Our last few family vacations (our children are now in their mid- 20's) have been to tropical Caribbean islands. Our daughter suggested we change it up a bit this year and go north. We really enjoyed Iceland, so why not? We opted for an Alaskan Cruise. Here's the itinerary/trip we chose:
Our port of departure was Seattle. On our non-direct flight there, we made a connection in Las Vegas. I've not every been much interested in going there... but since we were at the airport for a bit, it was nice to look out and see some of the nearby attractions, such as Mandalay Bay, the Luxor, and MGM Grand casinos. Would have been cool to see the new Sphere as well. Maybe another time...
My wife and son had been to Seattle before, but I had not. Seems like a nice place! We stayed overnight downtown. Woke up the next morning, and a Pride Parade was going on in the street below our room.
Got to see the Space Needle:
Seattle skyline view from our cruise ship docked in port:
Got to see the original Starbucks location in the Pike Place Market:
Interesting building:
Also drove by the Amazon greenhouse dome office buildings, very cool! Didn't get a picture...
We got on our home for the week...the Majestic Princess.
The atrium:
After a day at sea, our first stop was at one of the southern-most cities in Alaska....Ketchikan.
We took a private salmon fishing excursion:
We caught a Coho Salmon (top fish), 4 King Salmon (2nd fish), and a Chum Salmon (3rd & 4th pic below...2 pics of the same fish).
The 5 of us each took turns bringing a fish in, so we all caught something. Below is the small King Salmon I caught.
On to the next port.
Juneau, Alaska, the capital city, was our next stop.
Saw a groggy seal next to the boardwalk:
Our excursion was going to be a private 3-hour driving tour of Juneau. After looking for our ride at the meet-up location, and making phone calls...we learned our driver had cancelled our booked-and-paid-for trip, but failed to tell us. Quick manuevering by my wife got us a taxi van, and we visited the spots we were most interested in seeing: the Macaulay Salmon Fish Hatchery, and the Mendenhall Glacier.
Below you can see a large pod of Chum Salmon preparing to swim up the fish ladder into the hatchery.
The raceway below had a few of either King Salmon or Chinook Salmon in it.
Mendenhall Glacier:
As we left Juneau, the locals were setting off fireworks in preparation for the 4th of July celebrations the next day. Fun!
Later that evening, I happened to look out of the sliding glass door of our stateroom, and saw this ship all lit up. Its a Disney ship.... maybe the Disney "Wonder".
Next port was Skagway, Alaska.
Skagway was sort of the launching point of the Klondike Gold Rush of around 1898. We took a train ride that roughly paralleled the route those folks took. Beautiful country! It looked like it would have been a miserable hike, especially carrying all the gear and provisions the gold rushers would have needed to try their hand at prospecting.
The train took use up through British Columbia and into the Yukon Territory, where we disembarked at Carcross. Then we got in a small bus and drove back to Skagway, making a few stops for pictures. We saw a moose.
Emerald Lake:
Check out the glacier in the valley of the pic below:
We had 2 days at sea as we headed back south towards Seattle. Throughout the entire cruise, we'd seen seals, Orcas, a super-pod of porpoises, and humpback whales.
We stopped at Victoria, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Mount Baker was a large snow-covered mountain nearby:
Float planes were busy taking off and landing in port.
We made it back to Seattle. Due to rain or haze, I hadn't previously been able to see Mount Ranier yet... but we finally got a good view of it:
Great trip, incredible scenery. I'd definitely recommend this trip!
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