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Spent Saturday watching beautiful BC scenery glide gently past the stateroom windows.  Arrived Vancouver 7 am today after passing under the Lions Gate Bridge and Stanley Park on our way to the Oosterdam's berth at Canada  Place.  Can you believe that the Captain turned the boat around in the Vancouver harbour and backed into our berth!  Nary a bump to be felt. 

Then bus to the ferry and Victoria downtown and home by 4 pm.  Suitcases are unpacked and a load of laundry is in the dryer. 

Will post a full set of pictures (in case you haven't already seen enough :-) ) later on this week (month?).

Ketchikan

I think it was the Captain who said that it rains 95% of the time in Ketchikan.  If that's the case, the weather as we arrived today was well within the statistical norm.  It was pouring down!  According to our city tour guide, Ketchikan gets an average of 14 feet of rain a year, too much to measure in inches. 

But wait, is that  blue sky we see, or just a "sucker hole", that small patch of clear sky that makes you believe the sunshine is coming, when really you're just about to get soaked?

Nope, it really was sunshine, and lots of it.  It made our visit so much more pleasant, and actually let us sit out on our balcony for the first time since we boarded the cruise ship.  There must have been some flight training going on in the harbour as we watched the float planes taking off and landing, over and over in front of us.  (Or it could have been the equivalent of  Victoria's James Bay neighbours, buzzing the cruise ships, telling them to "Go home!") :-)

Into Canadian waters tomorrow.  We cruise the Inside Passage as we make our way to Vancouver on Sunday morning.

Haines and Juneau

It has been a busy couple of days. 

Yesterday we were in Haines AK.  We took a "fast ferry" from there to Skagway, then boarded the White Pass & Yukon Railway, travelling the route used by the gold miners on their way to the Klondike.  From the train we could see the narrow path they followed before the railway was constructed - single file and loaded down with the supplies required by the Canadian government before they were allowed across the border.  We actually crossed into BC just past the White Pass Summit at 2,865 ft, before we returned to Skagway.

Today we're in Juneau, Alaska's capital, accessible only by boat or plane - there are no roads into the city.  We visited the Mendenhall Glacier, which is actually within the city limits!  It's worth the trip to Alaska to see a glacier this close.

More Glacier Bay

What a difference a few hours make!  The afternoon cleared up and we got some great views of the John Hopkins Glacier (as I understand it, the only advancing glacier), and the Lamplugh Glacier.  Most impressive!

Check out all the "bergy bits".  I love that expression so much, I've been using it all afternoon. :-)

Glacier Bay

Another cloudy, raining day, but it didn't unduly impact our glacier viewing.  Even saw a couple of grizzly bears!  Stayed about an hour at the Margerie Glacier.  Very impressive!

Monday, June 16

Seriously crappy weather today: cold wind, high seas, rain.  Nothing to see at all outside, and too cold to walk the deck, so we explored the ship from top to bottom.  Enjoyed a great lecture about the animals and fish in Alaska. 

FYI, there are five kinds of salmon caught here, and we learned to count them off on our fingers - Chum or Dog (thumb, feed to the dog), Sockeye or Red (first finger, best fish), King or Chinook (tallest finger, biggest fish), Coho or Silver (ring finger), Pink or Humpy (pinkie finger, feed to the cat).  As for bears, there are two kinds - black and brown (grizzly).  If confronted by a black bear, look big and talk softly.  With a grizzly, play dead, even after the bear has left the immediate vicinity.  Though there are no polar bears in Alaska, if confronted by one (to quote the lecturer), "Kiss your ass goodbye!"

Lost my $10 in the slots in about  5 minutes.  Lucky Jean won $75!

Scenic cruising in Glacier Bay tomorrow.  Hope the weather improves.

Oosterdam

Boarded Holland America's Oosterdam about 5:30 pm yesterday after a scenic four-hour train ride from Anchorage.  Through a series of last minute (paid) upgrade offers, we moved from a standard to a superior to a deluxe balcony stateroom.  Comes with a bottle of champagne, complimentary laundry service, and a private dining room for breakfast.  Well worth the money, we say!  

Most of our cruising to date has been on Princess, so it's quite disconcerting to not know where everything is located on the HAL ship.  We've been giving the map a good workout.  For a start, the Oosterdam is much smaller - about 1,900 passengers - so there's no big central piazza.  The single main dining room is a two-story affair, quite nice looking.  We'll be eating there tomorrow.  (Tonight is Formal Night, so we're taking a pass.)  The buffet area on the Lido deck is nice, and we even found table for two at lunch!  The theatre spans three decks, and is a combo theatre/lounge affair.  There are two pools, an indoor and an outdoor.  The weather has been a frosty 12C, so only the indoor pool is seeing any action.  I've also located the casino ...

We are currently sailing south from Anchorage and are scheduled to be in Glacier Bay tomorrow.  We've been promised spectacular scenery and more wildlife.  

The best of the land tour

Over dinner and a beer this evening, the Thompson/Tomlinson quartet identified our best experiences on the land portion of the tour.  They are:

FOOD AND DRINK

Best restaurant - Klondike Rib and Salmon, Whitehorse
Best bread pudding - Klondike Rib and Salmon, Whitehorse
Best ribs - again, Klondike Rib and Salmon, Whitehorse
Best beer - oatmeal stout at Glacier Brewhouse, Anchorage
Best martinis - the ones Steve made at the Westmark Hotel, Fairbanks
   Honourable mention - raspberry martinis at Klondike Kate's, Dawson

SERVICE

Best restaurant service - Mark at Glacier Brewhouse, Anchorage
Best bartender - Steve at the Westmark Hotel, Fairbanks
Best Journey Host - Peter Grady.  What an engaging young man!

TRANSPORTATION

Best plane service - Air North from Vancouver to Whitehorse (they feed you!)
Best transfer - TIE - by bus with Brayden from Whitehorse to Dawson, and the McKinley Explorer from Denali to Anchorage

ENTERTAINMENT

Best show - Frantic Follies,  Whitehorse

TOUR

Best tour - Tundra Wilderness Tour, Denali
   Honourable mention - Panning for gold, Fairbanks
Most unique place visited - Dawson
   Honourable mention - Denali National Park
Best presentation - Discovery III river boat, Fairbanks
   Honourable mention - Donna on the Anchorage Trolley Tour

ACCOMMODATION

Best hotel - no contest - the Fairmont YVR
   Honourable mention - Canyon Lodge, Denali

SOUVENIR

Best free souvenir - GOLD!
Best paid souvenir - a warm jacket for Jean in Denali

Mudslides, moose and mountains

Left Denali yesterday morning aboard the McKinley Explorer train on an 8-hour trip to Anchorage.  It was a very fancy domed car, with comfortable seats, a bar and a bartender upstairs, and a dining car below.  Had a nice lunch  (huge portions - we forgot to order to share) and a few drinks, and watched the landscape for more wildlife.  I got all excited at being the first to see a moose, though I wondered later if I had just mistaken a tree root ... :-)

We have been very impressed with the efficiency of Holland America on the land tour portion of this trip.  Every time we arrive in a new place, there is an envelope waiting for us, including our room keys, an itinerary for the time we're in that location, and very clear instructions on when to put our bags out and when to meet to leave.  Our group has been travelling together, separate from the other group on the same itinerary, with our very engaging Journey Host, Peter.

Looks as if we're in for  few more days of damp and overcast weather before the sun returns.

Denali National Park

Alaska lived up to its reputation today.  We spent a full day in Denali National Park in a blizzard!  However, we have no complaints.  We were able to see some spectacular scenery (after cleaning the mud off the bus windows) though Mt McKinley/Denali was invisible in the snow.  And I did close my eyes as the bus went around Soars-over-the Edge-like-an-Eagle Memorial Corner.  :-)   We were able to watch a 300 lb female grizzly bear forage on the side of the road and some Dall sheep graze on the tundra.  We also saw moose - two bulls, and a mother and calf - and caribou, as well as several Backpackus Americanus.  A great day.

It's cold in them thar hills

On the road again

So, here we are, enjoying a beer at the McKinley Chalet Resort in Denali, after a four hour drive from Fairbanks.  The road is in a constant state of repair during the summer months because of the heaving and potholes caused by the melting of the permafrost under the roadbed.  In an attempt to prevent this, the road crews are now putting down an insulating barrier between the permafrost and the road surface.  I'm hoping you can see this in the picture I took from the bus.   We're at the lodge now for the next three nights.  Tomorrow we take an all-day tour in the park.

Fairbanks

Had a busy day today.  Went to the Gold Dredge No 8 where we learned about dredging for gold, and actually had a chance to try panning for gold ourselves afterwards.  As a sop to the soft tourist, the water in the troughs was warm.  (Bet the prospectors wished they were so lucky.)  Tom and I actually panned the least amount of gold of all the folks on the bus - $6 worth - so we won the booby prize - a shot glass - because, according to our tour guide, Pete, we gave it our "best shot". 

(BTW, Pete is a mature 24 years old :-) )

Later we went on a paddle-wheeler on the Chena River.  Had a great intro to dog sledding courtesy of Dave Monson, widower of the famous Susan Butcher.  Susan won the Iditerod four times, before dying of leukemia in 2006.  Then we stopped at a recreation of an Athabaskan Indian village and had a chance to see how these nomadic tribes lived way back when. 

Also had a chance to experience -40F, the normal Alaskan winter temp.

Had dinner in the hotel bar again tonight.  Sadly, Steve was not there.  However, we can state, unequivocally, that the martinis are still pretty good.  (And so were the jokes :-) )

I am finding that this sun-never-setting thing is actually messing with my sleep patterns.  (I who never has trouble sleeping.)  I'm waking up several times in the night, thinking it's time to get up ...

Steve

First, I should let you know that Jean is our Designated Walker.  What follows should be read in that context.  This is a composite blog.  NOT MY FAULT!

Steve, our bartender/waiter/entertainer/bartender is a match for Tom - no small feat, says Jim.  Steve is a lawyer from California who helped out a friend bartending,  discovered he liked it better than lawyering, and moved to Alaska. 

Should just add that the bread pudding was fantastic, and the peanut butter pie wasn't half bad either, and Jim and I almost peed our pants we were laughing so hard. 

Land of the midnight sun

Woke up to another beautiful sunny day feeling rested and refreshed.  Rolled over to check the clock.  Twelve minutes after ... midnight!

Dawson City

What a lovely place this is!  Weather might take some getting used to, though, even in the summer -  30C this afternoon, 4C last night.  Folks build their houses above the ground on blocks so as not to melt the permafrost. 

Had a good familiarization tour this morning.  Saw the homes of Jack London and Pierre Burton, and was entertained with a biography and poetry readings at Robert Service's house.  Visited the site where gold was first discovered in the Yukon - Bonanza Creek - by George Cormack and his wife, Klondike Kate.  Went for a ride on the paddle-wheeler Klondike Spirit to the confluence of the Yukon and Klondike Rivers, and saw some very interesting summer rental accommodation.  :-) 

Off to Klondike Kate's tonight for dinner.

Whitehorse to Dawson City

Had an early start and a long bus trip today from Whitehorse to Dawson City.  The scenery was spectacular, from the Yukon River at the Five Finger Rapids, to the Tintina Trench, to the Klondike River, until we met up again with the Yukon River at Dawson.  Stopped several times along the way, including Braeburn for cinnamon buns.  I bought one of the recommended cinnamon buns for $10 (!) to share between the four of us, but ended up sharing it with the rest of the bus.  The picture will tell you why.  Enjoyed several recitations of Robert Service poetry from the bus driver, then rounded out the day with a visit to Diamond Tooth Gertie's in Dawson City, where we ended up at a front table.  You can guess what happened then ....

Frantic Follies

What do you get when you drop a grand piano down a mine shaft?

As it turns out, a fire alarm.  We had just started the second act of the side-splitting Frantic Follies, when the fire alarm went off in the hotel.  So the cast announced that we were to leave the building and gather in the parking lot across the road.  Then they followed us out and continued their patter in said parking lot.  Ten minutes later we were back in the theatre (it was a false alarm), and the show went on to much more laughter and cheering.

Oh, and what do you get when you drop a grand piano down a mine shaft?  A Flat Minor :-)

Illegitimus Non Carborundum

There is so much I can say about our short visit to Whitehorse that I could fill pages in the blog and attach lots of pictures.  Instead, let me just give you these impressions:

Sunshine ...

Great food ...

Interesting history ...

And the motto of the Whitehorse Daily newspaper - Illegitimus Non Carborundum - Don't let the bastards grind you down!

Whitehorse

Arrived in Whitehorse to a sampling of northern weather - hail, wet snow, rain, then sunshine.  Temperature is actually quite pleasant - about 14C.  Visited Miles Canyon and the Yukon River, and did  little walkabout in town after supper.  It's an incredibly clean city.  The building facades are very Gold Rush, giving it a frontier feel.  Looking forward to spending more time sightseeing tomorrow.

Air North

Nice airline, Air North ...

Good news: they feed you ... free.   Sandwiches only but, hey, when was the last time you got free food on Air Canada or West Jet?  Then warm chocolate chip cookies, then mints.  On a two-and-a-half hour flight!

Bad news: we got a seat in front of the emergency exit, so our seats didn't recline.

Good news: nobody sat in the third seat so we got to spread out.  And, besides, it's the middle of the day!

Good news: the scenery is great.

More good news: the Tomlinsons sat in front of us, so I took a picture of their heads.

And away we go!

I am a sucker for beautiful bathrooms.  And our bathroom in the Fairmont Vancouver Airport Hotel is a beauty for sure: separate toilet and shower, and a soaker tub with a window into the bedroom.  Very fancy.  Our room has a panoramic view of the runway and there's Tom with his new-found vision reporting, " West Jet, FedEx, Air Canada, West Jet again ..."
Tomlinsons arrived from Toronto minutes after we arrived from Victoria.  So nice to see them again.  Seems just like yesterday ... 
Off to Whitehorse tomorrow morning!

Best laid plans

Well, that was a bit more excitement than I needed.

As if organizing and  packing isn't stressful enough, I broke a tooth on Sunday afternoon.  Ack!  Luckily, we have this fabulous dentist who leaves an emergency number.  So I call him and he says, "No problem, I can fix that for you!  Be at the office for 10 on Monday morning and we'll have you fixed up in time for you to leave on your trip." 

And he did.  Came in on his day off, drilled and filled, sans assistant.  Thanks, Bob!  (And thanks, Penny, for recommending him!)