Alaska Sea Cruise and Land Tour, June 12 – 24, 2012: Fun in the Land of the Midnight Sun
My friend Patty Morrison and I visited Alaska on a sea and land tour June 12 – 24, 2012. This trip preceded web site www.arnoldheller.org and any travel writing interest. The forgotten pictures were recently found and organized into a highly recommended tour using Holland-America.
We flew into Seattle and spent the night there. The next day we took a bus trip to Vancouver to board our big luxurious boat. We settled in to our palacial ship as it headed up the spectacular Inland Passage.
A highlight for me was when our ship sailed into Prince William Sound to observe the Tracy Arm Glacier.
I could hear as well see the Tracy Arm Glacier melting and flowing down into the sound.
Two magical moments for me were sitting in a hot tub at noon watching the mountains on both sides of the Inland Passage while drinking a perfect Bloody Mary, and later that night, eating a gourmet dinner while staring at bobbing icebergs through a huge picture window in the hull.
Our Passage cruise itinerary included two stops, Juneau, Alaska’s tiny capitol, and Skagway, where the land tour portion begins.
We walked Juneau, an attractive little city, in an hour. The small government district is located on four adjacent corners. We explored every shop of interest during this time too.
Juneau can only be accessed by air or sea.
With three hours to kill, we headed for the historic Red Dog Saloon where Ferlin Husky was singing. A fellow tourist asked Ferlin why a big country star like him was playing the Red Dog.
Ferlin answered without blinking. “When your last record sells forty-one copies, you play the Red Dog Saloon.” He blinked and continued singing.
A foody thing to do in Juneau is head down to the waterfront and find a seafood joint that deep fries Dungeness crab. Although partial to steaming them, fried crab is tasty and viewing the pretty bay while tearing crabs apart is pleasurable.
Patty at the Red Dog Saloon in Juneau.
Skagway is a nice little town with a large mountain visibly lording over it. The best tee shirt that we saw in a Skagway shop had Texas is Cute printed on it.
We had the same exploration and tee shirt experience in Skagway. After covering the town in forty-five minutes, we and the rest of the cruise ship patronized the wonderful old Red Onion Saloon which at 11 AM that day might have been the biggest pouring bar in the world.
Tourists start the land tour in Skagway by taking a fantastic train trip over a rugged mountain range to reach the wild Yukon. From there, visitors are transported by bus to Whitehorse to spend a day and night.
Patty and I in Skagway. Note the mountain behind us.
Patty is pictured holding the tail of a big fish statue. The Alaskan economy is mainly based on fishing, tourism, and petroleum.
The railroad to the Yukon is an adorable old-style train that barrels through wilderness areas that furnish mind-blowing views of wide rivers, blue mountain lakes, and big animals – mountain goats, Dahl sheep, elk, moose, and others.
I recommend hanging out on the platforms between the cars for the best views which I promise, weather permitting, are memorable. The weather in June is often pleasant too.
The train, after entering the Yukon Territory, is met by a bus that brings tourists the rest of the way in to Whitehorse, a well-developed territorial center full of mining companies and surprisingly good restaurants. You can get even get good pizza there.
Emerald Lake was one of our favorite places in the Yukon. Minerals leaching into the lake create the unique color.
We also enjoyed a visit to a sled dog breeding kennel and watched a team of dogs being trained. The top dog’s cry asserting himself as sled-pack leader can curdle the blood
We toured Kluane National Park (below) in the Yukon located near the Alaskan border and spent the night at the Beaver Creek Lodge.
Due to many large potholes, the bus can only proceed at about forty to fifty miles an hour on the gravel Al-Can Highway. In Spring the swelling permafrost throws off pavement like sheets of paper.
The tour took a group picture upon reaching the Alaska state line. Patty and I are center- right in the middle row.
We headed to Fairbanks, population 95,000, where we first visited the famous Santa Claus Store in Christmas-themed North Pole, a tiny suburb. If you like Christmas, you are going to love this place.
Another popular thing to do in Fairbanks is pan for gold. A bus brings tourists to a working gold mine and has them pan for traces that they are encouraged to place in
jewelry pieces as a memento. This is more fun than people expect and profitable for the vivid team of Alaskans who stoke our greed.
The third cool Fairbanks experience is a riverboat ride that takes a group on the river to showcase the Alaskan lifestyle.
Charlie, for example, is a pilot living by the river – the Captain says hello to Charlie who waves back at us. The Captain asks the crowd if they want Charlie to take his plane up in the air?
Naturally we all answer yes and Charlie takes his boat plane up in the air for thirty seconds and expertly lands right by his dock. Alaska has few roads so many residents own planes and fly everywhere. The down side is Alaska leading the nation in deaths from private plane accidents.
The boatload next stops at a Native-American tribal village to show visitors how the people sustain themselves and maintain their cultural heritage. This boat-ride is pure theater on the river while documenting how people have adapted to this challenging environment.
Fairbanks is important for its air force base and the role it plays in national and global defense. It’s also where the tour group catches the glass-roofed McKinley Flyer railroad down to Denali National Park. This train and ride are special and should be experienced.
One sees an almost unbroken stream of woods, rivers, and mountain ranges all the way to Denali.
I will never forget the sight of the town of Denali from the train as it approached the picturesque village located in a beautiful valley. Denali National Park is the size of all the national parks located in the lower 48 states put together.
The following picture of the Denali River and flood plain shows how vast the land and sky are. The eye and brain are overwhelmed by the massive expanses of each – the sheer scale and scope of ruggedness boggles.
The following picture is of the same river just a few miles away and a hundred feet or so from our comfortable cabin.
A private company organizes rides down a dried up river bed on an all-terrain vehicle. Patty and I surprised ourselves by safely following our leaders and had a terrific time. If you’re physically up to the challenge, and willing to sign a waiver, consider risking it because this is a memorable experience.
Photo of the dried up river bed.
Picture of us by an all-terrain vehicle.
Photo of the cabin where we stayed.
This picture of Denali National Park captures its vastness and stunning topography. Four separate mountain ranges cross the park.
Visitors are brought in to Denali on a specially outfitted school-bus. A tour guide and driver helped us view an amazing array of wildlife. We caught the animals on video and showed their images on monitors strategically located throughout the bus.
We viewed wildlife from roads like the one below. The guide informed us that we had been blessed with an extraordinary amount of desired wild animals to see, in fact more than he had witnessed in the past three months combined. We all liked hearing that.
I photographed a porcupine scurrying along the road. We also saw herds of caribou, several bears, a couple of wolves and one that was running up a mountainside to attack an unsuspecting Dahl sheep and mountain goat. They got away.
Porcupines dart about and are not easy to photograph.
We loved Denali and advise people to go in mid-June like we did. Imagine leaving a restaurant at 1 AM and needing to put on sunglasses.
After our time in Denali, the train brought us to Anchorage, a sprawling city of almost 300,000. We spent a lovely day there enjoying the city’s energy, and joy too from the week or two of almost endless sunlight after the usual long dark winter.
From Anchorage, we flew to Seattle and spent a day exploring the affluent hi-tech center before heading home to Atlanta.
Seattle’s famous Public Market was lit up and still fairly crowded at nearly ten PM.
One of the great things to do in Seattle is just walk the pier, then get a cup of clam chowder and a seafood dinner.
