Alaska

Rail Journey. A Highlight

/ brisbanefrannie / 8 Comments

Excitement was mounting in our room this morning. Our big 8!hour rail journey to Denali was on today. Steve particularly likes train travel.

It seems there are a lot of rail enthusiasts with us! Particularly the men.

We left the hotel around 8.15 after our bags were picked up from inside our room at 6! We had ours ready so stayed in bed when the porter knocked and came in to get them.

The train is beautiful. All seats are upstairs and very comfortable with big dome windows and ceiling.

The dining cars are downstairs.

The biggest excitement was seeing a bear just before we left the station! It was the only one we saw all day.

There is seat service for drinks snacks & cocktail’s! They love their cocktails here in Alaska. With names like Blue Caboose, Clumsy Conductor, Rail Runner, moose Kiss….. oh what to choose.

Example of the food available

The staff are young and lots of fun pointing out things of interest as we travel along.

There are many gravel pits along the way. Gravel is used extensively on paths and roads as it is crushed and manages the snow run off from glaciers. They don’t use salt on their paths and roads because moose love salt and would be on the roads and paths licking it away. And moose cause lots of road accidents. They don’t get out of the way.

Another story involves duct tape. In Wassilla they use a lot of it In fact 325 miles a year and have duct tape events such as a duct tape prom! Imagine that! These are small places and need to invent their own fun.

Our seats in the dome.

Funny things our guide told us:

Turkey bowling. They use a turkey as a ball on the frozen lake.

……Alaskan saying. There are many more men in Alaska. So for the women……The odds are good but the goods are odd.

……Black spruce is like a Charlie Brown type of Xmas tree. White spruce is bigger more traditional. Aspen tree has black eyes in trunk. The white birch white bark. If it’s peeling it’s paper bark.

…….Moose eat willow. Asprin from willow bark.

……Braided rivers. Messy. Snow is melting spread on an open plain.

……Talkeetna a small town ( inspiration for the tv series ‘Northern Exposure’ ) a place where 3 rivers meet.

…….The mayor here has issues. Mayor is a cat called Aurora but now Winston the Alaskan dog is in the running.

The scenery along the way

……All mountaineers who want to climb Mt McKinley arrive at Talkeetna. May – Aug is the climbing season. This is base camp. Denali or Mt McKinley as it was called is one of the tallest mountains in the world. It is the tallest on the American continent and is one of the ‘seven summits’ of the world.

The scenery is amazing

…….we saw a beaver diving in the river. Can be big. Beaver pelts are very soft. Warm and sticky. Top layer coarse. So waterproof. Next layer is soft and cosy.

The journey was 8 hours and just wonderful the whole way. We had lunch in the dining car with a lovely couple from the Blue Mts in Sydney.

Our knowledgeable conductor.

We arrived into the Holland American lodge at around 5pm. It’s a big resort spread out over a large area. Half high up and the rest down below with a shuttle running the whole time to transport you to the different areas.

Our room is a good size – a bit dated! but the bed is comfy.

Rooms are cabin style.

Our wilderness tour starts at 6.30! So we intended to be in bed early. But as it’s still light here at 10pm we ended up staying around the fire with the new Aussie friends we have made here.

Alyeska: rest day or hiking?

/ brisbanefrannie / 2 Comments

We had a great night sleep. This hotel resort is very quiet – ski season is over. The tram up the slopes isn’t running so everyone sleeps in!

We made it to the fitness centre and gym. The pool is quite big. Enough for laps. The hot tub is big. I’ll bet it gets crowded in season! it wasn’t today.

Breakfast didn’t happen this morning so after the swim we got ready to go to town.

Girdwood is the tiny town nearby the resort. There’s a shuttle but we decided to walk to it. Around 3.5km

The path meanders away from the road and for a moment or two I worried that a bear would come out of the woods!

Another couple had asked at the desk about seeing bears on the 3km walk to Girdwood. They asked should they take anti bear spray. “Yes” he said. Could we get some here. “No” he replied. “We don’t have any here. You can get it in the town!”

Needless to say we made it to town. During the walk we came across a few seats to rest and see the views. It was too cold to sit so we admired and moved on.

We spotted a memorial to a former Miss Alaska , a local who loved dance and gardens. Later saw a plaque dedicated to a young girl who died at 12. We hoped she didn’t meet a bear.

Girdwood is tiny. Big wide street with an eclectic collection of buildings. All timber: we saw a general store ( super expensive) , a PO, medical centre , a few restaurants- all in log houses and Grind a coffee shop.

We went in a found a little treasure run by Nicole. It smelled great. Had lots of interesting things on the walls and all types of milk.

Grind coffee

Nicole asked where we were from. When we replied Australia she said she hoped her coffee was up to standard. She’d heard Australia had the best coffee around. She’s not wrong. We haven’t had too many good coffees. She did well. It was great. and we had a great chat about living in Girdwood. There isn’t much here. You have to love skiing and the quiet. Nicole loves it. She moved from Idaho and eventually most of her family have followed her.

The houses are not really in the township. They are scattered in the surrounding streets and in the woods nearby.

There are. Lot of big red two cab trucks here. You need a big car to battle the conditions. It must cost a fortune. Gas here is around $5.60 US a gallon for diesel !. Because of its remote location everything here is expensive. And our exchange rate is still terrible. We are only getting 63 c for every American dollar.

Lunch was at the Chair 5 bar restaurant. A lot of wooden tables & chairs, tvs blaring ice hockey , groups of locals and tourists, and a waitress who was as colourful as she was friendly. Let me describe the outfit. Gum Boots, odd colourful long socks , black shorts , black t shirt with words advertising on the front , arms ran with coloured ink pictures, curly black hair, several piercings and a beanie. And oh so friendly. We ordered a salad $28 and a pizza $25. They were both giant sized.

We walked another 10 mins up to the nearby brewery and sat outside around a warm brazier and had a beer while chatting to another Australian couple from Sydney.

Where in the world.

A bus delivered us back to our Resort for a short rest and read.

Though not very hungry we decided to walk to another ski lift at the ‘Olympic Village’ for a drink and bite.

Another 25 min walk. The two pub bistros were closed. It’s Monday night ! Back to the hotel through the bear forest (at least it’s not dark at 7pm) and into the hotel bar restaurant for a bite, a chat to more Australians and then to bed. We certainly got our steps up today.

Arriving back from our no dinner walk

The hotel room is very comfortable there are heated towel rails which is great for drying our clothes overnight!

I hear there is a lot of rain in Brisbane it’s drizzling here and snow predicted tomorrow. A late cold burst. Stay dry everyone.

Last Day at Sea

/ brisbanefrannie / 3 Comments

We weren’t sure what to expect from a cruise. But this has been lovely. Good stops along the way . Good shore experiences. Great hospitality on board and of course the scenery.

Today is another quiet on board day. I didn’t think I’d like whole days at sea but there is as much or as little to do you want.

We met our friends Patty and Tom for the Alaskan brunch. Really lovely relaxing by the big windows looking as you cruise along. The mimosas were good as well.

Then a 5 km walk around the deck. It’s getting cooler as we move north. So a hat and gloves were helpful. Because I had time I went to the gym to keep my exercise program going. It’s great looking out at the front of the boat while doing leg curls!

We went to the information session with Ian the British man with lots of information for us on a variety of topics. Today it was the Iditarod race. In its 54th year it is a race for huskies, and their musher on a sled for around 1,000 miles. Each day is around 100 miles. 160km !

It is gruelling ! The dogs look adorable. They are well trained and strong. They do wear little booties to protect their paws.

It starts in Anchorage on the first Saturday in March then progresses west. There are two routes – alternating each year.

The gorgeous huskies and Ian being enthusiastic
We met some of the dogs a few days ago on their holiday.

Now decision time. Calligraphy lesson? Cards, Coffee in Crows Nest? Reading in the lounge. Always something to do.

They had a carnival on the pool deck. Complete with carnival games line hoops la, knock em downs etc. with fairy floss , popcorn, fancy cocktails and lots of uniformed ship staff it looked fun.

Later we started the evening with a chat session with Sergio the guitarist and Kelly the pianist. She’s from Perth and went to WAPA the musical university there. It was a good chat session about their life as a musician on board. we have a bit of an insight to that. We have two nieces who have worked on board as musicians. Bertie married the ships engineer so is still cruising the world when not in Italy when her girls are at school.

Our last session at the piano bar. The trivia today was songs from Movies. We sat with Patty and Tom and had a good score. Tom was a surprise! He knew lots and my love of movies came in handy. Though I often can’t ’name the song’ I can usually sing it though.

With Patty and Tom from Nth Carolina

Last dinner in the dining room was fun. They brought out the chef and all the behind the scenes restaurant staff and with waiters paraded around the restaurant while everyone cheered and waved serviettes in the air.

The final show was called Timeless and all the cast sang and danced with infectious energy.

They finished with Time to Say Goodbye the Andre Boccelli song. It was appropriate to finish with as we made our way to our Cabin to pack. We have to have our bag outside the door at 11pm. Tomorrow all the groups have a disembarking time. We’re not until 12.10 so later than some…. Some left at 7.30!

Unfortunately it’s rainy and windy out. We’re heading to Alyeska resort which is primarily a ski resort with cable cars, thermal pool, walking trails etc. it should be good if the rain goes.

Others are heading to a variation of our 7 night program. Patty and Tom left at 8.30 and go to Anchorage before Denali. They leave Denali National Park on the day we arrive.

Farewell to this part of the trip.

Keep following for the land part.

White Pass Rail. Into the Yukon

/ brisbanefrannie / 3 Comments

An early start today. We have an 8 hr tour. It’s all so well organised with a message directing us to gather in the dining room.

We met up with Patty and Tom and a new couple from near Jarvis Bay in Australia.

We then had a tender take us from the boat to the shore with a short walk to our bus. The reason for the tender was there had been a rock slide last week quite near where the ship is anchored and they don’t want rocks falling on us. So it’s a bit of a performance to put us in tenders and drop us further along the dock.

Our chatty driver River is our guide today. He settled us in and explained the day. We are to bus up to Whitecross with a stop at Carcross for coffee and a look around the little shops and businesses. No jewellery shops.

The scenery as we left Skagway was beautiful though low cloud made it hard to see the mountains.

Carcross for coffee.

The driver continued his banter and we all relaxed into the trip and chatted to those around us. Patty and Tom were in front and we chatted away to them.

We left Cancross and continued on to our lunch stop which is in Canada – and included a village. They had two museums and a great display of wild animals which had been recreated through taxidermy. Quite frightening!

The museum dedicated to the Mounties was very good and the history of the gold mining in Dawsons Creek was fascinating. Towns grew up from nothing and thousands came seeking their fortunes. Most of course didn’t make much at all.

One of the huskie dogs here for a summer holiday.
The huskies are moved here for the summer for training.

The scenery is as spectacular as it is harsh.

Looks like a tropical paradise. The silt produces the beautiful blue.

The highlight of the day was returning to Skagway by train. The Whitecross railway. It descends 3,000 ft in 7 miles. Quite a ride! It took about 90 minutes.

But before that we spied a bear near the road as the bus was taking us to Fraser to get the train. he was strolling along…….

.

The scenery was gorgeous. I was trying imagine building that railway back in 1897 taking nearly 3 years to complete.

Rounding a bend I saw the front of our train!

We arrived back in Skagway, population 400, and strolled the streets. We walked carefully as if you fall and break something there is no doctor in town! Just a vet.

The building and all the sidewalks are timber.

A rough timber clad building.
The Red Onion Saloon. A former brothel.
Now it’s a popular bar.
A real ‘outback’ type of town.

Back on board after a very cool walk back to get the tender.

Then it was orange party night on the ship.

I did my best to wear orange!

There was a party on the World Stage which we went to after our dinner at Morimoto. It’s one of the speciality restaurants onboard. It was so tasty. Asian fusion.

Lots of orange clad people dancing.

A late night as tomorrow is a sea day. So a sleep in.