North to Alaska Part II

Okay, so I left us as our ship was making its way up the "Inside Passage" of islands and channels which form a good part of the southeast Alaska "panhandle". Next stop: Juneau, the state capital. Incidentally, the ship's using these island-sheltered waters had one huge advantage for anyone prone to seasickness: there was no motion of the ship. The whole time we were in those waters, you might as well have been in a building on dry land.

Back to Juneau: it's the state capital but it's the only state capital which cannot be reached from the rest of the state by road. You either fly in or take a boat (And before you yell: "What about Hawaii?", Honolulu, the state capital, can be reached from any part of its island of Oahu, which is at least part of the state.). Juneau's shore excursions consisted of panning for gold, a salmon bake, and getting rained on. Actually, the rain was not unexpected - it's pretty much standard summer weather for SE Alaska and we came prepared with waterproof slickers etc. The gold panning was kind of neat. We were bussed into the hills behind the town by a sort of Gabby Hayes wannabe who then led us on foot to a creek bed where he passed out pans and gravel and showed us what to do. Michelle and I both duly panned out (with much help from Mr. Hayes) miniscule but visible specks of actual gold which we then deposited in the glass vials provided to take home with us. I doubt either of us will ever make a living at prospecting at any time in the near future, but we had a great time. Then it was on to the salmon bake.

Michelle pans for gold!

The salmon bake was held outdoors but thankfully under a series of plastic canopies (the rain still had not let up). It consisted of salmon cooked over an alderwood fire accompanied by various salads, cornbread, beans etc. The salmon was not King salmon (generally considered the best quality) and was not as good as we had expected, but the rest of the food was quite good. However, the two best things about the salmon bake were quite peripheral to it: a pit where you could roast marshmellows over an open fire, and a bear cub hanging out in a tree. Other than some bald eagles we spotted on the way to the previous day's crab feast, he was our first wildlife of the trip.

The bus from the panning/bake dropped us off in the center of the Juneau shopping district where, after an aborted attempt to get a beer in the local "Famous Olde Saloon" - wall to wall tourists - we wandered through some shops and then took a tender back to the ship. Our next stop was Skagway.

Skagway's claim to fame was that it more or less existed to fleece the prospectors on their way up the White Pass to the Klondike gold fields in Canada. Skagway is at the head of an inlet that is as close as you can get to the Klondike by sea and from there you had to cart yourself and your gear over some mountains into Canada. The big tourist attraction is the White Pass and Yukon Railroad, a narrow gauge railroad built to carry miners etc. up the White Pass into Canada. It was literally carved out of solid rock in the sides of the mountains in the pass. We had taken this ride the last time we cruised Alaska, so this time we opted for the cheaper and less time-consuming van ride up the modern road on the other side of the pass. The trip was quite enjoyable. Thanks to this road, Skagway does connect with the rest of the world through Canada unlike most of the other towns in the AK panhandle. However, if anyone is there for the first time I highly recommend the railroad - it's quite spectacular. Any way, our van driver was an interesting guy. As one of the 800 or so year-round residents of Skagway, he pretty much knew everyone in town and like many locals held about three jobs. Afterward, the van dropped us in the middle of Skagway and we wandered into a local tavern for some lunch. Michelle and I shared an amazing sandwich. I don't remember what the tavern called it but it was a what we called a Thanksgiving night sandwich. That is, it was turkey breast, stuffing and cranberry sauce with lettuce and tomato. It was served on thick slabs of homemade style whole grain bread and was probably better than anything we had eaten thus far on the ship. After wandering around the town a while, it was back to the ship. But first, I stopped at the train depot and got a deal on a W.P.&Y. R.R. T-shirt and baseball cap. Also, got a nice photo of their one steam locomotive chugging along with a cruise ship in the background - kind of sums up Skagway.

We drove over this bridge on the way up the White Pass. It's supported only on one side because it crosses a fault line.

A waterfall in the White Pass

The W.P.& Y. R.R. steamer with cruise ships in background. "Radiance of the Seas" is to the right.

Next: A Native American fishing village and whale-watching.

North to Alaska

This seems to be sort of turning into a travel blog, but Michelle and I just got back from a two-week jaunt to the 49th State. Thought I'd post some thoughts on it here.

Our first stop was Vancouver B.C. where we were to board the Royal Caribbean Lines' "Radiance of the Seas" for the north bound journey to Seward AK via several stops on the Alaska Panhandle (the Southeastern part of AK that stretches alongside Canada toward Seattle). We got there the day before we were to board and stayed overnight at a hotel near the Vancouver airport in order to preclude any horror shows perpetrated by late flights, lost luggage etc. As it turns out, everything went smoothly with flights and luggage. Also, due to the vagaries of flight scheduling and time change we arrived in Vancouver about 10:30 AM. At that point we made a decision not to spend our one day in the city sitting on our butts in the hotel but instead to take a Vancouver city tour and see the place. It was a good decision. We booked a four-hour city highlights tour for the afternoon and off we went.

Vancouver seen from the top of the Harbour Centre Tower

Vancouver is a really lovely city with what seems to be an excellent quality of life and it is surrounded by considerable natural beauty. It's located on a peninsula among various bays and river deltas. As a result it has excellent deep water port facilities along with many recreational areas such as beaches and small boat marinas. Our tour was on a bus with a number of stops throughout the city. The tour guide was very knowledgeable about the city, but he was also a bit of a character. For one thing, he ended every statement with "eh". Now I know this is supposedly a common practice in Canada, but he did it so much it was almost a caricature - he reminded me of the Mackenzie brothers, the two beer-drinking mock Canadians on the old Second City TV show. He also claimed to be a drummer in a rock band and an expert on the city's various micro-brews. He may have been that last thing-I tried a pint of his recommended beer and it was quite good. Anyhoo, the tour took us to Stanley Park, a green oasis of a peninsula adjacent to downtown, and various sections of the city including Chinatown, "Gastown" (a kind of hip restaurant and shopping district) and a stop to take the elevator to the top of the Harbour Centre Tower which is their version of the Space Needle but not as tall (but with a great view of the city). My favorite stop on the tour was called Granville Island. It is a small, artificial island in a creek near downtown and is sort of the Vancouver Greenwich Village. Lots of galleries, shops, theaters, and restaurants crowded into a walkable space and surrounded by water and boats. We ate dinner there in a Tapas bar called the Sandbar - it was quite good. To sum up: it was an enjoyable first day of vacation and the next morning we were up bright and early and off to the "Radiance of the Seas".

"Radiance of the Seas"

We showed up early for the boarding - they said 1:00 PM, but we got there at around 11:00 in the morning and pretty much walked right on the ship. We had a nice cabin with a balcony and kind of a sitting area; also, the bed was very comfortable. As for the public areas of the ship they were very tastefully done - lots of wood and artwork. The ship was fairly new so it had a huge central atrium that ran from deck 4 to deck 11 with glass-enclosed elevators. It had the other usual cruise ship stuff: a theater for evening shows, a casino (where I actually won at Blackjack unlike Las Vegas) and lots of bars including a nice piano bar with a fairly talented chap who played and sang requests. Of course since it was a cruise they pretty much fed you continuously in various places around the ship. Unfortunately, the food was for the most part not outstanding. It was decent but I've personally had much better on other cruise lines. But we went to see Alaska, so stuffing our faces was secondary. Enough description of the ship, if you've been on one modern cruise ship, you've been on them all.

After a day at sea we docked at our first port: Ketchikan Alaska. We booked two shore excursions there: a crab boat trip and "feast" and "The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show". The crab boat trip was on a sort of enclosed patio boat where they took you up an inlet to some crab pots which they hauled out for some marine biology type measurements on the Dungeness crabs they caught. They then let the crabs go. It was moderately interesting. The best part was the "feast". They took us back to a lodge along the inlet and fed us mass quantities of steamed Alaskan Dungeness crab. These are not the king crab caught on the "Deadliest Catch" TV documentary. They are actually caught like our east coast blue crabs in salt water inlets and bays. They resemble our crabs a little but they seem to be meatier and the meat is sweeter. Eating them is similar to eating the blues - basically a slob's convention of cracking claws and digging out meat with bits flying all over the place - great fun! The feast included one beverage of choice. Fortunately one of the choices included a pint of Alaska Amber beer. Mmm, steamed crabs and good local brew. Doesn't get much better than that.

Me, stuffing my face with Dungeness crab

After the feast they bussed us back to the dock and it was a two-block walk to the lumberjack show. It was fun watching them saw huge logs and climb tall poles and try to log roll one another into a pond. It was staged in the form of a good natured competition between two teams with lots of clowning and shouting. After that, it was back on the ship and off to Juneau. More on that tomorrow.

The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show