen glaciers in Alaska from the ground and from the water we never grasped their vastness. We were told that the ice field from feeding this glacier (and several others) is larger than the state of Rhode Island. The amazing features of the ice were its blue color and the deep crevices and cracks that form near its base. Although the flight was only 40 minutes it was another incredible experience. As the ship left Juneau we were escorted for an hour or two by two Coast Guard boats with machine guns ( no idea why).

Sep 6 (Wed) - Ketchikan, Aboard Statendam

By Wednesday we were beginning to get a little bored with being aboard the ship. Our next stop was Ketchikan where we stayed for about 5 hours. Again there were the usual gift and jewelry stores. We were told that many of the shops, particularly the jewelry shops pack up their goods at the end of the Alaska cruise season (mid to end of September) and ship it to the Caribbean for the winter cruise season. There didn’t seem to be much to see in Ketchikan, but we took a city bus to the Saxman Totem Pole Museum displaying a collection of old and restored totem poles that had been collected around the Ketchikan area. Twenty minutes was about enough to get the idea. Back in town we spent a little town in a local museum at the library that had old artifacts of Ketchikan gold mining and the fishing industry

Sep 7 (Thur) - At Sea to Vancouver, BC, Aboard Statendam

Thursday was spent at sea, steaming toward Vancouver and we were so ready to get off the ship. We spent the day reading and watching the scenery of the inside passage. In some areas the passages were very narrow with rapid currents from the tides. We also saw some whales and Orcas along the way. There was a naturalist commenting on wildlife and local history at the Bow deck whenever we were passing interesting areas.

Sep 8 (Fri) - Vancouver, BC, to Los Angeles

Disembarkation was very smooth and convenient got our first real newspaper after 3 weeks and browsed it over a nice latte. We were now ready to explore Vancouver a bit. We took a city tour on a cute old fashioned looking trolley bus which allowed getting on and off along the way. We started at the Gastown District (very touristy), went through the central business district and, after stopping at a number of hotels (waste of time!), we finally got to Sanely Park which is beautiful and quite large with many huge old Cedar and Spruce trees. We went to the Aquarium where we got to see Beluga Whales perform tricks and other large sea mammals. Boarded the next bus to Granville Island which was an old commercial area converted to trendy shops and a wonderful huge market with great displays of produce flowers and other delicacies (not so touristy). From here we took a water taxi along False Creek through yacht marinas, houseboats and the site of the Vancouver Expo in the eighties with a lot of modernistic buildings. The next stop was at the Vancouver Art Museum which had had a terrific native Haida culture traveling exhibit. At this point, exhausted and totem polled out we took a cab to the airport.

We arrived back in Oxnard at 1:30 am exhausted but grateful to be home.

Vancouver Science World with Water Taxi from False Creek

Dahlia With Totem Pole in Front of Community House at Ketchikan

Totem Pole at Ketchikan

The Atrium on the "Statendam"

Us at "Formal" Dinner on Ship

The Promenade Deck on the "Statendam"

More Mendenhall Glacier From the Air

Mendenhall Glacier Near Juneau

Float Planes in Juneau Habor for Glacier Flightseeing

Juneau Cable Car with Cruise Ships, "Statendam" is at Left

White Pass and Yukon Railroad Going Over Trestle

Downtown Skagway with "Statendam" at End of Street

Movie of Brown Bear at Icy Strait Point

Brown Bear at Icy Strait Point Catching Salmon

Native Dancers at Icy Strait Point

Hubbard Glacier from the Ship

Grizzley Bear and Cub at Parks Highway Near Denali (We Forgot this One Last Time)

Cruise Ship "Statendam" at Icy Straits Point with Tenders

Aug 23 - 30 - Glennallen to Anchorage, AK via Faribanks and Denali

Aug 23 (Wed) – Glennallen to Palmer, AK
The next morning we took a short but interesting hike in the forest near our camp site. The forest was growing over permafrost causing the roots of the trees to be very shallow and spread out on the surface. The result is a web of interlocking roots that easy to trip over. The vegetation was sparse and the growth of the trees had been stunted. The ground ended up being mushy and swampy so we turned back without seeing the mud volcanoes we set out to see.

We left the camp on the Glenn Hwy twards Palmer (130 miles) is with spectacular views of snow capped mountains and glaciers. We stopped at an overlook near the huge Matuska Glacier and could see white Dall sheep high on the mountain cliffs. Since the terminus of this glacier was accessible by car we turned off down a dirt road and parked almost at the face of the Glacier. Heading for a hike over the base of the glacier we followed a trail marked with orange cones on what looked like dark basalt gravel, but we soon realized the dirt was covering a heavy layer of very dense glacier ice. The further we walked the more ice and less dirt we saw, and the bluer the ice looked. There were rivers of water coming from under the glacier and ice caves with water dripping from the ice. The base of the glacier must have been about two miles and larger than any glaciers we had seen so far.
We pressed on towards Palmer on beautiful Glenn Hwy passing more steep gorges and hugging rushing rivers carrying silt and rubble from the glaciers. The land began to flatten out near Palmer were we camped for the night.

Aug 24 (Thurs) – Palmer to Denali National Park, AK

Thursday morning was overcast, but no rain, so we decided to headed north on the Parks Highway for Denali National Park. The previous week of heavy rains caused severe flooding and closure of the Parks hwy in several places. It appeared though that one lane of traffic was opened today to traffic so we decided to go for it. Indeed there was an escort car leading vehicles in alternating directions down the open lane of traffic. From an overlook soon after a place called Trapper Creek, we got a great view of the snow capped mountains of Denali Park, but the top of Denali itself, (previously known as Mt. McKinley) was obscured by clouds. Denali is the tallest mountain in North America at over 20,000 feet (we learned that it is only the 17th tallest in the world, however, and is only about two-thirds the height of Mt. Everest). We got back on the road and about 20 miles before the Park entrance we saw a fuzzy thing ahead by the side of the road which turned out to be a mother Grizzly Bear with her cub. We pulled over to the side of the road and the cub ran back into the woods. The cub eventually came out and the two of them crossed the highway behind our motor home. We drove into to the Park and toured the Visitor Center (http://www.nps.gov/dena), that again had a wonderful museum and film about the Park and it wildlife and history. That night we camped in the Riley Creek Campground right in the park which has very nice sites with plenty of forest around each site and a small food store. There are shuttle busses through the part that get you around without a car.

Aug 25 (Fri) – Denali National Park, AK
On Friday morning we got up at 6:00 am to catch a bus tour of the park starting at 7:40 am. Since the sun goes down so late it is hard to get to bed early, so getting up at 6:00 am was difficult. The tour was on a school bus and went about 55 miles into the park on mostly dirt road. The bus went through these huge valleys of tundra (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tundra) surrounded by very high snow capped mountains. The weather was only fair with low overcast that obscured the tops of the mountains and there was occasional drizzle. The scenery was wonderful, however, since fall was just beginning and there were red and yellow bushes and trees in many places. Along the way we saw a gigantic moose, some small herds of caribou and more Dall sheep (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dall_sheep), looking more like white specks on the mountain. We were somewhat disappointed; however, that we didn’t see any more bears.

Aug 26 (Sat) – Denali to Fairbanks, AK

Because of the cloudy and rainy conditions and our location we were not able to see the top of Denali, which had become one of our goals. The weather forecast said Monday and Tuesday would be partly cloudy and we thought we might have a chance to see the top of the mountain. We decided to go further north to Fairbanks. We left mid morning and got to Fairbanks in the middle of the afternoon. Our first stop, after checking into our RV park, was the University of Alaska Large Animal Research Station, where we were able to see musk ox, reindeer and caribou and a Red Fox in one of the fields. We then went to the University of Alaska Museum of the North (http://www.uaf.edu/museum/) a beautiful new museum that has some wonderful displays on the history of Alaska, wildlife and culture of the native people (they are not all Eskimos). That night we got up at 2:00 am and we think we saw the Aurora Borealis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_borealis), but it was faint and partially covered with clouds.

Aug 27 (Sun) – Fairbanks to Denali, AK

The next morning we went to a wildlife sanctuary where there were hundreds of Canadian geese and Sandhill cranes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandhill_crane) preparing for their winter migration to the south. We then drove to a suburb of Fairbanks to a town called North Pole, Alaska, (not even close to the actual North Pole!) that had a kitschy Christmas shop complete with Santa and Mrs. Claus and a couple of live reindeer and lots of Christmas ornaments and t-shirts. We headed back Denali on news that the weather was clearing in the Park and arrived to stay at the Riley Creek Campgrounds again.

Aug 28 (Mon) – Denali National Park, AK

We got up early again to get another bus to take us through the Park, this time to Wonder Lake, about an eleven hour round trip near the base of Denali. This time there was a noticeable change the color of the foliage since a cold spell had come in and Autumn was reaching the higher elevations of the Park. There were beautiful red and yellows in the trees and bushes. The fireweed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fireweed) was red and turning to fluffy seed pods. Along the way we saw more wildlife including another moose, several caribou and a number of Dall sheep (still white specs way up on the mountain). As we approached Wonder Lake we kept looking for Mt. McKinley until the bus driver said “There it is!” We looked but couldn’t see it, but we were expecting it to be near the other mountains, finally someone pointed out the tip of it jutting fare above the clouds much higher than we could have possibly expected. As we continued the clouds cleared away more and more and soon we could see almost the whole, huge mountain. It was really awe inspiring. We hung around Wonder Lake for a little while and headed back and this time we go to see more caribou, sheep and this time four Grizzly bears, including a mother and thee cubs! It was a real thrill!

Aug 29 (Tues) – Denali to Palmer, AK

The next day we headed back south toward Anchorage on the Parks Highway so that we would be able to ready to return the motor home and prepare for our cruise. The skies were among the clearest we had had during our entire time in Alaska and this gave us some more incredible views of Denali as we drove south. Although it was about 75 miles away it looked huge and dwarfed all the other mountains around it. We took lots and lots of pictures since many people told us this was a rare sight. We sent the night in Palmer, about 35 miles north of Anchorage and went to the Alaska State Fair that is not to much different from most other State or County Fairs.

Aug 30 (Wed) – Palmer to Anchorage, AK

On Wednesday we drove to Anchorage and decided to drive further south on the Seward Highway to see the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center (http://www.alaskawildlife.org/) which is basically a zoo for Alaskan wildlife. We got to see caribou, moose, Grizzly bears, musk ox, bison and a Bald Eagle up close. On the drive down we saw a number of white beluga whales (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beluga_Whale) swimming the ocean near the highway. We didn’t know what they were at first and because of their white colors they almost looked like white caps. We understand that they come to eat the salmon and that the Orcas, or Killer Whales, then come eat them but we did not see any Orcas. That night we pulled into a campground on the outskirts of Anchorage a pack up our stuff and prepare to return the motor home.