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.