Notes From The Travel Journal--Haines, Juneau and Ketchikan

Wow, I'm really dragging this out. Apologies that dog and poet adventures are on hold. Don't worry, I'm storing up ideas in my pea brain for an unleashing of enthralling Merwin posts in the near future.

In the meantime, join me back on the Statendam! Apart from a smattering of children on the boat, Simon and I were the youngest cruisers, so the abundance of old-timey hacking and nose-blowing might explain our battle with colds while aboard the germ vessel. Despite the illnesses, onboard life was fun. We experienced the casino (I lost $20 real fast) and checked out the violin/piano duo, ballroom dancers, live guitarists, a piano bar, and featured show every night (actually just one night that the show featured a dog). We spent a lot of pre-dinner evenings in "Bar 150" consuming the 25+ bottles of wine we smuggled onboard then enjoyed post-dinner Wizard matches in the Crow's Nest. Sort of like our regular days and nights at Deep Woods Lake, just slightly different scenery.

Following our time in Glacier Bay, our first port was Haines. The quietest of our stops, Haines welcomes just one ship a week while its neighbor to the north, Skagway, receives 4 a day. We were grateful for the slow pace and opted to take a hiking excursion with Beth and Brian. The "Haines Adventure Hike" meandered through Alaska's temperate rainforest (who knew?!) and to the shore for time watching the dramatic tides, Alaska State Ferry and bald eagles as plentiful as New York City pigeons. We enjoyed the chance to stretch our sea legs and get landside views of what we had been passing for two days.

One of the trip's highlights for Simon, my mom and me was our excursion in Juneau. Juneau, by the way, is Alaska's state capital and is only accessible by air or water. No roads lead to Juneau! Little Petey had spent some time in the area last summer and demanded we see Tracy Arm, a glacier fjord to the south. After we disembarked the Statendam in Juneau, we boarded a much smaller jet boat with 20 other sight-seers and headed into Tracy Arm. All I can say is wow. Narrow passages with incredibly high sheer cliffs straight into the water, waterfalls at every turn and spectacular views of Sawyer and South Sawyer Glacier, carefully guarded by hundreds of adorable harbor seals. Second to Denali, Tracy Arm was the most majestic and surprising experience of the trip. Simply gorgeous.

Our final port was Ketchikan, a mostly shop-filled stretch of roads immediately off the docks, definitely targeted to the massive groups of tourists arriving by sea. We found a few trinkets and renegotiated the deal on our new house (more on that later) before Simon headed off to the Totem Museum and I took a nap. That night, though, we were treated to a sunset that Simon declares as the best sunset he has ever seen. I agree.

Notes From The Travel Journal--At Sea!

Geez...practically a month behind on this next installment of travel recap. It feels a little silly now since long gone is that relaxed vacation feeling I so gratefully experienced for three weeks. Perhaps reliving the fun might take me back in time to that serene Alaskan vibe.

Next up was the cruise! Along with our 13 family members, we boarded the Statendam in Seward. Simon was a like a giddy little boy as we explored the boat's nooks and crannies. Even though it was one of the smaller ships (1200 passengers), it was fully equipped with a casino, lounges, bars, an array of dining and entertainment options (I do not recommend the magician) and plenty of spaces for watching the beautiful landscape slide by. Our first few days on the ship didn't include any ports, so we settled in to savor the scenery. And wow. It was ridiculous. I really can't get over it, and my piddly pictures can't even come close to capturing the beauty, but you'll just have to trust me and book your own trip to Alaska ASAP.

Apprehensive first-time cruisers ready to set sail!

Sunset as we steam away from Seward

Sun in the clouds as we enter Glacier Bay

Icebergs! Mountains! Calm green water in Glacier Bay

Okay, these shots make me want to go back. Like Denali, everything was incredibly vast, but this time it was water meeting the cliffs of the snowcapped mountains and the hugeness of the glaciers that were most impressive. As we floated through Glacier Bay, we spent hours on the decks admiring the sea, ice floes and Margerie Glacier. We were thankful we had opted for a Verandah Suite upon booking, as we were able to take in Margerie from the quiet privacy of our our deck. She put on quite a show, calving a few times as our ship's captain hovered nearby. It's thunderous to hear the ice break from the glacier and crash into the sea. I mean, this is big stuff. She is about 2 miles long, a mile wide and rises 350 feet out of the water, with nearly 100 feet of ice tucked below the surface. That's about the height of a 30-story building. Glaciers are wicked awesome.

Margerie Glacier is only accessible by air and sea

Notes From The Travel Journal--To Anchorage We Go

Our time at the Denali visitor center included a Ranger-led hike, which I ambitiously thought I could handle despite the 1,000 foot elevation climb in under a mile. We turned back halfway in and I promptly decided to join a gym upon our return to Boston.

So the next day, we departed the park, wishing we had one more day to try some other hikes and stare at the mountain. This time our McKinely Explorer ride was 8 hours down to Anchorage. More and more and more incredible views, at least for the first four hours as we emerged from the mountains.

Our overnight in Anchorage was relatively uneventful, although we figured out we could each board the cruise ship with two bottles of wine, so made a late-night run to the liquor store and traipsed through downtown Anchorage with a case of wine and a corkscrew. Stay classy! We devoured a delicious breakfast at the award-winning Snow City Cafe the next morning before hopping aboard the train to head to Seward, the port from which we would set sail.

Mountains slowly started merging with the sea and boy was it gorgeous.

A few of us made a slight detour to explore Portage Lake and the Portage Glacier, which was our first, but certainly not only glacier. Portage Lake was really neat...greenish blue water and steep cliffs loaded with waterfalls spilling into the lake. As seemed to be the theme thus far with Alaska, everything was just vast and enormous. It's nearly impossible to understand the scale of things when you are in them, much less when you're looking at photos after the fact. I remember feeling very, very small.

Notes From The Travel Journal--Fairbanks and Denali

Wow, what a whirlwind! I'm still catching my breath and processing our adventures after arriving home in the wee hours of Sunday morning. My expectations for Alaska were well exceeded and it is safe to declare that I've never been to a more beautiful place. Vancouver also didn't disappoint (the first thing I noticed when I stepped off our cruise ship was a life-size cutout of hockey players...destiny) and it was so wonderful to finally see my brother and sister-in law's house, spend some time with my niece and get a glimpse at even more mountains in Washington's Mount Rainier National Park.

Our group of 15 family members arrived in Fairbanks, Alaska on June 18 where we were greeted by the June sunlight shining brightly at 9:00pm. Summer daylight in Northern Alaska is in abundance--on the solstice, the sun rose at 3am and set at about 1am. It was pretty neat to witness, although I definitely wouldn't recommend hanging around for winter, when negative 40 degrees is typical and daylight spans 2 hours.

During our two days in Fairbanks, we did some hoaky riverboating and gold panning activities and had a decent dinner at a local "sports bar" (credit is due -- they had a Lundqvist jersey hanging on their wall) before boarding the McKinley Explorer train bound for Denali National Park.

Words. Cannot. Describe. A of all, the train trip itself was remarkable. The cars were double decker, with the dining area on the first floor and passenger seating up top. Huge, domed windows for ample viewing of wildlife and incredible scenery.

The gang's all here!

Train ride toward the Park

But Denali itself--unreal. According to tour guides, Mount McKinley/Denali (name is a point of contention between Alaskans and Ohioans) is rarely visible to Park visitors, with only about 15-20% of tourists able to get a glimpse through generally solid cloud-cover. But for the two weeks around our trip, they were having warm, clear weather, allowing for perfect mountain sightings.

The Park is really well run. An 89-mile road winds itself through the mountains and tundra and is the public's only way into the Park. Not only that, but my VW Golf wouldn't be allowed past Mile 15; you have to take one of the limited shuttle or tour buses to access the remainder of the road, keeping traffic low and preserving one of the most amazing areas in our country. Simon and I opted for a shuttle bus to the Eielson Visitor Center at Mile 66, which was a 4 hour ride in due to some windy and steep roads.

It was well worth it; the entire ride providing absolutely ridiculous views. We spent a few hours at Eielson for some QT with the mountain and it really blew me away. I honestly didn't expect to feel so much when looking at something like this; it really was magical, powerful and moving. I'll try to show you what I mean, but of course, photos can't really do it justice.

Roadside moosey moose grabbing some grub 

First sighting of Denali

Getting closer--there's a bus on the road over my shoulder

Wowza

In awe

Mountains around Eielson