Scenes from a Train Ride

After disembarking from the ship, we took a bus ride to Anchorage where we spent one night. Anchorage is the largest city in Alaska, with about 50% of the state's population residing there. The next morning we boarded the train for Denali and the National Park.

Our train car was very comfortable and the windows provided some beautiful views. And it even had an elevator to make it handicapped accessible.

Where should we sit? Fortunately the seating is reserved and we were just hanging out after returning from lunch.

The lower level of our train was the dining area. Each car was equipped with a kitchen and the food was delicious.
No naps in the dining car! Though the ride was conducive to some good naps.
Beautiful views.
We rode through Wasilla. No, we didn't see Sarah Palin. Nor could we see Russia from her porch or any other porch.
Small houses and cabins were everywhere.

Two engines pulled the train. Each cruise line has it's own cars.
The train cars behind us. The red plants along the train tracks are called fireweed. It's the first plant that grows after a forest fire.
It was already fall in Alaska - the trees and bushes were changing colors.
Next up is Denali. And my husband's encounter with a vole!

Ship life

Here are a few photos from our daily life on the ship.

Mom and Dad as we leave Vancouver.
The hub and I - same place!Half of our state room. The other half was a sitting area with a full sofa, desk area, flat screen television, table and chair along with floor to ceiling windows leading to our private verandah.

Each evening we were greeted by towel animals. Here are a few.

The last night on the ship was the dining crew's night to shine with theatrical presentation of dinner. We all got chef's toque to wear.

Here's the hub:
And Dad:
And the ladies!
Our waiter Bobby.
"Yum-Yum" was there each night to supply us with after dinner mints and fruits. He was the crew member of the month for August.
The hub with our room stewards Sy and Henky (also know as Hanky Panky). They were responsible for the towel animals that greeted us each evening.
Our ship, the Statendam of Holland America Lines was wonderful. Our accommodations were roomy, the food was fabulous and the service was beyond excellent. The crew was so accommodating and helpful with my mom who needed a wheelchair to make the trip. I would recommend this line if you are looking for a smaller, more intimate experience (about 1250 guests versus over 3000 in some of the big ships). There were no climbing walls or wave pools but understated elegance and a wonderful relaxing atmosphere.

Glacier Bay and College Fjord

Our last two days on the ship were spent sailing through Glacier Bay and the College Fjords. It was quite relaxing to hang out on the ship and watch the beautiful scenery. The ship would stop to allow time for photographs and perhaps to watch a piece of the glacier fall into the water.

Here's my mom bundled and enjoying the scenery. We sat on the pool deck with the retractable roof and it was open just enough to keep the windows from fogging, so it was quite cool.
Glacier Bay. I'll let these photo's speak for themselves.

Glacial water run off creates some of the prettiest waterfalls.

College Fjords. This was our view for dinner our last night on the ship.

Coming soon, pictures from the ship and our land trip.

Skagway and Haines

Our third stop was in Skagway, a rather small town that's about 4 blocks wide by 20 blocks long. But it was yet another quaint port town with Gold Rush style homes and tons of souvenir shops.

Here's the view from the ship (do you see a theme here?).

John and I ventured into town early, before our excursion. We were immediately welcomed by the railroad station and this snow plow engine.

One thing you can do in Skagway is take a tour in an antique car. How could I not snap a pic of my favorite guy in front of this 1946 Cadillac.

While waiting for our excursion to Haines, we were entertained by this harbor seal, who promptly caught and devoured a salmon!

Our trip to Haines began with a boat ride across the bay. In Haines, we traveled up a mountain in a 4 x4 Kawasaki Mule. Here are my parents bundled up for the cold and wet trip. This was the only rainy weather we had until the day we left Alaska.

Views from the mountain were spectacular.

On the way up the mountain, we stopped at this lodge for fresh baked cookies and hot drinks. My parents stayed behind for the second part of the trip and were warm and dry in the lodge.

My mom was the first to spot this mama bear and her two cubs.
On our way down the mountain, we stopped again at the lodge for a wonderful meal of beer battered halibut, chicken, fruit salad and the cook's special slaw. It was one incredible trip - another that I would recommend if you were to go to Alaska.

As we departed Haines for Skagway and our ship, we were greeted in the harbor by this beautiful Bald Eagle.

Another excellent day in Alaska.

What do "Juneau?"

The second stop on our cruise was Juneau. Here's a view of the town from our ship.

At the top of the Robert's Tramway, just a block from the cruise ship docks, we saw this little lady. She had been shot and lost the vision in her left eye.

The hub, my dad and I took a little hike up the mountain. The walk down was a little easier!

Here's the view from the tram car. Our ship is the smaller one on the right.

Later that day we took a helicopter ride over the Taku glacier. Our pilot gave us a great tour of the area. And yes, the glaciers are that blue!

When we landed, my mom was going to wait inside the helicopter.

She decided that at 80, she wasn't likely to get back to Alaska, so she climbed out and here we are, standing on the Taku glacier.

Love this photo. I think my husband was jealous that he didn't get the front seat.

Here's a glacial river. It looked like a slide in a water park.

Our second stop was on a ridge overlooking the glacier. The temp was about 20 degrees warmer here. That's our pilot on the right.

This is one side trip that I would recommend. There was just something magical about actually walking on a glacier.

Ketchikan Alaska

Here's a peek at our first stop in Alaska - Ketchikan. Beautiful town - with lots of history.

I know this isn't the most clear photo, but if you look closely, you'll see tons of salmon. It was still spawning time in southern Alaska and the salmon were so thick in this creek you couldn't see the bottom.

Saw this water fountain made of old spigots. I would love to put something like this in my backyard.

Looking down Creek Street, the famous "red light" district in Ketchikan. There's a brothel museum which we didn't tour (we had an outing planned and didn't have time) and most of the buildings, whether shop or residence, had a red light bulb in their outdoor lighting fixture.

More later.

Bring Out Your Dead

Inspired by Monty Python's "Holy Grail" or "Spamalot" I'm sure, this one's for Nurse Nancy and Tombstone Annie! And all other school nurses and health aides. Think hand sanitizer.

ALASKAAAAA!!!!

I've been back from Alaska for five days now and have yet to post any pictures. Why? you ask. Well here's the scoop. We got in at about 1:00 AM on Saturday morning, exhausted from a day of traveling - 7 hours of plane rides, a two hour layover in Minnesota and a four hour time difference are enough to make the best traveler tired. And of course, I could not fall asleep until after 4 AM. I had promised to help with the parish picnic, so when I finally got up, I was off to help with the prep work.Some much needed grocery shopping, mass and a quick dinner out rounded out the day.

It was another late night and I didn't fall asleep until after 3. Sunday was spent in the kitchen at the picnic. At least Sunday night I was asleep by midnight. Monday, running errands and working on cleaning up the pool - two weeks of not running the filter does not a clean pool make. And we've had a bit of a mustard algae problem to boot! Oh, and laundry - two weeks worth of heavier clothes. It still isn't finished!

Tuesday began with a trip to the dentist to have a new crown installed - about 8 injections of anesthetic were needed to numb the spot, but the crown is in and feels great. The pool needed one more vacuuming to clean up after the algae killer had done it's job and the grass needed to be mowed since the forecast for the rest of the week is for rain.

So here it is, early Wednesday morning and I'm still not asleep. But hopefully soon since tomorrow morning I must travel to PA as my mother is having back surgery. I'll stay with my dad and keep him company for a day or two and for the next several weeks, I'll be shuttling back and forth to help them out. We are hopeful that this surgery will give her some pain relief for some disc issues. She had surgery about three years ago and it was not successful.

So tomorrow, when I head out, I'll pack my laptop and the memory cards from the cameras and will use the time waiting for her surgery to be over working on pictures. According to my husband, who downloaded the photos to his camera last night, there are about 2,300 photos for me to go through and decide what to put on my computer. Rest assured, not only will I not download all the photos, I will not subject you to that many either.

So in the next few days, I'll post some photos with a synopsis of our trip. For now, suffice it to say that it was one of the best vacations I have ever taken.