We docked in Haines, AK early on 17 June in a light rain. We were boarding the ferry that would take us the 45 minutes over to Skagway before 7 AM. In Skagway we met up with 4 other cruise ships, but our destination was the White Pass Railroad for the easy way up through the pass.

Arriving in Skagway

You know you are in Alaska, everyone waves!

Before we left for this trip we read James Mitchener’s Alaska, a book that tells the rich history of Alaska through fictional characters. One of the most heart-wrenching accounts were of the all those who headed up to the Klondike for the gold rush. All that they had to endure to get there shows the determination and will of people. One of the most difficult parts of their journey was taking their 1000 pounds of supplies up and over the White Pass(out of Skagway) or Chilkoot Pass(out of Dyea, across from Haines). Canada would not let them enter their country without enough supplies to get safely through a year in the Yukon. We were able to ride the railroad, sit back and enjoy the scenery; marvel at the engineering that laid the tracks and made the railroad possible. But, back down in Skagway, we went into the various Park Canada and National Park exhibits to see the sobering scenes of the real people and their climb up and over these passes.              

We spent our first full day aboard ship at sea, transiting from Seward,AK to Glacier Bay National Park. It was a good gentle day to recover from all the business of the previous week and to learn our way around the ship.

Enjoying the sunshine with a drink on the Lido Deck!

By 8:30AM on Tuesday 16 June, the Glacier Bay Park Rangers were aboard and we were entering the National Park. Just like the Kenai Fjords, we were delighted with views of glaciers, blue skies, mountain peaks, and sunshine. The Park Rangers spent the day with us, describing what we were seeing and giving information about the park, animals and the native peoples. Again we were blessed with warmth and sunshine, and magnificent views.

Entering Glacier Bay

Dutch Pea Soup on the Bow

The glaciers dwarf the cruise ships!

Margerie Glacier

One of the many amazing delights on this trip was celebrating David’s birthday aboard the Kenai Fjord trip and then again aboard the M.S. Oosterdam.

Happy Birthday David!

We boarded the ship about 4 PM on 14 June and found tickets for a dinner reservation at the Pinnacle Grill, one of the specialty restaurants on board. What an excellent dinner, but the best part of all has been enjoying this wonderful adventure with our dear friends: Ed, Kathy & Chris Suloff.

Dinner at the Pinnacle Grill

Cocktails in the Pinnacle Lounge

M.S. Oosterdam our home away from home!
Our stateroom was modest as it was an ocean view on the lower level. Not huge, but it was roomy enough to enjoy room service breakfast most mornings and a place to knit and read. Our favorite places were the top Observation Deck with the expansive views, comfy chairs and bar service for  either wine, beer, cocktails, or lattes. We had great fun with our waiter Michael in the Pinnacle Lounge each night before our dinner in the Vista Dining Room, and wonderful tables with views right against the windows as they cast off the lines and headed onto our next port.  

“Oh LORD my God, when I in awesome wonder consider all the worlds Thy hands have made … then sings my soul my Savior God to Thee: ‘How great Thou art! How great Thou art!'”

We took the Kenai Fjords boat tour.  All of the staff on the boat were saying. “Enjoy this great Alaskan day!!”  The weather was clear warm perfect!! We saw amazing sea life and even the crew were taking their own personal pictures. 

We saw: sea lions, humpback whales, Orka whales, porpoises, puffins, bald eagles … Glaciers and the most amazing mountains. 

A Great Alaskan Day!!

There are no words. These views are just so overwhelming. Transitting from Anchorage to Seward today. Views from the restaurant where we had drinks and off our deck where we are enjoying coffee. I am so very Blessed.

  Today was one of the adventures I had been looking forward to, the 8 hour trip through the countryside from Denali to Anchorage aboard the McKinley Express. The snow had stopped, but it was still cold rain when we left.

  Still, the ride was magnificent and the further we rode in the glass dome cars the clearer the sky became. How many times can you say this land is magnificent !!! The snow capped mountains have won my heart, although, they did say that this time of year the snow is usually gone off the mountains, but with our snow storms the last two days, we get to see the green trees in front of the snow capped mountains… There is always a silver lining.
  We had a wonderful lunch on the train and then the dessert!! Back up in the viewing car, our guide suddenly spotted Denali looming out of the clouds. Of course everyone ran to take photos and we thought that the obvious white peak promenently standing out on the horizon was Denali and snapped away, but no, the mountain we were centering on was Mt. Hunter (Denali’s child). Denali is actually the mountain to the right of the picture with his head in the clouds, 6,000 feet taller than Mt. Hunter.
   Lunch
 Denali has his head in the clouds on the right.

Once we arrived in Anchorage, we made a quick trip to the room and then went off to walk part of the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. We had great fun watching sea gulls harass an eagle, who was mostly unperturbed almost like he was dealing with typical childish behavior best left ignored. We ended our walk at a lovely area called Westchester Lagoon that was the perfect place for families with loads of playground equipment, benches, waterfowl and bike paths.  Again THE VIEW!!!!!

   
 Westchester Lagoon

This really is the land of Midnight sun. Walking back to the hotel at 10:30PM, I snapped is shot of brightly colored flowers in a little corner park. Notice the shadows from the sun!

Today was our 7+ hour tour into the Denali tundra wilderness. The light steady rain that we left in, soon turned to light snow and then bigger flakes as we moved further into the wilderness and the higher elevations. We had to take them at their word that “somewhere out there was Mt. McKinley ( or the preferred name here in Alaska Mt Denali “the big one”). 

Still, the scenery remains breathtaking, we saw numerous Dall sheep and their babies in the distance, a herd of caribou, and a very large bull moose down in the valley. Most fun: the kids from Florida seeing snow for the very first time and having a snowball fight!! Dinner conversation: “We need to come back!”

Today we made our way from Fairbanks to Denali. It was a lovely ride through mountains and along ridges that overlooked equally breathtaking valleys, arriving at McKinley Chalet Resort about midday. Holland America and Princess Cruises have quite a monopoly  on the hotels and restaurants that make up their packages, but this really is a fun little spot. We have a nice little suite room with a separate sitting area, complete with a comfy rocking chair and an outside balcony over looking the mountains. 

 
After a quick lunch we headed to the National Park. Dog sleds are a vital part of the culture here. Roads are limited and often the most reliable way to transport something is via bush plane or dog sled. Due to the wilderness designation of much of the Denali area, the only way to maintain the area is by dog sled in the winter. The Park’s sled dog kennel is made up of all Alaskan huskies, strong dogs not for racing but for working and hauling 50 – 100 pounds per dog of supplies loaded on the sled. We had a fascinating tour of the kennels along with a demonstration about the work they do here in the park pulling the sleds. Of course part of that involved choosing 5 of the dogs to be hitched to the sled to do a short demo run.  When the dogs suddenly realized that we were at the part of the talk where the dogs would be chosen they became unbelievably excited, jumping up and down and barking like mad to say “pick me! Pick me!!” They LOVE to run and pull the sled!

   
 Heading back after the demo, we decided to hike the Rocky Creek trail instead of returning on the shuttle. It was a lovely 3 mile hike through spruce and white birch trees, peppered with many varieties of wildflowers and always the majestic mountains in the background. 

 
This is a magnificent land. I don’t know how I would handle the long days of little sun in the winter. I think that would be much harder for me than the cold temperatures. But I do believe that those who live here feel they are privileged to be a part of this magnificent land. I agree.

Monday was the official start of our Holland America trip. We transferred without incident to Fairbanks and met up with our friends for lunch. After lunch we took the Airlink Shuttle Service to the University of Alaska Fairbnks’ Museum of the North. Amazing and informative exhibits of Alaska’s history, native cultures and wildlife. We got back to the hotel about 6PM, but still fighting jet lag we had an early quiet evening.

The weather has been amazing so far and we have enjoyed sunshine and blue blue skies yet again. Our two main excursions were the Steamboat River cruise and then heading up to Gold Dredge 8 to view part of the Alaskan pipeline and try our hand at panning for a little gold.

Both tours were family run businesses with so many nice informative touches. I really enjoyed the stroll around the Athabascan native village where we viewed some of the amazing beautiful parkas and clothing that allows them to adapt to the harsh winter conditions. But the place and story that really pulled at my heart strings was of Susan Butcher and her champion Iditarod dogs and her lead dog Granite. Her love for her dogs, particularly Granite, who was the runt of the litter, but with her love and attention realized his full potential and led 4 champion teams. The steamboat went by Traibreaker Kennels where today her family continues the tradition of training the  dogs (Susan died of leukemia in 2006).

There were constant stories, from bus drivers, tour guides, guitar players on the train ride to Gold Dredge 8. Free little snacks and a miners stew lunch. We did learn how to pan for gold and ended up with $21. that was mounted onto a little magnet. 

But most special of all is the friendliness of the people. They love their adopted land and the harshness of the climate only brings the closer together. EVERYBODY had a friendly wave for you. As we traveled the length of the Chena River on the steamboat so many of the people who lived along the River came out to wave at us as we passed their homes – all ages from grandparents to 2 year olds. And then again, as we left the gold dredge, all the employees came out to wave and send us on our way. Such an amazing land and wonderful people. 

Our first full day in Alaska and we were off on our adventure. I was struck by how similar the climate is to Nova Scotia. Many of the same plants, lupines by every roadside, wild pink roses, sea grass with their purple-blue sweet pea flowers along with other plants I recognized but couldn’t name. The same brilliant sunshine and blue blue skies, but cool air that needed a jacket near the water. And weather so changeable you really can’t predict it. We were supposed to have rain in the morning, clearing to overcast skies in the afternoon and finally becoming clearer in he evening. Instead we had brilliant blue skies and sunshine all day and drove into the rain as we headed back to Anchorage. They even have a tidal bore schedule here although not as significant as our Bay of Fundy.

At home we have our resident bald eagle that you often see around the lakes or along the hiway. But,  here you see them everywhere and usually 2 or 3 at a time covorting in the sky. Still, what makes Alaska so amazing are the HUGE snow-capped mountains that surround you everywhere you look. Majestic in every way. 

We started the day at the Aviation Museum. In preparing for the trip we had read Mitchner’s book Alaska, and a central figure was a bush pilot. So much of Alaskan life depends on these pilots that carried supplies to far off villages and mining camps. Our hosts here at the BnB are both pilots and Lake Hood, just down the road is the largest seaplane base in the world with 800 flights a day in the summer. The museum was full of old sea planes and their various landing gear, wonderful videos of the true Alaskan frontiersmen that the characters in Mitcheners book seemed patterned after and an outstanding video on Alaska’s role in WWII and how that shaped the development of Alaska by finally making it important to the US government. 

Most fun of the day: trying our beer samplers at lunch at Midnight Sun Brewery with names like Modern Romance, mudflats, pleasuretown, fallen angel, nitro, and panty peeler!

Most awe-inspiring: the drive along Alaska route 1 and seeing the mountains and walking back for an up front view of the Byron Glacier. 

Majesty worship His Majesty!