Vacation Over, Back to Work!

Ahh, what a nice time! Alaska is a beautiful adventure. My brother, sister and I gave my parents an Alaskan cruise for their 50th wedding anniversary last September. My mom chose August for their time to cruise and asked all of us and our families to go. My wife and I were the only two able to go as my neices and nephews were due to start school very closely to, if not during the week of our cruise. My sister is also a teacher and was to report back to school ahead of all the kids.

I highly recommend this cruise to anyone wishing to experience a one. The Alaskan cruises are one of the most popular. The scenery is very beautiful and the waters are a multitude of blues and greens as well as the ice that flows by. The glaciers are unbelievable and the wildlife will surprise and amaze you.

We embarked on a 7-day, roundtrip cruise aboard the Star Princess of the Princess Cruise Line out of Seattle, Washington bound for Ketchikan, Alaska, August 5th. On our first leg, we were at sea for a day and a half. Upon our arrival in Ketchikan, my dad and I caught an early flight tour of the Misty Fjords of that area onboard a de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver float plane! What a great plane. I love the sound of that engine. Our tour took us on a one hour flight on a northeasterly direction around the fjords of Ketchikan. What beautiful country. The weather was excellent. There was cloud cover but I understand that we had better weather than most for this time of season. Higher than usual clouds allowed us to fly over ranges that are typically not navigable. After we landed, we caught the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show. That was a fun little show.

The Star Princess Ported in Skagway

The Sign Says it All

Our Steed For the Day is in the Background
It Was the Rear-Most Beaver You See

Flying Over the Fjords. It's Difficult to Pick
Just One Shot to Represent the Experience

It Was an Entertaining Show

Just Part of the Lumberjack Show

Our next port was Juneau where we embarked on a bus to the Mendenhall Glacier. There, we checked out the visitors center and all it had to offer with a very educational experience. We only had an hour for that excursion and I really wanted to take the walking path which puts you closer to the glacier and the waterfall nearby. Maybe next time!  Next, we boarded our bus bound for a whale watching experience with Allen Marine that was out of this world. We went out about 20 minutes or so. We first saw a colony of sea lions after which we viewed a pod of about 5 or 6 whales for about 45 minutes. During that time, we witnessed 2 breaches and 3 bubble-net feedings along with many times they surfaced, exhaling and taking breaths and diving, showing their tails. What a totally awesome experience!!! We understand that this was a very rare trip to have as much activity as we witnessed. I could have stayed all day there, even in the rain we had during the tour.

The Mendenhall Glacier

Just a Few of the Many Sea Lions in this Colony

One of the Many Views of the Whales We Saw

Our next port was Skagway, were we took a motorcoach tour along the Klondike Highway and stopped first at a camp called Liarsville! Here, we watched a little show about some of the history of the time in the Yukon and did a little gold panning. Now, if you decide to do this little excursion, DO NOT GET YOUR HOPES UP! You will NOT strike it rich. They give you a pan with some dirt and mostly small gravel in it and let you go to a trough of water and try your hand at panning the gold that has been put into it. Yeah, it's put in there purposly, mostly to give you the experinece of finding gold. Everyone will find it if it's done right. I got 3 little piece and a littler flake. There was a souevenir shop, a place to dine, an ourdoor dining area for larger groups and several large, pitched tents made into living quarters to give you an idea of the prospecting experience.



Yep! Believe EVERYTHING They Tell You!! :o)

The Show at Liarsville

At Today's Prices, This is Probably About
$1.00 Worth, If THAT! Lots of Fun Though!

Next we boarded our coach and drove further up the Yukon Highway into Canada about a half mile and stopped for about 10 minutes. The driver let us get off the bus to take in the scenery. WOW, was it chilly up at the summit for being summer, which is about 3300'. It was pretty incredible to view the area where the Klondike prospectors traveled with a ton of gear, bound to strike it rich. Utterly amazing. Here is the Klondiker's Supply List:

150 pounds (68 kg) bacon

400 pounds (180 kg) flour

25 pounds (11 kg) rolled oats

125 pounds (57 kg) beans

10 pounds (4.5 kg) tea

10 pounds (4.5 kg) coffee

25 pounds (11 kg) sugar

25 pounds (11 kg) dried potatoes

25 pounds (11 kg) dried onions

15 pounds (6.8 kg) salt

1 pound (0.45 kg) pepper

75 pounds (34 kg) dried fruits

8 pounds (3.6 kg) baking powder

8 pounds (3.6 kg) soda

0.5 pounds (0.23 kg) evaporated vinegar

12 ounces (340 g) compressed soup

1 can of mustard

1 tin of matches (for four men)

Stove for four men

Gold pan for each

Set of granite buckets

Large bucket

Knife, fork, spoon, cup, and plate

Frying pan

Coffee and teapot

Scythe stone

Two picks and one shovel

One whipsaw

Pack strap

Two axes for four men and one extra handle

Six 8-inch (200 mm) files and two taper files for the party

Draw knife, brace and bits, jack plane, and hammer for party

200 feet 0.375-inch (9.5 mm) rope

8 pounds (3.6 kg) of pitch and 5 lb (2.3 kg). of oakum for four men

Nails, 5 pounds (2.3 kg) each of 6, 8, 10 and 12 penny, for four men

Tent, 10 by 12 feet (3.0 × 3.7 m) for four men

Canvas for wrapping

Two oil blankets to each boat

5 yards (4.6 m) of mosquito netting for each man

3 suits of heavy underwear

1 heavy Mackinaw coat

2 pairs heavy woollen trousers

1 heavy rubber-lined coat

12 heavy wool socks

6 heavy wool mittens

2 heavy overshirts

2 pairs of heavy, snagproof rubber boots

2 pairs of shoes

4 pairs of blankets (for two men)

4 towels

2 pairs of overalls

1 suit of oil clothing

Several changes of summer clothing

Small assortment of medicines

The list was a suggestion of equipment and supplies sufficient to support a prospector for one year, generated by the Northern Pacific Railroad company in 1897. The total weight is approximately 1 ton, and the estimated cost amounted to $140 ($3,800).

 

So, imagine carrying a ton of gear over the terrain in the picture below. That's after you've made the climb up through the mountains! If you had a pack animal or sled, you'd have to travel about 1,000 miles to make the trip through the White Pass trail to Lake Bennett. Check out the story here about the Yukon Gold Rush.

View of the Summit Area on the
Alaska/Canada Border Along the Yukon Highway

Well, that was near the end of the trip. We drove back into the USA and headed for our ship which then took us to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. We were there after day and a half of sailing and ported about 7:00pm PDT and enjoyed a nice horse-drawn trolly ride around the city of Victoria. What a beautiful city. The history is no less amazing and the sights are plenty.

The Empress Hotel in Victoria, B.C. Canada

We boarded our ship and sailed again at midnight, bound for Seattle. We arrived in Seattle at 6:00am and disembarked by 9:00am headed for home by air. It was quite an adventure and I look forward to returning soon for other experiences. Everyone we've spoken to about this cruise remarks that this is one of the best cruises there is. You'll not be disappointed. As matter of fact and as a point of interest, during the whale watching tour, you're told that if you don't see any whales, you'll be reimbursed $100. But, don't count on getting your money back as they've had whale sightings every time out for the last 14 years!

Ok, back to the grindstone! I'll be posting by later all the activity I've done on Misty, including the completion of the rudder!

Take Care and Thanks For Reading!