Sunday, May 30: - Moscow (PA, that is) to Vancouver
Our plane left our local airport of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, PA at 7:10 so we up very
early. I'd been concerned about Memorial Day weekend crowds but the plane was only 1/2
full. We had about 2 hours to kill at Pittsburgh, then took another US Airways flight to
Seattle/Tacoma. We had good seats and, again, lots of extra room but, as always, the trip
was too long. At Seattle, things were pretty confusing. Air Canada was handled by United
and the girl at the United counter was really incompetent. She asked if we'd be willing to
go on an earlier flight since ours was overbooked and she assured us our bags would make
it. She failed to give us a landing card and to ask us to fill out some needed info on the
back of the boarding pass. As a result, we were delayed in boarding. The flight to
Vancouver, BC was only about 1/2 hour. Naturally, the bags didn't make it! We had to wait
an hour for the next plane but all the bags came through. The pre-cruise info from
Princess was really sketchy about whether all of the bags would come through or the ones
with the Princess tags would go to the ship. All came out on the belt so we schlepped them
through customs and out to a Princess rep who put us in a cab, giving the driver a chit
for the fare.
They had a special check-in at the Pan Pacific Hotel
for cruise ship passengers so we were in quickly and had the bags promptly. The Pacpac is
located right at the cruise pier, there is a berth on each side of the hotel and boarding
is done from below the hotel. We decided to look at the ships docked on either side of the
hotel and get lunch.
Holland America's
Statendam was on one side of the hotel and the
Regal Princess on the other. The
Regal looks like it was build for Cape Horn; not a lot of open deck and virtually none
looking forward. We had a very expensive lunch in the hotel atrium and went up to the room
for a nap, then woke and walked to Vancouver's "Gas Town" for dinner. It wasn't
the nicest place and we walked many blocks, turned around and walked back on the other
side. There were lots pretty scary people down there. It seemed we were accosted for
handouts every 20 feet. We were almost through Gas Town without finding a place we liked
when Linda discovered Rossini's Pasta Palazzo
where there was live jazz. Dinner was great and the jazz, by the Hans Staymer Blues Band,
was fantastic. Hans is from Germany but sounds like a black man when he sings. Prices were
good, too; only about $CN 60 for everything. Good restaurant aside, we were happy to get
back to the hotel and went straight to bed. Neither of us slept very well.
Monday, May 31 - Leaving on the Sun Princess
 We both
finally gave up trying to sleep at 6:00 AM. Our ship, the
Sun Princess, which we expected to
dock right below our window was still not in but it arrived about 6:30. It's a great
looking ship with a lot of open deck. We ate breakfast in the atrium, then walked on the
pier in light rain. We went back and hung around the room 'til 11:30, checked out and
boarded quickly from the bottom of the hotel. They started boarding at noon and we stepped
aboard at 12:10. One thing I'll say about Princess; they handle crowds well. Our cabin was
A421, Aloha deck, starboard side, amidships. After dropping the carry-on in the room, we
ate lunch in the Horizons Court on Lido deck and explored the ship. I got back off and
took pictures of the ship and, since our side faced the pier and there was a walkway at
about the same level as our deck, of Linda on our balcony. We'd met Ken and Carmen when we
were standing in line to board and I mentioned to Lin that, based on the
last cruise, we'd never see them
again. I was wrong; we met them twice more while waiting to sail. We stood with them as we
sailed at about 5:50, 20 minutes late. Once under way, we came down and got ready for
dinner, then sat in the Wheelhouse Lounge, swapping jokes with the waiter, Robbie, from
England. Our table, #61, in the Marquis Dining Room was in a good spot in the center at
the far end. It was a table for 6 and all of us were from PA now or originally! Paul and
Ann live in Lansdale; Frank and Pat live in Memphis but grew up in PA, Frank in
Wilkes-Barre, the town where I work! (BTW, Frank has a webpage, too!) After dinner
we went to the show in the theater but it was only so-so. The comedian told mostly old
jokes. After the show, we went straight to bed at 11:30. Given a 3 hour loss due to time
zones, it was a long day!
 Probably
due to the time change; we woke around 5:00 and got up around 6:00 to a nice but cold day.
There's a forward open area on our deck (Aloha) so I checked it out; it's windy as hell! I
got coffee for me and tea for Linda from the Lido deck and sat on the balcony as Linda
dressed. We saw our first whale, probably an Orca. After hours in the inside passage, we
broke out into the Pacific and it was quite rough so the captain went back to the inside
passage; they normally do that second stretch inside only southbound. As a result of this
detour, we went through a narrow passage just south of Bella-Bella, BC with many bald
eagles on both banks. I just loafed around on deck all day; Lin took a nap in the cabin.
We dressed (black tie) for dinner, skipped the Captain's reception and sat in the
Wheelhouse lounge. We did, however, get our portrait taken. While many on the ship did not
dress black tie, all at our table did. The show was a musical called "Pirates"
that was shallow in plot but well done, including dancing and acrobatics. Pat, Frank, Lin
and I sat in front row center. We went straight to bed afterward.
Wednesday, June 2 - Ketchican
 I set the
alarm for 7:00 but woke up at 6:30 to find the ship docked at Ketchican. We again had
breakfast in the Horizon Court and walked in town for about 1/2 hour. I'd felt bad when we
got up because of the low clouds. The locals in Ketchican thought it was great weather
since this was the second day without rain! They get ~265 days of rain a year! From time
to time, we had a few patches of blue sky and they were ecstatic!!
 As a shore
excursion, we'd signed up for the Misty Fjords trip run by Seaborne Adventures. We met the
tour on the dock at 8:50. They picked us up in a bus and took us to the dock where we
loaded into a couple of Twin Otters for a flight over the Misty Fjords
National Monument. Each seat had a headset through which they played great music.
Really moving! Landed on a fjord and got out onto the floats. Magnificent. The low clouds
and mist in the air actually enhanced the experience. This was worth every penny! Back at
the dock, we decided to walk the mile to town. On the way, we saw many bald eagles perched
in trees along the road. We did some shopping and walked down Creek Street where we
visited the Big Dolly Museum. Dolly was a "lady of negotiated affection" and her
house was one of many that flourished on Creek Street until it was "cleaned up"
in the 50's. Due to a 2:00 sailing, we were back aboard at 1:30 and had lunch in the
dinning room. I signed up for tomorrow's trip and Lin went to the room while I sat on deck
and into the hot tub.
We moved from lounge to lounge before dinner and did a little dancing in the Wheelhouse
afterwards. Dinner was OK at best. They supposedly had Bananas Foster flambéed by the
Maitre d'. We never saw the Maitre d' nor any flames! The banana wasn't sliced and they
had chocolate syrup on the ice cream!!! Princess is definitely not a place to find gourmet
food. Another little irritation; I wanted to send my shirt to the laundry but had used the
bag yesterday for my formal shirt and it hadn't been replaced. Some service!
Thursday, June 3 - Juneau
 We
docked in Juneau in low overcast and light rain. We ate breakfast in the dining room and
walked into town. The ship was docked about 1/2 mile out even though the information we'd
been given indicated we'd be right at the aerial tramway station. After a fair bit of
shopping, we visited the St. Nicholas Russian church . On the way to the church, I
happened to say "hello" to a security guard who was standing in front of an
office building. The next 10-15 minutes were spent chatting with him about life in Juneau.
This, we would soon learn, was pretty typical; people would act as they'd known you for
years. At the recommendation of some locals, we had lunch at "The Hanger" on the
wharf. This place is frequented by locals and people working on the ships, not tourists.
At the recommendation of some guys I talked to at the bar, I had an Alaskan Amber Beer,
brewed in Juneau. It was fantastic and the halibut and chips were the best we've ever
had.
 After
lunch, we returned to the ship and got ready for the
Mendenhall River Float Trip. They took
us on a bus from the ship to Mendenhall Lake, right below the glacier of the same name.
There were small 'bergs floating in the water. We got all done up in boots, pants, parka
and life preserver & loaded into a raft with 4 other folks plus the guide, Brian
Donovan. There were about 7 rafts from our bus. We first crossed the lake, then entered
the Mendenhall River and followed it for about 4-1/2 miles including through several
rapids, some of which were class 2 & 3. Lots of fun and Lin enjoyed it, too. The only
real problem was cold feet (literally, not figuratively). The only thing between our feet
and 36º water was a pair of socks, thin rubber boots and the rubber bottom of the raft.
In fact, there was some water in the boat so our feet were like ice! The trip down
the river took about an hour, most of which was very gentle. Unfortunately, it rained on
and off the whole time. They had hot chocolate, reindeer sausage (delicious!) and salmon
spread at the take-out. Afterward, they bussed us back to the ship.
We went into the hot tub to warm up before getting dressed for dinner. We had drinks in
the Atrium. Dinner was Italian and actually quite good. I had shrimp Fra Diavlo. We went
with Frank and Pat to an "America's Music" review in the theater. Again, we sat
front row center. After dancing in the Wheelhouse for a while, we got to bed around 12:00.
The view from our balcony as prepared for bed was breathtaking. All shades of blue and
gray with snow-capped mountains for accent. Even the patterns on the water were enticing.
I didn't even try to capture it on film. I could have watched that all night.
Friday, June 4 - Skagway
  I'd
left the drapes open because of the view, so the sun woke me around 4:00. We were still
moving so I closed the drapes, went back to sleep, and woke about 7:00 at the dock in
Skagway. We ate in the Horizon and left the ship. We were a little way from town so we
took a horse-drawn carriage; Lin loves those things and it gave us a nice ride into town
plus a guided tour. The young lady driving the rig suggested we visit the "Alaska Wildlife Adventure" so we did
that, even though the front was so tacky we would never have entered otherwise. This is a
collection put together by a guy named Bob Groff and his wife, Anna. Bob himself led the
tour for just Lin and me! At $9.95 per person, he spent well over an hour with us! There
are two parts to the collection. The first consists of a bunch of glass-fronted cases
filled with "stuff" the Groffs have collected over the years. Much of it, such
as Eskimo artifacts he collected while living in the Arctic, was related to Alaska.
However, much, such as as some ceramic items his wife had made, were apropos of nothing!
It was fun, however, and Bob went into much detail on the history of many of the things.
He's led an interesting life! The second part is made up of 40-some stuffed animals that
had been shot by Bob, Ann and some friends. They are displayed in natural settings so it's
something like a flash-frozen wilderness. Pretty neat and a great experience. We were
given chits for free coffee in the Chinese restaurant at the back of the place. Quite an
experience and we recommended it to many during the day.
  We
shopped, had a hot dog from a stand (mine was reindeer, of course) and returned to the
ship to catch our tour, a ride on the White
Pass and Yukon Railroad. The train stops right across the dock from the ship We were
with Ken and Carmen in a car that had room for handicapped people but there were no
handicapped aboard so there was a lot of extra room, even though the 15-car train was
full. Surprisingly to me, it was permitted to ride on the platform so I rode most of the
way out there in order to take pictures. I'd left my parka inside so, in sweatshirt alone,
I was pretty cool as we rode through the snow and ice over the summit. The ride was great
and the scenery beautiful. The clear skies that had appeared in the morning began to fade
but it was still a beautiful trip. This was the shore excursion I'd been most interested
in and I loved it!
The train dropped us off in town but Ken & Carmen rode it back to the ship while
Lin and I walked a bit. This is a GREAT little town and I didn't want to give it up! Had a
nice "Red Star Amber" beer, brewed in Skagway in a sidewalk terrace. I wouldn't
mind spending a few days here.
Went directly to bed after dinner to rest for an early arrival in Glacier Bay.
Saturday, June 5 - Glacier Bay
 We left the
drapes open again and it was pretty bright when we fell asleep around 11:30. I woke around
4:00 and got up about 4:30; Lin was still fast asleep. I ate breakfast absolutely alone
except for staff in the Horizon Court at 5:00 just as we were entering Glacier Bay and was
on deck by about 5:15, virtually alone. I know this certifies me as crazy but we'd been
told this was a good place to see humpback whales and I wanted to see one. It was COLD as
well as rainy. After a bit, I went down to put more clothes on. I ended up in shirt,
sweatshirt, bomber jacket, parka (with hood pulled up over my cap), heavy pants, rain
pants, two pairs of socks and shoes and I was STILL a bit cold! There was a single chaise
lounge that someone had earlier dragged onto the foredeck and abandoned so I sat in that
for a long time. After waiting for hours and seeing no whales, I'd just decided to give up
and go down to warm up when someone said there was a whale on the port side. It was a
humpback only about 1/4 mile away. I grabbed the binoculars rather than the camera so have
to rely on my memory of the sight of that fluke rising and dripping water. What a sight!
Would have been a great picture! Shortly thereafter, three naturalists from the National
Park Service came on board to narrate our tour.
 We did
not see nearly as many glaciers in Glacier Bay as I'd expected. After several hours, we
reached the northern end of the bay where we found Grand Pacific and Marjorie Glaciers.
Grand Pacific is big but not very pretty; lots of terminal moraine (read: dirt) and not
much calving. On the other hand, Marjorie Glacier (in the picture) is fascinating. Ice
blue (excuse the expression) with a lot of calving. (Calving is when chunks fall off into
the sea.) We spent an hour or so hovering about 1/4 mile from it. Most of the time, the
ship's port side was to the glacier so we stayed on deck. When the captain turned to put
the starboard side to the glacier, we returned to the cabin and our balcony. There,
without the crowds and noise, we could better hear all the groaning, popping and cracking.
Fantastic! This thing was really calving a lot so there were a zillion small 'bergs in the
water. I'm guessing the biggest were maybe 20 feet across. We then sailed to the Johns
Hopkins Inlet and saw Lampugh Glacier, which is very blue. We didn't see Johns
Hopkins Glacier itself since the ice was too heavy. I got some pictures of a whale
spouting as we moved back down the bay and we finally cleared the bay about 3:30. We had a
drink in the Atrium, then I took a dip in the hot tub and a much-needed nap.
This was the second formal night. The laundry did a horrible job on my shirt so I had
to try to straighten it out. As returning Princess passengers, we were invited to a
"Captain's Circle" reception. It ran from 7:00 to 7:45 but, with the shirt and
all, we got there about 7:35. Not exactly an exciting event anyway.
Frank and Pat were absent from dinner. We knew Pat had been sick all day so it wasn't a
surprise but we missed them. We had a drink and danced a bit in the wheelhouse. I found it
interesting how many times we heard the theme song from "Titanic" during the
cruise. Here we were on a ship, having spent the day among icebergs, dressed in formal
clothes, dancing to this haunting music. Weird!.
They were doing a champagne waterfall in the Atrium so we watched a while before going
to bed around 1:00. The sky was still red with the sunset even though sunset was at 10:30.
The sky to the north was quite bright but to the south it was pretty dark.
Sunday, June 6 - College Fjord
 I woke
around 4:00 'cause it was light outside so I closed the drapes and slept 'til 8:30. While
Lin slept, I ate in the Horizon and found a spot on the starboard quarter of Lido Deck.
The day was clear, bright and pretty warm. Lin and I mis-communicated about where to meet
so she sat on the starboard quarter of Aloha Deck for a couple of hours as I was two decks
up, each of us waiting for the other. We ate lunch in the Verdi Pizzeria then went back
(together!) to the Lido Deck. The day was absolutely perfect, only a few high cirrus
clouds; we both got sunburned on our faces as we cruised through Prince William Sound.
After lunch, we entered College Fjord. While not as well known, it's much nicer
than Glacier bay. It has 5 tidewater glaciers in a row plus a number of hanging glaciers.
I think there are 16 glaciers in all! Lots of sea life, too; otters, seals… The water
was as smooth as glass and peppered with icebergs. What a perfect last day of cruising!
After we turned to exit the fjord, the best glaciers were on starboard so we went back to
our balcony. We could hear the ice fizzing as it released air on melting. This was
certainly the nicest day of the cruise. Finally, we left the fjord and turned to the sad
job of packing.
Had a drink in the Wheelhouse, dinner, show, then back to the Wheelhouse for one last
Remy Martin XO from our friend Richie. Got to the room about 12:30 and it was still light
outside. Just for fun, I took a book out onto the balcony, closed the drapes, and was
still able to read!
Monday, June 7 - Seward to Anchorage.
 I
again slept poorly and got up about 6:30. We'd docked in the wee hours and there was a
terrible din on the pier as, with blaring of back-up alarms on the vehicles, they unloaded
the ship. We ate in the dining room, stood in line for 30 minutes to check our carry-on
bag and took the shuttle to "beautiful" downtown Seward. This place didn't seem
worthy of a visit so we rode the shuttle back to some shops closer to the ship. I
understand there's a pretty good aquarium in Seward be we weren't up to it. Did a bit of
shopping near the ship, re-boarded, picked up the bags (not waiting for the line to
re-form!) and sat by the pool 'til about 11:30. We had lunch in the Horizon, then moved to
the library to read and wait. It was peaceful 'til several people started talking about
how sick they were. We decided to finish our wait outside on the Promenade Deck until they
left us off the ship around 2:00. The people not on land packages were long gone but those
of us going to Anchorage to start that portion had to wait so the rooms would be ready
when we arrived. We boarded a brand-new bus for Anchorage. The 3-hour ride was beautiful,
especially the southern half but I kept falling asleep. We saw one moose.
Check-in at the Captain Cook Hotel was a bit of a fiasco. We checked in through
Princess but they didn't have enough staff to handle it and weren't totally prepared. One
woman kept saying, "This is totally my fault." Certainly made me feel
better. We signed up for tomorrow's "DC3 Nostalgic Flight" and walked to the
mall to buy more film - I'm going through it like water. Didn't like the price so I bought
nothing. We met Frank & Pat for dinner at
Simon and Seafort's. I had excellent
reindeer medallions. (If there's no Christmas this year, it'll be my fault.) Said goodbye
to Frank & Pat since they had booked only one night in Anchorage while we had two.
We'll be following a day behind them from now on. We walked a bit before going to bed. I
woke during the night around 2:30; it was still pretty bright outside!
This was our 31st anniversary. We ate breakfast in the hotel and were picked up at 9:00
for the "City Tour" that was a part of our package. Our driver/guide, Kris, is
an elementary teacher working for Princess in the summer. Her husband, also a teacher,
does the same. That seems to be a pretty standard combination of careers up here. Kris
drove us up and down various streets of the city, then out to the brand new Alaskan Native Heritage Center. It's only a month
old. This is a great place with displays and presentations from the various tribes. Some
were doing handiwork. They had outside exhibits depicting the way of life for each of the
peoples. Great place.
Drove to Lake Spenard and Lake Hood to see a very busy seaplane operation. Lake Hood
has a control tower!! We stopped at a place called "the bluff" for some pictures
of Anchorage. We were then scheduled to see the Earthquake Park but mosquitoes were
reported severe so we skipped it. Having been dropped back at the hotel, we walked up
Fourth Avenue where we shopped for the kids and I finally bought the film I needed. Ate in
the "Glacier Brewhouse". Good
food and great beer!
  Dropped
the stuff in the room, picked up the binoculars, and headed for the lobby to be picked up
by ERA Aviation for the "Nostalgic DC-3 Flight".
At ERA, the girls were dressed in 40's stewardess garb, including white gloves and seamed
stockings. Casablanca was playing on the VCR. (OK, they had few TV's and no VCR's in those
days, but let's be a little flexible!) There were only 7 passengers on the plane and 28
seats. Lin and I took cross-windows in the last row. Wendy, the stewardess, sat behind me.
She was absolutely fantastic. She obviously loves her job and really played it up. We made
a left downwind departure from runway 24R and headed down the Turnagain arm for Whittier
and Prince William Sound. Flew over College Fjord for a very different perspective that
we'd had 2 days earlier. The pilot did a great job, turning the plane so everyone got a
good view of the key sights. We were totally free to move around, including into the
cockpit so it was a rather unique experience. Wendy served champagne (in stemware), smoked
salmon, cheese, crackers, etc. Wendy was very liberal with the champagne and, when she
learned it was our anniversary, gave us a bottle to take with us! Wendy passed out
original Look and Life magazines from the 40's as "in-flight reading materials"!
There was 40's music playing and, as we were leaving and returning to Anchorage, Wendy
read us the "news" except it was from the 40's. The flight was about 90 minutes
long and was a great experience. Worth every penny.
 Back at the hotel, I
looked for the zillionth time at a bronze sculpture called "Tiptoes" at Boreal
Traditions, a shop in the hotel. "Tiptoes" is a limited edition bronze created
my the team of Mary and Jacques Regat. I'd fallen in love with this masterpiece at a
little shop in Ketchican and saw it again in shops in Juneau and Skagway. To me, it's
absolutely magnificent - a dolphin balanced on the tip of a wave. I desperately wanted the
piece but walked away again. There's no logical justification for such a purchase. We
dropped our stuff in the room, went back and, throwing caution to the wind, bought Tiptoes
from Jon Lindsay, proprietor of Boreal. John mentioned that the Regats live in Anchorage
and are often in the store. I said it's be a thrill to meet them so he said he'd call and
ask them to immediately bring him another Tiptoes and maybe we'd luck out. He suggested we
have dinner at the Snowgoose on Third Ave.and check with him later. We had a nice dinner
and, when we got back, checked in with Jon. He said he was happy with our timing since
Mary would be there in 5 minutes. We hung around, met her and had our pictures taken with
her, Jon and Tiptoes. Neat!
Packed (yet again!) and went to bed.
Wednesday, June 9 - Anchorage to Talkeetna
  We were up and dressed by
6:30 and boarded the bus by 7:15 for the short ride to the train. There were 4 dedicated
Princess cars, several Holland America/Westours cars and a number of Alaska RR cars on the train. The Princess cars are
magnificent. Each has a panoramic dome on the upper level with seating at tables similar
to restaurant booths. Tables were pre-assigned. We were seated with a very pleasant
retired couple from Devon, England in the first Princess car. On the lower level of our
car and 2 others was a dining area with a full kitchen. The remaining car had a gift shop
and outside observation platform. Those who desired breakfast were called down as space
was available to eat. The meal itself was typically Princess (read: not great) but the
ambiance was fantastic! Upstairs, they had complete bar service plus coffee, tea, etc. As
we got upstairs again, one of the waiters, with a nametag of "Elvis", was doing
a little impersonation act. Not bad and a lot of fun.
 After
4 hours, we arrived in Talkeetna and
transferred to a bus. Boarding the bus, we were given our hotel keys. Pretty efficient.
Lin stayed with the bus for the one-hour ride to the McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge
while I got off in town and walked to the airport. I'd signed up on the train for a
"McKinley Discovery" flight with K2
Aviation. The visibility wasn't great but I figured there was no guarantee on tomorrow
and I'd rather do it now than ride 2 hours round trip on a bus to do it tomorrow. The
plane was a DeHaviland Beaver (N121KT), as in the movie "Six Days, 7
Nights". I eagerly
volunteered to sit in the right front seat. The weather was really pretty poor for this
with ceiling at about 10,000 feet. With the summit at 20,320, Mt. McKinley was left to the
imagination. In any case, the pilot, Jim Okonek, flew us over a lot of glaciers and valleys and between
granite walls that appeared awfully close! Coming back, we flew at about 800' AGL and saw
grizzlies and a moose. Jim did a lot of turns so everyone could see. Flying time was about
90 minutes. Nice landing at about 2:30 but there wasn't a shuttle to the hotel 'til 3:30
so, leaving some things on the bus, I walked into the big town of Talkeetna. While it
wasn't filmed there, I'm told this town was the inspiration for the TV show
"Northern Exposure". I had a reindeer sausage melt at a small inn and boarded
the bus. Slept on and off during the ride and found Lin asleep in the room. This is hard
work!
 We did a little exploring of the lodge, then sat on the deck drinking more
Alaskan Amber and listening to a state park ranger give a lecture on the deck. The lodge
is quite nice; makes you think you're at a high-end summer camp (I guess we are!) The
lodge itself is quite large and has a huge great room with a wall of windows facing Denali
(A.K.A. Mt. McKinley) Most of the chairs in the great room and on the huge deck in front
of it face the mountain, almost like a theater, It's certainly the best show in town. When
we arrived, the mountain was still not visible, being 40 miles away and hidden in clouds.
We got ready for dinner and ate in the "Mountain View" dining room. In making
the reservations, Lin had asked got a "good table". They had the request written
and put us at a window. That was fortunate since the clouds lifted and the mountain made
its appearance during dinner. After dinner, we found Frank and Pat having dinner on the
café deck so we joined them for a chat while they finished, then all moved to the main
deck to stare at the mountain. This thing is a magnificent piece of rock! We sat there a
while, trying to guess exactly where the sun would set since it goes down at an angle to
the horizon. With the sun still above the horizon, we moved inside. I looked at my watch
and it was 11:30! As we were sitting in the great room, there was a big commotion on deck.
We looked and a moose cow and calf were walking right past the hotel!. I took my last
picture of the mountain at 12:20; still pretty bright!
We had a wakeup
call for 7:00 and woke to a crystal clear day. When I check in to the office, my assistant
told me of a helicopter crash in Juneau. At the lodge, we picked up a copy of the
Anchorage Times and read the front page story of an Aerospatiale AStar helicopter that
crashed on Herbert Glacier killing the pilot plus 4 from the Ryndam and 2 from the Sea
Princess. Had pretty decent eggs benedict in the Mt. View Dining Room, then boarded a van
for the Iditarod Kennel Tour. We rode about 45 minutes, (including a stop an the driver's
Mom's house to pick up coffee!) to the kennels of Bill Hall, an Iditarod race competitor. As we approached Hall's
house, we overtook him on the road. He was on a 3-wheel ATV pulled by a team of 7 dogs.
Bill was very personable and seemed to genuinely care for each of the 50 dogs. He gave an
interesting and informative presentation for about an hour, then pulled out 5 puppies for
people to hold. Of Bill's 50 dogs, 10 are special retired dogs, 10 are too young to race
and 30 are his race dogs. Linda's the dog nut in the family so this was her trip but I
enjoyed the visit, too.
  Back at the lodge, I
called my folks and our kids to tell them we were not involved in the disaster in Juneau.
Notwithstanding the crash, I signed up for a helicopter tour of Denali. Frank had strongly
recommended it last night and I seriously considered it when I saw the clear morning skies
but dismissed the idea when I read the paper. I figured Lin would be upset if I even
mentioned it but she was OK with it. After a lunch on the deck, I boarded a 2:30 van for
the helicopter ride. We only had to ride a few miles to the heliport, a small clearing
next to a trailer. This was the local base of operations of ERA Helicopter. The chopper
arrived after we did; a beautiful Aerospatiale AStar. This was identical to the one that
went down in Juneau and holds a pilot plus 6 passengers. We had an empty seat and I was in
the back with two other folks. Each of us was fitted with headsets but there was no vox.
We had to press a button in the ceiling to talk. A bit primitive and two of the women
could not understand the program! The flight was absolutely perfect in every
respect. The weather was still crystal clear with absolutely no turbulence. The pilot,
Glen Ballard, started out at about 1000 above ground level over the lowlands giving an
almost continuous narrative in a very soft, deep, almost poetic manner. His narrative
added a lot to the beauty of the flight. Glen showed a deep love for the environment, not
only my his words, but also by actions as he carefully avoided spooking the wildlife. We
saw a moose and two trumpeter swans. We went up and down various valleys. At one point, we
were facing a huge headwall with higher peaks on each side. He very slowly ascended and
suddenly the peak of Denali was in front of us. Spectacular!! (That's the picture I've
included here.) We were quite close to the mountains at times and we went so close to one
glacier, it seemed as if we could touch it. Then he flew very slowly over the glacier's
top so we could get a good look at the huge crevasses. As we approached one ridge, Glen
said he'd seen bear tracks an hour earlier. As we crossed it, he saw a new set so we
looked for the bear and found a mother grizzly and two cubs on a steep hillside. Too soon
(after about 45 minutes of flight time) we returned. Frank was right; it was a fantastic
experience.
 I
picked up Lin at the room and we went to the deck for the ranger talk. Then we took a
short walk and a nap and dressed for dinner in the Mt. View. This time they hadn't held
the requested window table so we waited about 30 minutes in the great room until they
buzzed the pager they gave us. Dinner for me was Albacore; for Linda halibut. Not bad.
Went to bed around 10:30; we're running out of gas. Woke around 2:30 and, because it was
so bright, I considered dressing and taking a picture of the mountain but didn't have the
energy.
 Up early once again and
in the bus by 9:00. The first leg was about 2 hours on a tour bus to Denali National Park and the Denali
Princess Lodge. The driver was from New Zealand and was funny as hell; typical dry Kiwi
humor. It was a bright day again so, unfortunately, the wildlife was in hiding. We were
dropped off at the Denali Princess to pickup the tour of the National Park. It's not
nearly as nice as the McKinley Princess. Things here are terribly jammed together and it's
crowded as hell. Some rooms overlook the river but many look over the bus staging and
loading area. Yuck!! I'd have been very unhappy if we'd stayed here. We walked off
the grounds to a pizza place and had a pretty lousy buffet. After checking out the hotel,
we boarded a school bus for a 3-hour tour of the National Park. The driver, Taminy, was
quite nice. Again, the brightness of the day kept the wildlife down. We did see a caribou
and a ptarmigan but that was it! The absence of wildlife was the only true disappointment
I had of the entire trip.
After the park tour, Taminy delivered us to the train station. This was one time
Princess really blew it logistically. The station was crowded as hell with not only
Princess people but also passengers from Holland America and Alaska RR. While there was a
special area for Princess passengers, divided by car number, signage was lacking and no
one told us to go there until I asked. It was a real zoo and, of course, the train was
late. Obviously, the train schedule isn't Princess' issue but a little better instruction
would have been good. I will say that, when they finally did begin giving us info,
Princess had a PA system and the Holland America people were yelling to the
passengers! When it came time to board, the procedure was pretty chaotic; I think they
have work to do. I was pretty smoked by the time we got on the train.
We were again in car "A" and, fortunately, it wasn't full. There were a
couple of empty tables in our car so the couple seated backwards at our table opted to
move to another. That gave us a lot of room to spread out. The British couple who were at
our table on the last leg were across the aisle so we continued our dialog. The scenery
was beautiful and one guy on the car was great at spotting wildlife; from time to time
he'd yell "Moose!" and all heads would turn. Unfortunately, even though we were
travelling pretty slowly, I never got a great photo of a moose. We went downstairs for the
second seating and a pretty decent prime rib dinner. The Brits were shocked at the size of
the portions! At dinner, we ate with Wayne and Mickey from Bucks County.
We got to the hotel, the Bear Lodge at the Wedgwood Resort in Fairbanks, at about 9:30. The hotel isn't bad
but is well isolated. We saw Frank and Pat finishing their dinner on the terrace so we at
with them 'til about 11:30. We sadly bid them goodbye; they're going home tomorrow.
Saturday, June 12, 1999
 Up again at 6:00 to
get breakfast and onto a bus by 8:00 for the "Discovery Riverboat" tour included with
our package. The Discovery III, moored in the Chena River, is a 4-decked sternwheeler that
is quite modern. The paddlewheel is for real but is powered my hydraulic motors. The boat
holds about 700 passengers and, predictably, there were zillions of busses there. It was
nice in a way but a bit hokey for my taste. We found a spot on the uppermost deck. First
item on the agenda as we moved down the Chena was a demo of a short-field takeoff and
landing by a Super Cub from a grass strip along the river. We also saw Susan Butcher's
Kennels, where a trainer spoke to us via PA system and a talk and demo on Indian fishing
and preparation by "Dixie", an Athabaskan. The confluence of the Chena and
Tanana is very interesting; the Chena is clear water and the Tanana, being glacier-fed, is
fill of silt. Interesting visual. Stopped for an hour at the Chena Indian Village, which
was interesting but, again, very touristy. Dixie, who'd given us the fishing demo, had
passed us in her aluminum boat and now had a young girl model a coat she had made,
starting at tanning the hides.
 We were
back at the hotel at 1:00 for a quick lunch prior to being picked up at 2:30 for the
included "City of Gold" tour. After a quick drive around Fairbanks, we stopped
at the Trans-Alaska pipeline. It
was a thrill for me to see it completed since I'd been involved in design of equipment
used in its construction and had made two trips to Alaska at the time.
 Next, we
visited the Eldorado Gold
Mine, owned by the same folks who own the riverboat. Same hokeyness but, again, rather
informative. First was a ride on a steam train through a mine tunnel where there was a
talk on mining methods. At the end of the ride, we got a demonstration of the placer
mining method where the ore is first concentrated through a sluice, then the gold is
separated by panning. We were each given a bag of soil and panned it to get our gold. Lin
and I together got gold worth a total value of about $16. We then paid another $49 for a
locket to put it in! Wayne said, "This guy really has a gold mine here!"
We were back again to the hotel at 6:00, then bought some last-minute gifts, ate on the
patio, and headed for bed. There was a shuttle to town but we were too tired. We were in
bed by 10:00.
Sunday, June 13, 1999
We had a 3:45 (!!!) wakeup for a 5:00 pickup for the airport. We were the only
passengers on a full-sized bus 'til we picked up two more at a hotel near the airport. Our
bags, having been picked up in the evening, were waiting at the airport. Princess had a
rep and 5 baggage handlers there to help. Since the bags had been out of our possession,
we had to open each to assure they hadn't been tampered with. That's the point when
the airline discovered that we had no ticket from Fairbanks to Seattle!! It was on our
printed itinerary and they had a seat assignment for us but no ticket had been issued.
Fortunately, we’d arrived a few minutes before the mob so we had lots of time but
there were some anxious moments until the Princess rep bought us new tickets. He said he'd
figure it out later. Took off on time for Seattle and all went well 'til we got to
Pittsburgh and found our plane to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton was still in Philadelphia! We
never got home 'til about 1:00. What a long day; The end of a trip always sucks! |
In the spring of 1999,
my wife, Linda, and I took an Alaska cruise and inland tour. Linda's been eager to do the
Alaska Cruise for years. I've resisted because I associate cruises with warm weather and
piña coladas. Naturally, she prevailed. Alaska cruises tend to be expensive, at least
from the East Coast so, as long as we were doing it, we figured we'd do it right and add a
trip to the interior as well. We'd gone on a Princess cruise in
1990 and been less than happy with the line. However, since they have what appear to
be the best Alaska itineraries and so many people told us they'd been happy with Princess, we figured we'd give them another shot. As
it happened, the trip was one of the best we've ever taken. Having said that, I'm still
not as high on Princess Cruises as some people are; I prefer
Royal Caribbean. Princess did, however, do a
stupendous job of logistics. Alaska, as I'd seen during two business trips in the 70's is
a magnificent place. Neither words nor pictures can convey the grandeur of the place. As a
bonus, the people are probably the nicest on earth.
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