We're back from the Wild, Wild West! We enjoyed a
beautiful scenic cruise on Holland America's Ms Westerdam as we traveled
Alaska's inside passage. Ports of call included Hubbard Glacier,
Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan and Victoria before returning to Seattle. Read all about our
adventure!
(Select the hyperlinks below to go directly to the journal entry
for that day.)
Seattle
Hubbard Glacier
Juneau
Sitka
Ketchikan
Victoria
We started our adventure with a lovely day
in Seattle before departing on our cruise. We’d absolutely forgotten how
adorable Seattle is, and fell in love with the city again. The melting pot
of people, restaurants galore and perfect sunny day with the breathtaking
Mt. Rainier as the back drop set the scene for our exploration adventure.
Everything is so lush and green, but then again – why wouldn’t it be with
the estimated 300 rainy days a year! We enjoyed a fabulous day exploring the
Pike Place Market and the pier where we stopped by the original Starbucks
Coffee shop.
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We flew through the embarkation process and
were happily on board the Holland America MS Westerdam by noon. Our cabin is
perfect! We decided to splurge and upgrade to a mini suite and we were
already delighted that we’d made the decision once we stepped into our
luxurious room – wow! Our own private outdoor patio, 3 closets, double sinks
and a jetted tub made us feel like queens!
After a day and a half at sea, with lots of whale and dolphin sightings, we
entered Yakutat Bay, and began our cruise to Hubbard Glacier. It seemed much
smaller than I thought it would be until the captain announced that we were
still about 70 miles away! As we got closer, it was quite apparent how
grande the glaciers really are. Actually, everything about Alaska is
deceiving like this! It is easy to lose sight of the perspective of the
landscape with its pure and untouched beauty so intact, it is difficult to
fully interpret scale when viewing the pristine surroundings.
As we progressed closer to Hubbard Glacier, we passed by many small chunks
of glacial debris that we learned had all fallen within the last 24 hours as
part of the calving process. This process is the shedding and movement of
shards of glacier falling into the ocean as the glacier grows and expands. I
use the term “shard” loosely since most of the pieces that fall easily
outsized most city skyscrapers! The sounds were incredible with a mixture of
creaking, cracking then thunderous roars as the shards plunged down into the
ocean waters. There was an alka seltzer type of fizzing effect as the fresh
water chunks landed in the salt water and began to melt. We enjoyed this
spectacular show for a good hour, hanging on every crackle with
anticipation, awaiting the fall of the next big chunk! It was an awe
inspiring experience for sure…
After a few relaxing days at sea, we were
ready to try out our land legs again! We awoke bright and early to see the
morning light as we approached Juneau. Actually light is in high abundance
around our 49th State right now. We’ve been enjoying daylight from about 4am
to almost Midnight! This is quite odd and eerily cool at the same time. It
never really feels “dark” and there is a sense of wakefulness even at odd
hours. We are both such “morning people” that our days just seemed to start
extra early! So, as we felt the excitement of the first glimpses of Juneau
appear, we already had the video camera rolling. We were enjoying the
exceptionally beautiful weather of the day with temperatures nearing 70
degrees and abundant sunshine! It was hard to imagine that we’d need our
heavy winter gear for our Glacier/Dog sled adventure later in the afternoon
as we set out to explore the old town atmosphere. There was a distinct
feeling of the old west as we walked through the city streets and entered
the world famous Red Dog Saloon. After doing a bit of souvenir shopping, we
anxiously prepared for our helicopter, 4 glacier, and dog sled adventure
tour. Wow – how many more experiences could possibly be packed into one
excursion?
We arrived at the heli pad after a short safety briefing bus ride. The
feeling of flying is even freer in a helicopter with the ability to hover
over areas of interest and turn easily and smoothly. The views were
spectacular and the glaciers were amazing. We saw several types of glaciers
and learned the differences between receding and advancing glaciers. First,
we flew over the Juneau ice fields, then over the advancing Taku Glacier,
then over the cascading Hole in the Wall Glacier. We even saw a glacier that
appears to be floating as the river under it has been thawing and carrying
it away. The brilliant blue coloring of the advancing and calving glaciers
is one of the most striking visual anomalies to me.
After about 20 minutes of breathtaking views, Dogtown USA started coming
into view. Sitting atop the Norris Glacier, is one of the only dog sledding
camps in the world. This spectacular site of 250 doggie igloos all lined up
perfectly in this snow covered glacial valley was something else! We landed
to the sounds of happy yipping yelps of current and future Iditarod champs
here for conditioning and training. After a few quick driving instructions,
we were off on a 2 mile mushing trek with a team of 9 Alaskan
“thoroughbreds” commanding the trails expertly. We learned there is
approximately 6 feet of snow atop the 1 mile thick ice that makes up the
Norris Glacier. The dog sled crew lives and camps out on the glacier as a
way of life on the off season from the race. We enjoyed our trek and
completed our adventure just before the first raindrops of an afternoon
shower began to fall. It was a spectacular day!
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Rise and shine to the place of eternal
sunshine once again! We awoke bright eyed are thirsty for yet another
adventure! Sitka is a beautiful village, seemingly much smaller and less
commercial that Juneau. Interestingly both are only accessible by plane or
boat. Our adventure for today is a “Captain’s Choice Wilderness Trek”. This
is a couple hour long catamaran ride out into the waters to see what kind of
animal life we can locate!
After more beautiful scenery and interesting facts from the wilderness
expert, we approached a kelp bed with a happy little sea otter floating
about, munching away on an abalone mussel. Then we cruise up to watch an
active bald eagle nest in hopes of glimpsing the youngster who was hiding
behind a branch. Our next stop was an island at low tide where we learned
tons about sea corral, starfish, various crabs, sea anemones and many other
interesting species. We had just enough time to trek into the rain forest
for a bit of plant life exploration and sightseeing before it was time to
depart. What an interesting and diverse ecosystem- seemingly polar opposites
of one another with lush rain forests sprawling to the crisp glacial water
edges.
We arrived back into Sitka to explore the town on our own. After perusing
the local gift shops, we walked through the Historic Totem Trail, and then
enjoyed the breathtaking canopy of the rain forest walk passing through the
fringes of Tongass National Forest before emerging at the base of the Raptor
Rehabilitation Center. This amazing bird habitat takes many injured birds of
prey and nurses them back to health for reintroduction back into the wild,
or creates a permanent home for the various birds. There were many varieties
ranging from bald eagles to golden eagles to hawks, owls and even a couple
of falcons. All looked to be in various stages of reintroduction or content
with their new world. It was a fun and interesting place for sure!
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We awoke to another beautiful Alaska
morning as we entered the Tongass Narrows and began to approach the thriving
city of Ketchikan. The port itself was already alive with activity. We
watched floatplanes land and take off, sea kayakers making their way out of
the harbor, and of course buses full of tourists heading out for their days
adventure. We were really looking forward to our floatplane sightseeing
adventure to the Misty Fjords National Monument. Much of this 2.3 million
acre protected land is only visible by air and we were certainly impressed
with our pilot and the breathtaking terrain.
We boarded a small float plane that seated 6 passengers and began a
delightful visual experience. Every single moment was filled with pristine
lakes and plummeting waterfalls weaving through steep snowcapped mountain
ranges. Our pilot was fantastic at navigating the terrain and giving us a
real bird’s eye view and the actual sensation of flying through this
absolutely untouched wilderness area. It was truly an amazing experience.
After 30 minutes of constant camera clicking, we glided smoothly down into
the Misty’s and landed on the silky waterfront. The amazing stillness of the
area was especially impressive. There was just the sound of gentle raindrops
landing on the lake and the occasional breeze blowing across the water’s
surface. What a fantastic experience!
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After enjoying a relaxing day at sea, we
arrived in Victoria around 6pm to begin our bus ride to Butchart Gardens.
Victoria is a fast growing tourist attraction and retirement community.
Being the mildest weather in Canada with temperatures rarely dipping below
the freezing mark, it seems to be a desirable destination for many. Our
animated bus driver was full of fun factoids about the city and Butchart
Gardens and kept us happily entertained. We learned that the phenomenal
gardens occupy about 55 acres of space and employ approximately 400 people
with 45 of them being gardeners! Gee, not too surprising when you step foot
on the beautifully manicured grounds. The gardens were created more than 100
years ago in an old limestone quarry and are a lush paradise of flowers,
rare trees and winding paths. There are beautiful Japanese and Italian
gardens and the most amazing rose garden containing more than 300 varieties
of roses.
After our lovely evening at the gardens, it was time to pack up our
belongings and prepare for early morning disembarkation back in Seattle. We
had an incredible time and loved seeing some of the last remaining parts of
the Wild, Wild West!
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Until the next adventure, may you enjoy every moment of your every day.
