ALASKA & CRUISE 2023

I apologize to those who came here to read a blog about my costuming. Blogger is not letting me write this up as a separate blog title, rather only as a post to my costume one. Its two weeks worth, and long. So you may ignore reading it if you wish. 

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We finally felt like it was time to take a vacation out among the world again. One of the places we had long talked about returning to was Alaska. We'd taken a cruise in 2006 on the Celebrity Infinity ship and enjoyed it so much. But we missed out on one port, Skagway, that we had wanted to go on the White Pass Train ride into the state parks and on into Canada. Since we like taking our vacations in cooler or colder weather, we chose to go in the late summer. The only cruise that would take us there was only a one-way southbound ship, and the latest we could go was in September. But since we'd already been to most of the other ports, it didn't matter. We also decided to spend a week in Alaska before boarding the ship in Seward. 

Our flight took us to Seattle, then on to Anchorage, Alaska, a total of 6-1/2 hrs in the air. I never realized it would take that long. 

SEPT 4- 

Here are photos as we were flying into Anchorage  that day. 

On arrival, we pretty much just checked into our hotel, had dinner there, relaxed and slept. We'd chosen a Marriott Residence Inn, which was on the outskirts of town, and there wasn't much around that I could walk to. In retrospect, we should have stayed at the downtown Marriott and might have had better choices to go find our dinner that night. 

Sept 5-  

We had to get up at 4am to be driven to the train station, about 20 mins away, and then rode the train for 4-1/2 hrs down to Seward on the coast. We took the southbound coastal classic train, and chose the Gold Star Class so we could have breakfast on it.      Alaska Railroad Depot 

Our seats were in a 2nd level observation deck where we could have clear views of the area around us. 

But first we were seated in the dining car to have breakfast. Our menu of scrambled eggs and potatoes came with a choice of bacon or reindeer sausage. It was all freshly cooked in the kitchen right behind our car. We were guaranteed bacon if we didn't like the sausage, but no one ended up asking for bacon. It was pretty tender, and I got some hot chocolate. 

Then we went upstairs to our seat in the observation car for fantastic views of the land as we travelled down to the coast. The weather was mostly cloudy, sometimes foggy, and occasional rain. We rode over lots of rivers and lakes, up through mountains and clouds, with fog-filled valleys and lakes, and saw moose and bald eagles at a distance. It was very relaxing, and many of us were nodding off but struggled not to miss seeing anything. Sometimes we'd see dead looking trees that had absorbed salt water when during an earthquake or tsunami the water had risen in from the ocean and created a marsh. 

This company offers a few different train trips and we would highly recommend them if you get a chance. We hope to come back sometime and would like to try the Denali Star Route, or the Glacier Discovery Route. 

We got checked into our new hotel in Seward, the Historic Hotel Seward. It turned out to be a very small room, and the bathroom, which had been added on, was about the size of a closet. As hubby pointed out, "I" had requested one of the historic rooms. We were lucky; the other 3 rooms had a shared bathroom down the hallway. We settled in and then walked around the main street visiting some of the shops and art galleries. It reminded us a lot of our small mining town of Julian in CA.  

While we were in one gift shop, we overheard someone asking about buying an Ulu knife. Our ears perked up at that name. He was looking for one for his friend who was a chef. The clerk said they only sold reproductions of them, made with stainless steel blades, which original ones would be made of something else (I can't remember what). He said he needed the original type. The clerk suggested a few places to him, & said the price for those could run from $300 and up for them. So that perked our interest while we shopped around during our entire vacation. Most of the ones sold in gift shops ran from $20 to $50, and in the end, we decided we really didn't need one but it was fun learning about them. If I could think of a reason for needing one, I would get one. 

We found one restaurant that was open for lunch, and had a Halibut fish & chips lunch at 3pm. But we were exhausted and decided to take the rest of the day off to recover from our early morning train trip. We decided to get clam chowder from a restaurant behind the hotel as take-out for our dinner later. The next night we had dinner in our hotel's small dining room, where I had a very yummy seared halibut. (By yummy, I mean moist on the inside, crisp on the outside with a sauce). My intention was to eat as much fresh fish from here as I could. We tried to get crab legs, since I'd never had any, or even just crab cakes but we were told they were pretty much fished out and no one had any now. 

The white building in the below photo was our hotel. And we had the most amazing dinner on our last night at The Cookery next door to it. I had a delicious blackened salmon dish, and they were constantly bringing us little appetizers to try, like Fried Cheese Balls. Sadly, most of them I couldn't taste but hubby said they were good. The place was packed every night but we managed to sneak in for just one hour that they had a table available, and I'm so glad we did!

Tomorrow we're going on a tour of the historic town of Seward.

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Sept 6- 

Today in Seward we spent most of our day on a motor coach tour of the history of the town. Since we were here at the end of the season, we were the only two passengers on the tour, and had a great time listening and asking questions of our tour guide, Hal, who talked non-stop with so much information.  Seward City Tours

In 1964 an 8.2 earthquake and tsunami wiped out the entire town and population except a couple buildings. So its mainly just been rebuilt. A lot of its income is fishing & tourism and is also a major area of trade schools, which are filled during the off-season winter months. The culinary school looked interesting. Supplies need to be brought in by barge, ship, or plane, are expensive so everything you purchase in town is expensive. One area near the water was renovated after the earthquake as a beautiful camping ground for RV's, etc, instead of trying to replace buildings, since it was on the tsunami path. 

Resurrection Bay, which the town is built around, was created by a glacier coming through and then melting away many moons ago. So the very very deep harbor is perfect for two cruise ships to come in. The protected harbor keeps the temperatures more moderate so the winters are about 30-40 d, with occasional drops to 0. During summer months, the average is 72d. Temperatures ranged from 48d in the morning, and high 50s to 60s in the daytime while we were there. We had a couple light showers, then a heavier downpour one morning. 

On our drive through the residential area, we saw a narrow gulch alongside the road in front of the houses, and some kids were down playing in the water, or so we thought. We then realized they were catching salmon with their hands! Its all part of the salmon run but by this time the salmon were a bit old and ragged. Its actually against their law to catch them but the city doesn't bother with the kids that do. 

There's also a 3000 ft mountain here behind the town that they have an annual run up on the 4th of July, which hundreds of people attempt to do. Its so steep you're using your hands to climb up most of it. There's a pretty interesting video on the website for it. Mountain Marathon Seward  Our tour guide told us about a mystery there one year when an experienced 82 year old man made the run but never came down. No one saw him again after they ran up with him at the top. To this day, they've never found a trace of him. So many people want to make this run, that they have a lottery for it now. 

Another bit of history; in 1926, a 13 yr old orphan boy, Benny Benson, from Chignik won the prize in a contest for designing the state flag, a solid blue background with stars creating the Big Dipper and North Star that you see directly overhead on a clear day. When Alaska became a state in 1959, they kept it as their state flag. It has a great story that goes with it, and they have a memorial park in town named after him.  Flag history  

Our guide then drove us through Kenai National Park and Chugach National Forest. While driving into the park and forest, we stopped in front of Exit Glacier. The town has to spend a lot of time protecting itself from the spring & summer water runoff from it, with torrential waterfalls and rivers that go where they want. So a lot of road, bridge, and landslide repairs keep them busy constantly most of the year. He said the roads get repaired almost daily. We had finally discovered why there were so many giant hills of the black stone in the area were being ground up all over. 

As we entered Kenai Park, we got a closeup view of a moose  about 5 ft away from our bus, who was eating leaves on trees on the side of the road. Since we didn't do much to annoy her, she just wiggled her ears at us, saying go away. Our driver was really excited because he'd never been this close to one, and later he saw it walking across the parking lot by the visitors center. We got to log our encounter in the guestbook there at the visitors center. 

We walked a bit into the park but I couldn't go far, and took a seat on a log bench, and hubby continued on to see one of the rivers here. It was so beautiful to sit and listen to the roaring of the river.

At the end of our tour, we were dropped off at the Alaska Sealife Center to see all the native animals here. They also do rescues of them. The cutest were the Puffins, which we could be 3 feet away from while they sat on rocks, or swam in the water. Alaska Sealife Center

Final stop was at the Mile 0 point where the Iditarod dog sled race use to start here in town. Later it moved further inland. Now we'll know what it looks like next time we see the race being started.   Iditarod Dog Sled Seward

Tomorrow we'll be out all day again on a small ship with Kenai Fjords Tours, that will take us out to see whales, sea life, a glacier, and more of the national park from a water view. Yes, there are still whales out this time of year.

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SEPT 7- 

Started our day with pouring rain and 49d. They're telling us it should be a great day for our 6 hour tour of Resurrection Bay and the park. It was. The clouds cleared out once we were out in the water. Our hotel shuttle took us the 10 min drive to the offices of the tour where we joined lots of people going on different tours. Kenai Fjords Wildlife Glacier Tours

These are our photos from our boat tour on in Resurrection Bay, Alalik National Park, and Exit Glacier. We didn't see any whales but saw lots of Steller Seals, otters, bald eagles, mountain goats, and puffins, which are hilariously cute. The coast line and islands were beautiful, and many carved by the water and ice. 

The Exit Glacier was actively calving off ice while we were there. Going through one ice field was very noisy as they hit the ship. There would be large chunks of ice we had to pass by too. Yes, its very cold here. We would hear loud booms like thunder, or sometimes like a gunshot, as the ice calved off into the water.  Of course the ships won't get any closer because of that but we did see some large kayaks that got closer. I'm glad we got to come see this one because later on our cruise ship, the captain had to abort the trip into Glacier Bay because the fog got so thick, it was too dangerous to try and go through the ice fields there. But we did get to see that on our 2006 trip. 

As we pulled up to the glacier, we could see another ship closer to it for the size comparison. I marked that ship with a red arrow in the photo. 

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 SEPT 8- 

Shortly after we boarded our ship on Friday, the Celebrity Millenium, we had lunch there, got settled in, and tried to navigate around, which exhausted me.

We could turn on the tv and see a live camera out the front deck of the ship. Its really cool when you're coming in to see the glacier or approaching land. 

While in the dining room, I was very impressed with the dessert counter in the ships dining area. I had some sliced prime rib and mashed potatoes, and got to try the strawberry cake and a cherry filled creampuff. Servings are small so you can indulge in many different things. They had giant chocolate sculptures on both sides of the dessert counter. 

We spent a couple hours trying to figure out how to download and use the internet access app they have on the ship that you pay an extra $20 for. We didn't get it working until the next day with the help of the concierge. 

This was our final view from our balcony of Seward as our ship was leaving the harbor that evening. That mountain above the town is where the Mountain Marathon Race happens. 

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SEPT 9-  

The day we were embarking from Seward was rainy and cold and it followed us through our next day at sea. The sea became very rough and I could barely walk without holding onto something. On Saturday we were supposed to go into Glacier Bay to see the Mendenhall Glacier and this time we were going to sit on our balcony to watch it and drink hot cocoa. But halfway in, the captain decided it was unsafe to proceed due to fog and he couldn't see any ice in the water. So he turned the ship around and continued on to Juneau. 

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SEPT 10- 

We arrived in Juneau today and since we'd already been here before, and there's not much to do besides a couple tours & shopping, we just walked around town a bit. I have to give hubby credit because my Long Covid Fatigue hit me bad today, so the ship provided a wheelchair for us, and he pushed me around town.  Since we were here last in 2006, the town has expanded a lot along the coastline. I didn't recognize much of it, but there were tons of shops, many of which were the same we see in each port, so we know they're owned by the cruise lines. This town is landlocked so everything is brought in by barge or plane, and it can take awhile. 

We stopped in one store that had a cute Alpaca (FAKE) standing outside the front door (SO SOFT!). They had really pretty sweaters inside, at really pretty prices! I bought a pair of Alpaca-lined purple slippers for me, and hubby found a nice sweater for himself. Cha-ching! Found a birthday present for the hardest man to buy anything for! He wore it to dinner that night. 

I wanted to have lunch at a restaurant here, and saw they had King Crabs at Tracy's King Crab Shack, which had quite a long line waiting to get in there.  (photo from their Facebook page)

 I was determined to try my first crab from where they came from. They had a booth set up out front of the restaurant, and were boiling the crabs right there for us to watch. I chose the Red King Crab legs, and what a job it was to eat them! It was really messy! I assumed it would be like cracking open lobsters, but we were given a fork-like thing that you crank it like a can opener along the legs, and use the other end to pull or push the meat out. Now I see why they make so many crab cakes because most of it came out in shreds. I got a few chunks but mainly shreds. My opinion; I'll take lobster over crab. I think lobster is much juicier & tender.     Tracy's King Crab Shack 

On the ship this night we had the most wonderfully entertaining dinner at a specialty restaurant on our ship tonite, at Le Petite Chef. The room decor was pretty interesting with floor lamps hanging upside down from the ceiling.

When we first looked in, I saw this table and thought it was just a colorful decoration on it. 

The lamps on the ceiling turned out to be movie projectors above each table which turned our tabletops into animated 3-D videos. Before each course was brought out, we saw a video on our table of "The History of Food", narrated by the "Le Petit Chef". It told the history of tomatoes, on using art in food, making food with love (loved that one), and making desserts fabulous, each followed by our meal course. Our dinner plate became the main screen, and the entire table became a landscape of food, people, history, all moving around on it, and telling the story. Afterwards, the real "Little Chef", who was short, was brought out from the kitchen to receive thunderous applause. This was the most wonderfully entertaining meal we've ever had and heard from someone sitting behind us that he'd been to the three other themed meals Celebrity ships had before, and this was the best one by far. So I'm glad we were here for this one. We could have seen one of the other presentations in a couple days but the menu for that night didn't appeal to us. Everything in the first photo is the projection on our table except our white plate, fork & knife, and a glass. I took videos of the entire show but was unable to email them to my computer, and onto my blog. So most of these are screen shots I took off my phone.  But you can find videos on youtube from it. Le Petit Chef The one labeled Le Petit Chef Vidanta Part 2 is one we saw. 

This scene had our entire table covered in "water", with this ship floating around on it. 

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SEPT 11- 

We arrived in Skagway, and we were up early and on a shuttle at 7am today to catch the White Pass train ride. It was a nice old narrow gauge train that rattled along on the track. It had been cold with light rain outside but with the stoves going inside, it was comfortable. We were given maps with mile markers so we would know where we were at at different points. This trip didn't take us past Bennett, BC but we did cross into Canada. All together, it was a 4.5 hour round trip. 

Our train took us up from sea level to 2,764 ft and it got colder. The terrain went from mountains, deep valleys, raging rivers, and spruce trees, to the high flat alpine areas of Canada, with tiny trees, and the vegetation changed. We got to hear the stories of the gold rush stampeders coming up thru here, with many sad stories that ended before they ever got there.

At one point we stopped and let hikers off who would continue down and back to Skagway. That must have been amazing!

Below is the old wooden train trestle that at some point a portion collapsed. So now the train crosses on a newer section and through a tunnel. 

We saw the narrow paths that the miners had to traverse along with the required 2k pounds of supplies (a years worth of food and equipment) required by the Mounties for them to continue on their route. This photo is of the old Canadian border checkpoint for the miners, and it was left as a memorial. 

From here the terrain changed to the flatter alpine area. You could still see the narrow trails the miners walked on but many were washed out from water or rockslides. It was hard to imagine them and their pack horses having to walk along these hazardous paths. It also got much colder.

The train stopped at the 27 mile point at Canada's official border checkpoint at Fraser, and we got off to take the rest of our trip by bus. (unless we paid more for another 2 hrs to end up Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory). 

We stopped at the Yukon suspension bridge to walk over that, and also got our passports stamped at the information booth. Our first stamp with our new passports! 

The suspension bridge is made of metal and the platform has like upside-down cleats so its easier to walk on it wet or icy. Which it was possible because by now we could see our breath. It wasn't easy walking with my knee brace on, but I did make it 1/3 of the way across. Hubby went to the middle and took photos looking down the steep valley.

From here our bus took us back down along a two-lane road and we still had beautiful views down hill. 

We got dropped off in the downtown Skagway area to do some shopping and get lunch before going back to the ship. Once again, it has the look and feel of the old mining towns, which this was the gateway to the Klondike. 

While passing an art gallery, we were stopped dead in our tracks by a painting in the window of a small bird facing off a large crow. Neither of us were attracted by Alaskan art but this one got us, both by its "story" and the brilliant blue color. It was painted by an Aleut artist, Thomas Stream, of the Sun'ac tribe of Kodiak, who recently passed in 2021. He is one of the favorite artists of Alaska. It was called Facing Fear. We bought a glicee print of it, and have already planned where it will go in our home. 

Just before we hopped on the shuttle back to the ship, we stopped at Doughboys for some Alaskan fry bread, basically a large round of toasted bread with cinnamon & sugar. It was tasty but messy. Everyone we saw was walking around eating it too. Back at the ship, it was starting to rain more so we timed it just right..

Tomorrow we dock in Icy Straits for the tribal dance and seafood feast.

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SEPT 12- 

We had an extremely intermittent WiFi signal while here in Icy Straits, that we were warned to expect. I found out is not a real port but an area purchased by the cruise lines to add excursions and their shops in for the visitors. I called it Disney Alaska. BUT everything there is run by the Tlingit community. The nearest town is Hoonah. They had an interesting sky-tram ride but we decided we wouldn't have enough time to do that on top of the show we were going to. Icy Strait Point

The only thing we did here was go to the Seafood Feast and Tribal Dance. We originally were booked for Alaska's Wildest Kitchen cooking class, where we would learn about and cook seafood freshly caught. But for some reason it was cancelled. Maybe they thought the weather would be too bad, and it was the day before, but on our day it was nice. Cloudy and cold still, but no rain. So this was the only other tour we chose at the time.  The feast was just huge pots of boiled Dungeness crab (got more crab but same opinion as the last one, I'll take lobster over it), shrimp, a spicy sausage, corn on a cob, and potatoes, with Cajun seasoning. We were given small packages of graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows, and got to make S'mores out at the fire pit where they cooked our meal. I guess they're popular here too. 

The tribal dance was the Tlingit story of how the raven created the world. The narrator and dancers sang and told the story in both Tlingit and English. We were only able to photograph & video them at the end of the show. It was a bit amateur but I found out most of the regular student actors had already headed back to school so this was the tail end of the season. 

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SEPT 13- 

When we woke the next morning in Ketchikan, the best part of this day was a morning visit from a grey whale(?) alongside our ship. As everyone was running to the windows in the cafe, I saw the tail flip up. We all watched and waited and saw another tail within mins. 3 mins later I said I see some bubbles. Then large circles of bubbles began to show in a giant ring. The guy next to me said that's a bubble ring! (Never heard of that before). Then up in the middle he came with his mouth wide open! (I first thought it was just his tail flip and didn't realize that until I enlarged my video later.) And then a full body emerged and he blew out water! It was our first closeup view of a whale and I'm so glad I had my video turned on. Once again, I can only share screen shots from my video here. 

We went on a tour of Ketchikan on a duck boat today and also rode it around in the water. I didn't take any photos on our tour because the bars on the sides blocked the middle of my view. If you're taller it would have been ok. It was still fun though.  We drove by one of the salmon ladders where you can see hundreds of salmon swimming up the waterways. We had wanted to go back and get a better look, but it was uphill from the downtown area, and without an transportation up there, I wasn't able to do that. The downtown is very colorful, & its known as the salmon capital of the US. The harbor was full of fishing trawlers. but I did take a couple from our balcony of the downtown of Ketchikan. This is an island, and is only 4.9 miles long. 

I did a little bit of shopping but it was mostly touristy stuff. I did buy a Xmas ornament with a moose on it as a souvenir of our trip, and also a small Nutcracker one, since I like them. 

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SEPT 14- 

Today was a day at sea, and its windy and foggy outside with scattered rain. I knew they served an afternoon tea in the Retreat Lounge each day at 3:30, so I made my way there early to sit and read in a quiet corner. I had a pot of Tea Forte English breakfast, and two round biscuit-type sandwiches. I thought they were cute, although a bit too much bread. Might be fun to try making those sometime, but smaller. Not sure what all was in them: tomato, lettuce, cheese slice, and turkey in one; the other I think was also turkey with whipped goat cheese. The little raisin scone was delicious with cherry jam & cream. I didn't have room for a dessert but there was two little fancy pastry things.

We'll be arriving in Vancouver tomorrow where we will disembark. Later today we'll be packing, except for an overnight bag, and leaving our suitcases outside our door before we go to bed tonight to be picked up, and then we get them back on the loading dock after we arrive. Tomorrow we have to be out of our room by 8am. So we'll be in the Retreat restaurant having our breakfast, then get off the ship around 9:30, and head to our hotel in Vancouver for the night. I took a photo down the hallway from our cabin. Doesn't it remind you of The Shining? I forgot in the past I had decorated our door, but you can see why people do it, as it takes awhile to find your door. I saw quite a few down the opposite hallway. 

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SEPT 15- We're currently in Vancouver, BC, having disembarked from the ship at 9 this morning. We're staying overnight at the Vancouver Marriott Pinnacle Downtown Hotel, and leave tomorrow at 10 to head to the airport.

We were sitting in the lounge at our hotel on the 25th floor and looking out the window at the island across the water. I pulled up a map to see where we were in comparison to Vancouver Island where we'd driven the full length of, when I realized that was Vancouver Island I was looking at. We're right across from Nanaimo.

Many moons ago while visiting Mom in WA, hubby & I rented a car, took the ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria, and started our journey up that island. We stayed at 5 different locations; one memorable spot in Tofino, after driving through the mountains and staying in a condo there on the beach. Somewhere we stayed at a college dorm that was used off-season as hotel rooms, then on to Port Hardy near the end but had to turn back after running into gale force winds. It was an amazing week long trip.

I had the MOST wonderful dinner at this hotel's dining room. I ordered pan-fried Steelhead Salmon, which is actually trout but it lives in the same area, and looks just like salmon. The skin side was crisp with, I think, just salt and pepper, and the meat was tender and juicy. So much tastier than regular salmons, and yes, I was getting some flavor from it. Now I'm on a hunt to find some online that can be shipped to us. I also found out that Costco may carry it, but had no luck at our grocery stores. *Yesterday I found out from my sister in law, Holly, how to actually cook the fish like this. Dip the fish in milk, then lightly with flour, & sprinkle with seasonings of your choice. Heat up oil in a frying pan till its very hot, and then fry the skin side first until its crisp, then lightly on the other side to finish it off. 

A couple observations from our trip in Alaska and Canada: most women I saw were wearing black stretch pants, as I was. I thought it was mainly on the ship and in the ports, but here in Vancouver, its the same.

Also, Canada's water is very tasty, and yes, I can tell the difference. Its more refreshing and not flat like ours in SoCal.

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SEPT 17- 

We're home at last. We left the hotel in Vancouver at 8:30am yesterday, and didn't get home until after midnight last night. And that was all by plane. Long ass day!

I think its going to take us a couple days to rest up from that. And right now all my usual home activities feels odd, like I can't remember what my daily routines were. I guess that's what vacations do.

I have so many emails to catch up on, shopping to do tomorrow, doctor appointments all week, and Yay! I start physical therapy next week in preparations for my knee replacement.

Another observation while on our trip: I can't believe how many people approached me and told me about their knee replacements. On just one bus, 5 mentioned it to me. Everywhere we went, at least 2-3 would come up to me and talk about it. Its like laser eye surgery 10 years ago when everybody was getting it.