ALASKA — 2015 (part one)

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PRELUDE

I really think it’s necessary to reset the context of this trip. It was the dream vacation we planned for our twentieth anniversary, booked over a year prior to the actual date. We chose to go in September because it was cheaper, and it was less than a month after the big day. But, as many of you know, life intervened. Both Doug and I had serious health events in 2014, bringing us separately within spitting distance of death. When the time for our departure to Alaska came, I doubt that either of us was physically ready for the journey. That didn’t stop us because the trip had become far more than an adventure to celebrate the joy of our 20 years of married life. It had taken on a much deeper purpose; it was a celebration of life itself. So as you read through this blog, keep that in the back of your mind. And remember too that things can change in an instant; celebrate life constantly!

INTRODUCTION

Many Alaska cruise vacations have an optional land component. We went all out (or maybe it was all in) and took the Princess Connoisseur Escorted Land and Cruise Tour. It was a bit more expensive than doing it on our own, but all the planning and organizing were done for us, and that was particularly special this trip. Our travel agent, Stephanie Kelly (who is amazing, by the way, should you ever need a person to help you with your travels), and friends who had done the trip all told us to do the land portion first. It is more demanding physically, and since, theoretically at least, we would have more energy at the beginning, that’s what we did. The “Connoisseur” and “escorted” parts were for the land portion of the trip.

I must admit that there was some nervousness about this “escorted” thing and being part of a group for 8 days. However, we had the most incredible young woman as our Tour Director. Although not a native Alaskan, she calls it home now, and both knows and loves the place. More importantly for us, she has major skills in group dynamics. At the beginning of the land portion, 38 people met for breakfast. By the end of the 8 days we had together, we were a group. It was a wonderful experience, thanks in large part to Leah.

Meet Leah Iverson, Tour Director extraordinaire

Meet Leah Iverson, Tour Director extraordinaire

Her techniques for group formation were classic, part of anyone’s training in group dynamics and leadership. Not everyone, however, can take the raw training material and make it work. We were a bit of an unruly group, but because of Leah’s skill, we became manageable. Still unruly, but manageable!

The other amazing thing about this collection of folks is their complete willingness to share their pictures. This blog will be different from my others in that there will be fewer words and more pictures. Alaska is not about words; it is too amazing. If I use the word “amazing” a lot, it’s because it is often the only word I can find that even approaches being adequate to describe the things we saw. The pictures are far better than my words, but they are only a pale reflection of the reality of the place. Because my camera is great for snapshots, and Doug’s, while much better, is still just a real amateur hobbyist’s piece of equipment, I will be including some photographs taken by others in the group. These folks likely needed an additional carry-on bag for their lenses! But they took incredible photographs, often of things I could barely see. I’ll introduce them as I use their images. If there is no photo credit, the pics are ours. And, on this trip, there are lots of pictures of us. And I apologize in advance for the length of the blog. Even though I said there would be fewer words, it wouldn’t be me unless I chattered on at least a little! And one more thing; each day, when Leah gave us our instructions for the following day, she ended with a quotation about nature. I loved them so much that I am including some of them here. I’m sure she and the original authors will forgive me.

Here we go!

DAY 1 — September 4, 2015

Of course, it’s not really Day 1 since we’ve been preparing for weeks, but you understand!  This was our travel day. Leave home at 7:30 am, to Toronto via Robert Q (ground transport), fly to Minneapolis (who knew Minneapolis was an airline hub for Alaska), then fly to Fairbanks, arriving at 8:15 pm. Note that there is a 4 hour time difference, so for us it was after midnight. The transfer to the Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge was, like the rest of the trip, quite smooth, despite the fact that both Holland America and Princess representatives were at the Fairbanks airport to welcome incoming passengers, and there was a ton of luggage everywhere.

Our room was great. The lodge itself was pretty wonderful, with good food and lots of places to explore. It was huge! Off to bed, staring out the window at the sunset.

sunset from our room in Fairbanks

sunset from our room in Fairbanks

 

DAY 2 — September 5, 2015

The day began with our welcome breakfast where we met Leah for the first time, and also met the members of our group. Still a bit apprehensive about the whole group thing, but that started to wear off pretty quickly. And then we were off! [The text that follows is adapted from the Princess Cruise Line description on the day. It gives enough information, and the pictures and their captions will provide the rest. There are, of course, some personal comments and reflections mixed in.]

First, a cruise on the only remaining authentic Alaskan sternwheeler, the Riverboat Discovery. Once again there was some apprehension, thinking that this might be some hokey thing for the tourists. It was partly for tourists for sure, but we learned a lot about these sternwheelers, how, with their small draft, they were able to deliver supplies to the gold camps, which often had very shallow harbours. The boats were able to navigate these shallow waters and were vital to the gold era in Alaska.

We traveled along the Chena and Tanana Rivers, watched a bush pilot perform take-offs and landings, saw a sled dog demonstration and had a glimpse of Alaskan life and history at the Old Chena Indian Village. After lunch at the Riverboat Landing, we boarded a hand-built replica of the narrow gauge Tanana Valley Railroad, which also delivered supplies to the gold camps in the early 1900s. Lots of fun with the tour guide and the conductor, and lots of information from them as well. There were several stops along the way where we saw and/or heard about the history and folk lore of the region, either from our guide or from local residents. We even got to pan for gold, and we found some — $14 worth for Gail and $8 for Doug. We’ve given it to our Financial Planner to invest for us! We ended at Gold Dredge 8, a National Historic Monument, which showed how gold was mined in the area. It was fascinating! We also saw the TransAlaska Pipeline and learned about the how they constructed an above-ground pipeline that would withstand the Alaskan winters. Now some pictures…

Note that this way of doing pictures is brand new to me. I think I like what I got, but I would welcome feedback. If you click on any image, you can “carousel” through them all in full screen images. There is also supposed to be a slide show option, but I can’t find it yet. Bear with me; I may try something different next time. They finally seem to appear the same way in the post as they do in the draft!!

This day ended with a 4 course dinner during which each course was paired with an appropriate wine along with some description of the particular vintage the beverage manager had chosen. Doug really enjoyed that whole experience and Gail enjoyed the food! Meet our wine expert:

the wine guy

the wine guy

Actually, the day ended in the middle of the night! The lodge offered a “Northern Lights Wake Up Call,” which involved a phone call if the lights were visible. The phone rang about 1:30 am and a harried voice explained that the lights were out. We grabbed some clothes and joined the crowd of people walking away from the lights of the lodge and towards the lights of the heavens. They were beautiful, green and willowy. We stayed for a while, not even trying to take a picture with our cameras. We left about 2:15, I think, and apparently the lights got more active and vibrant later on. After our excursions during the day, and our travel the day before, we were both pretty tired and while we were sorry to have missed the best part of the show, we had seen the beauty.

The photograph below was taken by one of the members of our group. Because his pictures are so amazing, I asked Tom if he were a professional photographer and here’s his answer (why use my words when I’ve got his!): “No, I am not a professional, just a serious amateur with a lot of time on my hands.   My photography goes back to when I was a teenager.  One of my father’s hobbies was photography and I picked it up from him.  That continued through high school and early on while I was in the Navy.   Then marriage, and a family put a damper on my real picture making.  Oh I did the “snap shots” of birthdays and holidays, but film and developing didn’t fit into our budget.  Then in 2003 I got my first digital camera and it’s been growing ever since.  I guess it got real serious when I retired from AT&T in 2006 and had a lot of time on my hands. I worked for AT&T for 34 years, the last 27 in applications programming. Then I got involved in Audubon Eagle Watch and monitored 5 eagle nests from October through April and of course I took lots of photos.  It progressed from there to where I try to go out a couple times a week and photograph mainly birds but actually any wildlife here in central Florida.  When I retired I never thought I’d be into birds and wildlife photography but I just love it.  Being out in nature is very special to me and enjoy it to no end.  That’s one reason our Alaska trip meant so much to me.” Tom Lamb

I notice that I have virtually no pictures of anyone in our group except Leah and us. Says something about the scenery, I think. The picture of Tom below is actually taken from his collection!

 

” What you do not see, do not hear, do not experience, you will never know.”  Iyaaka, St. Lawrence Island Yupik

DAY 3 — September 6, 2015

After breakfast at the lodge, we boarded our bus for the trip to the Denali Princess Lodge. The trip took about three and a half hours and showed one of Leah’s skills at group stuff. She had given each of us a coloured star, which, it turned out, was used to determine the order of boarding the bus. It avoided having us line up or rush to get to the bus first, and made things very smooth. For us, there was an added bonus. I had broken a baby toe a couple of days prior to our departure and was walking with more difficulty than usual. Leah always had a reserved seat for us, not necessarily the front seat, but a seat so that we didn’t have to worry. And our travelling companions were so gracious about the whole thing. It was wonderful, and I miss these folks!!

The lodge is not far from the entrance to Denali National Park & Preserve, our destination for the next day. Today, we got to relax a bit, explore the lodge grounds and generally enjoy the gorgeous weather. As I sit typing this on November 3 in London, Ontario, Canada, I am enjoying a remarkably similar day. Both days are atypical for their time and place, but I’m sure going to enjoy the next few almost as much as I enjoyed those sunny and warm days in Alaska — well, almost as much! We also had our group photo taken, and I am making no attempt to scan it and reproduce here. After all, everyone in the group got one and the rest of you don’t much care! A highlight of the day for me was another of Leah’s things, arranged dinner times and companions. On this occasion, we dined with Adria and Richard, and, I think, made friends for life!

Here are a few pictures from around the lodge and around the area, just to give a sense of how beautiful our surroundings were.

“Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.” Frank Lloyd Wright

DAY 4 — September 7, 2015

People have asked us to identify the highlight of our trip. Anyone who has been to Alaska would probably agree that identifying a single highlight is nearly impossible. This day, however, ranks pretty high in my list of incredible experiences. After breakfast, we boarded a modified school bus for our Tundra Tour of Denali National Park and Preserve. These buses have been specially modified to help preserve this wonderful treasure of a place. Luxurious they aren’t; in fact, they aren’t even that comfortable, but when you’re in the park, you kind of forget all that. The driver/guide/naturalist knew so much about the park and obviously cared deeply about it and its inhabitants. We learned a great deal from him, and enjoyed the tour even more because of him.

I’m going to cheat a bit and quote some descriptive stuff from a booklet about the park; the words are perfect there. If anyone wants the reference to it, let me know. “Gaze across a broad expanse of Denali National Park and Preserve, and you will see a living tapestry. Tundra carpeted with tiny wildflowers. Braided rivers. Thin-soiled slopes embroidered with the tracks of sheep and caribou. Nature’s loom never rests. Each day and every passing hour, new designs emerge, even when the underlying pattern remains unchanged. Rain may freshen and brighten the colors of exposed rocks. A bear may appear, its golden hairs ruffled by the breeze. The next moment, there may be only woolen fog, softening the distant, rolling hills. What makes this living tapestry most remarkable is that it is intact. …. basic ecological patterns repeat undisturbed …. The park is vast and wild: 6 million acres, with few established trails, the largest a ribbon of road. …. it is a place where visitors may still see large animals at home in the wild: caribou, bear, wolf, Dall sheep, and moose.”

We saw nearly everything that is described above (with the exception of the wolf). Some of the things we saw surprised our driver, Scott. Two Dall sheep, lying at the side of the road, looking for all the world like they were having a serious conversation. A tiny rodent called a Pica. The “mountain,” our second viewing. Lucky or blessed because so many folks never get to see it at all. We travelled on that ribbon of a road, riding 53 miles into the park, covering a major part of the negotiable road. It was such an amazing day; my words are inadequate so I’m going, once again, to let the pictures do the talking. I’ve used some of Tom’s pictures again because they are so amazing, although I have tried to use as many of ours as possible. Note the excess of amazings in this paragraph.

A couple of additional notes. First, I don’t seem to have a picture of our bus; it looks like a regular school bus but, as I said before, some things have been done to it to make it less harmful to the park environment. Second, our driver wanted us all to be on the lookout for wildlife, since he had to spend some time concentrating on the road. Instructions were simple: holler “STOP” while indicating what you saw and where. The front of the bus was 12 o’clock, Scott’s right was 3, the back 6 and Scott’s left 9. We sat on the 9 o’clock side, and Doug was the first to spot something. His response to it: “MOOSE, MOOSE, MOOSE!!” at the top of his lungs! Our Australian travelling companion usually said “Whoa!” You’d think no-one paid attention to those careful instructions!

Enjoy the show.

 

The day wasn’t quite over. We had a group dinner at the Music of Denali Dinner Theater (sic., it is in the USA after all!) where we entertained by singing servers retelling the legend of the first expedition to the summit of Mt. McKinley (Denali, the Mountain). Perhaps I was too tired, or perhaps I just don’t like this sort of thing, but it was definitely not one of my highlights!

“I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning.”  JB Priestly

DAY 5 — September 8, 2015

Today was a relatively easy day. I was really tired, but looking forward to the train ride to Talkeetna, on our way to the Princess McKinley Lodge. Talkeetna is the staging ground for folks who climb Denali and two other high peaks in the Talkeetna Range. Climbers register with the National Park Service Rangers before beginning their treks. For other tourists, it is a stop on the Alaska Railroad. The railroad itself plays an important part in Alaska’s economy, primarily transporting freight and tourists. We rode in a domed Princess rail car, and once again, Leah worked her magic with assigned seating. We thought we might have the whole car for our group, but some others joined us just before the train left. They were Princess employees who, having finished their seasonal employment, were heading home. We heard some excited conversations, but really hardly knew they were there.

The trip was about four hours. Four hours of looking out the window, trying to take pictures, chatting with Marge and Wayne, and eating. There was a lot of eating that day (and most other days!). We took a bus from Talkeetna to the Lodge, another Princess gem. There was lots to do, but this kid was too tired to do much. Had a nap, got up for supper and hung out in our room. We had another early morning ahead. Here are some pictures from the two parts of the trip. Once again, there are some of Tom’s, who went to the viewing platform on the lower level to take a superb shot of the train. I tried through the window, in vain!

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”  Lao Tzu

DAY 6 — September 9, 2015

Another travel day, a long bus, er… motor coach, ride to the Kenai Princess Lodge, located at Cooper Landing, Alaska. We stopped at Anchorage for lunch. Anchorage is Alaska’s largest city. It began in 1915 as a construction camp for the railway. The Second World War and the building of the Alaska pipeline each brought large influxes of hopeful workers and the establishment of the infrastructure of roads and airfields to support the growing city. The population grew from about 2,000 in the early days to over 290,000 today. We had lunch there — pizza with Richard and Adria. Then the fellas went to the liquor store to get wine for the cruise and the ladies went shopping. After lunch, we got back on the coach (it’s still a bus as far as I’m concerned but I will be politically correct here), and finished our journey to Kenai.

If you look at a map of Alaska, the first thing to notice is how big it is. We flew into Fairbanks, and journeyed down to Whittier. This insert may help, but I couldn’t show the whole state. You really need it all for perspective. Anyway, the purple line shows our land route and may give you some idea of where the Kenai peninsula is. The circle that

some idea of the trip

some idea of the trip

is barely visible is Cooper Landing, the site of the lodge. It is, quite literally, in the middle of nowhere. Across the street there were a couple of fast food places and the inevitable T-shirt shops, but mostly the lodge was on its own. Each couple had a separate half a cabin, complete with wood-burning stove and private deck. The deck didn’t get used too much since it rained most of the time we were there.

We stopped at the headquarters of the Iditarod dog sled race. It is a 1,000 mile race which traces its history to the early days of Alaska as a supply route to the mining camps in the interior and towards the north and west. Mail and supplies in; gold out, according to one source. In 1925, diphtheria threatened Nome in the west and the life-saving serum had to be brought into Anchorage by train and carried to Nome by teams of mushers. It took them 5 days, with dog teams running 100 miles. The race itself was started by a man who wanted to recognize the vital role that sled dogs played in the early history of Alaska.

Today, more care is given to the dogs and the mushers have to check in at various points along the route. There are lots of websites to check out if you want more info. The owner of the dog kennel we saw back to the beginning is a champion musher. His wife, who died of breast cancer several years ago, was the second woman to win the race and went on to win 4 times. Dogs are trained at the Iditarod headquarters and I wanted to play with the puppies but there weren’t any available that day.

The Kenai Lodge was our favourite and we spent three nights and two days there. The days were free for us to do whatever we chose. The food was great, the staff attentive, despite this being the end of their season, and the surroundings were awesome. It was chilly and either raining or very damp all the time we were there. As usual, the weather doesn’t stop us, but does mean different clothes and, for me at least, a lot more pain. I try to pace myself to minimize things, but then I realize I will likely never come this way again so I often do more than I should. Many folks chose to use one of their free days to do laundry. They were the ones who managed to pack in smaller suitcases than we did! We didn’t need to do laundry so we chose to do more excursions. More on that over the next couple of days. Here are a few pictures from the area around our cabin and, of course, one of us.

DAY 7 — September 10, 2015

This was to be a “rest” day for us since we had signed up for a long excursion on the next day (more on that later). Perhaps we would have been wiser to stick with the original plan. However, intrepid travellers that we have become, we didn’t want to miss a moment of our adventure so we took a short tour of Cooper Landing, the village outside of which the Lodge was located. It was quite cool and pouring for most of it!

Our tour guide was a local woman who had been a musher in her earlier life.  She had moved to Alaska years ago, although neither of us can remember where she came from originally. It was, to say the least, an odd tour. Since it was September, most of the local attractions had closed for the season., and I think she added some things to fill in the time. We visited her home and got to meet her two sled dogs. She even created a photo op for us, as you can see. The sled was tied down so it wouldn’t move, and it likely wouldn’t have moved anyway, given my command to the dogs. Racing dogs, used to hearing “Mush!” would hardly have known what to do when their driver hollered “Go!”

I think I’ll hang onto my day job. Mushing isn’t for me!
Yes, that’s me under there!

We went to the local museum/library, which was closed but at least provided some shelter from the rain. It was quite fascinating, especially the ermine that had snuck in during the night and scared our poor guide. No one else saw the creature, but her reaction was sufficient to make us believe it had been there! Because the place was officially closed, there was no heat. It would have been quite interesting had it been warm enough to enjoy the exhibits. I won’t mention the restroom facility more than to say it was primitive! We then went on to the pioneer cemetery not far from the lodge, where one could stroll among the gravestones for more historical knowledge. I stayed on the van but Doug did the climb up the hill into the forest. Not only was the cemetery close to the lodge, it was also close to a firing range. Doug was alert to the possibility of flying bullets! The brochure description of the tour contained a lot more stuff, but perhaps because of the weather or perhaps because more things were already closed, we didn’t get all we were expecting. It was a bit disappointing.

While we were trudging about in the rain, others of our group did fun things like white water rafting, fishing and floating down the river, and had other adventures. I’m not sure exactly where these photos were taken, but Tom has graciously shared them so I am sharing them with you. If they appear in the correct order (I can’t promise), you’ll see spawning salmon, mommy bear catching dinner and a couple of young cubs savouring their mother’s generosity, along with a Stellar’s Jay (I’ve never seen one) and a pair of eagles. Thanks again to Tom!! By the way, if you want to see all of Tom’s pictures, check out his Flickr account at:

Bull Moose

By the time we got back to the lodge, we were cold, wet, tired and pretty sure that we were both getting colds. We opted out of dinner with our travelling companions from Australia and those from Kansas. We had been looking forward to sharing the evening meal with them but didn’t want to share our impending infections with them until we were on the bus and had little choice.

Thus endeth the seventh day.

DAY 8 — September 11, 2015

I think this day counts as one of my highlights, and probably Doug’s as well. We had looked at the tour description and thought it would be wonderful, but it was quite expensive. Then, the day we rode the train, Leah talked to us about the excursion, telling us in more detail what we might expect to see. Relying on “we will likely never get back here” as our justification, we signed up on the spot. We chose to go on Friday (this day) rather than Thursday, thinking that on Saturday, we would be boarding the ship and not much else, so it wouldn’t matter how tired we were. It was a good decision, not for that reason but because the day before, the weather was so bad, the tour boat didn’t complete its run!

Rather than paraphrase what the brochure says, I am, once again, going to quote it. I do so largely because there is no hyperbole here; we saw it all! The tour is recommended by the Discovery channel, so we thought it should be OK and, believe me, we weren’t disappointed. It is called the Kenai Fjords National Park Cruise. “Spend a day cruising the unspoiled wonders of the Kenai Fjords National Park. The narrated tour begins when your vessel ventures out from Seward to Resurrection Bay. Then, you’ll head out to the open waters of the Gulf of Alaska around Cape Aialik to the face of a tidewater glacier. As you marvel at the serene surroundings, listen for the thunder of “calving” — a process by which glaciers shed giant blocks and slabs of ancient ice and send them crashing into the still waters of this protected bay. Watch for a variety of marine life, such as humpback whales, orcas, seabirds, sea lions, and otters.” The trip even included lunch. And they forgot to mention the eagles perched on a post as we left the harbour.

I’ve mentioned the generosity of people with regard to their photographs. As well, people tended to look out for one another. At one point on the trip, as we hit the edge of the open water, things got a bit rough. My proneness to seasickness on small boats emerged again, and I was not alone. I thought I was being quite discrete about things but before I knew it, a member of the ship’s crew was standing beside me offering to help and suggesting that I try either going outside or standing nearer the stern of the boat. Someone had brought my “illness” to the attention of that crew member so I guess I wasn’t quite as discrete as I thought. For the rest of the trip, one of the members of our group kept an eye on me to be sure I was OK, and I was (thanks, Carol). The whole episode lasted maybe 5 minutes, although I did stand at the back for a while. It was too cold and windy on the deck.

Another example of the generosity of strangers. While sitting on the boat, we chatted with the folks sitting across from us. They are from Boulder, CO, both retired, Terry from work as a Physician’s Assistant in Pathology, and Paula from HR work for the Federal Government. Again, using Paula’s words:  “We retired to travel and make stuff.  So we do a lot of both.  Terry does woodworking, and I do photography, tile work, fiber arts work (knitting, crochet, weaving, felting), and am now dabbling in painting.” They  are enjoying their retirement. and perhaps someday, Paula will find an activity that consumes her attention. As far as I’m concerned, she can stick with photography. You’ll see some of her work below. They also kept an eye on me after my incident with nausea. Some of the other pictures are from John Kratzer’s camera, sent courtesy of his wife, Carol. John, like Tom, is ex-Navy, and they currently live in Kansas. From Carol: “John has had a passing interest in photography since he was in the Navy and bought his first camera in Hong Kong. For our 30th anniversary we bought our present camera to continue with our love of photography.” He spent most of the voyage on deck, at one point acting as the boat’s masthead, spreading his arms and, leaning back against the outside of the from window. Brave soul.

The pictures that follow are really not in order, largely ’cause I can’t remember where we saw what, or which glacier is which. But you will definitely get the idea!! And as much as possible, I’ve stuck with images captured by Doug and me. I wanted you to see what can be done with simple cameras by very amateur photographers. I likely mixed up the seals and sea lions because I couldn’t quite see their ears. According to the nature guide we were given, the Harbor Seals have no ear flaps. Who knew?

Back to the Lodge for one more meal, then packing and getting some sleep before we boarded the Star Princess the next day.

DAY 9 — September 12, 2015

It was one of those sad and happy days, sad to say goodbye to Leah, happy to be boarding the ship. We knew we would see members of our group at various times and places but Leah was leaving us after having made sure that we got to the ship. We sailed from the port of Whittier. It’s an interesting place because one can only get there from “mainland Alaska” through a mile-long one-way tunnel. There is a schedule so people know which way the traffic is running at any given time. Our bus had a reservation and we were first in line. Here’s what it looked like.

By now our colds were in full bloom, so we got on the ship, had a nap, ordered room service and went to sleep. A new adventure starts tomorrow!!

“I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.” John Burroughs

One final picture:

saying goodbye is hard -- thanks for making this trip extra special

saying goodbye is hard — thanks for making this trip extra special

Join me in a while for Part 2 of our Alaskan adventure.

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