Alaska. A destination I have dreamed of visiting for 30+ years, and we finally pulled the trigger! It was all I could have hoped for, and more. Knowing that this would likely be our only visit to Alaska, we tried to do as much as we could, but without making the trip a "job" trying to pack in more than we could appreciate. We did a six day land tour followed by an eight day cruise and boy, I am glad we did it in that order. The cruise was a nice, restful time after the exercise of National Parks, glaciers and wilderness lodges.
First thing that struck me is the scale of everything in Alaska, which is large. That and the fact that when you look at your surroundings, it doesn't look real. It looks like a painting. Absolutely stunning. The time of year we were there also shocks the visitor as there was 20 hours of daylight each day. The lodges we stayed in did provide blackout shades that allowed for sleep.
Our land tour began with a direct flight to Anchorage where we stayed one night at the Hotel Captain Cook in downtown Anchorage and then headed to the Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge for two nights. We did an interesting tour of Seward and visited the Alaska Sealife Center. Next was a ride to the Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge. The lodge was lovely, but stepping out onto the back deck provided a jaw-dropping view of Denali (formerly Mt. McKinley). There is a long history of naming disputes for Denali/Mt. McKinley.
Denali is so big it creates its own weather and because of that, only 20%-30% of visitors get to see the peak. We were also told that only 10% of visitors see the entire mountain due to cloud layers that may cover the bottom, middle or peak at any given time. Count us among the lucky ones as we had a full, unobstructed view of the entire mountain the afternoon we arrived as well as the next day! It was absolutely breathtaking and as mentioned previously, it looked like a painting, not real. A relaxing nature walk around Byers Lake in the late afternoon/evening was beautiful and peaceful.
The next day we headed to the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge for two nights. Shortly after arriving, we headed to a wonderful adventure riding ATVs in Denali National Park and it was terrific. The next morning we did a natural history tour of Denali National Park. It was informative and interesting.
From Denali National Park we headed back to Anchorage (Whittier) to meet our cruise ship, the Sapphire Princess. The trip to pick up the ship was a nine-hour train ride on the Direct-To-The-Wilderness Rail Service. The train ride was really special with a glass panoramic domed roof to see the world as we went by. A sit-down lunch served in a dining room capped off the trip.
We began the cruise with an overnight sailing to the Hubbard Glacier for day two and from there on to cruise Glacier Bay National Park. Day four took us to Skagway, where we went ashore to take a wonderful tour with the White Pass Scenic Railway. Riding in vintage, narrow-gauge cars to see beautiful mountains, deep gorges and the pristine wilderness made this an unforgettable part of our experience. The tour also kicked in my interest in how this railway became a reality and the history is quite fascinating. If you are interested, this link will provide details.
Next stop, Juneau, which is the capitol of Alaska. Juneau is interesting as there are no roads connecting the city to the rest of the state or to the contiguous United States. Honolulu, HI is also not connected by roads to the contiguous US, but for much more obvious reasons and there are roads connecting Honolulu to the rest of the island of Oahu. Juneau is essentially an island even though it is on the mainland as supplies and goods can only be brought in by boat or plane. We took a stunning tour of the Mendenhall Glacier, which is the only glacier in southeast Alaska accessible by road. The glacier has been retreating for 300 to 400 years, but the pace may be increasing due to environmental issues.
First, a few shots of the Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge and the ride there...
Seward and the Alaska Sealife Center...
Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge...
The Byers Lake Nature Walk...
The Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge...
Side-by-Side ATV Riding in Denali...
Denali Park Natural History Tour...
Direct-To-The-Wilderness Rail Service, Denali to Whittier to join our cruise ship. A 9 hour+ Adventure. Plus a few pics after boarding the ship...
Cruising to Hubbard Glacier...
Cruising Glacier Bay National Park...
Skagway and the White Pass Scenic Railway...
Juneau and the Mendenhall Glacier...
Ketchikan...Our Final Alaskan Port...
Final Day At Sea, Approaching Vancouver and At The Airport. It was a heck of a trip...
