2011 BC: Alaska - the last frontier!

Our week on the ms. Zuiderdam was a mix of seafaring days and days in port.
The seafaring days allowed for lots of scenic viewing, wildlife spotting and some lazing (but not as much as I had anticipated!!).

There's a whale under there!

Peter, Cheryl and Amelia at the first formal dinner

The days in port were in Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan.

Unfortunately the weather was not great in Juneau, the capital of Alaska. We rallied to go up Mount Robson for a lookout over the harbour and then wandered through the shopping streets, picking up a few things and taking advantage of some of the offers available to passengers. The town of Juneau was quite pretty and there were lots of Art Deco buildings. But the rain left us a little flat and we went back on board for dinner.

The view from Mt Robson

Street corner in Juneau

Skagway is a partially recreated town that saw its heyday in the Klondike Goldrush. The town itself is charming, with wooden sidewalks. We visited an old house and the museum before getting the historical train to the top of the Yukon White Pass. The train was built to help those rushing to the goldfields, and the scenery was lovely. There was even a black bear cub for the viewing (for those not using the facilities!!)!!

Skagway

All aboard!

The Yukon White Pass train

Old Ketchikan

Ketchikan was a very interesting city to visit. We started off with a trolley tour around the town, seeing both tourist and other highlights! unfortunately, during the tour Frank's camera was knocked hard and consequently out of action for the rest of the cruise. We bought ourselves some tickets for the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show and shopped until it was time for the show. It was a most entertaining show, with two teams competing in a number of events (chopping, climbing, etc). Our team was the victorious one! Not only that, Liam came away with a little chair that had been made during the show!

Lumberjack Show

After the show we had the most delicious smoked salmon chowder at a small restaurant next to the Lumberjack Show. It was a memorable meal!!

An iceberg(er)

The days on board were fun, with amazing things floating by. We saw many icebergs (iceburgers, according to Phoebe!) as we moved north and into Tracey Arm. The day we spent sailing in Glacier Bay was spectacular, seeing a number of glaciers running into the sea, including the Pacific Glacier that had a mouth 2 miles wide, and the one I thought the most spectacular, the Marjorie Glacier. There was a lot of wildlife to be seen including whales and other sea creatures. We spent some time at the Marjorie glacier with the boat slowly turning and we saw a number of bits of the glacier fall into the sea.