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Published: September 26th 2012
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Well, the cruise is over and we are back on the mainland. We left the ship at 9:00 am in Vancouver, got in the motor home and drove all day. We are now in Sutherland, OR, about an hour from California. So, for today I will try to touch on the highlights of our cruise to Alaska. It was a fantastic voyage and the Alaskan wilderness is a stunning experience. We first went to Sitka, which is a small town with a Russqian history. We visited one of the oldest Russian churches in the US. It was smaller than I would have guessed and while I expected it to be stone or brick, it was made of wood, but the artistry was beautiful. The actual town was small but quaint but the weather was great and we enjoyed walking around. The port area was loaded with souvenier shops and jewelery stores.
Our second stop was Skagway, which was also a small, quaint town which we walked through, but then took a shuttle to the Mennenhall Glacier, which was beautiful. They explained the origin and history of this glacier and how it is receding every year. They also had a bear
walk along the river, which I declined to go on. The guys went, but did not get to see any bears. Apparently they are so plentiful in Alaska that sightings are a common thing. We did get to see some mountain goats from a distance up on the mountains above the glacier. Who would have thought glaciers could be so impressive.
Unfortunately Jean has a severe tear in her retina and had to the medical office on the ship. They made an appointment to see a Dr. in Juneau the next morning. The Dr. diagnosed her condidtion as serious and plans were made for her and Joe to fly to Seattle and see a Dr. there where they wanted to schedule surgery. After seeing the Dr. in Seattle, it was decided that it would be best for them to fly home immediately. The recovery period for this surgery is long and she would not be able to travel afterwards for a few weeks, so they flew back to NY that night. We had hopes of being able to meet up with them in Seattle but our hopes became hopeless. It seems strange to continue on without them. We miss
them a lot but wish all the best for Jean with her surgery and we will just have to take lots of pics and tell them everything when we get home.
We got off the ship in Juneau we walked though the town which was surprisingly small for a state capital. We took a bus trip out to an old gold mining town and got to pan for gold (didn't find any, in case you were wondering). We got to see the govenor's house (and you most definitely CANNOT see Russia from there). We stopped at an old saloon for a snack and it was an interesting local place to see. This place caters to locals and stays open all year. Almost all the towns we visited closed up for the winter and we were the last cruise for the season. Most of the employees were from the lower 48 and go home for the winter season! Oh yeah, we had some fantastic crab chowder at the crab shack owned and operated by the wife of a captain on "Deadliest Catch" tv show.
Next port - Icy Point. The center of this 'town' was about 4 buildings. We
did decided to take a whale watching tour with a local man. He took us about 35 minutes from land and there were dozens of whales just frolicking in the water like toddlers in a wading pool. At one point it seemed as if our small boat was surrounded by wholes bobbing up and down. Mostly you could see their tails or their backs, but every once in a while one would "breach" which I guess means coming totally out of the water. We had as much fun watching them as they seemed to be having in the water. By the time we arrived back on shore we had to hustle to get back to the ship. They would leave without us if we were late. We made it!!
Well, I am tired now and this is a general outline of the sites we saw on our cruise. There is no way to explain the feeling of being in the wilderness and seeing so much beautiful and uninhabited land, sea and mountains. It is hard to believe that this still exists in this world of ours. We should be proud of it.
I will go into more detail
of the actual cruise itself at another time, suffice it to say it was awesome. No royalty could be taken care of and treated as well as we were. It was like leaving family by the time we left. More details to follow....... I am hoping to get pictures up of some of the sites.
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