Alaska Days 5-8, Vancouver, Seattle

We docked in Haines at 6:30 am Wednesday. Two+ days since my last internet usage and I was the first one off of the boat. Interesting fact about Haines – it houses roughly 400 people and nothing is open until 9am, so I sat around for 2 hours to get online at the café. We then boarded the ferry across the bay to  Skagway. It’s a 360 mile drive or a 14 mile cruise. Naturally, the scenery was fantastic. We arrived in Skagway (population 800) to take the famous White Pass and Yukon Route railway the same way the gold miners used to ride up into the Yukon gold fields. The cliffside train travels mainly on the original tracks that were built over 100 years ago, including several bridges over enormous drops.

Naturally, the train was delayed over an hour for “technical difficulties.” During the delay we toured the delightfully restored old west town of Skagway. We could buy the same high end jewelry and tourist items that grizzled miners could have purchased a century ago.


View from the train platform in between train cars

Once on the train we enjoyed some truly amazing scenery, and saw some of the elusive "sunshine" the locals enjoy 4 -5 times a summer. The train briefly crossed into enemy lines over the Canadian border, before heading back down to Skagway. They let us stand outside the rail cars to get some awesome scenic photos, and we were lucky enough to be four of only six passengers in our car with seats facing down into the gorge both ways on our train ride. Greg took advantage of the amazing views by napping most of the way down.

Train on its way into one of the pitch black tunnels

 

Original bridge the train went over. We went over a more "modern" version.

The next morning we awoke in Juneau, the landlocked capital of Alaska. Juneau has 31,000 people, 1 Costco and 1 McDonald's. Residents here are very proud of this fact. How proud? It was mentioned on all 4 bus rides we took. First we took a bus through the suburban part of Juneau to the lake below the dramatic Mendenhall Glacier. We did a 5 mile raft trip down river. There were light rapids, but enough that the morons who sat in front (Tobi and Beth) were soaked in ice-cold glacier water.

After that, we headed back to town, and got back on another bus to the other side of the lake, where we visited the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center. There we took a short hike to a waterfall near to the glacier, and one of the closest vantage points to the glacier.

 

 
On the way back, we walked along a series of elevated walkways over a salmon run, where there are so many salmon, that they stick out of the water. Curiously, we noted a stench and the rotting carcasses of numerous fish. Hmm….BEARS!!! We were treated to an up close view of several baby bears and one momma bear, who nibbled on leftovers while totally ignoring the squealing tourists just a few feet away.

After that we got back in the shuttle with the Asian shuttle driver who sounds like a Disney caricature from the old west… try not laughing as he talked about Anchorage for 30 minutes straight (of course mentioning the one McDonald's).

The final shore day was in Ketchikan, the 4th wettest place in the US (or the world, either way it rains non-stop there). We took a boat ride to the Misty Fjords. It’s a five hour tour, so we felt relatively safe… until we lost cell service after about an hour. Forced to interact with each other, instead of our phones, was awkward at best. A relatively uneventful ride out to the fjords led to some great scenery. On the way back, we saw two humpback whales simultaneously breaching (jumping). Beth and I had recently been whale-watching in Iceland, and there we only witnessed whales that briefly surfaced their dorsal fins.... so this was a huge improvement, and so exciting that the employees of the tour company sprinted to the back deck
despite the hurricane going on outside. I tried to get photos, but my camera was soaked instantly. As we sailed off, the whales smacked the water with their tails – a dramatic sight.

Misty Fjords

Misty (and rainy!) Fjords

 That night, Tobi, Beth and Greg hit up Friday night services with a group of thirty 60-something tourists from Israel. I would have been there, but was busy cleaning up after my 3rd sauna visit of the evening.

The next day, Saturday, was another day at sea and our last on the boat, so we celebrated by not sneaking a bunch of booze onboard. I played in a blackjack tournament, which is more ridiculous than it sounds.
We enjoyed several visits to the gym and sauna, a hanging monkey towel animal in the rooms, and our last day of inhaling 9 types of cheese. We watched a school (pod?) of over 70 orca whales swim around the ship
through the Inner Passage, and at dinner our final night, Greg ordered 4 appetizers and 3 entrees, finally embracing the majesty of cruising.

After disembarking Sunday morning, Greg and I ventured to the airport to pick up our rental car, leaving Beth and Tobi to be the last two passengers off the boat and having to deal with getting our 5 rolling
bags, two backpacks, and various assorted "purses" off the ship. Luckily, Beth has superior strength and  ingenuity, as Tobi was"unable" to lift anything larger than a purse. Greg waited outside of customs to help them through, and they all enjoyed free wi-fi at Starbucks outside the Convention Center. Our travel buddies from our Mediterranean cruise, Dave and Rose, met us for lunch and drove us around Vancouver, giving us a great tour. Nice city, very clean, huge park (Stanley Park), pretty bridge. Amazing totem poles and a quick tour through the oft-mentioned Skid Row rounded out our private tour.

 

Totem poles in Stanley Park

with Dave in front of the Olympic torches

With Rose and Dave in Burnaby overlooking Vancouver skyline

We then ventured across the border back to the safety of the USA! USA! USA! Definitely, the highlight of this part of the trip was Tobi, Beth and Greggers running to catch the car after they decided to visit a bathroom at the rest stop when all the cars were in (too brief) gridlock in line to cross the border. We made it to Seattle late that night.

In Seattle Monday, we enjoyed the truly fantastic public library, coffee from the original Starbucks, Pike Place and rain! It rains there a lot. Spoiler alert: rain. Beth and Tobi hit up Beechers Handmade Cheese for lunch, they went with Greg to the Space Needle where they went to the top, and we all sampled a delight from a Russian pastry house, the piroshky. Beth and I took off to LAX early Tuesday morning, and Tobi and Greg stayed until late afternoon. Never once did I seriously consider killing either of them, so good trip!

Pike Place in Seattle

from the top of the Space Needle

Seattle Public Library