Alaska

So...Let's see. What's new with us? Oh yes! we enjoyed an Alaskan cruise last week!! There were actually 28 of us, mostly relatives and family. We all met in Vancouver, BC and boarded the ship MS Statendam on Sunday June 21 for a week. We sailed up the west coast with stops in Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway. We also cruised through Glacier Bay and College Fjord. Words, or even photos for that matter, cannot begin to capture the incredible scenery. We flew into Vancouver on Friday the 19th and had a chance to tour the city on Saturday. It is a beautiful city and there is much to see so we only touched on a few highlights.

A view of downtown from a park across the bay. As you can see, the tide was out.

A park near the hotel where we stayed.

On Sunday afternoon we boarded the ship. We found our accommodations to be quite nice.

Our group after dinner one evening.

Our ship: The MS Statendam with Holland America Cruise Lines

Another view of the ship from Mt. Roberts in Juneau

The atrium

The Van Gogh Theater

The Rotterdam Dining Room

"High Tea" in the afternoon

Dessert Extravaganza!

We and Gary & Diane decided to get up early Monday morning and watch for Orca whales as Diane had been reading that this passage was the place to see them. We didn't see any but by 5:00 a.m. the sun was coming up

On Tuesday, we arrived at Ketchikan, AK. We were told that it rains 360 days a year. The odds of a sunny day weren't in our favor. We had about 8 hours there and spent a good share of our time just walking and shopping. Yes, it was rainy.

We arrived in Juneau at about 7:00 a.m. on Wednesday. The weather was beautiful. Highlights for us were whale watching and hiking.

The first excursion of the day was a wildlife and whale watching tour.

The scenery was beautiful.

Along the way, we spotted these Stellar Sea Lions sunning themselves. They are somehow able to climb virtually straight up the side of those rocks.

We encountered these humpback whales doing what is known as "bubble feeding" where one whale locates a school of herring and signals the others before forming a circle of bubbles around the herring. This traps the fish inside the circle of bubbles so the rest can come up through and have lunch.

"Spouting"

A show of tails.

In the afternoon,  we and Gary & Diane rode the tram up Mt. Roberts and then hiked. The views were amazing. That's Juneau below!

Looking the opposite direction.

Thursday morning, we arrived at Skagway. We spent some time shopping and looking around in the morning.

In the afternoon, we boarded the White Pass Rail for a 28 mile journey into the mountains that took us to Fraser, BC.

There, we got off the train and grabbed bicycles for the ride back down on the Klondike Highway.

We caught a few glimpses of the train as we wound our way back down.

A huge glacier in College Fjord.

A close view of Marjerie Glacier in Glacier Bay

This glacier actually has a waterfall under it.

More beautiful scenery our last evening on the ship in College Fjord.

Midnight sun.