In keeping with my policy of not posting our vacations to social media until theyre over, Here we are, back from our big Alaska vacation. Short version: We took a cruise to Alaska, then stayed there for 6 days. It was fun. Medium version: Pearlmywife, Jared, my mom and I flew to Vancouver & spent a night there before the cruise, then got on a Princess cruise ship and did a 7 day cruise to Ketchican, Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay and College Fjord, then got off in Whittier, Alaska. We took a short bus ride to a wildlife center, then on to Anchorage. My mom flew home. Pearl & Jared and I rented a car, drove up to Denali. We stayed 3 nights near there, taking the bus tour into Denali & seeing Mt. McKinley. Then we drove to Fairbanks, and I tried to see the Northern Lights, but just caught a glimpse of them. Then we drove back to Anchorage & spent a couple nights there, did a 5 hour glacier boat ride out of Whittier, then flew home. Total trip, 14 days. Long version: Alaska is awesome. We went just last year, and had so much fun we went back this year. I took a ton of photos, and some videos. The vids are on my youtube channel: youtube/cmahar3 We saw so many cool things. We saw moose in a wildlife center, then we saw a bunch more out in the wild. we took the 8 hour bus ride in Denali National Park, and had excellent views of Mt McKinley, which was very cool. Apparently on that ride you have nearly a 100% chance of seeing bears (which we did), but only a 25% chance of seeing Mt McKinley because it’s shrouded in clouds so much of the time. We had an excellent cruise on Princess Cruise ship Island Princess, and had two excellent balcony rooms. Pearl and I were in one room, and Jared and my mom were in the other. We ate lots of delicious food on the ship, and visited three ports before getting off in Whittier. In Ketchican we took a Duck Boat Tour. That’s one of those things that drives on the roads, and then drives right into the water. We went out into the harbor and saw our cruise ship from the water. We saw seals, and an eagle while doing that, plus we drove around Ketchican, which is a small town on an island, with only one major road. We watched a Norwegian cruise ship come in and tie up. Those things are always amazing to watch. It’s like an office building that moves. Then we walked around town and up to where the salmon were running, swimming up this big rapids, and to a fish ladder that had been there for decades. This is the only place we saw salmon running on this trip. The runs were already over in Juneau and Skagway and further north when we were there. In Juneau we rode the Mt Roberts tram. That was very cool. Video at https://youtube/watch?v=VEq7Td2VN3k&list=UUw3pHiX3j13oLZgp6VN927w&index=31 and https://youtube/watch?v=12acgnZFTvc&index=34&list=UUw3pHiX3j13oLZgp6VN927w Then my mom rode down and Pearl, Jared and I hiked down. We hiked from nearly 2000 feet above sea level all the way back to the ship, about 2.4 miles on trail, then about another mile on the streets. Then, after getting back to the ship and having lunch, Pearl and I went out again into town and found a bar with internet. We sat there and did email for a couple hours. The ship didn’t leave port until late, so we had lots of time to get back aboard. Next day we were in Skagway where I rented a car, and we drove out of Alaska and into Canada. First you’re in British Columbia, but if you drive far enough, you go into the Yukon. We drove to Emerald lake, and to Carcross, which isn’t very far from the Alaska highway. It was super scenic, and the sun came out for us. Then, when we drove back down into Skagway, it got cloudy and rainy again. We put about 150 miles on the car, and turned it in with plenty of time to have dinner back aboard the ship. Next day was Glacier Bay National Park, where we steamed right up to the glaciers on the cruise ship. It was great watching the glaciers, and seeing all the pieces of ice in the water. The cruise ship served hot broth out on the deck. It was pretty cold, and raining, but we had plenty of shelter, and warm clothes. We stayed there for several hours. Next day we steamed into Prince William Sound, and in the afternoon we went up into College Fjord, which has about a dozen glaciers, all named after colleges. We spent several hours there watching glaciers. Glaciers are fun to watch. The last day of the cruise we disembarked in Whittier, Alaska, and took a bus to a wildlife center where we saw moose, grizzly bears, caribou and elk. Then the bus took us into Anchorage. My mom flew home, but Pearl, Jared and I rented a car and drove 4.5 hours to Healy, Alaska, which is just north of Denali. We got a hotel room at the White Moose Lodge in Healy, and stayed there for 3 days. We drove around Denali, and took the bus into the park. That’s where we saw moose and bears and Dahl sheep and eagles. The fall colors were starting, and it was all very lovely. After 3 days there, we drove up to Fairbanks, and within 75 miles of the Arctic Circle. We went by the Trans-Alaska pipeline (video at https://youtube/watch?v=2XU8ao_CyRc&index=13&list=UUw3pHiX3j13oLZgp6VN927w ) Stayed one night in Fairbanks and drove back to Anchorage, about 7 hours. On the drive back we could see Mt McKinley again for about 5 hours of the drive. Very cool. Next day we drove back to Whittier and took a 5 hour glacier boat ride in Major Marine Tours boat. It was great, well worth it. We drank Coke and water with glacier ice in it. Then we flew back to Phoenix. Great vacation.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 02:01:35 +0000
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