Monday, June 3, 2013

Day 5 Ketchikan - Wednesday 22 may



Woke at 430. Took the clothes that Pauline and Dave had loaned us to their stateroom and then headed up stairs to deck 10.

Another lovely sunrise and gorgeous coastline. 
while journaling, another cruise ship crossed our path behind us and as I was sitting facing the rear of the ship at the back of the ship I watched its progress. Very pretty. Cape Decision is Dirks favorite light house and if I had a camera I would have taken take a photo.
Joel and Paulette Mierau and I had a lovely conversation about our cruising experience just by Dirks favorite lighthouse.
Six-thirty now so going to drop this back in the room and go to the cosmos lounge for a good seat.
 the talk was very interesting with some great photo’s of whales , none of them taken from a cruise ship.  Then came the talk about secrets of navigation. Also a very interesting talk.
Found the girls at lunch  around 130 after wandering around deck 10 twice and then we went back to our rooms to get ready for Ketchikan. 200 came and we docked, 230 came and we could get off the ship but still we did not have our luggage. I was just tired of not having my clothes. So I was a little grumpy when we left the ship at 3 and still no luggage. They told us they would bring it to our stateroom later. Yea, well we had heard that one before too.
Ketchikan is a lovely little town that I have no pictures of. We went into the jewelry shops to get our free charms and they sold us more jewelry, Dorothy and Shirley both got chocolate diamond rings. We went into other shops to get reduced items and they sold us more stuff. I got a pink windbreaker. We went to get stamps and mail postcards and we did.  All in all, a very successful day for all.
 The wind was warm so we were over dressed. The sun was shining in a place that only gets sunshine for 90 days of the year. We were very happy. Went into a fur store and found mink scrunchies. Did not buy one but plan to tell my friend Brenda about them.
We went back to the ship and Shirley and I got our luggage.  Yea!  Diane and Dorothy’s luggage was still in security, ?, as the tags had come off and so had to be picked up personally.  Crazy. they went to get their luggage but couldn't because the security people on the ship were all busy getting people on the ship so Diane and Dorothy's luggage had to wait until everyone was back on board.
 I was very happy for me and changed into my formal gown for dinner. I was gorgeous! Well at least I felt gorgeous. 
Dinner was very good and I showed off my dress. I am wearing it tomorrow as well.
 After dinner changed into a black outfit with blue grey scarves and we went to go to the casino but we were still in port so it was not open yet. 
The girls decided to go and change too and I sat with Dave and Pauline and chatted and listened to music. The singer was very good, if a little loud. I have decided that in order to be able to wear all the clothes that I brought I will have to change every two hours tomorrow, so that is what I am going to do . It will be like a game. Once I wear the outfit I will pack it Back in the suitcase.
 Diane, Dorothy and Shirley came up and we danced in the aisles on our way to the show. We got there just in time. It was a fun show with a Broadway theme. 
Went to the casino after the show. I lost 2 dollars and was starting to fade fast as it was already after 11 so went back to the room before the others. 
Got things sorted out and hung up and read for a moment.  Diane came in after midnight, but I fell asleep pretty quick and slept right through.

Day 4 - At sea and the Hubbard Glacier



Woke at 4 and was journaling on deck 10 am now caught up with post cards and journaling. Yea! now I can sit back and relax. LOL. 
I went to the new souvenir shop on board and picked up the book with the map on Alaska and brought it with me to breakfast with Shirley and Dorothy and Diane. Diane is going to get the book too as it is very good with lots of pictures and maps.
Went to listen to Dirks talk on glaciers that was very interesting. 
Diane went to lie down as she stayed up till 3am at the casino but she did win some more money. Afterwards we, Shirley, Dorothy and I,  got a table on deck 10 and then took a few turns going up on deck to see our progress to the glacier.  the day was sunny but as the ship was moving at a good clip it was still quite cool out on deck.  
We turned into a very large bay and we saw Hubbard glacier. It is huge so I can only imagine how big the Malaspina glacier is . We could not see it from the ship but it is one hundred times larger than the Hubbard on the map.
When we got closer to the glacier we all went upstairs and it was GORGEOUS! I have seen pictures of glaciers but none of them really do it justice. Colours of blue, purple, cream, white, dirty brown and black were spread trough the glacier. One shade of blue that could only be called glacial blue as I have never seen it before. It was stunningly beautiful.  Occasionally falling ice slid into the water making waves that never reached us. We did manage to get fairly close, about 1 mile away and when the  ship stopped we had to take off all of our layers as it was so warm. I actually got a sunburn.
The glacier was huge and it made noises, booms and cracks and little pops in the ice floating all around the ship . The weather was perfect, Sunny and clear, not windy and lovely.  I tried to get lots of pictures (I had been saving my camera for this and I did get a few but then my camera died). We took some using Dorothy’s i-pad. 
A helicopter came and flew around us taking pictures and filming and the boat turned around to be in different positions for the camera. What a ham. Maybe we will all be in a promotional video for the cruise lines. I want a free cruise.
After the glacier Diane went to eat as she had not really had lunch. She had woken up in time to come up and share the glacial experience with us. 
Shirley, Dorothy and I went below deck (down stairs) to our staterooms and had a nap. I woke at 530 in time to get cleaned up and ready to go to dinner.
Dinner was lovely and afterward we went to the show. The 70’s, I wonder what kind of shows they will be putting on for our kids and their kids? It was a lot of fun. High energy dancing and singing. Then we went shopping I did not buy anything as I have reached my limit. Diane bought an I-Pad , Shirley and Dorothy  both bought jewelry.
Diane and Dorothy went to the casino and Dorothy and I went to our staterooms. I brought my 17 postcards upstairs  to customer relations to mail them and we chatted about the cruise. the gentleman said he would hide me so I could get a free cruise. nice guy. We talked about our luggage and then i went back to our room. I read for a tiny moment and then by the light of the 3/4 moon reflecting softly on the ocean fell fast asleep.

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Monday 20th May - Day four - Skagway, BC, Yukon



Woke at 4 and by 430 was writing out postcards like crazy on Deck 10. 45 postcards ready to go by 6 am. Dorothy came and we chatted and had breakfast at the buffet. We were all going on the train today at 10 so were excited about that. I wanted to get to a post office so headed out around 8 into town. Caught the mini shuttle to the end of the ship where I caught the town shuttle into town for 5 dollars you get an all day pass which consists of a stamp on your hand. They put it higher on my arm so that it would not get washed off over the course of the day.
The post office did not open till 830 so I went to a restaurant and used the facilities, I then went to purchase something as one should and the young girl, when I said it was the law that you had to buy something when you use the facilities with out purchasing something in the restaurant, said” it is not the law in Washington” I said Washington? I thought we were in Alaska?  She was very young.  It was a beautiful morning in Skagway and they had flowers blooming. I over heard one resident say that spring was a month late.
The post office opened and they did not have any stamps? but there was a shop down the road that did have some they thought. that store did not open till 9 so I went into some of the other shops that had free items and bought a northern lights pendant for too much although it is very pretty.  Popped into another shop and picked up the kids glow in the dark t-shirts.
The shop with the stamps opened and I bought them out along with a few more post cards. The girl behind the counter helped me put the stamps on 42 of the postcards after which I hurried up the street and mailed them and caught the town shuttle back to the dock for 930 where D,D&S were waiting for me. It seemed that we were taking a bus tour to start and then the train back into Alaska.

Davey on bus 108 was our guide and he was very good. We went to the gold panning place. Bigfoot was our A to B guy and two ton Tom showed us how to pan with a flourish. He was very, very slim and tall. But also very funny. I never realized how many bad puns and jokes there were about gold panning. 
We all found gold and most of us bought the little necklace to hold our gold. They gave us lunch, which was pretty good and we left our names on the wall along with the hundreds of other names that had been left over the years. went outside and took some photos by the river. 
Back on the bus and we were off to the border with a few picture stops along the way. It was a beautiful clear day, something that I guess happens very rarely in Skagway so we got views that most tourists don’t’ get.  at one point I traded seats with Dorothy on the other side of the bus as the heights and drop offs were really bothering me.
The Saw Tooth Mountains were clear and gorgeous at one of our photo stops and we appreciated seeing them very much. As we went higher there was more and more snow and with the sunshine I actually thought at one point I was going to go snow blind so was looking through my fingers like the Inuit do to cut the glare. (it works pretty good too).
We went through 4 levels of environments, Tundra, alpine, temperate rainforest and sea level. Wonderful. Dave kept up a running  chatter about this and that. Wiki pedia says' The White Pass Trail, was one of the two main passes used by prospectors during the Klondike Gold Rush.  The White Pass was an easier route to Lake Bennett than the Chilkoot Trail a few kilometers to the west, but it harbored a criminal element that preyed on the cheechakos (newcomers to the Klondike). These con artists were believed to be members of the infamous Soapy Smith gang from Skagway, Alaska. In 1898 Smith was killed at the famed Shootout on the Juneau Wharf and his gang were run out of Skagway and the White Pass.
 So many horses died during the Gold rush that the trail became known as the "Dead Horse Trail". The trail ended at Lake Bennett, where the prospectors built or purchased rafts or boats to float down the Yukon River to the Klondike Gold Fields near Dawson City. 
The White Pass and Yukon route narrow gauge railroad was built 1898-1900 through White Pass. The southern end of the Klondike Highway also uses the White Pass and parallels the railway.
Both the Chilkoot Trail and White Pass had starvation, as well as insanity, and of course, death. Many of the starving people on the White Pass trail found the bodies of horses, and were so hungry, they ate them. Many of the people went insane on the White Pass, probably due to the rotting of the bodies in the snow, or because of the lack of vegtables, making it possible they had  scurvy.'
We went over the US border into BC and then into the Yukon and the suspension bridge, very pretty  wiki pedia says ' The Yukon Suspension Bridge is a pedestrian cable  suspension bridge located on mile 46.5 on the South  Klondike highway in Northern BC. It is 200 ft (60.96 metres) long and stretches 57 ft (17.36 metres) over the Tutshi River Canyon. There is an admission charge and it is visited by over 25 000 people every summer between the months of May and September.
The Yukon Suspension Bridge was completed in 2006 by Surespan Construction Group. The bridge's initial estimated cost for construction was one million Canadian dollars but due to the remote location and limitations on building supplies upon completion costs grew to three million Canadian dollars. In 2011 the bridge was privately acquired and now is locally owned and operated.
Due to the Yukon Suspension Bridge's isolated location there were challenges in the construction. The bridge was erected using galvanized steel cables, and required a helicopter to install the far side towers before it could be suspended over the river. This costly method was the only way to get the cables across because the other side of the canyon was completely inaccessible. 
Design of the interpretive areas and main building are done entirely in wood, since concrete is not available in these remote conditions where temperatures during winter reach -38° Celsius (-36.4° Fahrenheit).' It was not that cold when we were there thank goodness.

There were several fun picture taking spots including a stuffed polar bear? I believe that it was a younger bear  but still very capable of  killing me if it were alive. I took pictures, bought some t-shirts and postcards, had a washroom break and then back to the bus. there were five buses in the parking lot along the highway and the view towards the yukon and whitehorse was spectacular. 
Then our little excursion was over and we were back n the bus and back  to Fraser BC where we caught the train. 

Wikipedia says 'The White Pass and Yukon Route (WP&Y, WP&YR) is a Canadian and U.S. Class II 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge railroad linking the port of Skagway Alaska with  Whitehorse the capital of the yukon. An isolated system, it has no direct connection to any other railroad. Equipment, freight and passengers are ferried by ship through the Port of Skagway, and via road through a few of the stops along its route.
The railroad began construction in 1898 during the Klondike Gold Rush as a means of reaching the goldfields. With its completion in 1900, it became the primary route to the interior of the Yukon, supplanting the Chilkoot Trail and other routes. The route continued operation until 1982, and in 1988 was partially revived as a heritage railway.
Today, the railroad is a subsidiary of Clublink and operated by the Pacific and Arctic Railway and Navigation Company (in Alaska), the British Columbia Yukon Railway Company (in BC) and the British Yukon Railway Company, originally known as the British Yukon Mining, Trading and Transportation Company (in Yukon), which use the trade name White Pass and Yukon Route.
The line was born of the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897. The most popular route taken by prospectors to the gold fields in Dawson City was a treacherous route from the port in Skagway, Alaska across the mountains to the Canadian border at the summit of the Chilcoot Pass or the White Pass. There, the prospectors were not allowed across by Canadian authorities unless they had one ton of supplies. This usually required several trips across the passes. There was a need for better transportation than pack horses used over the White Pass or human portage over the Chilkoot Pass. This need generated numerous railroad schemes. In 1897, the Canadian government received 32 proposals for Yukon railroads, and most were never realized.
In 1897, three separate companies were organized to build a rail link from Skagway to Fort Selkirk,Yukon, 325 miles (523 km) away. Largely financed by British investors, a railroad was soon under construction. A 3 ft (914 mm) gauge was chosen by the railway contract builder  Michael James Heney. The narrow roadbed required by narrow gauge greatly reduced costs when the roadbed was blasted in solid rock. Even so, 450 tons of explosives were used to reach White Pass summit. The narrow gauge also permitted tighter radii to be used on curves, making the task easier by allowing the railroad to follow the landscape more, rather than having to be blasted through it.
Construction started in May 1898, but they encountered roadblocks in dealing with the local city government and the town's crime boss, Soapy Smith. The President, Samuel H. Graves (1852–1911), was elected as chairman of the vigilante organization that was trying to expel Soapy and his gang of confidence men and rogues. On the evening of July 8, 1898, Soapy Smith was killed in the  Shootout on Juneau Wharf with guards at one of the vigilante's meetings. Samuel Graves witnessed the shooting. The railroad helped block off the escape routes of the gang, aiding in their capture, and the remaining roadblocks in Skagway subsided.
On July 21, 1898, an excursion train hauled passengers for 4 miles (6.4 km) out of Skagway, the first train to operate in Alaska. On July 30, 1898, the charter rights and concessions of the three companies were acquired by the White Pass & Yukon Railway Company Limited, a new company organized in London. Construction reached the 2,885-foot (879.3 m) summit of White Pass, 20 miles (32 km) away from Skagway, by mid-February 1899. The railway reached Bennett BC, on July 6, 1899. 
Very cool old narrow gauge track that follows the trail the gold rushers used way back when..Bye to Davey with a small tip and we were going back down to Skagway. Breathtaking drops, bridges, tunnels and scenery!  the sheer dropoffs on the train did not bother me like when I was on the bus, wierd eh?  I bought the souvenir set of hat, DVD and book that you can only get onboard the train.
Back in town we shopped and got our free things  Shirley found her chocolate earrings and I found some Alaska black diamond earrings,  back to the ship on the shuttle and drop off our stuff. Ran in to the head housekeeper and asked about laundry and she helped us out after a bit of discussion. we would give them our clothes at 10 that night and they would give us back our clothes by 8 am the next day. I have enough clothes that I will not be trapped in the room tomorrow morning while waiting for the return of our clothes.
Deck 10 for dinner instead of the main dining room that was nice and quiet and fairly quick too as it is buffet so you can just pick up what you want and most people are at the sit down restaurants. I wanted sush but they actually did not have that much for non fish eating vegetarians.
  I wanted to go to the very top of the ship so we bundled up and went up. It was great.  I have been very careful taking pictures as I don’t have my charger for my battery (it is in My luggage) and I would like to be able to take some photos of the glacier. 
We came back in as Shirley was getting cold and found a nice spot in the back of deck 10 to watch the boat pull out of port. Watched a tug maneuver a barge semi full of sea containers, (probably full of jewelry and stamps), in to the dock and then we pulled out, backed out actually. Very, very slowly.  like backing out an extremely large car . Beautiful.
 I went back to the room at that point and had a shower. I still had the oil in my hair from the head massage and I needed it. Sorted things out. Found all my receipts  (have to figure out if I need to call Visa to increase my card limit so that I can get off the ship) and wrote post cards. Went to bed but did not fall asleep right away as I had had a cup of tea and was a little wired, but that did not last long.

Sunday 19th May - Day three- Juneau and whale watching.



Woke at 4 and was having tea on deck 10 by 415  journaling yesterday and enjoying the morning even though is was a little grey and misty.
   Dorothy came around 630 and we went up to the cosmo lounge and sat and listened to Dirk talk about the area that we were in/going through. He is our good looking shipboard naturalist announcer of interest. While there we met Dave, the retired english bobby from just outside London. He told us his tale of woe which was possibly more horrendous than our own.
When we were getting to the port yesterday there was a sign separating the US and Canada Passport holders from the international and Visa holders. We Canadians and US went into our very long line and they went into another, we thought. Turned out that they went into a room where they were seated and waited for up to 3 hours until we were all processed and then they formed up into their queues and went through the boarding process that we had gone through, which took hours more and because there was not really anyone there controlling the lines, there were line jumpers, sometimes through no fault of their own, which caused many bad feelings amongst those in the lines. The ship had left two hours late as the boarding process had been so long and now we knew who were the last people on board. 
Dorothy was ashamed for the port authority and apologized for the terrible process that Dave  and his wife and all the international people had to go through. I was shocked and dismayed that thier boarding process was even worse than our own. Dave told us of other cruises he had been on and how smoothly they went. Dorothy and I of course never having cruised before had no idea that is was not always like that.

  Dirk told us, everyone that was sitting up in the Cosmo lounge that when we went around a bend we would be able to see a glacier just for a moment off to the right. Dave, Dorothy and I went out at what seemed the appropriate time to get a photo of said glacier and almost missed it as we were looking the wrong direction. But at the last moment by luck we spotted it and got a lovely shot of it. 
Pauline and Dave(?)were also going on the whale watching tour that day and gave us gloves and myself a sweater to wear on the tour. It was a little grey and rainy and windy and cool so I appreciated it very much.
We went to check on D and S. They were up and gone for breakfast. While I was in the stateroom the phone rang and it was the concierge, Mateau,  letting us know that we would in fact, not be getting our luggage in either Juneau or Skagway but rather in Ketchikan our last stop two days before we got off the ship. I figured that instead of running around the ship trying to find D&S I would let them know when we met at the Red dog saloon after our tour.
Getting off the ship was a little crazy . Dorothy and I had a tour we were going on so we lined up in the crush at and waited some not very patiently to get off the ship. After that it was easy they held up placards and pointed out which direction we would be going in.. Found our bus that left a wee bit late as people were still trying to get off the boat.
Bus ride for 20 minutes and we were at the marina and on the St Phillip, all the boats were named after Russian orthodox saints, and out to sea in 10 more minutes after the great safety talk. Very pretty, but it was raining and it started to snow a little.  The boat was a catamaran with two floors the lower one inside completely and the upper half enclosed and half open. 
Once we had traveled for about 15-20 minutes  going around an island and up the channel , the sun came out and the wind died down and it was beautiful. We saw hump back whales and headed over to see if they would  rise again and stay in the area but they did not so we carried on to a wonderful rocky beach area where there were sea-lions. A whole lot of sea-lions.
Our tall young good looking naturalist onboard was very good at giving us lots of information on the area and the wildlife.
We left the sea-lions and saw some more humpbacks who also disappeared. Now when one sees a humpback whale what one mostly sees is a portion of the pack above the water. how one can tell if it is the same whale that one has seen before from a bit of back is beyond me.
Suddenly the tour got much more interesting as came upon a small pod of three killer whales. Very exciting. We stayed with the Orca for quite some time until we came upon a grouping of about 4 tour boats and decided that it was too much for the whales to deal with and headed back to the dock. What a great experience.
 Back to town to meet D&S at the red dog saloon where I ordered an Alaskan beer and potato skins. I let them know what Mateau had said and we discussed that for a while. what could we do really. nothing but have a good time and hope that we did in fact get our luggage at some point.
We found a pharmacy and then wandered our way through a few stores picking up the free gifts that some were offering.  I picked up about 30 postcards in different shops, Then we all kind of split up in different directions. Diane one-way, me another and Dorothy and Shirley in another. 
I bought a beautiful reversible alpaca sweater even though it was expensive. It was great, Two outfits for the price of two outfits. I got the kids each a t-shirt and more post cards. 
We met back on board ship and got ready for dinner at the Metropolitan again. We all had tales to tell. There had been a fair in town so Pat and Don went there. 
After dinner Dorothy and I had an appointment at the spa up on deck 8. Filled out the paper work and then were brought to the change room where the floors were as cold as ice. Had a wonderful mini facial, a head and shoulder massage, and a foot and hand massage. I think I fell asleep. Then they tell you about the wonderful products that you can and should be using so with the massages and the products my bill came to 190 $ ouch. It was nice though.
 Back through the casino where we caught the last act of the show and looked at the Pandora look-alike jewelry that they had on sale. Decided not to get it but the real thing. Aurora has a Pandora bracelet so now I know what to get her for birthdays and Christmases. Diane was already in bed with a robe over her head so I slipped into my bed very quietly and fell asleep so fast I don’t remember turning off the light but I must have. Skagway Tomorrow.