Aug 18, 2017 - TOK

Aug. 2 – 5: VALDEZ: Next we headed to Glenallen and had a stopover in the Tolsana Wilderness RV Park. Our spots were right next to the river. Very scenic but the fishing was not good. We did have a nice campfire night though. Then we drove to Valdez. Spectacular views along the way. Valdez is the end of the line for the Alaska pipeline. There is a massive facility there that we could see from a distance. Took some pictures but we were not allowed any closer. Also this was the time of year for the pink salmon to spawn. They were everywhere....

Aug 18, 2017 - Anchorage

Jul 25 – Aug. 1: ANCHORAGE: On Jul 25th we drove from Ninilchik to Seward (also on the Kenai Peninsula). Dave and Cara left us here and headed back south. Ron and Mary are still with us. We had a lovely scenic drive to Seward which is situated on the water at the head of Resurrection Bay and beside the Kenai Fjords National Park. We took a scenic boat tour up one of the fjords to Holgate Glacier and saw lots of sea life, birds and beautiful scenery. We couldn’t have asked for a calmer day at sea! Then a stop in Portage and from here we...

Aug 15, 2017 - Hubbard Glacier

We boarded our ship in Seward. I am so glad that Steve and I got to spend time in Seward last week because there was no time to enjoy it before getting on the ship. We left Seward around 5 pm. We sailed/motored our way out of Resurrection Bay, through the Kenai Fjords National Park into the Gulf of Alaska. As I said once before it remains light until 1 or 2 in the morning, then there is dusk, then the sun comes up again. Throws off your body clock. The first day aboard was spent at sea; however, not open waters. We were watching beautiful...

Aug 15, 2017 - Juneau - First Shore Excursion

We decided to try something totally different than the typical shore excursions offered by the cruise lines. We choose to go scooting across the water in a hovercraft up the Taku river to the Taku glacier. We had to take a catamaran out of Juneau to a World War II era ship that was used to lay anti-submarine nets in the Alaskan waters. Can you really catch a sub-marine in a net? This WWII ship stays anchored out in the river as the base camp for the hover crafts. The hover craft is an amphibious 6 person vehicle that travels over water,...

Aug 15, 2017 - Ketchikan - Fourth Port of Call

Ketchikan sits on the Revillagugedo Island and is surrounded by the largest national forest in the US. Tongass National Forest encompasses 16.9 million acres of varied landscapes. There are mountains covered in forests, glaciers, old volcanic cones, rivers, fjords and countless lakes. This was our last port of call and it was truly amazing. We took a combination tour, flying and boating through Misty Fjords National Monument. We left Ketchikan in a 6 passenger float plane. I was sent to the tail of the plane, which was nice because I had...

Aug 15, 2017 - Skagway - Second Shore Excursion

The next day we woke up in Skagway. Skagway is a beautiful port. We had a late afternoon excursion scheduled so we decided to take a tour of Skagway. We hopped aboard a bright yellow sight seeing bus from 1920's. The tour guide was dressed in clothing from the era and her narration depicted the town from the advent of the gold rush. Much more interesting than walking the tourist shops in town. Although we did stop at a few shops after the tour. We learned about a very bad man from Creed, Colorado that was one of the first scam artists in...

Aug 15, 2017 - Icy Strait Point Hoonan- Third Port of Call

We left Skagway behind and ended up at Icy Strait Point, within, what else, Icy Strait. The point is near the town of Hoonan on the northern edge of Chichagof Island. It is also very close to Glacier Bay National Park. This is the smallest port we stopped at. The point is owned by about 1350 Alaskan natives from the Huna Tlingit tribe. Since Steve keeps talking about owning his own boat, I gave him a chance to be captain. We chose another very different shore excursion. We signed up for a coastal exploration by 4 person zodiac. Steve was...

Aug 11, 2017 - The Cassiar Highway (Highway 37 BC)

As mentioned in our last post, we had to do a little backtracking before we could start on a new route home, but it gave us the chance to catch a few things we missed on our way into Alaska. Back in Tok, we stayed at a fun place, the Sourdough Campground. Every night they have a sourdough pancake toss; if you can get the very floppy cold pancake into a bucket you win a free breakfast at the campground's cafe. We both gave it a try but would have needed a few more practice shots to have a better chance of winning. One of the areas that we...

Aug 11, 2017 - Starting the Cruise

Side note: It is hard to keep up a log when internet is so hard to get. I thought I would be ok back in WA but their wifi wouldn't let me send pictures. The next campground had no wifi. This campground has wifi. Yippie!. The Alaskan/cruise portion of the trip is over. We got back to the USA several days ago. We changed hotels 7 times prior to starting the cruise and 3 times after leaving the ship. Needless to say being back in the RV, sleeping in our own bed with our own pillows is heaven. We will be changing campgrounds every so often but...

Aug 9, 2017 - Denali by bus - saw the big five

We were still recovering from that awesome plane rude to the tippity top of Denali's peak, when we had to get up at 4 am ti catch our bus through the interior of Denali. I did say 4 am. What a god awful time to have to get up. Or so I thought! Passenger cars can only drive about 10 miles into the park. The only way to get into the interior of the park is by bus or walk. We decided the bus was the best choice. We didn't have any bear bells with us. We were on an old school bus with about 40 people. Just to let you know, it was going to be...

Aug 8, 2017 - Dip Net Fishing

Back tracking on this journal entry to one of the weirdest fishing spectacle we have ever seen. We were in Kenai on the Cook Inlet. We had pulled over to see a moose grazing in a big field near a wildlife boardwalk. A local started talking to us about wildlife. He said if you want to see something wild go watch the dip net fishing further down the bay. We had seen all these gigantic nets sticking out of trucks in town and had wondered what they do with these nets, so we had to go see what it was all about. It was absolutely crazy....

Aug 8, 2017 - Flight to Denali - The High One

I left off with the 6 of us arriving back in Anchorage. We spent one night in Anchorage before starting the land portion of the cruise. The next morning we boarded a bus for a several hour drive with about 40 other people. We stopped in the small town of Talkeetna, where we caught the train that would take us to Denali National Park. We rode in the large domed cars which gave us great views of the Alaska and Talkeetna mountain ranges. It was a long day with far too many hours sitting on the bus and the train. We soon found out it was well...