Alaska 2014, Days 6 and 7

Day 6 was another sea day.  Miles discovered the "Fun Shops" and seemed to think that he needed more stuff.  Miles spent quite a bit of the day in Camp Carnival,

while Nolan spent a bunch of the day watching "Forensic Files".

We docked in Victoria, British Columbia around 3 p.m. on Day 7.  We didn't have anything planned, so we walked into town.  Miles played at a playground; then we watched the water taxi, and float planes take-off and land.

We walked over to the government building,

then saw the Empress.

With nothing else better planned, we walked to "Chinatown" which was a one block street with some "made in China" stuff and some great signs.

"No Camping"... Like I was contemplating it!

Then we walked back to the ship and called it a cruise.

Great trip!  I'd love to go back!

Alaska 2014, Day 5

Today we ported in Juneau.  It was a gray, drizzly day, but that didn't interfere with our plans.  We had a whale watching excursion booked.  We went out on Auke Bay and saw wildlife!  We saw eagles (and one that had a fish in its talons), seals, and sea lions.  The highlight was the whales!  We saw a dozen or so humpback whales, including bubble feeding; and we saw a large pod of orcas.  One orca swam right up to the boat.  Awesome, awesome, awesome!

Seals in Auke Bay

a Bizillian Sea Lions too!

A humpback whale lunge feeding

Playful orca!

This orca came and checked us out!

My favorite whale picture (too bad it's not quite focused!)

Large pod of orcas!

Bubble feeding humpbacks

"Blowhole smoke"

After the whale watching, we went to the Mendenhall Glacier.  I love blue glacial ice!  Nugget falls is right next to the glacier, so a glacier with it's blue ice and a huge waterfall right next to each other.

We were in Juneau for a long visit, so there was time to do/see more.  Nolan and Dan went zip-lining, while Miles and I went and had lunch on the ship.  Miles was excited because he got a turn playing beanbag toss.

Then Miles and I got off the ship and took the tram up to the top of Mt. Roberts.  The view was less than awesome because it was raining hard!  We rode the tram round-trip twice, then went shopping.

Alaska 2014, Day 4

The ship docked in Skagway early in the morning.  We got up, ate, then headed out.  The ships dock in front of a cliff it "graffitied" with the cruiseline logos and names of the ship's captains who have docked in Skagway.  We had a rental car reserved so we could drive the South Klondike Highway through British Columbia and into the Yukon.  Again, the scenery was so stunning.  The bluest lakes, the densely forested area, the mountains rising up with snow capped peaks... Amazing!  We drove as far as Emerald Lake in the Yukon.  Outside of Carcross is a little desert where we stopped to let Miles play for a bit, we also stopped at a lake for a rock throwing session.

One thing we really, really hoped to see was a bear.  We were driving up the highyway, turned a corner and saw a bear on the shoulder of the road walking towards us.  (S)He couldn't care less that we existed.  We stopped and took pictures and gawked, and then continued up the road where we encountered another black bear.  This bear was hanging around just off the side of the highway eating dandelions.  He, too, didn't care that we existed.  Driving back to Skagway, we encountered a third bear that was walking on the shoulder of the highway.  They were all awesome creatures!

We got back to Skagway with plenty of time before we had to sail, so we did some shopping.  Miles wanted a bell and Nolan wanted socks.  Then we went on a hike that wasn't supposed to be difficult, but 500 verticle feet in a half miles wasn't the best.  When we got to the lake at the top of the trail, we realized that we'd climbed the cliff that the ships were docled next to.  The lake was nice, but Miles was disappointed because there weren't many rocks to throw. 

After the hike, we walked back to the ship.  As we left Skagway, we took the obligatory "Welcome to Skagway" pictures!

Alaska 2014, Days 2 and 3

Day 2 was a sea day, so we had no plans; we were the ship's captive audience.  I know we went to a show, and we may have gone to the comedy club.  We saw humpback whale spoutings from our balcony.  Miles went to Camp Carnival.

Day 3 was the day we were supposed to go into the Tracy Arm Fjord.  Unfortunately, the Fjord was littered with a huge ice field, so the itinerary changed and we sailed into the Endicott Arm Fjord instead.  This fjord typically isn't sailed by cruise ships; it's been "reserved" for smaller crafts, like private boats and kayaks.  We did encounter some kayakers.  The area was beautiful.  We saw whales breaching, eagles sitting on icebergs, porpoises swimming alongside the ship, and seals flopping on icebergs.  The scenery was stunning.  We bought a catamaran excursion that allowed up to get up close to the Dawes Glacier.  We got to see it calve. So cool!  I'm so glad we paid for this excursion because those who didn't go on the catamaran, didn't get to see the glacier.  This fjord, too, was filled with an impressive ice field.  The ship had to stop 6 miles from the glacier while the catamaran could navigate around the icebergs and took us within yards of the glacier.  Awesome day!