The Great Alaska Adventure part 2

Friday morning we sailed in very close waters up through the Inside Passage of Alaska.  We spotted bald eagles, Dahl’s porpoises and Orca and humpback whales.  Our 1:00pm arrival in Juneau was greeted with 7 bald eagles flying no farther than 50 yards off of our balcony.  What a sight!

So off the boat we go.  There was some rain in the air, and after gathering a good portion of our group together, several of us purchased tickets off of the pier and took a bus to Mendenhall Glacier.  Instead of an escorted tour, we purchased bus tickets for $16 per person from a kiosk on the pier.  This gave us the flexibility to spend as much or as little time as we wanted at Mendenall.  Admission into the Visitor’s Center is $3, but instead we decided to take a couple of the walking paths and found ourselves on a deserted beach with a beautiful view of the glacier behind.  The lake was still pretty frozen over, but we were able to pick up a piece of frozen glacier and revel in the crystalline formation of the ice – truly amazing.  At this point, Travis was starting to feel a little under the weather, so the Mac’s hopped the bus back to town while the rest of the group remained at Mendenhall a while longer.  A trip to Juneau is not complete without stopping at the Red Dog Saloon for a brew and some local culinary favorites.  Today we were entertained by a very funny man playing sing along songs on the old piano and telling jokes.  Quite a treat!  Whenever a new person would walk through the old saloon swinging doors, the whole place would stop and say “WELCOME, WE’VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU”.  Fun, audience participation, sing along, cold Alaskan Amber Ale and good food.  Poor Travis was really feeling bad and starting to get a fever, so we hopped a cab for the 1 mile ride back to the ship.  Others in our group headed up the Mt. Robert’s Tramway to the top of Mt. Robert’s.  The cost is about $20 or $25 per person and the views are GREAT.  They even spotted 3 bears frolicking in the woods from the Visitor’s Center at the top.  I was disappointed that we did not get to do the tram, but hey, there is always next time, right?

Saturday we arrived in Skagway to a GORGEOUS sun shining morning.  This day we had planned to rent Jeeps and drive in to the Yukon area of Canada.  We were greeted at the pier by our guide from Alaska Green Jeep Tours and taken to the office to fill out paperwork, etc.  Once we picked up the Jeeps, the rest of our gang and a quick stop at the grocery store for Road Trip Munchies and drinks, we were on our way.  We were provided with an audio CD describing our route, some history of the town, and things to look for along the way.  We had 2 Jeeps in our group and communicated by CB radio.   The route were were taking was from Skagway to Carcross along the old Chilkoot Trail.  Chilkoot Trail National Historic Site protects the historic gateway to the Yukon once tread by Tlingit First Nation traders and Klondike gold rush prospectors. The Chilkoot Trail was designated a national historic site because of the role it played in the mass movement of people to the Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush. The Chilkoot Trail has been officially designated by Canada and the United States as a component of the Klondike Gold Rush International Historical Park.  We stopped along the way at Canada’s Log Cabin Historic Site.  The adults and kids found this to be a great place for a snowball fight.  And what fun they had!  We never discovered the significance of the log cabin, but the snowball fight was worth the stop!  We continued along and our intended destination was Carcross and the World’s Smallest Desert.  The scenery was beautiful, frozen lakes that glittered blue, green and lots of other colors surrounded by pristine white snow.  We decided to stop at a boat ramp to Tutshi Lake to admire the view.  (This is about 50 miles from Skagway where our ship is docked) After a short stop and some photos, my loving husband Steve though it a good idea to drive our Jeep over a small patch of snow on the boat ramp – we ended up high centered.  Long story short – after an hour of trying to dig the Jeep out, some lovely folks Bob and Sandi from Whitehorse, Canada stopped and had a chain, which we used to free our stuck Jeep from the snow.  Steve’s new nickname for the rest of the cruise???  Snow Cone!  With out hour delay, and Mamma (me) getting antsy to get back to the ship, we skipped our intended destination of Carcross and headed back to Skagway.  Of course we HAD to stop at Skagway Brewing Company for a couple of brews and …  more food.  Skagway is one of my favorite ports to visit.  The town has old world charm, and I just get the feeling that I am back in the Gold Rush era.  Ahh, but alas, we must re-board our ship for the next adventure…

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The Great Alaska Adventure part 1

The Alaska Experience:

So I took my first Alaska cruise in the summer of 2009.  At that time I traveled with my in-laws and left my husband and son at home.  WHAT A MISTAKE!  I knew at first look of the Great Land that I had to make another voyage and bring them back.  Fast forward to May 2011 – and the whole Mac-n-family is off to Alaska.  This time, we are traveling with our best friends, the Harps and the Brownzellers!

This is a special cruise, 6 nights, departing Vancouver and ending in Seattle.  We chose to go in May, and although the weather was expected to be cold and rainy, I found it to be about the same as when I sailed to Alaska in July of 2009.

For this vacation, we flew to Seattle, stayed in the Executive Pacific Hotel, downtown.  The Executive Pacific is situated about 2 blocks from the Lite Rail station, and is next to some of the trendiest and most upscale hotels in Seattle.  Across the street was the Monaco, next door was the W, and 1 block away was the Farimont.  So our rooms were on the small side, and the hotel is REALLY old, the staff was friendly, beds comfy, and the doorman was exceptional.  When checking in, he discovered that we needed to get to King Street Station (Amtrak)  the following morning, so he called and arranged for 2 vans to meet us at the hotel the next day.  Total cost for 15 people and a TON of luggage from hotel to King Street Station…  $30.  Such a deal.

That night, we walked about 5 blocks to Rock Bottom restaurant.  Fun place for the ids, good food and decent prices.  Seattle is such a walking friendly city – and SO CLEAN!!!  We did not have time to get out to the Space Needle, but I would definitely come back and spend time in this wonderful city.

The following day, up bright and early, the 15 of us headed to the rail station to board Amtrak Cascades to Vancouver.  It is about 4 hours from Seattle to Vancouver, and beautiful every mile along the way.  The seating was comfy, café car served breakfast AND cocktails, so both kids and adults were happy.  The kids got a chance to unwind, do a little homework, play some games, and just watch the world go by.  In these days of hustle and bustle, … where is seems like everyone is on a tight schedule, rushing from her to there and everywhere it was sort of nice to just kick back a little and watch the countryside pass by.

We arrived in Vancouver, took a few cabs to Canada Place Pier and our cruise adventure began.  Strangely, we cleared Canadian customs at the rail station, went to the cruise terminal, then cleared US customs before boarding the boat.  So, we were in Canada for less than an hour before clearing back in US Customs – kind of strange, but since out cruise has only US Ports, it was better to clear US Customs in Vancouver, than wasting time clearing in our first port of Juneau.

The first full day at sea was cool and crisp.  There are 3 of our cabins all together on deck 8, and we asked Carnival to open the balcony dividers between the rooms so we have 1 big balcony.  This is fun for the kids to be able to go back and forth between cabins, and nice for the adults to be able to socialize.  Plus, with the balcony dividers opened up, it make the rooms seem a lot bigger.  We spent the day hanging with friends, enjoying the ship’s activities and watching the breathtaking scenery pass by.  This evening was formal night and I made reservations for the 6 adults to dine in the Nouveau Supper Club, Carnival’s upscale steakhouse.  So we got all gussied up and headed for dinner.   The quality and presentation of the food was pristine.  The Sommelier was over the top exceptional.  The food service staff however was less than great.  I have had MUCH better service and attentiveness from the Supper Club staff on previous cruises, so I was disappointed, especially since I was picking up the tab for the 6 of us.   

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