Saturday July 25 - August 1, 2009

We woke up early this morning and were off to our ship, The Diamond Princess, which was docked in Whittier, Alaska, for the cruise. We boarded the bus by 9 AM and were on our way to Whittier. The scenery from Kenai to Whittier was not that spectacular, compared to what we have experienced over the past week. We arrived in Whittier at approximately 12:30 PM and were on the ship by 1:15.

Once we arrived on the ship and found our room, we headed to the lido deck for some food. As on most cruise ships, the selection was rather extensive. After eating we walked around the ship for awhile to learn where everything was located. It is a rather large ship with all of the expected cruise ship amenities; dining rooms, lounges, bars, gym, pools, hot tubs, sauna, etc. The selection of food was diversified and we generally had no problem choosing off of the menu. We tended to vary our meals mostly between beef, chicken and fish. The desserts were especially good!

The next two days we were at sea and we all found plenty of things to occupy ourselves, whether it be people watching on deck, browsing the shops, snacking, snoozing or just enjoying the scenery from our private verandah. Monday was especially scenic as we entered “College Fjords” and Glacier Bay National Park. The sights were great........seeing all the blue glaciers, snow capped mountains, waterfalls, etc. The ship took its time through the fjords so everyone could enjoy the sights and take photos. The range in temperature was amazing..........at one point we were all bundled up and freezing on deck, and an hour or so later we were sitting in the hot sun on our balcony. At one point it was so hot that Alan even took his shirt off and just had shorts on. The amazing thing about this was that he sat like this on the verandah as we passed snow capped mountains, and maybe a half hour later, he was wearing three layers of shirts & jackets in order to keep warm.










On Tuesday, we arrived quite early in Skagway. Gail and I took the White Pass & Yukon Route Railway. The train, of vintage parlor cars, took us from the dock on a 20 mile trip, past waterfalls pine forests, steep mountain slopes, etc. to the White Pass Summit, the boundary between the United States and Canada. Again, the scenery was great..........typical of the beauty we saw throughout Alaska. Once back in Skagway we met Alan and Pamm in town and walked around checking out the tourists shops........ a lot of T-shirts, and other typical tourist oriented junk. In the later afternoon we were back on the ship for a light snack, snooze, dinner, show, etc.

Wednesday morning we arrived in Juneau, the capital of Alaska. Today was a short day.....the ship was leaving port at 3:30 PM. After getting off the ship we took a bus out to the famous Mendenhall Glacier. We avoided the pricey excursions that Princess was selling and found a local bus that took us to the glacier for $14 each, round trip. At the site of the glacier, not only did we see the glacier but were surprised to see a momma black bear with her two cubs. It was neat seeing the cubs asleep way up in a tree, while momma sat at the base of the tree protecting them. After our visit to the glacier we headed back into the city of Juneau to browse the shops and do a bit of shopping. Along the route back to the city we passed two bald eagles sitting along the shore of one of the rivers. Once back into the city we had some Russian potato dumplings, browsed more of the typical tourist shops and headed back to the ship. Once on board, Alan and I headed to the sauna, hot tub, pool, and steam room for a little afternoon “schvitz”. The evening on board was typical; shower, dinner and show in the “Princess Theater”.

Thursday was our 3rd and final port stop...... Ketchikan, Alaska. Ketchikan is a very old town, known as the “Salmon Capital” of Alaska. Of the three ports, this was the most quaint and interesting. There were many totem poles located throughout the town. We did not plan any extensive excursions, but choose to do a walking tour of the town. The visitor center provided a walking tour map which took us through many of the towns highlights, the most interesting being the “salmon ladder”. Here, salmon were attempting to make their way from the sea to the spawning grounds at the top of Ketchikan Creek. We could actually see the salmon jumping up and trying to get passed various rock obstacles on the creek. Along the creek we even saw a bald eagle sitting on the shore. After finishing the walking tour, again, we stopped into the “junk” shops in the town, had a bite to eat and a beer in a local “gin mill”, and then boarded the ship. Today, Gail & Pamm joined Alan and I as we headed for the spa & “schvitz” routine. Gail and Pamm were not interested in the sauna and steam room, so they met us in the hot tub & pool. After a relaxing time at the spa facilities, we relaxed in our rooms prior to going to dinner and the evening show. Tonight the show was a variety show, performed by the ships crew. This was fun and amusing.

Friday, was our last full day on the ship. It was our last "day at sea" as we headed south for Vancouver. The day was rather uneventful, but extremely relaxing. It was a beautiful day and after browsing the onboard shops and having lunch, we spent most of the day relaxing on our balconies. We sat in the sun, shared a bottle of wine and even saw a few whales at one point. The rest of the day was typical, with showers, dinner and entertainment before retiring for the final night. We all had a great time and were quite sad the cruise was now coming to an end.

July 24, 2009 - Kenai Peninsula, Alaska

Since we had the entire day here in Cooper Landing, we slept a bit later than usual. Yesterday we made plans to take a six hour rafting tour down the Kenai River. Pamm & Alan chose to go salmon fishing. (They did not catch any fish, but had a wonderful day on the river anyway.......they got to see a brown bear too!!) Gail and I had our usual morning coffee and bagel and were off for the river by 10:15 AM. When we arrived at the tour outfitter, along with 5 other people from the Princess Lodge we were "dressed" for the river ride. We all had to put on a rain suit, rubber boots and a life jacket. All of our belongings, aside from cameras were put into a huge waterproof bag that accompanied us in the large rubber raft. We now set sail for our voyage down the river. Within the first few minutes we saw a rather large bald eagle flying nearby .....very difficult to photograph though. The scenery along the river was outstanding. As we moved down the river a bit, there were literally hundreds of people along the shore in waders, salmon fishing. We saw salmon jumping out of the water as everyone tried to catch them........exciting to see. It did not appear that many of them had luck, but we did see several people catching sockeye salmon or trout. After a bit, the river became more like rapids and we were all glad to have our rain suits on. Unfortunately we did not see anymore wildlife aside from a few more bald eagles. In the early afternoon we stopped off and the guide made us huge sandwhiches from an assortment of things he had in a large cooler on the raft. After lunch we made our way across Kenai Lake for more exhilerating scenery. By 3:30 PM we were done with our journey and we had a van waiting to take us back "home". Overall it was another exciting day in Alaska. The day on the river was beautiful with more and more breathtaking scenery. I am sure that many people do not realize the scope and beauty of our 49th state. It is a place that I believe most people should have a chance to visit during their lifetime. After our wonderful day, we came back to our "cabin", rested a bit and had dinner. Tomorrow we are off to Whittier to board the cruise portion of our trip. We are quite excited about that, but we are very sad to be leaving the land portion of our trip. It has been most exciting and a place we hope to come back to again soon. Hopefully next time we will have an opportunity to spend a lot more time in areas such as
Denali and the Kenai Peninsula, that we personally found most scenic & rewarding.

Thursday July 23, 2009 - Kenai Peninsula, Alaska

Awoke this AM and had to be on the bus by 8:30 for a motor coach ride to Cooper Landing, Alaska for our next stop. The Princess Kenai Lodge, located on the Kenai Peninsula is located in Cooper Landing. For some unknown reason, our bus did not arrive on time and we departed at about 9:15. Our first stop was Anchorage, where we had lunch. The ride was uneventful and the scenery on the way did not compare to what we saw on the train ride the past two days. We did pass through Wasilla, which is a rather large city for Alaska, but there was no "Sarah sighting". Our driver did point out what he believed was Sarah's house, which was located on the lake. We arrived in Anchorage at about 11:40 AM and we had lunch in a very nice breakfast/lunch restaurant called the Snow City Cafe. We all had great omelettes, etc. and then boarded our bus, bound for the Kenai Peninsula. The next portion of the ride was more exciting than what we saw in the morning.......... we passed several lakes, rivers, and mountains. One "lake" was very strange and was made up mostly of glacial silt, which basically looked like gray mud. We arrived at our lodge by 4:30 PM and checked into our rooms. Of all the Princess Lodges we stayed at so far, this was the most remote, which was more to my liking. Basically, there are small log cabins that are divided up into the equivalent of four private motel rooms, each having its own sitting room with wood stove. The Princess property is located on the Kenai River, surrounded by mountains, many even snow capped...... just breathtaking. Before dinner we took a walk along the river, and there were salmon jumping out of the water........ everything we expected Alaska to be. We eventually had dinner, Pecan crusted halibut, spent some time typing the blog and went to bed.

Wednesday July 22, 2009 - Mt. McKinley, Alaska

We had another outrageous day........another train ride from Denali to Telkeetna, Alaska, and then a shuttle to Mt. McKinley Lodge. This morning we were on our own until about 11:30 AM when we had to meet the train to Telkeetna. We woke up early as usual, had a quick cup of coffee and danish and headed out for a short hike around the Denali Princess Lodge property. After checking out the area, which is quite a nice piece of property, we headed over to the train station. On the way we stopped off at the visitor center at the entrance to Denali National Park, and saw a brief movie on the parks wildlife. We boarded the train as yesterday, headed up to the dome car and were on our way. After a few minutes I "needed" to go down and hang out on the outdoor platform with all of the other avid photographers. I spent the next 4 hours on the outside platform taking hundreds of photos .......... forests, streams, rivers, mountains, beaver dams & lodges, and everything else we passed as we traveled through the wilderness. The train rides, both yesterday and today were outrageous. It was hard to digest the magnitude of the Alaska wilderness and hinterlands. My photos can in no way capture what we saw, nor can any words that I write. I always hear about Alaskan cruises, which we will embark on in a few days, but I think we would have missed so much of the beauty of Alaska by not taking the train rides and seeing the vastness and beauty of the Alaskan interior. After another great day on the train, we arrived at our first destination, Talkeetna. We had dinner at a real local hometown "joint". It was great homemade cooking......... the menu was on a chalkboard, and we were not given a check at the end of the meal; we had to walk up to the counter and tell them what we ate, they added it up and then we paid. Pamm, Gail & I had spinach lasagna and Alan had a reindeer "pastie". Everything was delicious and quite inexpensive compared to what we have been paying in the Princess lodges. The whole place could seat 27 people. After dinner we took our one hour shuttle to the Mt. McKinley Lodge where we spent the night. Unfortunately, we could not see Mt. McKinley today because it was hidden behinds the clouds. We were fortunate that we saw it yesterday on the train ride.

It is now 10:30 PM and it is totally daylight outside.....very strange. Off to bed and up early tomorrow for our full day bus ride to Cooper Landing in the Kenai Peninsula for two nights.

Tuesday July 21, 2009 - Denali Park, Alaska

Wow...... that is about all I can say after today! We left the hotel in Fairbanks at about 8AM for the train depot and boarded our Princess domed car for a 4 hour train ride to Denali National Park. Once we got on the train, we had some breakfast in the dining car........a bit pricey though. What an incredible ride........the scenery was great. Here we were in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness on a train, traveling through spruce forests, passing streams, lakes, etc. I cannot even begin to describe the experience. This is what I have been waiting months for! We had a reserved table in a very nice domed car, but I spent almost 100% of the time on the outside platform between cars, taking photos. Part of the time I was on the platform at the very end of the train, therefore could look and take photos in 3 different directions. It was extremely noisy and windy, but great! There were cars on this train from Alaska Rail, Celebrity Cruise Lines, Royal Caribbean, Holland American and Princess. Each company had its own domed cars, all attached and being pulled by an Alaska Railway engine. Each car was a different color, had its own logo and was a sight to see as we went over bridges, around bends, etc., etc. Unfortunately we did not see any wildlife along the way. BUT, we did see snow capped Mt. McKinley (the highest peak in North America) along the way. It was an extremely clear & beautiful day & we were told that only about 30% of rail travelers actually see Mt. McKinley because it is usually hidden in the clouds. Everything was just breathtaking. We arrived in Denali approximately 12:30 PM and were taken by coach bus for a 10 minute ride to the Denali Princess Lodge where we will spend one night. Once we arrived at the lodge, our luggage was already in the room...... it was taken here by truck very early this AM. After a quick lunch of pizza we boarded a bus (luxurious beige school bus) for a 17 mile "Natural History Tour" into Denali Park. This was quite interesting as we saw more great scenery; mountains, forests, streams, etc. etc. We even saw some caribou off in the distance at one point. I just kept snapping away on the camera, and have not had a chance to look at most of the photos yet. After a long day we arrived back at the lodge at 6:30PM and headed off for an excellent sockeye salmon dinner. It is now approximately 9:30PM and I am exhausted ........this had to be the most exciting day yet, except for when we saw the moose on Sunday. Tomorrow we leave Denali Park and take another train to Mt. McKinley Lodge. That should also be quite exciting as we venture through another part of the Alaskan wilderness.

Monday July 20, 2009 - Fairbanks, Alaska

This morning after a quick cup of coffee and muffin we boarded our coach bus for a ride to the El Dorado Gold Mine tour, which was part of our tour package. On the way to the gold mine, we made a short stop to see a portion of the Trans Alaskan Oil Pipeline that goes through the Fairbanks area. Then it was on to the Gold Mine Tour. It was rather interesting to see how gold was mined about 100 years ago, but the overall tour/train ride, panning for gold was a bit hokey...... perhaps best for young kids. We returned to the hotel for an hour, had lunch and then went on a 3 hour Sternwheeler Riverboat Cruise. This took us along the Chena River, where the guide on the boat told about the area and specific places we passed on the way. This was quite interesting, and a lot more rewarding than our morning experience. We passed a sled dog camp along the way, where the boat stopped and we were given a short talk about the dogs, racing, etc. That was a lot of fun. We continued along the river, and stopped for an hour or so at an Athabascan Indian village. Here, some natives explained their traditional ways of life and we saw many of their ways of life and artifacts. At one point we saw a sea plane taking off as we traveled down the river. That was a rather interesting sight. It becomes obvious that in Alaska, this is a major means of transportation due to the limited number of major roads. We are now back at the hotel where we just finished dinner. Pamm, Alan and I all had reindeer lasagna & Gail had BBQ Ribs. We now have to pack our bags and get ready for a 7:00AM departure tomorrow by rail to Denali Park where we will spend one night.

Sunday July 19, 2009 - Fairbanks, Alaska

A very exciting day......... We woke up early this AM and headed out to explore the hinterlands of Fairbanks, with Alan & Pamm in a rented Ford Focus. Alan did the driving so I could concentrate on taking photos. After speaking with several people at the hotel and car rental agency about where we might find some interesting wildlife, we headed Northeast out of Fairbanks on Chena Hot Springs Road. We were told that we might see moose along this route, but not much more. So we drove and drove about 60 miles and were all quite disappointed at not seeing any wildlife, The scenery was quite nice though. We reached the end of this road (yes, this 60 mile road was a total dead end) and had lunch at the only place around; The Chena Hot Springs Resort. After lunch we headed back to Fairbanks, hoping to have better luck spotting moose. Along the route we stopped and took some photos at a sled dog camp, which was quite interesting. The dogs were all tied up at their individual "homes" and appeared rather relaxed for the photo shoot. We continued on our way back to Fairbanks and after many more miles, Gail & I both shouted at the same time "There are moose". Alan immediately pulled the car off to the side of the road, we all got out and there was a rather large female moose (cow) in a river with her 2 calves. Incredible sight to see. I must have taken at least 50 photos, of which you can see an assortment below. That made our day!! At one point the calves begin to nurse on mom.....very exciting for all of us. After our photo shoot, we hopped back in the car and headed back to Fairbanks for a bit of rest. Tonight we ate at a Salmon Bake for dinner. All you can eat salmon, halibut, prime rib, salads, dessert, etc. for $31 a person. It was pretty good for the price, but we did not stuff ourselves too bad. One nice thing about everything here, is that there is no sales tax. That is all for now. I hope everyone enjoys these photos. Tomorrow we see more of the Fairbanks area. (You can click on any of the photos to enlarge them).

Saturday July 18, 2009 - Fairbanks, Alaska

Well, here we are in Alaska.........we arrived in Fairbanks about 6PM local time after a 6 hour flight from Minneapolis. The flight was smooth, but boring. We are actually 4 hours behind New York time, so from our perspective it was actually 10PM. We took the shuttle over to the Princess Lodge, checked in and headed out for some dinner. Gail and I shared 2 dinners of Rock Fish and Halibut. We walked around a bit near the hotel, which is located directly on the Chena River in Fairbanks. It is a very scenic location. It was quite interesting to see all of the cars & trucks with Alaska license plates, and almost everyone of them has a 3 prong AC connector hanging above or below the front bumper to plug the car in during the winter, to keep the engine block warm for easy startup in the sub-freezing winter temperatures. Parking lots in many shopping centers have places to plug the car in when people go shopping. It is hard to believe that it is now 10 PM and the sun is just starting to set. I think sunset is actually 11:55 PM. Well, time to go to bed. I think that tomorrow we might rent a car and check out the Fairbanks area........ and hopefully see some interesting wildlife. We will be in the Fairbanks area until Tuesday when we head south to Denali Park.

Saturday July 18, 2009 - Newark Airiport

We awoke quite early this AM, packed the car and headed over to pick up Pamm & Alan for our trek to Newark Airport. After a rather uneventful ride to the airport, we dropped off the rental car and checked in for the first leg of our flight to Fairbanks. We have a stop over in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota for about an hour and then a 6 hour flight to Fairbanks where we arrive about 5:45 PM Alaska time. I am posting this from the Northwest Airline terminal in the airport as we await our first flight.

July 3, 2009 - Rhinebeck, NY

Two weeks to go before we depart for Fairbanks, Alaska .............we are currently gathering our thoughts, our clothes, and all the odds & ends necessary for a wonderful & exciting trip with our friends, Pamm & Alan. None of us are looking forward to the hassles of air travel. Once we land in Fairbanks, I am sure the fun will begin and all the initial aggravation will have been worth it.

We may not have internet access at all points along the trip, so I will try and update the blog as often as I can. Please check back often and follow our exciting escapades.