I got up at 3:30 am to see the northern lights, but found out it was still light outside! The sun sets at 10pm but sunrise is at 4am, and it never really gets dark in between. However, I did get to see a beautiful moon glow over the ocean.
We arrived in the early morning to the port in Ketchikan which was heavy with activity.
This is the last port stop we will make on the cruise. Ketchikan has a huge rain gauge (a liquid sunshine gauge)...they measure rain in FEET, not inches!
We have been very lucky with the weather. So far, there has been only one day with rain, and it was a light mist. Most of the days shared sunshine with us, and we rarely had to wear those winter coats and gloves we brought along.
We booked two excursions today. The girls went to the lumberjack show which was a little wild and crazy! Timber and logging are a big industry in the area, and this show highlighted some of the lumberjack activities in a fun and lighthearted way.
The boys went fishing for salmon. Alaska is a fisherman's paradise, known as the salmon capital of the world. It was a little early in the season, and there wasn't much catchin in Ketchikan. But the boys were successful in getting several bites and pulled in one King Salmon! They also got to enjoy some time with nature and bragging rights of saying they fished in Alaska!
In the afternoon, the girls ventured out to Rotary Beach, a local beach in Ketchikan. There was plenty of exploring to do among the huge quartz boulders.
That evening, we had dinner at the Animator's Palace one of the ship's restaurants dedicated to the theme of animation. It was pretty clever...they had us all draw people on our placemats.
Then, later in the evening, the drawings appeared in an animated show on the walls.
We wrapped up the night with a peaceful view of the harbor and a beautiful sunset as we set sail for home.
Juneau is the capital of Alaska, but there are no roads connecting the city to the rest of the state. It is yet another city that you can only reach by air or boat.
It was a calm day as we entered the port in the early morning.You could see clouds hanging midway over the coastal hills, and an occasional eagle flew by as if to greet us.
There are about 32,000 residents in Juneau, and 10,000 cruise ship passengers join them each day! There were 3 ships in today, including the massive Quantum of the Seas which holds twice as many passengers as our boat.
Our adventure today was a trip to a musher camp…where they keep
dogs in training for the Iditarod.The
dog teams were harnessed up and waiting for us as we boarded the “sleds” (on
wheels) for our ride.
The dogs were
barking constantly, ready to go.
As
soon as the musher gave the command, the dogs took off. It became quiet, and the
dogs went to work, pulling us along the trails at a pretty good clip!It was so interesting to see how the dogs
work together, and amazing they love to do this!The musher’s signals were very quiet, but the
dogs immediately responded to commands.
One of the guides talked to us about how they train and
prepare for races.This guy grew up in
Indiana (West Lafayette) and now lives in Wasilla, Alaska.He owns 30 dogs and is preparing to do the
Iditarod in the next few years.We’re
going to watch for him so that we can cheer him on…Mark Walker, of Walker’s
Wild Ride.
The Iditarod is an 1000 mile
race in March each year that starts in Anchorage, travels across the Yukon and
ends in Nome.There are only about 100
entries accepted for the race, and it takes 8-14 days to complete. It costs
about $50,000 to run the race, considering supplies, travel, gear, etc. for
both the dogs and the musher. Each team uses 4,000-5,000 footies for the dogs each race.
There are
about 18 dogs in a team, and during the race, dogs can be dropped (they are taken to Nome or home, and tended to by vets. No dogs can
be added, and at least 12 dogs must finish the race, with only one musher
allowed to accompany the dogs throughout the race.The dogs are brought to these “summer camps”
which are in the Tongass national forest, as it gets too hot for them in the
northern part of Alaska.These dogs can
be comfortable at 65 degrees below zero!!!
We were able to play with some of the 6-week old puppies,
and the kids were ready to put them in a backpack and bring them home!
At the end of the ride we were treated to hot chocolate and a fire.
We ventured back to the dock and had lunch at the Red Dog
Saloon, a local watering hole.
The
streets were lined with shops (and people.)One of the guides told us there is very little crime in the city, and
maybe that explains the miniature police vehicles!
Later, the sun came out for us and warmed things up.It was quite a treat, even for the locals
who said it rains in Juneau 222 days a year!
The ship had a Pacers watch party in one of the lounges, and
those of us that wanted to eat, watched the game on a phone at the dinner table!We had high hopes for a win.
And to cap off the night, a group of whales gave us a show from the starboard side of the boat, as
the sun set and bid us a beautiful farewell.
Skagway is the northernmost point of the inside passage. We arrived in port about 7 am. and two ships were already moored at the dock.
The morning was chilly--there wasn't much sun greeting us today. Rather, there were quite a few clouds hanging over the mountains. But the scenery is amazing, everywhere you look.
This is the first stop where we can get off the ship.
We took a bus inland to the Tongass forest, a temperate rain
forest. A temperate rainforest differs
from a tropical rain forest in that it has four seasons. The forest was filled with tall trees—mainly
Hemlock and Sitka Spruce (the state tree of Alaska).
Although there was a light mist falling, the canopy of
trees protected us from getting wet.
The ground was moss-covered and spongy as you walked over it.
We
learned the spruce is a great source of Vitamin C. We also learned that the bright green tips of
the spruce tree are used in brewing a local beer—SpruceTip ale! You can bet we replenished our Vitamin C
before leaving Skagway!
The adventure at this stop was a trip down 14 different
ziplines through the rainforest and over Grizzly Falls. After arriving at the forest, we loaded
into a “monster truck” that took us up a bumpy narrow and very steep road to the base
camp where we got our gear.
The zip lines were each named…ie “Running Man” where you ran off
the platform to launch, or “Grizzly Line” where you zipped over the Grizzly
Falls.
We were challenged to spin or go upside
down, but some of us were not brave enough to take it on.
The views were amazing, and the thrill of ziplining in
Alaska is one to remember.
The town of Skagway is small and quaint and usually
closes during the winter months when there are no tourists to support the economy.
The most photographed building in Skagway is built out of pieces
of driftwood.
The Red Onion Saloon is a stop we remember from our visit 12 years ago!
After our zipline adventure, we stopped at the Spruce Tip Brewery on Mainstreet for sipping Spruce Tip Ale (for a jolt of Vitamin C) and a dinner of halibut fish and chips....yummy!
