Blogs from Whittier, Alaska, United States, North America

Alaska is de 49e staat van de Verenigde Staten en werd in 1867 van Rusland gekocht. Tot de Tweede Wereldoorlog speelde Alaska eigenlijk geen rol van betekenis, er woonden tot dan maar ongeveer 70.000 mensen. In 1942 werden enkele eilanden dicht bij het Aziatische continent door de Japanners bezet en een aanval uitgevoerd op Dutch Harbor. In hetzelfde jaar werd in een half jaar een weg aangelegd door Canada van 2700 kilometer lang om militaire goederen te vervoeren naar Alaska en ook Rusland. Pas in 1959 werd Alaska officieel een staat van de VS en in 1977 werd de beroemde Alaska pipeline gerealiseerd om olie te vervoeren uit het noorden van de staat naar Valdez in het zuiden. Tegenwoordig wonen er ongeveer 700.000 mensen in Alaska en is het wat oppervlakte betreft veruit de grootste staat ... read more

The morning dawned and again we were facing the possibility of inclement weather accompanying us onto Prince William Sound. Before you wonder how today’s Prince William got his name attached to a sound in Alaska, chill for a second. This Prince William was the third son of King George III. We had big hopes that this boating tour would be as photographically productive as our previous visit here during our first trip to Alaska about six years ago. We’re just hoping that we’ll be able to take the pictures of gleeful otters at play in the water or massive walls of ice falling to the sea; and, that they won’t be missed due to people being oblivious to others trying to take a picture. On our whale watching outings there had been multiple cases of people ... read more

Geo: 60.775, -148.683Today, we were due to board our cruise ship, an hour out of Anchorage in Whittier. However, being us, we decided to make a day of it and so caught a transfer to the port via a few scenic viewpoints. After our amazing breakfast provided by our host - fried pork steaks, roasted potatoes, curried apples and then masterful cinnamon pumpkin muffins, we made our way to or transport meeting place. When we boarded the coach, everyone was sat on the right hand side. We asked if that was for any reason and were assured that it was just coincidence, so we sat on the left. Big mistake. Big. Huge! Every turn in the road reveled gorgeous scenery. On the right. None of it was on the left!!!Our first stop, after the humdrum scenery ... read more

Today is our last day in Alaska - assuming the flight leaves on time tonight. But before you get started on this, be advised that photos have now been added to Aug 28 (College Fjord) blog entry. We set our 2 bags in the hallway last night (47.5 & 48.5 pounds), so we were down to a backpack and small roller bag. We got up and packed our final things as we did not have to be out of our cabins until 8:00, so we met the Sieberts in the hall at 7:55 and went up to the Horizon Court for a final breakfast on the ship. Our steward (Mar) was waiting in the hall to bid us farewell and to get started cleaning our cabins for the next set of passengers. The food court must ... read more

Location: Whittier Wildlife: salmon and marmot Scenery: glaciers Today I find myself in the quaint fishing village of Whittier, AK to go fishing for silver salmon with my niece, Ginny, and her husband,Will. I'm very excited because I know grizzly's like salmon and there are sure to be fishing along the shore trying to get their share of salmon! You access Whittier by driving down the Seward highway, one of the most picturesque highways in the country, and driving through one of the world's longest one-way tunnels, finally popping out in Whittier! Will found a lovely cove to cast out his line while Ginny and I 'helped' by standing on the shore shouting helpful advice to Will while he fished. After awhile we got bored as Will was not taking any of our advice (and subsequently ... read more