June 15th-25, 2018
Alaskan Cruise- Part One
(In case you are reading this thinking, “Wait, I thought that Patti and Dick were on a road trip, what’s this about an Alaskan cruise?”- here’s the deal:
Although we did not get the chance to blog or do much reflecting while on our wonderful cruise from Vancouver Canada up to Seward Alaska and then flying home from Anchorage...we decided we HAD to share some about that trip before we could move on to sharing about our current road trip. Rest assured that we will soon catch you up with what we have been doing since we let home again on June 28th. So here goes, a whirlwind trip to Alaska.)
Our first trip of the summer began with flying to Vancouver Canada, and then we went on a seven-day cruise on the Noordam, a Holland America cruise ship. There are many wonderful tales to tell. But here is the brief summary.
After a very busy couple of months finishing out the school year and “clearing the deck” to be gone from work for 6 weeks, we took the train downtown to the fly out of the San Diego Airport. Then, at last, we flew to Vancouver. There we began our astoundingly good weather luck for the trip. Although Vancouver and Alaska are known to have a LOT of rain in the summer, we would have only 15 minutes of sprinkles in the whole ten days. No one who has been to Alaska can believe this good fortune.
We had been to Vancouver before, but enjoyed spending time in the downtown, returning to Sun Yat Sen Chinese Gardens, and going on a historical tour of the Gaslight District. Vancouver is such a lovely city and we had the chance to walk around and see the sights. We also had the chance to preview the cruise ship loading area. We were excited to be going on our first cruise ever.
Did we like cruising? Yes! What did we do? We ate and ate, we walked a lot, we listened to lots of great music and saw some quality shows, met some terrific people. Dick totally enjoyed watching the technical parts of leaving shore and paying attention to the engines and the lifeboats, etc. We also very much loved watching the sunsets, and walking around the deck (or sitting huddled under the great woolen blankets) while we watched the waves. We were also relieved that the water was quite calm, and our “Seabands” (wristbands that put pressure on acupuncture places on our arms) helped us keep back seasickness.
Alaskan Cruise- Part Two
June 19, 2018 Keetchikan
We went ashore in three Alaskan ports (Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway), where we got the chance to catch up on Alaskan History, especially around the Gold Rush of 1898.
Ketchikan was an important fishing village for many years and still has fishing as a main industry. There we also got to see some amazing Native Alaskan carved totem poles. So beautiful! We enjoyed being able to get off of the ship and get a glimpse into life in this rather remote place. Back on board in the evening, we listened to a great concert from a quintet from Lincoln Center.
Alaskan Cruise- Part Three
June 20, 2018
We also really enjoyed Juneau, a state capital that you literally can’t drive to. Highlights included going to a Native Alaskan Museum, hiking in the hills overlooking the city, and touring the rather modest state capital building. They also had a moving tribute to the Japanese Americans from Juneau who were interred during WWII. The young man who was set to be valedictorian in 1945 was instead in a camp. The high school put an empty chair on the stage remembering him. There is now a permanent empty chair memorial. And we also had the chance to see a brand new sculpture of a whale on the edge of the harbor. It was stunning!
Alaskan Cruise- Part Four
June 21, 2018
In Skagway, we were excited to ride the old-fashioned train up the White Pass where the prospective gold miners had to cross to get to the Yukon. This was the place where, having come by ship, prospectors had to traverse some mountains carrying along with them enough provisions to take care of themselves for a year. This meant they had to hand carry as much as two tons of food and gear up over a pass walking 20 miles. Then they would leave those things in a pile and hike back to go get the next stack of provisions. Grueling!
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In Skagway, we also visited the Klondike National Historical site run by the National Park Service. We went on two ranger lead tours through town which gave us another good introduction to life in this area and its history, including the role of the Buffalo Soldiers and the rush to the Klondike goldfield. We enjoyed another concert and found our nightly towel animal, left by our steward, to be a little dog.
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