Day 7 Boat Trip to Glacier Bay National Park and Glaciers

After a great night’s sleep and a leisurely breakfast (we obviously didn’t tip enough last night), we ambled along a nature walk through a spruce forest with an undergrowth of hemlock, down to the Glacier Bay tour boat (the Baronof Wind). We were early so Neil stopped to get a photo of the Park Ranger who would be with us today. Someone behind asked if she was a ranger to which she replied “No, I just like the colour green” so we knew she had a good sense of humour.

Panic set in when we reached the top of the gangway and we realised that we didn’t have our vouchers. It looked like Neil would be doing a quick sprint back to the Lodge but luckily the boat steward had our names on a list and we were fine. While we waited to depart, we listened to an elder of the Huna Tlingit tribe(Cultural Ambassador) talk about the area. Her tribe had lived in the area from Ketchikan to Glacier Bay for thousands of years. There are many Huna settlements now across the area but there is only one Indian Reservation in Alaska and that is on an island. Glacier Bay is known as Bay in place of the glacier to local people as their ancestors hunted and gathered in the bay area until the glacier suddenly pushed down on top of the lad and then receded leaving a massive area of water. The ranger explained later that as far as research has shown, 500 years ago a mini ice age ended and water built up under the glacier until a point when the ice rushed forward slipping in front of the water and dumping a huge amount of ice in Icy Strait. Therefore that area was not as badly eroded as other areas and is now shallower and provides a good food source for otters, seals, sea lions and whales.

Marylou, our National Park Ranger, then went through a few housekeeping matters like using the life jackets, using handrails while moving around the boat and the need to yell “man overboard” if either males or females fall overboard so that we could pick them up before hypothermia set in. Also there were fantastic binoculars for us to use throughout the day. She gave us some facts about the area as well

·         Glacier Bay is one of the largest protected areas in the world (3.3million acres)

·         In 1780 the glaciers reached the Lodge we were staying in before they started to recede. In 230 years they have receded about 100 miles

·         The flat islands in the first part of the bay were once moraine (dirt dumped by glaciers)

·         It is a humpback whale sanctuary and we saw 2 humpbacks playing on the way back. They were breeching and flapping their tails

·         The whales eat here in summer and then swim to Hawaii for the winter and to have their babies

·         To protect the environment there is a limit on the number of boats that can enter the bay at any one time

·         Sea otters have no fat, a fast metabolism, a thick coat which they fluff up to keep them warm and they eat all the time. We saw many of them relaxing on their backs and having a feed. There are 8-9000 sea otters in Glacier Bay but 20 years ago there were only a few. Only native people can hunt them.

·         South Marble Island is a mecca for wildlife. We saw seals and sea lions sunbaking. (Now I’m not sure whether Chocky is a bear or a sea lion. There are similar in attitude to work in the midday sun). We saw thousands of birds which looked like seagulls. They go to the island to nest. There were many puffin birds (black feathers with a huge orange beak)

·         Just after Muir Inlet which was covered in ice in 1860, we stopped by nosing the boat into the gravel beach to pick up some adventurers and let some off the boat with all their gear. They stay there for up to 2 weeks to be at one with nature but they sure had a lot of supplies. I hope they keep them well away from the bears. They were going to do some research on bear activity so they probably knew all the rules

·         The scale of the setting is very hard to picture. We were in 1400 ft (470 metres) of water and Mt Fairweather which is the tallest mountain in the area is 1500ft (500m) above the surface.

·         Bald Eagles build nests on the trunks of evergreen trees and we saw one in its nest and one flying at eye level past us in the boat

·         Near Gloomy Knob, a river comes down to meet the lake from Mt Merriam so there is lots of activity in the water due to the salmon in the water. We saw mountain goats and a bit further along we saw a mama bear (sow) and 3 cubs down at the water’s edge. As I watched the slowest cub climb up the sand dune after his mother I thought that maybe Chocky is a bear after all. The cub was slow and not at all enthusiastic but mum was keeping a close eye on him. They were brown bears and they had come to the shoreline and the river bank to eat berries and salmon. Bears avoid conflict if they can by trying to intimidate opponents rather than fighting because they know a fight could be fatal. Brown bears can also be black or white!!!

·         We passed Rendue glacier and we noticed icebergs starting to appear in the water

·         Then we saw 2 glaciers which were very close together; Margerie Glacier is made of white ice and is still growing while the Grand Pacific Glacier is rare in that very few glaciers are made of black ice. It is receding.

·         Our main aim had been to reach the John Hopkins Glacier and we knew we were getting closer when the number and size of the icebergs increased. A glacier needs year around snow to grow and the John Hopkins and the Margerie ones both come from the same snowfield which is based in the tallest mountains here. The John Hopkins Glacier has grown 3 miles in the past 40 years. So scientists are now talking about global changes rather than global warming because not all the glaciers are retreating.

·         “No words can describe the beauty of Glacier Bay” according to our guide and that was true of the area around John Hopkins Glacier in particular. We stopped to watch ice crashing from the front of the glacier (it gives a whole new dimension to defrosting the freezer) and there was silence. The engines were off and no-one was talking. Nature was in control.

·         Gilman Glacier was only 100 metres from JHG. We sat between the two. A crew member told us that this was only the third time this year that the boat had been able to go as far as the JHG and that was because of the fantastic weather we had. Yes, it was a perfect blue sky day again

Unfortunately we had to go back but it was relaxing to watch all the scenery again. All of our food and drinks were supplied by the crew and we were totally immersed in the scenery. Then we met Richard. Richard was a member of the Mensa group who were also on the boat and he just wanted to talk. He worked for NASA and had retired. He did not want to watch the scenery but glanced over whenever anyone saw an animal. Luckily we could still watch for animals and listen to any points made by the ranger but we also find it interesting to talk to locals. We talked about travel until he said we had seen more of the USA than he had so then he talked about US television shows which had been screened in Australia. He could only name 3 that we hadn’t seen and he was shocked at the amount of American culture we had been exposed to. We thought the man in front was getting annoyed at the talking but he turned around and waited for a break and in a very deep Texan voice said “What about Bonanza?”.

So Richard decided to crack a couple of jokes:

·         What is the difference between a tourist and a hitchhiker?   Answer: 5 mins

·         What is the difference between ignorance and apathy? Answer: I don’t know and I don’t care

We enjoyed talking with Richard and we seemed to amuse him with our responses but once we docked he said goodbye.

Glacier Bay National Park (World Heritage listed) has to be the highlight of our trip so far and we think it would have to be in the same classification as the Grand Canyon in terms of breathtaking splendour.

Day 6 Juneau to Glacier Bay National Park via Gustavus

We woke up just before the 4am knock on our stateroom door. By 4.30 am we were packed and ready to go as soon as the boat docked at Juneau (capital of Alaska) at 4.45am. While we waited for a taxi, Neil started talking to George from Georgia(67 yrs old). George has run 29 marathons this year, including 2 this last weekend (Saturday in Ketchikan and Sunday in Wrangell. He had his friends set a range of goals eg running a marathon in every state, running a marathon each month and running marathons on consecutive days. He didn’t even seem stiff.

We caught a taxi to Juneau airport with George and his friend but at 5am there was not a lot open. We had tea, coffee and cookies for breakfast under the watchful eye of a 3 metre high brown bear. Luckily it was stuffed and in a glass box but it looked very real and the claws were like knives. Apart from the claws he could have been chocky’s first cousin in terms of size, colouring and mobility.

Our flight didn’t leave until 10.30 so we amused ourselves by reading funny signs in a gift shop. Eg

·         Before you get old and wise , you must first go through young and dumb

·         Born free, now I’m expensive

·         I don’t necessarily agree with everything I say

·         Retirement: Twice as much husband, half as much money

·         Denial:my happy place

·         Caution: You are entering a “Whatever” zone

Finally we were called for our flight: the pilot came in and called out our names. We were a little worried about travelling in a 6 seater Piper plane. We walked out towards the plane. Gradually we passed all the nice looking planes and we realised we were to fly in the forty year old one. 
I had been worried about using a ladder instead of proper plane steps but there were no steps at all. I asked how we should get in and the pilot said you just sit on the seat and lift and spin your legs in. No way!!!. I tried to put my right leg in straight but then the plane was too high so the pilot said he could lower the plane....he sat on the tail of the plane....strange but at least I could get in the plane. Then the seat belt would not click in. It finally did after the pilot tried the end from the seat next to me.

Neil and two other ladies climbed in by standing on the wing. Neil was in the front seat but the pilot said..Don,t close the door because it gets too hot. With the door still open he tried to start the plane. Luckily it finally started after the third try( three times lucky:-) .We taxied to the end of the runway with the door open and waited for two planes to land and then we revved the motor, closed the door and headed into the wild blue yonder. I looked behind my seat and I could touch the bags in the boot so I decided that I would just concentrate on the view. It was great looking at all the beautiful islands, mountains both tree covered and snow capped and the blue sky. I tried to ignore the splutter of the engine when we were over water by looking for a good spot to crash land. Unfortunately the only flat area was the water. Even more of a problem was that our plane was not a seaplane and it was built in1973.. Even worse was that Neil had the spare steering wheel and he was more interested in taking photos and bumping the steering wheel while the pilot was turning his wheel.
To cut a long story short , we made it but the day after tomorrow we fly in the same plane for double the distance. I’m going to concentrate on tomorrow’s boat trip around Glacier Bay. This area is spectacular. The natural environment is in pristine condition. You can only g et here via plane or boat. Gustavus is a town of about 300 people with a post office, a 0-12 school (last year’s graduating class was 1 student), a community hall, a grocery store a petrol station (old bowsers but new prices) and one intersection called “dog corner” because of a collie dog who used to sleep right in the middle of the intersection. He had a number of nick names but most people knew him as “speed bump”. He did have a number of operations after being hit by cars but he always went back to sleeping in the middle of the intersection.. There is a Volunteer Fire Brigade which is more social than anything because they have only had one little yard fire in 20 years.

There are only 2 roads in the town and we travelled on a narrow bitumen strip called “mountain view highway”.. The road used to be dirt but when Glacier Bay became a national park they bitumened the road. we crossed “moose flats” but there  were none there today. However, we were warned that moose and brown bears frequent the area and there is a rogue juvenile bear misbehaving at the moment. His photo is on a wanted poster at our lodge.

We arrived at the lodge 3 hours before checkin so we had a lovely lunch at the restaurant overlooking Glacier Bay, went to a National Parks display and watched a movie about the area. The locals are very concerned about the rate at which the main glacier is retreating. It has retreated 65 miles in the last 200 year- the fastest degradation in world history. The ranger was keen to reinforce what we should do if we meet a bear

·         Hold our hands out and in the air to appear bigger

·         Wave hands gently around

·         Speak calmly

·         Let the bear pass

Apparently you should give right of way to moose as well but some people might outrun them whereas you should never run when you see a bear.

Tomorrow’s boat trip around the glaciers goes for 9 hours and we are really looking forward to it. Hopefully the fine weather will continue but the locals point out that the hot days are helping to melt the glaciers.

Day 5 Ketchikan to Juneau

DAY 5

Neil was up at 5am again and met a fellow who saw the mx5 symbol on Neil’s coat. He races mx5s so they talked for a while about cars. Then an announcement came over the loud speaker asking for Neil from Brisbane Australia to go to the purser’s office. We were worried but it turned out that the fellow Neil had been chatting to was the captain of the ship (without uniform) and he asked Neil to go up to the bridge to watch the crew in action and he now has both Neil’s and the club’s email addresses. The people you meet!!

At breakfast we watched a massive , black, multi-level ocean going cruiser (330 ft long) cruise back and forth near us. It is owned by a Vodka baron with more money than sense. It had come from Russia originally but the flag on the back said Georgetown, Jamaica. Either way, it was a long way from home and all of the travel would have been by motor. Maybe he owns an oil well as well.

We docked at Ketchikan at 7am for 3 hours so we took a taxi to the main area of town which was crowded because 2 cruise ships were in dock. The expensive cruise ships don’t go through the inside passage (too big) so they just enter in a few places where the water is deep enough. What a rip off!!!.

The taxi lady took us to historical Creek St where the entry passed over a creek and a waterfall and on the run out tide the salmon can be seen jumping upstream. We saw the ones “John West rejects” dead on the rocks on the side of the creek. Some of them were quite big but they had died trying to get up the waterfall. Ketchikan means stinky fish town for the locals so there must be lots that die trying. In the waterways the salmon are plentiful this year so the town is known as a small drinking town with a large fishing problem.

The Creek St area was the red light district and the hotel area in the prohibition era and the 2 main madams, Kitty and Dolly still offered services until old age. The taxi driver used to clean Miss Dolly’s house when she was a young girl and she said that when Miss Dolly died recently, they turned her house into a museum and Neil experienced how welcoming the bordello must have been in the past. A lovely mature lady dressed in her bordello finery on the front steps of Miss Dolly’s house offered him a Senior’s discount of only $5. I think it was for a tour but who can be sure. He quickly responded that he was in a hurry so she offered him a quickie and all of this happened on a Sunday morning.!!!

There were lots of stores with traditional crafts and souvenirs. The people were very friendly and we could have stayed for ages just reading the funny statements on Tshirts but we had to be back at the boat by 9.45. The taxi driver had said she would try to get back to pick us up at 9.15 but by 9.25 there was no sign of her . Luckily Neil spotted a bus which was going the right way and we made it back to the boat with 3 mins to spare- no stress at all!! (Well, less that when we were at Creek St with no taxi in sight)

We continued along the inside passage looking at spectacular tree-covered mountain scenery. We had blue skies, green mountains with pencil line top profiles, narrow cream waterline areas and the blue of the Marine Highway. There were miles of picture postcard landscapes.

We saw:

·         Many tugboats like scuffy pulling barges with huge loads of earth moving equipment and containers from ships

·         Small town of Wrangell which was originally a fur trading station but the Russians claimed it back until the Americans bought the whole of Alaska from them. It now relies on tourist activities for survival

·         The Wrangell Narrows: 1.5 hours after leaving Wrangell, the channel narrows and becomes shallow. The MV Commodore is the largest boat allowed to go through the narrow channel and it needs 27 ft of water at least under it so they only go through at high tide

·         Logs being held together in the water waiting to be transported by barge

·         Small town of Petersberg named after a Norwegian fisherman who was looking for a place with excellent fishing areas, good boat harbour, flat land to build houses, plenty of Cyprus fir trees for building and nearby glaciers to supply free ice for shipping the fish for export. He decided on Petersberg and invited his friends from Norway to come over to build the town and the business

·         Some small whale spouts, a river otter, a seal and some ocean otters

Tomorrow we have to be up and off the ship at 4.45 am so I’ll leave you for now

Day 4 Lower Inside Passage beside British Columbia

DAY 4

After a great night’s sleep, we awoke to another blue sky day. Neil was so keen that he was up at 5.30 to take photos and he was rewarded with a whale blowing, breeching and flicking its tail right in front of the boat.  We were heading through the early stages of the Inside Passage and, while we thought the whales would frequent the areas where there is an outlet to the ocean, they are usually seen in the narrow waterways between the islands. Luckily we saw some more whales later in the day.

Even the view from our cabin window was fantastic.  Only a narrow stretch of blue water separated us from Vancouver island with its massive groves of fir trees which grow right down to the water’s edge. We had breakfast in the restaurant beside a window overlooking the water. What a view!! The waiter (Neal) asked if we would like tea or coffee but I think he really meant coffee or coffee. When I said tea, he turned a pale shade of white and disappeared. When he returned, he brought a cup and saucer, a glass jar of boiling water and a huge basket with every kind of tea bag he could find. He was very happy when I said that was good and that I was happy to make it myself. Even better was that we could have as many cups of tea and coffee as we liked for the princely sum of $1.75.

We managed to score a front row seat in the main viewing lounge on the 7^th floor and as soon as we sat down we saw a pod of dolphins jumping across the front of the boat (from starboard to port…are you impressed with the terminology?). One of the crew said they were Pacific Miniature dolphins but we were surprised with the colours (black and white)

The boat we are on was built in 1972 and the crew were awarded a medal for rescuing passengers from a cruise ship which ran aground. It must have been early in the journey because the big ocean liners head out to travel along the outside of all the islands rather than go through the remainder of the Inside Passage. I think they miss out on seeing some spectacular scenery but the big ships probably are too big for the passage especially after Queen Charlotte Sound. The Sound and the Queen Charlotte Islands were named by Captain Cook after the wife of the king at the time (acc to the crew). It took about 2 hours to cross the Sound with good weather and seas.

We saw Scuffy the Tug Boat towing a barge carrying rock boulders up to construction sites in Ketchikan. It apparently returns with whit rocks for Bellingham. There were some unusual cloud formations in this area and they gave some spectacular colourings to the mountains as we passed . With their shadows green islands became purple and dark blue. They looked like drawings.

For those of you who need an update on Cochise, he sat behind us early today but later moved to the next block of seats and actually spoke to some locals. He showed one man his very sharp, curved hunting knife and held it out for everyone to see. Obviously there was no metal detector check when we boarded the boat. I think he must be going to do some hunting in the wilderness but he also talked a bit about fishing. In a way he was less scary today that a woman from Wyoming was as she talked non-stop in a very loud voice and her favourite word was “I”. She believes she is the world’s greatest expert on earth science, geology, conservation, global warming and the gradual degradation of Cascadia(area surrounding the Cascade Mtns). She was the original “legend in her own mind”.

Luckily the people who sat next to us were very nice. We met 2 teachers(retired) from Colorado. The lady had taught golf at a Community College and the husband had been a high school teacher. Apparently being a high school teacher is more stressful here so he retired 10 years before his wife did. Another lady, Sheree, was from a small town of only 2000 people in NW Colorado and she was going to visit her son’s family in Ketchikan. She was telling us about the animals. The first day her son and Daughter in law moved to Ketchikan she phoned them and heard a loud scream….there was a brown bear on their veranda. She sometimes sees brown bears at her place but the biggest problem she has is when walking. She says they always go walking in groups of 3 or 4 because mountain lions stalk people walking alone or in pairs. They have been known to attack and once they killed a 12 year old boy..The good news is that they only have one poisonous snake, the rattlesnake. But she said you just have to listen when you are walking because you hear the rattle before you see the snake. A friend of hers was bitten once. Her leg swelled up like a balloon but she did survive. Sheree also said that the halibut (fish) we had yesterday was cooked for too long if it was leathery so we’ll have to have another go at the local fish.

We also saw some whales. They were regularly spouting and raising their heads above the surface of the water but they didn’t jump or flick their tails. They did roll to show us their fins and it seems there are lots of them in this area. The even appear in the waters near Ketchikan which we don’t reach until 7am tomorrow so we could have even more sightings!!!

Tonight we had dinner with a couple who met on the internet. He is from Anchorage (far north) and she is from Mississippi (deep south). They started talking on the internet in April, met face to face on May 10^th and were married on May 12^th. They were on their way to Anchorage to live. She is loud and he is quiet but an expert on everything: he can do medicine, boat building, house building, quilting and cooking. She has been married before and has left her kids with her mother down south until xmas. Surely an Oprah show of the future.

Day 3 Seattle to the Bellingham Ferry Terminal and travel past Vancouver Island

Day 3

We woke to another fine day in Seattle so we checked the weather station to see how things looked in Alaska. The temperatures and the likelihood of rain was listed for 48 states in the union but Alaska wasn’t even on the map!! Imagine the uproar at home if Tasmania was not on the Australian map and not mentioned in any weather reports!!

We had an interesting chat at breakfast with an American couple from Pennsylvania. At the age of 50 he had decided to change careers and move from business motivational speaking to become a preacher. He said it was good because, as a preacher, you never have to retire.

We went back to the airport to catch the highway coach to Bellingham. Neil had worked it all out and we were at the right place in no time. We waited where all the buses come in to the airport from the cruise ship terminal. Buses would pull in, crews of about 10 youths would rush forward and offload the bags and put them in 2 rows on the footpath and then the bus driver would let the people get off the bus to collect their bags. Even with such a well-drilled operation, there were some bags left behind but eventually the owner would return to collect the lost property even if it was in the middle of the next set of luggage by then. The buses stayed only a few minutes and then left to make room for the next ones (and that was using 6 different bus bays)

Our bus arrived and we were the first ones on after Neil chatted to the driver. We headed to highway North 405 at precisely 10am and noticed a few things on the way to Bellingham.

·         We saw our first car with the stick family on the back window. Perhaps the marketing needs some polish in the USA

·         The local town council (Renton City Hall) had a billboard which listed all of its sponsors

·         We passed another boeing factory

·         We travelled in the HOV lane (Heavy Occupancy Vehicle lane for buses and cars carrying two or more people between 5am and 7pm ie all day)

·         If drivers noticed someone doing the wrong thing there were signs beside the road saying “REPORT VIOLATORS:764 HERO”

·         The freeway was full of road works and we felt like we were at home at Springwood

·         We had some great views of Mt Baker and the driver told us it is still an active volcano

·         Tulalip Casino is built on Indian land as are all of the casinos apart from Las Vegas, Reno and Atlantic City ones. The Indians run their own casinos and take all the profits to use on their people.

·         Petrol is about $4 per gallon (about 80 cents per litre). Why is so dear in Australia?

·         The main industries in the area are logging and fishing so trucks carrying huge logs are commonplace on the highway

·         A small Winnebago passed us. It was called “mini winni”

Just before Burlington (Washington) we crossed the bridge which had collapsed and caused the closure of the highway in both directions in May. Two oversized trucks had tried to pass each other on the narrow bridge and one had been forced through the guide rail and hung over the side of the bridge. The bridge collapsed under the strain. They have “patched” that section of the bridge to let traffic through but they will do a complete rebuild of the bridge in October. We crossed everything as we went over the bridge and we made it.

From the bus we had spectacular views of Lake Samish, fir tree-lined roads with blue skies above and tree covered mountains. I’m glad we were not  driving by ourselves because it was relaxing to just take in the scenery and also because there were 7 exits listed for Bellingham. How would you know which one to take as a first time traveller in the district? Luckily our bus driver lives in Bellingham  and there was no problem at all. We went through the Old Fairhaven District instead of taking Chuckanut Drive. We went passed Starvin” Sam’s Café and finished the trip at the Bellingham Ferry Terminal. The name of the local water taxi was a worry: ”Leap Frog Water Taxi” but we were booked on the Columbia Ferry for the next 3 nights.

Boarding wasn’t until 4pm so we had some lunch and thought we might try a local staple food “Halibut”. It is a fish that is very popular in Alaska but I think the fish we had might have been from last summer’s catch. Rubbery and bland are probably the best 2 words to describe it. After lunch Neil went to take some photos and started chatting to the local and the highway police who were at the entrance to the boat in numbers. They were looking for criminal who might be trying to avoid retribution in the lower 48 states by escaping to Alaska, especially the wilderness areas. We had to show our tickets and our passport (photo ID) to get on the boat and that was checked by the boat people and the police. However, I think they may have missed one guy. He looks like Cochise from the old cowboy and indian films. He has long silvery grey hair and is of tribal ancestry and he jumps into doorways whenever anyone comes along….weirdo or wanted felon????

Neil also photographed the ultimate in president worship. He found a Volvo station wagon with President Obama’s face painted across the bonnet, the word “Obama” painted along the side and some deep and meaningful statements painted on the tailgate. Talk about fanatical!! Do you think someone will put Kevin Rudd’s face on their car? What about Tony Abbott??

Our cabin is on the 5^th floor of the boat. It is cosy but Japanese style (small). It is clean and we will be on the decks to watch most of the scenery. We can see the western mountains from our cabin. They look like drawings with the sun behind them. When we were up on the deck before we could see a fantastic view of Mt Baker and another mountain with 3 snow topped peaks which is called the 3 sisters.. It was beautiful with the blue sky behind it.

On the boat there are 2 types of travellers: those who have paid extra for cabins and those who are sleeping under the stars on the upper deck. The ones on the deck bring tents and sleeping bags. They tape their tents to the deck (Neil helped one fellow to hold his tent while it was taped). Apparently, sleeping on the deck under the stars is a “must do” at some time to be at one with nature. I just hope they don’t play “nine green bottles” all night or there may be some very full whales in the morning. I don’t intend to put that on my bucket list.

There is one very touching story though. An elderly couple (both 79) thought they could just pay for a cabin when they arrived but there were none left so a young couple near us said that they only needed one bed in their cabin and the elderly couple could join them in their cabin..a tight squeeze but very generous. The young couple have just been transferred to Fairbanks in Alaska for 3 years and don’t know how they will survive the winter with temps of -46 degrees. The things you hear on the side deck of a boat!!!

Day Two Seattle

Seattle is a very pretty city. We took a three hour tour of the city today led by a very sociable fellow as our driver. We found out that there are only two seasons in Seattle. They are the sunny season which goes for about six weeks from July fourth until mid august and the rainy/cloudy season which goes for the rest of the year. Some people call the fine season the construction season. Apparently only forty inches of rain falls in Seattle in one year but since most of it is drizzle the skies are usually cloudy. We had great weather today..the bluest skies you have ever seen are in Seattle.

There are four Boeing aircraft factories in the city and one has the biggest building in the USA. Seattle is the home of Starbucks. The head office is here and there are seven hundred stores here. They say that if you throw a stone anywhere in Seattle you will hit a Starbucks store.. That is amazing since there are only seven hundred thousand people in the metropolitan area and four million  in all of Seattle.
Seattle is the closest port to China in the USA. The famous shopping area near the port is pike markets which is the oldest fresh food markets in USA. Huge bunches of fresh flowers were only ten dollars. The markets were started by Japanese and Vietnamese farmers in the early nineteen hundreds so that the farmers could sell directly to the public.
Ups united states postal service started in Seattle for all of you who buy direct from the USA. They transported goods needed by the miners in the gold rush in the Klondike area in Alaska. The postal service started with only two bicycles and now it has jets as well as trucks etc.
Seattle was the birth place of Bill Gates, Jimmy Hendrix and the Seahawks gridiron team, the Sounders soccer team and the Sonics basketball team but that team was sold to another city so there is no team here at the moment. The stadium that the sea hawks use is called century link field and it was designed so that the people in the city can hear the fans in the stadium when games are on.  The mariners baseball stadium has a retractable roof which retracts in only ten mins. They needed the roof due to the number of rainy days... We were so lucky with the weather today.

From Queen Anne lookout we could see the city, the sky tower which was built for the world expo held here in sixty two, Rainier mountain with its snow cap and the fantastic blue skies is Seattle. Then we went to Commodore park to watch the boats go through the locks to go from the fresh water of the lakes to the salt water of the sound. They have built a special area so that the salmon can still swim upstream. The locks work the same way as the Panama canal locks do.

Luckily we were not here in June because about three hundred naked cyclists ride through Fremont in the Fremont solstice parade. Really they are not totally naked, they wear helmets. Some of them paint their bodies so maybe the guy who ran onto the field in the last state of origin would be welcome.
We took the monorail from the sky tower to the city centre, had a delicious chicken philly sub for lunch. After a walk down to the public markets to see the world famous fish market we caught the light rail back to our hotel so we have had a great day, seen fantastic scenery, met some police on horseback, used many forms of transport and we thoroughly enjoyed Seattle.

Day One Brisbane to Seattle

Hello from the USA. After 25 hours we are in our hotel room, have had hot showers and have been to the local Denny’s for a  steak dinner. Now we just need to get rid of the buzzing noise in our heads. Each of our 3 plane journeys was good with plenty of leg room, helpful staff and good food (except for the pretzels). Our check-in in Brisbane was scary because they weighed everything. Hand luggage could only weigh 7kgs. Some people were sent back to repack suitcases and hand luggage and one attendant was especially severe and, you guessed it, we got her. Our suitcases were only 14 kgs (instead of 23) and our hand luggage recorded 5.6kg and 7.7kg. Luckily we were allowed the extra 0.7 as she was distracted at the last minute. The amazing part was that when we boarded the internal flights in America( LAX-Salt Lake and Salt Lake – Seattle) people had huge cabin bags which were more like full size suitcases so it was hard to find room in the overhead lockers for all the cabin luggage and our 7kg lots looked very small indeed!! Still no-one was hit with flying luggage so all is well that ends well. Perhaps people are avoiding paying for checked luggage by taking it all in the cabin.

 (Despite having a new, coded combination lock on his bag) Neil’s bag had been forced open when it arrived in Seattle today. We don’t think anything is missing but it is very strange. We went through customs in LA so it happened on the internal flights in America. Bad luck or bad experience??

Neil had a number of bonding sessions along the way. The guy beside us across the Pacific was on his way to pick up a lady friend (on a go-go mobile) before joining an ocean cruise in Florida. He sat next to a very cranky fellow on the way to Salt Lake City. He lost his house to his first wife, didn’t like Obama’s policies, thought his current wife was poorly paid (teacher receiving $30,000 per year) and generally felt that life was better in the old days. Neil had all the in-depth conversations!! However, he made eyes at the female beside him on the last leg to Seattle and she responded with smiles, laughs and coos. She was a cute brown-eyed 20 month old who was sitting on her mum’s knee and looking at Neil. We found out that her name was Meleta but that was as far as the conversation went. Her mum could not speak or understand English but she seemed a nice lady from South America who no doubt had no trouble with Spanish…only in America.

Tomorrow we are doing a tour of Seattle and then we need to work out how we get to the pick up point  for the bus on Friday as we head to Bellingham and the cruise towards Alaska then.

 The big news is that the skies over Seattle were BLUE today!!! We could see Mt Rainier as we landed. It was almost like looking at Mt Fuji. It seems to be a perfectly shaped cone with a snow cap (even though it is the second month of summer)

Okay, Neil has collapsed and is now snoring so I think I’ll go to bed too. The head gets very fuzzy when you go this long without sleep. I want to be ready for the Seattle tour in the morning.

Day One Web Album Link

Last Aussie Sleep for 26 Days

Last sleep in the home bed tonight. Getting ready to travel is the easy part readying of what you are leaving behind is the hard part. If all goes to plan we will be posting from our hotel in Seattle Wednesday night (US time 7:30pm). Your time will be Thursday 12:30pm. So our posts will go live sometime in the afternoon Brisbane time.

Now 6 Days Until Departure

With 6 days left to departure I have had to make decisions regarding the blog and how to communicate with the group who we want to have follow us.

I have discovered that only people signed up for Google+ will actually get the blog automatic notifications of updates etc.

So this is the plan.

I will have three tools to keep updated daily.

(a) The google travel blog. Google+ members in our Alska Canada circle hopefully will receive an automatic notification of updates to the blog.

(b) A manually created email to the same group with the same information as the post. Apologies for this as it is the only way I can see that I can make sure every person is notified.

(c) I will be keeping a web album updated hopefully daily of photos of the highlights of each day. This is done through Picasa Web Albums as that way I can bypass the Google+ restrictions on notification of updates.

So if you feel you are being spammed my apologies.

Welcome to the Alaska Canada 2013 Travel Blog

You are receiving this post as you have been added to the circle of people who will receive the daily updates on our upcoming trip to Alaska and Canada.

If you wish to bookmark the actual blog web page it is Alaska Canada 2013

For those who have not used a blog before the links to the daily posts are on the right hand side of the page.

You can also scroll down the page to see previous posts.

Introduction

This is the record of our 26 day journey from Brisbane to Alaska and Canada and return.
We leave Brisbane on Wednesday July 24 and return Sunday August 18. We are combining a 14 day tour in Alaska called the Heart of Gold tour organised by Alaska Ferry Vacations and a 7 day self drive tour of the world famous Calgary, Banff to Jasper route.

The Itnerary

Alaska – Canada Trip July/August 2013

Day - Date	Departure Point	Arrival Point	Highlights of the Day
Wednesday 24th July	Brisbane International Airport Depart 11:15am Delta DL6795	Seattle International Airport Arrive 15:00	3 plane flights via Los Angeles, Salt Lake City and Seattle
Thursday 25th July	Seattle	Seattle	Tour of downtown Seattle – Pikes Market and the blue skies of Seattle
Friday 26th July	Seattle	Bellingham Ferry Terminal and then MV Columbia for 3 nights	Bus ride from Seattle to Bellingham and then boarding ship. Travel up pass Vancouver Island
Saturday 27th. July	On board MV Columbia	On board MV Columbia	Inside Passage Voyage
Sunday 28th. July	On board MV Columbia	On board MV Columbia	Inside Passage Voyage
Monday 29th July	On board MV Columbia	Juneau, Alaska	Short visit in Juneau and then 30 min Cessna flight to Gustavus
Tuesday 30th July	Glacier Bay National Park Lodge	Full day on cruising on Glacier Bay National Park	National Parks boat cruise of the bay and glacier viewing
Wednesday 31st July	Gustavus Airport	Skagway, Alaska	1Hr Cessna flight from Gustavus to Skagway
Thursday 1st August	Skagway	Whitehorse, Yukon Territory	White Pass Historic Railway Carcross, Lake Bennett, Klondike Highway
Friday 2nd August	Whitehorse, Yukon	Dawson City, Yukon	Travel the Klondike Highway across the top of the Yukon
Day - Date	Departure Point	Arrival Point	Highlights of the Day
Saturday 3rd August	Dawson City	Dawson City	Goldbottom Mine Tour Tour of Klondike gold fields
Sunday 4th August	Dawson City	Fairbanks, Alaska	Travel the Top of the World Highway, Alaska and Yukon towns of Tok and Chicken
Monday 5th August	Fairbanks	Fairbanks	Riverboat cruise on the Chena River, Susan Butcher’s Dog Sled kennels, Alaskan Native Village visit
Tuesday 6th August	Fairbanks	Denali	Denali Star Train – Gold Class Dome Car
Wednesday 7th August	Denali	Denali	8 hour trip through Denali National Park
Thursday 8th August	Denali	Anchorage Arrive 8:30pm	Denali Star Train – Gold Class Dome Car 8 hour train ride
Friday 9th August	Anchorage, Alaska	Calgary, Canada	Flight from Anchorage via Seattle to Calgary
Saturday 10th August	Calgary	Calgary	Day sightseeing in Calgary
Sunday 11th August	Calgary	Lake Louise	Drive from Calgary via Banff to Lake Louise
Monday 12th August	Lake Louise	Jasper	Icepark Way and Athabasca Glacier
Tuesday 13th August	Jasper	Jasper	Day in Jasper National Park and Jasper surrounds
Wednesday 14th August	Jasper	Banff	Drive Back through Bow Valley, Trans Canada Highway and Icepark Way
Thursday 15th August	Banff	Seattle	Drop car off in Calgary and fly to Seattle Rest afternoon in Seattle
Day - Date	Departure Point	Arrival Point	Highlights of the Day
Friday 16th August	Seattle	Brisbane