The Alaska wilderness is unlike anything in this world.
It is awesome, majestic, and truly the last Frontier.
The picture above is Mt. McKinley we took
from the plane returning from Fairbanks to Anchorage.
We booked the whole vacation through Princess Cruise lines, so all of our airfare, transfers, hotels in the land portion, port tour transportation, and side tours were all provided by them. It was so nice not worrying about anything, except what you're going to do next. It is the first time Terry and I have taken a vacation like this and for 2 weeks at one stretch. I have to admit it was very nice and we were completely spoiled rotten the whole time.
We flew to Vancouver BC, the Princess Cruise line representative met us at the airport and escorted us to the bus. We went on a city tour of Vancouver on our way to board the ship. Our ship was called the Sea Princess and 1999 was her inaugural sailing year, her first cruise sailed in late May. We checked in and issued each of us a ship ID that looked just like a credit card. It was our room key, our ID to enter and exit the ship in port, and to buy ANYTHING that you purchased on ship ie photos, film, alcoholic drinks, clothing, jewelry, sundry items, etc. You could not use cash at all. Then, you get a nice little bill at the end of the cruise. Great! Actually, we came out in pretty good shape, because about the only thing we purchased was the nice photos they took of us at the formal dinners and a couple of city tour outings.
The ship was absolutely humongous (14 stories of floors for the passengers-plus approximately 10 below for crew). It was also very elegant and beautiful-more impressive that any 5 star hotel I have ever seen. Our room was suprisingly roomy and quite adequate, we did not feel cramped at all.
In the middle of the ship from the 5th to the 9th floor was an open inside atrium with numerous shops, dining rooms, bars, pizzeria, ice cream shop, glass elevators, sweeping marble staircases, exotic plants, art gallery, casino, paintings, and of course pianists & violinists, who were always playing soft music for atmosphere. The atrium was definitely the main focal point of the ship.
Above the atrium on the 12th floor was the lido deck, with 2 pools, 10 jacuzzis, bars, grill restaurants, gym, spa, and all that deck area with sunning chairs just like you would see on the "Love Boat".
On the 14th floor was a huge all glass dining room at the front of the ship so that no matter where you sat, you had a beautiful view of where we were going. This is where they had 24 hour buffetts and we ate breakfast there just about every morning. Lunches were spread around to try all the different places, and dinner we always ate in the main dining room, which was absolutely gorgeous. All the food on the cruise was included, so needless to say, we ate way too much. We often ate even when we weren't hungry, because there was such a variety and many gourmet foods that maybe you wouldn't try anywhere else. We had 2 formal dinners, 2 semi-formal, and the rest nice casual. The food was fabulous and all the servers were gracious and attentive, as was our cabin steward who "cleaned" our room 2-3 times a day. There were 2100 passengers and 900 crew-so the ratio of crew to passengers was very good.
We sailed out of Vancouver at 6:00 pm as we were eating dinner. The next day was a full day at sea. I knew I was in trouble the moment I awoke at 5:30 am and the ship was really rocking. We hit a storm and we were "out to sea" with no land in sight. My head and stomach were saying, "no, no no" I had to do something or I knew I would be sick. I remembered I packed some Dramamine, but when I opened the package I noticed an expiration date of 2/97. Alot of good that did me! So we decided I needed fresh air, got dressed and started walking the decks, which seemed to help but not. Because now I could see the 15 foot waves and the decks rocking and rolling. Next stop-doctors office for a patch, something or anything! Sorry, it was closed and not open until 10:00 am as was the little store that sold motion sickness medication and it was only 7 am by now. I walked and walked, but finally succumbed to the motion. As soon as the store opened, we bought some Dramamine and within 15 minutes I was fine. The motion did not seem to bother Terry, he ate breakfast but not me!! By noon, the storm was over and you couldn't feel any movement at all, which was how it was the rest of the cruise-thank God!
The next day we pulled into Ketchikan, Alaska at 6:00 am. We ate breakfast, left the ship and walked the whole town. It was a very quaint fishing town accessible only by air or boat. The sea plane airport was right next to our ship dock, so we watched hundreds of seaplanes take off and land. Everybody in Alaska is a pilot it seems! We saw the end of the salmon running in the river that goes through town. You could look down from a bridge and see SOLID king salmon swimming upstream and never see the bottom of the river. Occasionally, they jumped out of the water about 3 feet,-it was amazing. We also visited a Totem pole museum, explaining the history of all the area Indians and the different types of poles. Quite interesting. We went back to the ship at 1:00 and sailed at 2:00 pm.
The third day, we pulled in to Juneau at 6:00 am. In the morning, we went on a 4 hour bus tour through town, to a salmon fish hatchery and to see Mendenhall Glacier-our first look at a glacier. It was absolutely unimaginable how big they are and that they are just big rivers of ice flowing up to 8 feet a day! After lunch we walked most of the town, and even though it is the capitol, it is still not very big. Juneau is also only accessible by air or boat. We walked by the Governor's mansion, the capitol building, a beautiful old Russian Orthodox church, went in the state museum, and saw the old ";red light district" where all the gold miners came into town to drink and party. We went back to ship for dinner and sailed at 11:00 pm.
The fourth day, we arrived at Skagway, which was the official last town on the way up to the gold rush Yukon country in the 1800s. Skagway is one of the few towns reachable by road. We enjoyed this small, historic town the most. The whole town was a redlight district for the miners last harrah before tackling the snowy mountain passes on their way to the gold rush. We took a city tour and then a 3 hour bus tour up the historic White Pass, (the only road in and out) where they finally built the railroad in the early 1900s. The train is still used to transport tourists up the pass, but we chose to take the bus because there were several stops along the way.
We crossed back into Canada and customs, and on the way back the bus driver stopped 200 feet short of the Alaska border, and "insisted" we walk back to Alaska. He took a picture of us in front of the "Welcome to Alaska" sign, one of only 2 signs where roads connect Canada and Alaska. We really enjoyed this tour, the bus drivers, all Princess employees, are all very knowledgeable and animated during the tours and kept things very lively and interesting. We arrived back at Skagway in time for lunch, then a walking tour of the town to see the saloons, bordellos, gift shops and a theater show about the gold rush era. The actors were in period costumes of course, very funny, and true to form for the time. We also saw a folk singer and story teller of Skagway history. Skagway is one of the few Alaskan towns that has not changed much since the 1880s with most of the original buildings still standing and in use. After a full day, it was back to the ship for dinner and sailed at 7:00. pm
By now, we were getting pretty tired. With all the port tours, and after dinner we went to a show or entertainment until late every night. There were Broadway type musical stage shows with singing and dancing, comedians, musicians, variety type shows, fifties party and dances, you name it-the entertainment was top notch and we made sure we saw it all with our friends, Bill and Nancy, from Florida that we met on the cruise. It was all great and we loved it!
The next day was a sailing day into Glacier Bay National Park. The National Park service only allows 2 cruise ships and 20 of their own tour boats enter the bay in any one day for conservation purposes. In fact, at 6:00 am as we entered, a small boat carrying 4 park rangers pulled along side of our ship and boarded, which is a requirement of the park service. Plus, the rangers narrated the whole day over the ship intercoms, pointing out Glaciers names, history, passed out reading material, and maps, etc. We were in the bay for viewing the glaciers from 6:00-3:30, and you can bet we were on deck the whole time. I wouldn't have missed any of that scenery for anything in the world. The glaciers going into the water were absolutely majestic. They were a beautiful aqua blue, with water rushing from their bases, huge chunks cracking and
falling off into the water. Everytime a glacier would crack, or "calve," it sounding like gigantic explosions of dynamite. It was unreal!! It was very cold that day, being surrounded by ice on the water-but we just kept bundled up, drank hot chocolate and we were fine. We saw alot of water fowl, pods of dolphins, a couple of bear on shores of the islands, bald eagles, and dall sheep on the cliffs. BUT, we never saw any whales. It was a little too late in the season, and from what we understand they had already migrated more south for the winter to warmer waters. We were very disappointed as we were told that this is where we would see them. At about 4:00 we saw a small boat pull up to the ship. We leaned over the railing and watched as the rangers disembarked from our ship. The small ship matched our speed, pulled up close, and they threw a rope type ladder over and all four of the rangers crawled across. They all waved and they were gone.
The next day, another full sailing day. We sailed into an inlet called College Fjord, which is another protected glacial area, but not a national park. It was equally impressive with it's scenery and abundance of glaciers and wildlife. AWESOME!
This was the last night of the cruise, so they prepared a special dinner. Every dinner, had a wonderful selection of appetizers, salads, soups, main courses, and desserts. You ordered from a menu, so you could have every course on the menu, or just one-whatever and however much you wanted. We were stuffed at dinner time!
They had all kinds of special entrees like lobster, crab, prime rib, and Flaming Baked Alaska for dessert with a parade of the waiters carrying them around the dark dining room. It was a sight! And oh so good!
The next morning at 7:00 am, we docked in Seward, Alaska to begin our second week. We didn't need to disembark the ship until after lunch to catch our bus, so we had a leisurely breakfast and then caught a shuttle bus to the Seward Sealife Center. It was an aquarium and animal rescue to nurse sick dolphins, sea lions, puffin birds, back to health and then re-released to the wild. It was very heart warming and interesting.
We met our afternoon bus, for a 3 hour ride to Anchorage. We arrived in time to check in to the hotel, eat some dinner, walk around a few blocks to see "the town" and flop into bed. I regret that we didn't get to see much of Anchorage, but from all appearances it was just another small city.
The next morning we were up early to catch our 7:00 am train for our trek to Denali National Park. Princess owns their own rail cars which are two stories tall. There is a dining car, restrooms and gift shop on the first floor, and the second floor are all tables of four where the passengers ride. The ceiling is all domed glass, so you don't miss any of the scenery. They hook their rail cars to the Alaska railroad and chug along! The 3 hour train ride went through strictly wilderness, that was so beautiful. Since we were there in the fall, all the trees were yellows, golds, and oranges for as far as the eye could see. And, of course, as we got closer, we had some awesome views of Mt. McKinley. We saw moose, more sheep up on the cliffs, bald eagles, beavers and lots of odd birds. This was country unlike anything I have seen in my life. I was totally caught off guard by how rustic, untouched and the gorgeous colors of the wilderness.
We arrived at the train station at the very small town of Talkeetna, which was a charming, historic town. On the train, we booked a Talkeetna River Float Boat tour. We floated in river rafting boats in a calm slow moving river. It was very peaceful and relaxing. Halfway down the river, we stopped at a beach on the river bank and explored the area-we found all kinds of animal tracks, including bear, fox, beaver, and lots of birds. The whole tour lasted about 2 hours-we enjoyed it.
From Talkeetna, we took another 1 hour bus ride to the Mt. McKinley Wilderness Lodge-our stay for the next two nights. There was a main lodge with a huge fireplace, lots of comfortable seating and one whole wall of glass with a beautiful, unobstructed
view of Mt. McKinley. That day and the next, were crystal clear, so we had some awesome views and took plenty of pictures. There were many large cabins and walkways scattered all over acres of land with plenty of trees and space. Each cabin had approximately 8-10 rooms. In our cabin, there was only one other occupied room so it was very nice and quiet. The room was decorated very rustic yet classy. I loved all the moose and bear upholstery, lamps, art and furnishings. It made me want a mountain cabin! The main lodge was decorated the same, only much nicer. There were two restaurants, a gift shop (of course), Espresso bar, and a buffet. We were at the mercy of their restaurants because the lodge was so isolated and an hour away from anything-which was, you guessed it, boom town Talkeetna. There was absolutely nothing around the lodge but beautiful wilderness, trails, rivers, horseback riding and quiet. In fact the lodge is so remote, they were winding down to close for the winter at the end of September. A crew of seven people stay on in the winter for upkeep and then they don't re-open again until March or April when the snow melts.
The next morning, we booked a tour of an Iditarod race dog sled kennel. A small van picked up Terry, myself and two other women for our "personal tour". The drive was about 45 minutes away, and it was actually at the mushers house, (huge spread actually) whose name was Bill Hall.
The drive was very interesting not only to look at, but also to talk to the van driver, Janie. Turns out she is a native Alaskan whose parents were original homesteaders in 1959. They obtained their land for "free" from the government if they agreed to work and live off the land. They had to make so many improvements to the land in a stated amount of time and had to prove they could survive the winters. Not only did they do that, they raised 5 kids on the homestead. She told us how they hunted moose, caribou and fished for food-and still do. (YUK-I cannot bear to think of killing and eating something that looks at you with big brown eyes). Janie was a true "rugged mountain girl" who now has 2 teenage boys, is divorced, raising the boys by herself and lives 10 miles up the road from the homestead. She has no phone and her road is not cleared in the winter-but that is OK with her. She just takes her boys to school on a snowmobile. Needless to say, it was a real eye opener to see how people really live in the interior Alaska and how rough and isolating their lives can be. I could never do it! We also saw 2 cow moose at the side of the road on the way!
We absolutely loved the dog kennel tour. Bill owns 50 beautiful Alaskan husky dogs and 12 puppies. The dogs are not only strong athletes but extremely affectionate as well. Bill has raced in 6 Iditarods himself and his wife has raced in 7-so I would think they know what they are doing. For about 3 hours, Bill explained how he trains the dogs for the races, mentally and physically.
The dogs pull a quad in first gear, not neutral, to keep in shape pulling in the summer. He demonstrated and it was just a hoot to see how much the dogs "love" to run and pull-they are truly bred for that kind of workout.
He explained how he must teach the dogs to eat on
command, so during the race they will eat fast and fill up for energy. We thoroughly enjoyed that tour and count that as one of our favorites!! After returning from the dog tour and a local lodge nature walk and hike, the rest of the day and evening was much needed R and R.
The next morning, we took the 2 hour bus ride from Mt. McKinley Lodge to Denali Lodge, for a short visit and lunch before heading out for the Denali Nature tour. Our driver was very informative, fun and we stopped at the end of the road for coffee, hot chocolate and granola bars. We saw a "Bullwinkle"bull moose, and a big grizzly bear in one of the gravel river washes. Other than that, we saw no other wildlife in Denali-we were alittle disappointed, thinking we would see more. But the scenery was beautiful and Mt. McKinley was clear! We lucked out again!
We left our bus tour for the train station for a 4 hour train ride to Fairbanks, for 2 more nights. Again, the train ride was gorgeous-seemed like the further north and inland we went, the yellower and orangier the trees became. We ate dinner on the train and arrived at the Fairbanks Princess Hotel around 8:00 pm to fall into bed.
That night we were determined to see the Northern Lights since we had been too tired in the preceding nights.We put our name on the phone list at the front desk to be called when they arrived. Sure enough, at 11:30 (and of course we were sawing logs by then), the call came. We threw our clothes on and ran outside like a couple of kids going to Disneyland! We ran to the back of the hotel away from the lights and looked up. We saw fire leaping shapes of green and pink. At times they appeared as a river flowing in the sky. We half-asleep gazed up for about 15 minutes until we were sure we had seen enough (and cold enough) to go back to bed-but it was well worth the sight!! I wish we could have stayed up all night to watch them-but we just can't do that any more-bed was calling!!
Up the next morning, early again, to go on a Gold Rush Mining tour. We took an old mine train to an actual working gold mine which showed how the miners mined for gold in the old days compared to how they mine today. At the end of the 3 hour tour, we mined for our own gold. Between Terry and I, we panned about $25 in gold, which I had encased in a locket on a chain. It is kind of a neat Fairbanks remembrance.
On the way back from the gold mine, we stopped at the Alaska Pipeline Visitor Center just outside of Fairbanks and saw the actual pipeline. It is so huge and mind boggling. Terry also loved hearing about the engineering feats involved to build it-especially the earthquake and cold temperature precautions to keep the pipes from freezing and bursting.
That afternoon, we took a Sternwheeler Discovery cruise down the Chena River, which ran right by our hotel. We saw many homes along the river, with everyone's sea planes pulled right up to their docks like it was their car. Different way of life-that's for sure!
Up the river the boat stopped at the Chena Indian Village, that was full of Athabascan Indian Culture. (part indian-part eskimo) There were many buildings with sod roofs, displays of animal hides, the beautiful ceremonial clothing the women made from animal hides, culture, songs, art, demonstrations, and so on. We were there about 2 hours and we thoroughly enjoyed it!
Overall, we really enjoyed Fairbanks. It had a small town feel, but yet big enough to still have some familiar civilization. I know I just couldn't bear the winters at -50!!!! BRRRRRR.
One more night stay, and up early to the airport the next morning 6:00 am. After 10 hours of flying, 3 flights, planes and airports, we finally made it home on Thursday 9-16, 8:00 pm.
We were very sad that the vacation was over but we had so many, many, happy memories. We felt like we had 2 totally different vacations-the luxury cruise and then the land tour filled with "wilderness, beauty and awesome scenery."