Gary, Krista, Cheryl, and I left on August 27th. We flew to Chicago, then on to Vancouver, Canada where we stayed overnight. We boarded the Island Princess on Wednesday, August 28th. The next day was an "At Sea" day, where we just relaxed on the ship as we made our way to Icy Strait Point.
Our first excursion was at Icy Strait and we were delighted that we saw whales. They breached (blew and jumped) just like we had seen on TV but it's so much more exciting when you see it in person!Whales are identified by their flukes (tail fins). The two we saw were Jingles and Taco, which were mother and son.
Juneau was our next stop, where we had a town tour.
We went up on a tram and this was our view.
My sweetheart concentrating!
We visited a place that trained sled dogs.
We rode this Unimog and it went straight up the side of the mountain. That was scary but coming straight down was even worse!
During the summer, they use sleds with wheels so the dogs can practice. I had read that these dogs love to run and I saw this with my own eyes. They work together and seemed so happy and excited. Hope this little video will play for you.
The commands are not made with the reins, as with horses. It's all about the relationship with the person running the sled. The dogs take verbal commands.
This was our sledder and she has actually run in the Iditarod - Last Great Race on Earth®
The dogs are not the dramatic Syberian Huskies
like I had expected.
They're smaller and are not "matching."
My first glacier!
Time for a bit of elegance.
Our friend, Cheryl Nottingham, Krista and Gary Suter, MaryMay Angelil
We left the ship in Whittier and
traveled 9 hours to Denali Park.
We had a wonderful guide. That lady was a walking
encyclopedia about Alaska and I don't think she sat down for the whole trip!
The scenery was glorious.
Here is one happy guy..... why? you ask....
The Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge was near our hotel in Denali and they had one of Gary's all-time favorites - Cioppino
seafood stew.
It was good but none of them are ever as good as his brother, Johnny Suter, made when Gary visited him in California a few years ago.
It was good but none of them are ever as good as his brother, Johnny Suter, made when Gary visited him in California a few years ago.
FINALLY, I got to see a moose AND her calf with my own eyes!
Their faces are long, wide and kind of flat
The antlers were heavy!
I can't remember what kind of antlers these were but they were BIG!
It was our lucky day! We got to see Denali, the highest peak in North America. In the past it was called Mt. McKinley.
There are many people who have gone there numerous times to find the mountain covered with fog.
It
has taken me a long time to find a map that clearly shows the places we
went. This is the clearest, except it doesn't show that we went north
to Fairbanks for our last stop.
August 29 - At Sea
August 30 -Icy Strait
August 31 - Juneau
Sept. 1 - Skagway
Sept. 2 - At Sea - Glacier Bay
Sept 3 - At Sea l- College Fjord
Sept. 4 - Whittier and Train
Sept. 5 - Denali Park and Mount McKinley
Sept. 6 - Fairbanks
Yes, Alaska was awesome and it was a fun adventure.
