Anchorage and Prince William Sound

Anchorage, Alaska is where out tour ended.  Anchorage is the largest city in Alaska and the most northern city in the United States.  We traveled from Denali to Anchorage on a train.  The train had two different levels.  The top level was where all of the passenger seats were located, and on the bottom was a dining area.  The top of the train was encased by glass windows so you could have a 360 degree view.  As we got farther away from Denali, we could still view Mount McKinley.  The first thing I noticed about Anchorage was the skyscrapers and traffic.  I was so happy to see more civilization.  When we got to Anchorage we said goodbye to our tour guide and fellow tourists.  Then we want out to dinner at a seafood restaurant where I almost died again because I was squirted with crab juice.  The next day, we were to travel to Prince William Sound. 

Prince William Sound is a sound located off the Gulf of Alaska.  A sound "is a large sea or ocean inlet larger than a bay, deeper than a bight, wider than a fjord, or it may identify a narrow sea or ocean channel between two bodies of land" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_%28geography%29).  Price William Sound is named after Prince William and has seen many disasters.  In 1964 a tsunami hit and in 1998 Exxon had an oil spill.  Despite these disasters, Prince William Sound is one of the most beautiful places I have visited.  For more information about the sound, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_William_Sound and to plan a trip to Prince William Sound visit http://www.princewilliamsound.com/.

Prince William Sound was the last place on our trip to Alaska and the Yukon.  Our tour officially ended the previous day; however, we stayed an extra day so we could visit the sound. The main thing we saw in the sound was glaciers.  However, we did see a few fishing boats and animals.  The last glacier we saw was my favorite because we got so close to it.  Standing on the deck of the boat, I could see all of the cuts, jagged edges, and crevices in the blue ice.  The captain of the boat turned off the boat's engine so everything would be silent.  In the silence, I could hear the ice crack.  I even got to see a few chunks of ice fall into the ocean.  It was the most spectacular event I have witnessed my whole life.  I hope one day to return to Prince William Sound.

 My family with our tour guide

 Sunset over Mount McKinley in Anchorage

 Glacier on the way to Prince William Sound

 Glacier at Prince William Sound

Eagle and Denali

Eagle is a small city located on the border of the United States and Canada.  In 2000, Eagle had a population of 129.  There is not much to do or see in a city this small; however, the town does hold a mock court for the tourists in an old court house.  For more information on Eagle, Alaska visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle,_Alaska.

You may be wondering why I am talking about an extremely small city that offers little tourist attractions.  Well, this city is where I fell in love with Huskies.  To get to Eagle, we took a boat out of Dawson City.  On the boat we got to talk to all of the crew member including the captain.  The captain's wife was on the boat and she told me and my dad about her Huskies.  She told us how she would race them and how she had over 20 dogs.  Then she showed us pictures of the Huskies.  She told us that she lived in Eagle and when we got off the boat our family was welcome to come over and play with the dogs; I was really excited.  When we were walking up to her house, we could hear the dogs barking.  They were all outside and each had their own little house.  My family and I got to pet the dogs and feed then dried salmon.  Each dog was different; some were white, or gray, or black; some had blue eyes and some had brown.  I was amazed that the captain's wife knew all the names of the dogs.  She told us that it is customary to have themes when naming the litters; one of the litters was named after different types of alcohol.  Visiting the Huskies started my obsession; since then, I have always wanted a Husky.  However, I live in Texas and I am allergic to dogs.  For information about Huskies, visit http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/siberianhusky.htm.  After an hour, it was time to leave Eagle and travel to Denali.

Denali is a national park located in Alaska.  Denali is home to Mount McKinley.  Mount McKinley is the highest point in the Untied States, and it is an amazing site to behold.  We were told that only 30 percent of tourists who visit Denali actually get to view to mountain because it is usually covered by clouds; my family is part of the lucky 30 percent.  Mount McKinley is the biggest mountain I have ever seen; it is 20,320 feet tall.  The top of the mountain is covered in pure white snow. For more information on Mount McKinley, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_McKinley.  Information about Denali National Park can be found at http://www.nps.gov/dena/index.htm.

When we were at Denali National Park, we took part in many activities such as going to a sled dog kennel, taking an ATV trip, and wildlife viewing.  The kennel that we went to was called Husky Homestead.  Husky Homestead is home to the famous Iditarod Champion, Jeff King.  At the kennel we got to see Huskies training for races.  After seeing the training, each tourist got to hold and play with a Husky puppy.  Holding a puppy made me want a Husky even more.  Another activity we took part in was an ATV trip.  The trip took the same route that was described in the book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer.  We could not take the whole route because part of it was flooded.  In Denali, my family took a bus ride to see wildlife while I stayed at the hotel because I was sick.  Another activity that my mom and brother did was fly around Mount McKinley.  They said the experience was wonderful and breathtaking.  I saw the amazing pictures.   

 The Huskies in Eagle

 Me and my dad with a Husky Puppy at Husky Homestead

 Mount McKinley

 Mount McKinley

Dawson City

The next stop on our trip was Dawson City, Yukon.  Dawson City was founded in 1896 during the Klondike Gold Rush.  Dawson City is a small town with historic looking buildings.  The roads are made of dirt and the sidewalks are made of wood.  The buildings of the town are starting to sink into the ground due to permafrost thawing.  Dawson City offers many tourist attractions such as Berton House, Claim #6, Danoja Zho Cultural Center, Dawson City Museum, Diamond Tooth Gertie's, Jack London Interpretive Museum, Klondike Institute of Arts and Culture, and Tombstone Territorial Park.  For more information about the town and attractions visit http://www.dawsoncity.ca/.

Dawson City is my favorite town in the Yukon because it is so unique.  I have never seen a city with dirt roads and wooden sidewalks.  During our stay, we went to Diamond Tooth Gertie's which is a casino/bar.  The casino has a stage where singers and can can girls perform.  The show made me want to move to Dawson City and become a can can girl.  After we saw a show at Diamond Tooth Gertie's, we walked across the street to a local place called the Downtown Hotel and Red Onion Saloon.  The Downtown Hotel's bar is home of the famous Sourtoe Cocktail.  If you do not know what a Sourtoe Cocktail is, here is the explanation from the sour toe club website:

"Established in 1973, the Sourtoe Cocktail has become a Dawson City tradition. The original rules were that the toe must be placed in a beer glass full of champagne, and that the toe must touch the drinker's lips during the consumtion of the alcohol before he or she can claim to be a true Sourtoer. The rules have changed in the past twenty-seven years. The Sourtoe can be had with any drink now (even ones that aren't alcoholic), but one rule remains the same. The drinker's lips must touch the toe. ' You can drink it fast, you can drink it slow-- But the lips have gotta touch the toe'" (http://www.sourtoecocktailclub.com/sourtoe.html).

The toes used in the Sourtoe Cocktail are actual human toes that have been dehydrated.  I was told the idea for the cocktail came from the gold mining days.  People turned in dead bodies of sourdoughs or gold miners in exchange for money.  It was soon discovered that the same bodies were being turned in more than once.  To solve this problem, the big toes were cut off the bodies.  It is said that the toes used in the Sourtoe Cocktail are toes of the sourdoughs.  I am a proud member of the Sourtoe Cocktail Club.

The next day in Dawson City, we took a rafting tour on the Klondike River.  On the river, we went over some gentle rapids.  We saw many local birds, beaver dams, and Bald Eagles.  This was the first time I have ever seen a wild Bald Eagle.  I watched as they flew above us and landed in trees.  They are truly magnificent animals.  At the end of our tour, the tour guides took us to a spot were the Klondike River meets with the Yukon River.  In this spot you can see the two rivers because they are two different colors; the Klondike is blue and the Yukon is grey.  The Yukon is grey because it has sediment in it.  If you put your ear next to the Yukon River, you can hear the sediment falling.  It sounds like sand falling between fingers.  The next day, we would travel back to Alaska.   

 Downtown Hotel- Home of the Sourtoe

 The toe used for the Sourtoe

The Klondike River (on bottom) and the Yukon River (on top)

Carcross and Whitehorse

First, I will start by giving some information on Carcross.  Carcross is located in the Yukon territory of Canada; between Skagway, Alaska and Whitehorse, Yukon.  The town was originally named Caribou Crossing because herds of caribou crossed the rivers in the town.  The name was later shortened to Carcross.  Carcross is home of the world's smallest desert, Carcross Desert.  For more information about Carcoss please visit http://travelyukon.com/about-yukon/yukon-communities/carcross

Carcross was the first city in the Yukon that we visited.  When I got off the train, I thought that the Yukon was not as beautiful as Alaska.  The more we traveled the Yukon, I could tell I was right. However, the Yukon does have some beautiful parts.  Carcross is a really small town.  I only remember seeing a train station and a few shops. Our tour group stopped at the local general store to buy some ice cream; I got chocolate chip cookie dough.  After we finished our ice cream, we got on a bus to Whitehorse.  A few miles outside of the town, we stopped at Carcross Desert and Emerald Lake.  Carcoss desert, known as the world's smallest desert, is about one square mile.  The desert is not really a desert because the weather is too humid; the desert is actually large sand dunes left behind from the last ice age. The dunes are used for recreation activities such as sand boarding, hiking, all-terrain vehicles, cross-country skiing, and snowboarding. For more information on Carcross Desert visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcross_Desert.

The other site we saw outside of Carcross was Emerald Lake.  The lake is named so because the color of it is emerald. According to wikipedia, "the color derives from light reflecting off white deposits of marl, a
mixture of clay and calcium carbonate, at the bottom of the shallow waters.  The high concentration of calcium carbonate in the water here comes from limestone gravels eroded from the nearby mountains and deposited here 14,000 years ago by the glaciers of the last ice age. Glacial erosion was likewise responsible for scooping out the shallow lake bed" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_Lake_%28Yukon%29).  The back drop to Emerald Lake is a beautiful mountain and forest.  Emerald Lake is my favorite lake because it is blue with emerald swirled throughout.  After visiting the desert and lake, we got back on the bus and traveled to Whitehorse.

Whitehorse is the capital of the Yukon, and my least favorite city in the Yukon.  In Whitehorse, we took a tour of the town and visited a farm where we saw bison, water buffalo, mule deer, caribou, dahl sheep, moose, and musk ox.  The bus driver/tour guide was really rude.  He did not know much about the town and he talked down to everyone on the tour.  At night, we went to a show called Frantic Follies.  The show was a musical about the Yukon. The next day we traveled to Dawson City.

 Carcoss Desert

 Emerald Lake

.

White Pass

The White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad (WP&YR) was build in 1898 during the Klondike Gold Rush.  It took 26 months and $10 million to build.  The 110 mile railroad connects Skagway, Alaska to Whitehorse, Yukon.  "The WP&YR climbs almost 3000 feet in just 20 miles and features steep grades of up to 3.9%, cliff-hanging turns of 16 degrees, two tunnels and numerous bridges and trestles. The steel cantilever bridge was the tallest of its kind in the world when it was constructed in 1901."  After the mining industry collapsed in 1982, the railroad closed.  It opened later as a tourist attraction.  For more information of the White Pass and Yukon Rout Railroad visit http://www.wpyr.com/.

On our second day in Skagway, we boarded the train on the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad.  The train was traveling to Carcross, Yukon.  The train had many different passenger cars, so each tour group got their own car.  The inside of our car had wooden benches and over head racks to hold bags.  The benches were not conformable.  My family and I sat in the back of the train by the tour guide.  We watched out the window as we passed many mountains coved with trees and waterfalls.  I got tired of sitting, so I went to the outside platform to get a better view of the landscape.  The train was traveling around 40 mph, so wind was cold as it touched my skin.  I stood out in the cold for an hour or more taking pictures of many waterfalls and mountains.  After I went inside, our tour guide, Adam, taught my brother and me how to play a card game.  The game helped passed the time till we stopped for lunch at Lake Bennett.   On our way to the lake, we saw the ghost bridge.  It is called ghost bridge because it appears out of no where and is surrounded by fog.  The end of the bridge can not be seen.  After we saw the bridge, we took a sharp curve.  During the curve, we could see the front of the train was headed into a tunnel.  Soon we reached Lake Bennett, and stopped for lunch.

At Lake Bennett we got off the train and entered a small building.  The lunch we were served was beef stew.  The stew had peas in it, and I am allergic to peas.  My dad told me to try a bit of the broth to see if I would have a reaction.  After I ate a bit of the stew, my voice got horse and a lump in my throat began to form; it got harder to breath.  We talked to the cook and he made a peanut butter sandwich, but I could not finish it because it was getting harder to swallow.  We were in the middle of nowhere, miles away from a hospital, and I thought I was going to die.  My mom made me walked around to get my adrenaline pumping, hoping that it would open my throat.  As we walked around, we saw an old wooden church.  We also walked down to the lake.  It took about half an hour, but finally the lump in my throat disappeared and I could breathe better.  We got back on the train and traveled to Carcross.

 The old wooden church

 Lake Bennett

 The front of our train

Skagway

Skagway is a small city of about 968 people in the panhandle of Alaska.  The name Skagway comes from a Tlingit name "Skagua" or "Shgagwèi" which means "a windy place with white caps on the water."  In 1896, gold was found in the Klondike region of Canada's Yukon Territory.  This caused many prospectors to settle in Skagway.  The path used by prospectors to travel to Canada is called the White Pass, and it is still used today.  White Pass is one of the many attractions Skagway offers tourists.  Other attractions include Skagway Museum & Archives, Gold Rush Cemetery, Lower Reid Falls behind the Cemetery, Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, the Look Out on Dyea Road, Lower Dewey Lake, AB Mountain, Yakutania Point, Molly Walsh or Pullen Creek Park.  For more history on Skagway please visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skagway,_Alaska.  For more more information of visiting Skagway check out http://www.blogger.com/goog_1650671240

On the forth day of our trip, the cruise ship stopped in Skagway, Alaska.  We woke up early so we could meet our tour guide, and finish the rest of our two week stay traveling on land.  Our wonderful tour guide was named Adam.  When we got off the ship, the first thing I noticed was how beautiful the city was.  Everywhere I looked I saw white snow capped mountains; it was truly breath taking.  Our tour group soon boarded a bus, and traveled to the Gold Rush Cemetery.  We walked around the cemetery looking at the gravestones, and we even got to see the world's biggest gold nugget (which is actually a rock painted gold).  After we saw the cemetery, we hiked up the mountain to see Lower Reid Falls.  This was the first natural water fall I have seen.  We walked right along the water listening to its tranquil sound; I could have sat for hours listening to the water rush down the mountain.  My brother splashed me with water, so I had to get even.  Soon it was time to go, and we walked back down to the bus and rode to town.

When we got back into town, my family and I walked around.  We saw the shops, different restaurants, and hotels.   When we found the rail road tracks, my dad told us that he and his friends put pennies on the tracks; they would wait for trains to pass over them and then the penny would be flat.  He was amazed that my brother and I had never done that.  My dad gave us pennies and we waited for a train.  Soon a train came and flattened our pennies; I still have mine.  The tracks lead us to a little stream where we met two local men who were fishing for salmon.  We conversed about the town, fishing, and salmon.  We learned we could watch the salmon swim up stream if we walked to a bridge in the woods.  When we got to the bridge, we saw salmon fighting their way up stream.  The salmon were jumping out of the water on every stroke.  By the bridge there were traps set out by biologists; they caught salmon so they could breed them.  Soon it was dinner time, so we ate a local restaurant called the Red Onion.  The Red Onion used to be brothel back in the gold rush days, and upstairs was converted into a museum about the brothel.  We started talking to our waitress and found out that she was from Austin, Texas.  I thought it was strange to find a fellow Austinite working in a small town in the middle of nowhere Alaska.  She said when she got back home in a few months, we should visit her at the bar she worked.  After a delicious dinner, we attended a musical show about the history of Skagway.  After the show, we got to talk to some of the cast members and when we mentioned that we were from Texas they said, "You know we could cut our state in half and it would still be bigger."  We laughed.  Finally, we went back to our hotel rooms and went to sleep.      

The more time I spent in Skagway, the more I fell in love with it.  Skagway is my favorite city in Alaska even though it is very small.  What I love most about Skagway is the view.  There are mountains everywhere you look.  I also loved the slow place of the town, no one was ever in a rush, and there was no traffic.  I would love to go back and visit Skagway again.    

Note: If you plan on going on a land adventure in Alaska and the Yukon, do not travel with Holland America.  The hotels were nice, we had a wonderful tour guide, and I had a great experience.  However, most of the people who travel with Holland America are over 60.  The tour guide, my brother and I were the youngest.

Juneau

Juneau is the capital city of Alaska, and  in 2010 it was home to 31,275 people.  Even though Juneau is the capital, the city can only be accessed by sea or air.  The economy of Juneau is run mainly by government, tourism, fishing, real estate, and skiing.  The main tourist attractions include Mendenhall Glacier, whale watching, wildlife viewing, hiking, rafting, kayaking, zip lining, and sports fishing.  For more information on Juneau please visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juneau,_Alaska and  http://www.juneau.org/.  Information about touring Juneau can be found at http://www.traveljuneau.com/index.php

Juneau, Alaska was the first stop our cruise ship made.  As mentioned above, the city has many wonderful attractions in which tourists can partake.  My family and I went whale watching and saw Mendenhall Glacier.  When we first got to Juneau, we boarded another boat that took us whale watching.  I had never seen a whale before our trip.  They are truly magnificent creatures.  Most of the whales we saw were humpbacks; however, there are also orca (killer) whales in Juneau.  I watched as the whales came up to the surface and then dove back down.  As they dove, they would slap their tails on the surface.  I saw a few humpbacks spray water out of their blow-holes.  I even saw a few baby whales.  On the whale watching adventure, I also saw seals resting on a buoy.  We got so close to the seals I could hear them make noise, and two even fought for a spot to sit.  After an hour or so of whale watching, we headed back to the city.

When we got back to the city, my family and I walked around town looking at the shops.  There were several shops where all of the merchandise changed color when held under light. After shopping, we walked over to Mendenhall Glacier.  This was the first glacier I had ever seen.  We were miles away, and it still looked huge.  The glacier is one of the most spectacular natural wonders I have ever seen.  On each side, the glacier was surrounded by grassy hills.  I thought it was weird seeing grass and ice so close together.  The ice of the glacier was so blue.  According the the Mendenhall Glacier visitor center, "glacial ice appears blue because it absorbs all colors of the visible light spectrum except blue, which it transmits. The transmission of this blue wavelength gives glacial ice its blue appearance. Glacier ice may also appear white because some ice is highly fractured with air pockets and indiscriminately scatters the visible light spectrum."   Mendenhall Glacier is about 12 miles long.  After we saw the glacier, we got back on the cruise ship to travel to our next destination.  
The black arches in the water are humpback whales.

This is Mendenhall Glacier

The Ryndam

The first three days of our journey started on a cruise ship called the Ryndam.  It was my first time on a cruise ship and I enjoyed it.  The Ryndam offered many features such as two pools, shuffleboard, dining, shows, cooking classes, bars, a casino, a movie theater, a spa and salon, a gym, and night clubs.  The crew conducted different activities like bingo and dance lessons.  I learned how to make animals by folding a towel.  The Ryndam had something for everyone; if you could not find something to do, you could always enjoy the view.

The first day on the ship, we had to learn the evacuation plan.  Our instructor went over where the life boats were located, how to inflate a life jacket,  and how to exit the ship during an emergency.  During the instruction I kept thinking, "This boat won't sink; why do we have to listen to this?"  After the instruction, we walked around the decks snapping pictures of the landscape and the ship.  The first day was about exploring; I was amazed how many rooms they fit on one ship. Later we played shuffleboard on the upper deck, and then we went to dinner in the dining room.  The dining room offered a variety of fine dining selections, like steak and salmon.  After dinner, we explored the ship more, then returned to our rooms to go to sleep.  In my room I found an adorable dog made out of a towel.  I loved the towel animals so much, I took a class that taught me how to make them, and bought the instruction book.  I went to sleep knowing that this would be a wonderful vacation.     

The second day on the ship was more eventful.  We were in the middle of the ocean with nothing surrounding us, so the waves rocked the boat more.  I could not walk in a straight line, it felt like I was dizzy and spinning; I even fell down once.  It took hours, but eventually I got used to the rocking of the ship.  After breakfast, we participated in some of the activities offered.  My mom and I played bingo; however, we never won.  We also took a ballroom dance lesson.  We explored the ship more then went to dinner.  The dining staff was really nice and accommodating to all of my food allergies.  After dinner, we headed to the theater to see a show.  Being a dancer for most of my life, it amazed me how the performers could execute high skill dance moves with the ship rocking back and forth.  I was surprised by the quality of the performance.  After the show, we went back to our rooms to find another towel animal; this time it was an elephant.

By the third day I had enough.  I was sick of constantly moving back and forth, side to side.  I just wanted to be able to stand or sit still; I wanted to be on solid ground.  Thankfully, the Ryndam was scheduled to stop in Juneau, Alaska.  When we exited the boat, I was so excited to be on ground that did not move; however, we were about to board a boat that would take us whale watching.  After we spent four hours in Juneau, we returned to the ship and set sail.  For dinner that night we went to the Lido Restaurant, one of the many restaurants on the ship.  After dinner, we went back to our rooms to find a towel turtle on the bed.  My dad set a wake up call, because we had to get up early the next morning to leave the ship.  Around 4 A.M. we heard a loud noise coming through the intercom system.  My first thought was, "Wow this is a weird wake up call."  So we started to get ready for the day.  As soon as my mom hopped in the shower, a message came over the intercom stating that there was a fire in the crew's quarters.  My first thought was, "Why didn't I pay more attention to the safety instruction?"  I got my mom out of the shower and my family entered the hallway.  We saw elderly couples trying to use the elevator to get to the deck with the life boats.  I asked my parents, "Don't they know you can't use an elevator when there is a fire?"  Soon, another announcement came on saying that the fire had been put out, and we can all go back to our rooms.  After all the excitement, I managed to fall back asleep.  We woke up two hours later to get ready to leave the ship.

 This a model of the Ryndam

 This is the towel elephant.  Yes, I did name him but I forgot the name.

 This is the outside of the Ryndam.  The orange things are the life boats.

   This is a picture of me and my family at the Lido Restaurant.  Sitting from left to right are, my Uncle Pat, my Aunt Ginnie, and my brother, James.  Standing from left to right me, Laura, my dad, Dennis, and my mom, Jennie.          

The Beginning

The day before our departure we traveled from Austin to Dallas.  We spent the night at my uncle's house so we would not miss our flight.  We woke up at 5 a.m. and went to D.F.W. Airport to board a flight to Vancouver, Canada.  We had a layover in Denver and our connecting plane was delayed.  We were watching the time, so we knew we would not make it on time to board the cruise ship before it set sail.  Thankfully, there were more than twenty people on our flight who had tickets for our cruise,  so the ship departure was delayed.  After waiting four hours, the plane finally arrived.

We hurried off the plane and ran to the bus that took us to the ship. During the bus ride, I could not stop staring at the landscape with all of its beautiful mountains.  After a few minutes, we arrived at the ship and boarded.  The ship's name was the Ryndam, owned by Holland America.  It was my first time on a cruise ship so I had no idea what to expect.

I felt the ship move as we pushed back from the dock into the ocean.  I watched from the upper deck, taking pictures with my camera, as the landscape and city passed.  I saw many mountains and a few lighthouses.  The scenery looked like something out of a movie.

The top picture is Vancouver taken from the Ryndam.  The following picture is of mountains taken from the airplane window.   

About my blog

This blog will account for the trip I took to Alaska and the Yukon with my family.  I will go into detail about the truly unique towns that I visited and the amazing sites that I saw.  I will explain the wonderful excursions I had the opportunity to take in some towns.

The trip lasted about two weeks and we traveled by plane, cruise ship, train, bus, and boat.  We started our vacation on a cruise ship, the Ryndam.  We stayed on the ship for three days and then traveled on land for the remainder of the time.  The places we got to visit were Carcoss, Dawson City, Denali, Eagle, Fairbanks, Juneau, Skagway, Prince William Sound, and Anchorage.

Even though, the trip took place during the summer the temperature never got above forty degrees so we had to wear jackets the whole time.  Visiting Alaska and the Yukon was a wonderful experience.  Alaska is by far my favorite state and one day I hope to go back.