Terry, MaryEllen and I headed way west to see 'the last frontier', Alaska. Overall, the trip was good, but there could have been MUCH better planning on the part of Grayline and Carnival. It's a beautiful part of our country and a place I would go back again. But I would do it myself and not part of 'a herd' like we did this time.
We'll start with a sign we found somewhere in one of the small Alaskan towns, maybe Juneau? Looks like they were waiting for me to arrive...
Next comes the train we took on the first part of our journey. We were in the 'fancy cars', but you're not allowed on if you're with Grayline.
During our land trip, we ended up panning for gold. Here's Terry and MaryEllen near the end of their 'pan'. After going through about 8 pans between 2 sites, we had about $16 worth of real gold. (Don't forget we spent about $60 to get this 'free ' gold).
We also visited a Goldredge, where they used to extract the gold. No thanks. Not a place I want to work....
After 4 days of hurry up and wait for Grayline, we finally got to board the Jubilee. This is what we have been waiting for.
Here's what we really came to Alaska for...See some glaciers
In Ketchikan, we decided to forego the normal expensive tourist stuff the ship setup, and we ventured out on our own. Probably one of the best days we had there. We found the Totem pole museum and a guy carving a brand new one for the front of it.
Here we are in Skagway. Lots of time to spend here, and we only did the Eagle Float preserve. We rafted down this 'river' which in most spots is only about 12 inches deep (yes, one foot). Some places, the guides had to push off when we got stuck. It was a great day for this float trip
Here is a shot of Harvard glacier and of it calving. That's where the ice breaks off in HUGE chunks, sound like thunder, and then you see it floating away for miles....
Here are some 'fun shots' of us posing with various stuffed animals in Ketchikan
We finally got off the ship and met our friend Grace in Victoria. It was a nice ferry boat ride over there. Even saw some whales on the ride over and back (Of course the pictures are the usual 'plain water'). She took us to Butchart gardens which are fabulous and we also went to butterfly world on our own. That place was great. We spent maybe an hour looking around at all these butterfies jus flying 'loose'. Obviously they are inside so they don't escape, but it was fascinating. We went for dinner at Butchart gardens and her sister Lily was our server. What a fantastic dinner. One of the best any of us have eaten. It was on par with the Culinary we have right here in Hyde Park. Too bad the pictures we took of the food didn't come out too good.
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