One more sighting...

We thought we had seen it all on our trip to Alaska.  Until we ran into self-proclaimed "Mama Grizzly" - Sarah Palin - at the Anchorage airport...

A ride back in time...

Although it has a population of less than 1,000 people, Skagway welcomes almost 1 million tourists each year.  Historically, the town served as the starting point for the thousands of prospectors who arrived in the North at the start of the gold rush.  Today, it hosts many historical sites and artifacts that give insight into life during that time.

Because Geoff has been involved in a deal related to the White Pass and Yukon Railroad, we decided to take a ride on this famous train. Over the course of the week, we had convinced Fred and El (Beth's parents) and Beth's brother, Mike, to join in the festivities and so then five of us headed out that afternoon to catch the train, parked conveniently at the foot of the cruise ship.

Although the train left late and the commentary a little underwhelming, the scenery was spectacular as we ascended from sea level to approximately 4,000 feet into the mountains above.  The steep drops, the creaky wooden bridges we crossed and the pitch black tunnels were a touch fear-inducing but it was nothing in comparison to the treacherous hikes of the prospectors or the daily grind the bridge builders would have endured.  

The train ride was truly a journey back in time...a time in history we were happy to visit for just a day!

Jolly times in Juneau

While Geoff and Steve went kayaking, the rest of the family went into Juneau, Alaska's state capital and the state's third largest city, to wander around and find Fred (Beth's dad) a barber shop to fulfill his unusual ritual of getting a haircut in remote travel locations.

The kayaking excursion received mixed reviews - the dirty and unsafe tour saved itself by an unexpected encounter with some seals - but overall the kayaking in Juneau could not live up to our great kayaking experience in Ketchikan.

Nonetheless, we were all excited about our excursion that afternoon to the Mendenhall Glacier. 

We have been very lucky with the weather on this trip.  Usually rainy and cool, the weather at all of our stops has been unseasonably sunny and warm and allowed us to enjoy our tours to the fullest (except for animal sightings which became more remote as the animals hid away from the sun).  Our helicopter tour to the glacier was no different.  After all trips had been cancelled that morning g due to the weather and one group the day before had been trapped out on the glacier overnight due to bad flying conditions, the sun broke just before our scheduled departure time and our trip proceeded as planned.

Even though we were both a bit terrified - are helicopters really meant to fly?? - the helicopter ride was incredible.  Five helicopters took off, like clockwork, ascending into the sky and we got to enjoy the stunning Juneau scenery from above.  We even got to see Admiralty Island, a remote island that has 500 people and 1400 bears living there!

Landing on the glacier felt like we were landing on the moon.  The surface was rough, with lots of deep crevices and pools of water randomly splattered around.  The ice is deep at 300 feet and the water falls run powerfully down the mountain, crushing the rocks into sawdust en route.

Everyone seemed to love our time on the glacier, especially getting down on all fours to drink from the water spring that was rushing down the glacier.  As we walked around in our clamped boots, we couldn't have felt further away from city life.

Heading slightly back to reality, we finished up the afternoon with a few drinks at the Red Dog Saloon, Juneau's oldest bar and the host to an episode of The Ed Sullivan Show.  The bar was an unexpected highlight as we enjoyed some Alaska Ale beers and Duck Fart shots while listening to the raunchy piano player sing about "Skeeters on his Peter" while the moody bartender shouted back at him and scolded anyone who dared to ordered non-alcoholic drinks.

After making a contribution to the bartender's Retirement and Viagra collection jars, we kicked the sawdust off of our shoes and headed back to the ship to make our way to our next port, Skagway.

A sight to see

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.

A few Alaska pics...

Two worlds colliding...

Taking selfies at the cruise's 1950's sock-hop dance...

In search of whales...

Icy Strait is a privately owned town near Hoonah, Alaska.  It is owned by the Huna Totem Corporation, a group of approximately 1,350 Alaskan Natives with aboriginal ties to Hoonah and the Glacier Bay area. 

With only one cruise shop allowed to tender at one time, the town feels relatively quiet and untouched.  We tendered into port first thing to meet Colleen - a Canadian who had moved to Alaska -  and her team, to go out on the water in search of whales.

Met at the dock by Dwayne, our "whale whisperer", we drove a quick mile into town to board our boat, Three Wolves, and head out to sea.

A short 20-minute ride and we arrived in "whale territory", spotting a whale almost immediately.  We watched it intensely for about 20 minutes as it glided along through the water.  Eager to find a larger or more active group, we climbed back inside the main part of the boat, closed the interior windows and started the engine to head off on our search.

As if he heard the engine and was summoning us to stick around, however, the whale, pulled his head and body out of the water and crashed back into the water.  It was feeding time!

Naturally, we turned off the engine and watched him obsessively as he sporadically hauled his top half vertically out of the water to help digest the fish he was eating.  At one point, he even did the famous lift and twist move to help remove the plankton from his body.  The water exploded as he crashed back in.  

We saw many whales during our excursion, either swimming along or flapping their tails, but watching this one whale feed and clean itself was a true highlight.

It is still incredible to think that wolves evolved into whales over the short period of 40,000 years (thanks, Steve, for the "amusing" facts!) but it kind of makes sense when you see them pop up for air regularly and sleep like logs on the surface so they don't drown.  Without question though, watching them in action was truly incredible to us.

Paddling in Ketchikan...

We weren't quite sure what to expect from Ketchikan when the key fact about it in our guidebook was that it was the first port of call for many cruise ships and that it generally receives about 800,000 visitors per year.

Upon arrival,  we were very pleasantly surprised to find Ketchikan to be a charming and quaint town and one of our favourite (perhaps Geoff's favourite) stops on our trip.  

The town itself is small, comprised mainly of touristy shops and a few local restaurants.  They only have four stop lights but are proud to enjoy a Walmart (which has a special shuttle just for cruise staff) and the famous "bridge to nowhere".

But it is certainly the scenery that really sells this town.

To take in the nature, the two of us went on a kayak excursion.  Following the guidelines to a tee, we equipped ourselves with thermal socks, multiple layers and a winter ski jacket only to discover that Ketchikan were experiencing its driest heat wave all year.  We were told that we should not only remove all of our layers but that we would be paddling without skirts on the kayaks to prevent us from getting too overheated.

The ocean itself was calm and sparkled in the sun.  It felt almost like we were paddling in an Algonquin lake except for the frequent encounters with jellyfish, starfish and more bald eagles than we could count.

We covered a lot of ground in the few hours that we paddled out in the sun.  Naturally, however, we rejected the hydrating hot chocolate and apple cider they offered upon our return in favour of the coldest water we could find.

We had an incredible day in Ketchikan and learned a good lesson:  sometimes guidebooks don't do a town justice!

Alaska bound...

After an awesome couple of days at the Stampede, we boarded back into the 12-person bus to head to the airport en route to our Alaskan cruise. After a mini but very relaxed crisis where a forgotten credit card was put in a taxi and rushed to the airport, we boarded the plane en route to Vancouver.

The Royal Carribean's "Radiance of the Seas" cruise boat is a large one, accommodating 2,400 guests.  Remarkably, however, the check-in lines moved incredibly efficiently and we were all on board (having "registered" our booze and taken the mandatory boarding photos) and carrying a loaded Royal Caribbean beer cooler bag to our lunch table within the hour.

The departure day was a gorgeous one and so we lounged on the top deck watching the kids swim in the pool as our ship departed port en route to our first port, Ketchikan. 

Our first full day was a travel day at sea. And also Beth's birthday, although she generally tries to avoid acknowledging that.  We spent the day playing games in the library, enjoying long lunches and getting far too competitive about the cruise's trivia challenges. Thank goodness for nephew Adam's insistence that Mickey Mouse's original name was Mortimer or we never would have won those cruise ship key chains.

In the evening, we went to one of the ship's specialty restaurants -Giovanni's Table- for Jenn and Beth's birthday festivities. We enjoyed a great dinner, topped off by a fantastic birthday cake eating at 10.30 pm while watching the sun finally start to set.

Maybe birthdays aren't so bad after all...

By the dozen...

Trading our London raincoats for customized family hoodies, we met up with the Hirshfeld clan to enjoy a long-planned family vacation to Calgary and Alaska.

Travelling in a pack of 12 people (including kids) is a totally different experience than travelling as just two adults.  Instead of hopping in a cab, we all load into a massive mini bus. Rather than making last minute reservations based on our current cravings, event tickets and eating reservations must be made months in advance.  Taking pictures where everyone is looking in the same direction at the same time is virtually impossible. 

Lucky for Geoff and me, the Hirshfeld family is ridiculously organized and all the planning, right down to the last excursion and smallest detail, had been considered, researched and organized well in advance.

Perhaps we need to take them with us for the rest of our travels!