2016 Alaskan Cruise- Sitka

Our day in Sitka got off to an early start.

We boarded a former school bus that had been repurposed for tour groups. Green buses were all over the city. I think the locals must feel invaded during cruise season, seeing all of those darn green buses everywhere!

Our first stop was the Sitka National Historical Park, where we learned about Totem Poles. The Totem Poles on display are over a hundred years old and were donated by local Tlingit and Haida tribes for the 1904 Louisiana Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri. The Totem Poles toured around the United States, and were brought back to Sitka in 1906, when the current park was created.

Since we were on a tour, we only had twenty-minutes to race around the exhibits. Sitka National Historical Park has beautiful trails with the Totem Poles and a small museum. If I had been on my own, I think it would have taken over an hour to truly enjoy the experience. I'd love to go back.

Next Stop, was the Alaska Raptor Center, which was really my primary reason for booking this excursion. The Alaska Raptor Center is an amazing facility that rehabilitates injured birds with the goal of returning them to the wild. We were given a tour of the facility, which has an enormous indoor flight area and we got an up-close look at a Bald Eagle named Sitka. The Alaska Raptor Center is a non-profit doing good works, so if you visit, make sure to bring a little extra cash to throw into the donation bucket. This is a must-see for animal lovers of all ages!

We were give a little time to explore the center on our own and we found a pretty trail behind the main building.

and then, we saw this, quickly ending our walk in the woods.

The last part of our excursion was the Naa Kahidi Dance Show located at a community center in town. This thirty-minute performance by members of the Tlingit tribe ( kids and adults), was a sharing of their culture, including song, dance, and folk tales. The little kids performing were adorable and so excited to share their culture. I have to admit that I have never heard of the Tlingit tribe prior to this vacation, but came away feeling informed. On our ship, we were given daily Tlingit words and facts sheets, left on our bed during turn-down.

Our excursion ended after the dance performance and we had a few hours to explore the town. Sitka is quaint and filled with unique (not just tourist-trap) shops. I was thrilled to find Old Harbor Books, an independent bookstore with an excellent selection. I bought The Alaskan Laundry by Sitka local, Brendan Jones. I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but perhaps I will take it on my 2017 return trip to Alaska!

Here are some other shots from around the town. You will notice Russian stores; Sitka has a sizable Russian population.

Alaska is full of fish n' chips food trucks. For lunch we ate at Ashmo's. The Mac and Cheese was fabulous.

On the way back to our ship, we saw these two dog, each in a truck parked on opposite sides of the street. They were just watching each other.

2016 Alaskan Cruise- Mendenhall Glacier

No trip to Alaska would be complete without seeing a glacier. Although we didn't opt to do a helicopter tour, where we would have been able to physically stand on a glacier, we did get an up-close view when our ship made a scenic voyage to see the Mendenhall Glacier.

The Mendenhall Glacier is located approximately twelve miles from the state capital of Juneau. Due to climate change, the glacier is retreating, but at the moment it is over thirteen miles long.

Dan and I found a quiet spot on the deck and bundled up. The approach to the glacier was beautiful, but slow. It took several hours and was very cold. If you travel to Alaska, pack gloves and scarves. The closer we got to the glacier, the more we saw floating ice in the water. The small pieces of ice made a fizzing sound, like soda or an Alk-Seltzer tab being dropped into water.

Holland America has a wonderful tradition of serving hot split-pea soup during the glacier viewing. A waiter approached us on the deck and handed us our bowls. The soup was delicious, but the best part was having something warm to hold!

As we approached the Mendenhall Glacier a live narration was piped in all over the ship. The narration was provided by a naturalist who was located in The Crows Nest Lounge ( prime viewing spot if you cared to go there early- inside and warm) and she not only provided facts, but fielded questions from passengers. The narration was interesting at first, but after awhile, it was like listening to Los Angeles newscasters giving a live play-by-play during a car chase. To put it more simply, she ran out of things to say and it would have been nice to have a little quiet.

Looking back on our pictures, I realize that there is no way that the pictures due justice to our experience of the Mendenhall Glacier. The glacier is huge. It's so big, that we began to feel concerned as the ship kept getting closer to it. One of my strongest memories is the sound of cracking ice as large chunks of the glacier calved and fell into the water. It sounded like an earthquake or the sharp crack of lightening. We saw at least a dozen enormous pieces of ice drop into the sea.

Here are the pictures, just magnify it in your mind.

Our stellar experience at the Mendenhall Glacier is one of the primary reasons that we have booked another cruise to Alaska for the summer of 2017. This summer we are taking my step-children who are from Sweden, so that they can also have this amazing experience too.

2016 Alaskan Cruise- Juneau

Our first port was Alaska's capital city of Juneau. We arrive mid-morning and had several hours to explore the town prior to our planned excursion.

Here are a few initial shots from when we exited the ship. The statue is of a bull terrier puppy named Patsy Ann, who helped out on the port during the 1920's. She is a legend in Juneau.

I don't go on cruises to shop, but apparently this is a huge part of cruising for many people and jewelry is a focus. Like other port towns, Juneau had the same jewelry scam going on, with stores offering little trinkets and aggressively trying to grab our attention. We played a game where we avoided these stores in pursuit of our souvenir magnet that we like to buy. The town is cute, but really mostly a tourist trap. I imagine locals steer clear of this area during cruise season.

For lunch, we went to Deckhand Dave's, a fish taco food truck parked in the port. Fresh fish with fluffy batter = delicious.

Crows are everywhere in Alaska! We also saw wild bald eagles, but the crows rule the city. They are very clever birds.

Pretty wild flowers.

For our afternoon excursion, we hopped on a tour bus and headed to the Juneau Sled Dog Discovery and Musher's Camp. Located in the Tongas National Rainforest, we visited a training facility for dogs and mushers preparing to compete in the Iditarod.

In the summer, the dogs train with sleds that run on dirt. We were given a short ride in one of the sleds. The barking, howling, and whining prior to running is ear-splitting. You've never heard such a ruckus. The huskies are so excited that they can't help but make noise, but when they run, they are completely silent and focused. All you hear is the sound of their feet hitting the dirt and the musher's calls.

After the ride, we saw a presentation on the equipment used and the logistics regarding the Iditarod.

The Tongas National Rainforest is lush and beautiful. We were able to take a few pictures before heading to the final portion of our excursion.

Saving the best for last, we went to meet the puppies! We held puppies ( both a few months old and a few weeks old) and snuggled them. We also got to see the older puppies run in a giant hamster wheel like contraption. They loved it! You just can't feel anything but pure joy when cuddling puppies. So soft and sweet.

Time with the puppies was over too quickly. If they had let us, we'd probably have ditched the cruise and moved in with the dogs!

After our short bus ride back to port, we had just enough time to ride the Goldbelt Mount Roberts Tramway, an aerial tram that rises to 1800 feet above the port. At the top, we found a gift shop, restaurant, and a raptor center.

A few pictures that I have to comment on. First, look at this brown bear paw print. Yikes! We saw many bear warning signs in Alaska and if this paw print doesn't make you take the warnings seriously, nothing will!

Dan thought this log was rubbish! Just before the cruise, we had a one-ton Timothy Oulton log coffee table installed in our house. No log will ever compare to our log!

See the hang glider? This was very close to the aerial tram and bald eagles were also soaring in the vicinity. It was quite the show.

One last picture of Juneau, posing in front of our ship.