North to Alaska
Catch ferry and bus back from Victoria to Vancouver. Board ship ms Volendam. Good cabin with balcony. Head north through inside passage. Welcome dinner for group in top restaurant on ship. Fantastic quality far exceeding expectations.
First stop Juneau. Interesting old town with obvious fishing influence. Huge crab legs being steamed at Tracy’s King Crab House on waterfront. Talk walk around town see statues of politician who organised purchase of Alaska from Russia, governor’s house (no security), ancient Russian church. Drink in the Red Dog hotel furnished with moose heads, bears, guns etc. fun entertainer singing country music. Taking piss out of Aussies. “What’s the difference between a canoe and an Aussie?” Wait staff all yell answer “a canoe will tip”. 😏
Next stop Skagway. Bit of a Hollywood film lot look about the town, but the best bit was the trip on the White Pass and Yukon railway. Old train and ride up into mountains along the railway built in late 1800s. Fantastic engineering achievement. See the torturous path taken by the people heading for the Klondike gold rush. Of the hundreds of thousands heading there, only about 30 ever found sufficient gold to make it worthwhile. These towns we visit basically existed to support those people on their way up and back (if they made it). Watch film about Skagway history at info centre. Then drink and brothel tour at Red Onion hotel.
Next day sail into the fantastic Glacier Bay. Absolute highlight of the cruise. Massive glaciers winding down to the water’s edge. Sailed to about 400 metres from front of Marjorie glacier which is about 1 km wide, many kms long and about 250 metres deep at the front. Watched for about an hour, seeing quite a few calving occurrences, the last on massive with a huge roar and resultant waves. Bit difficult to capture on film as you can’t be sure when they will happen. Saw 2 small icebergs float past, each with a pair of seals lying on them. Also saw some bears on the shore line. Many birds including puffins. Quite a few glaciers and many small icebergs.
Final stop, Ketchikan. Probably best town we visited. Did a walk around seeing the creek flowing through town, which the salmon swim up in spawning season. Wooden walk way along the creek with many great old wooden houses which used to be brothels, but now shops restaurants etc. go to lumberjack show which was entertaining.
Final day at sea on return to Vancouver. Judy sick with flu like symptoms. Spent day in bed. Now in Vancouver airport waiting on flight to Toronto. Judy still sick but bearing up.
First stop Juneau. Interesting old town with obvious fishing influence. Huge crab legs being steamed at Tracy’s King Crab House on waterfront. Talk walk around town see statues of politician who organised purchase of Alaska from Russia, governor’s house (no security), ancient Russian church. Drink in the Red Dog hotel furnished with moose heads, bears, guns etc. fun entertainer singing country music. Taking piss out of Aussies. “What’s the difference between a canoe and an Aussie?” Wait staff all yell answer “a canoe will tip”. 😏
Next stop Skagway. Bit of a Hollywood film lot look about the town, but the best bit was the trip on the White Pass and Yukon railway. Old train and ride up into mountains along the railway built in late 1800s. Fantastic engineering achievement. See the torturous path taken by the people heading for the Klondike gold rush. Of the hundreds of thousands heading there, only about 30 ever found sufficient gold to make it worthwhile. These towns we visit basically existed to support those people on their way up and back (if they made it). Watch film about Skagway history at info centre. Then drink and brothel tour at Red Onion hotel.
Next day sail into the fantastic Glacier Bay. Absolute highlight of the cruise. Massive glaciers winding down to the water’s edge. Sailed to about 400 metres from front of Marjorie glacier which is about 1 km wide, many kms long and about 250 metres deep at the front. Watched for about an hour, seeing quite a few calving occurrences, the last on massive with a huge roar and resultant waves. Bit difficult to capture on film as you can’t be sure when they will happen. Saw 2 small icebergs float past, each with a pair of seals lying on them. Also saw some bears on the shore line. Many birds including puffins. Quite a few glaciers and many small icebergs.
Final stop, Ketchikan. Probably best town we visited. Did a walk around seeing the creek flowing through town, which the salmon swim up in spawning season. Wooden walk way along the creek with many great old wooden houses which used to be brothels, but now shops restaurants etc. go to lumberjack show which was entertaining.
Final day at sea on return to Vancouver. Judy sick with flu like symptoms. Spent day in bed. Now in Vancouver airport waiting on flight to Toronto. Judy still sick but bearing up.
Comments
Post a Comment