We arrived in Ketchikan mid morning and went to the Lumberjack Show.
It was very entertaining!
Then we went to the South East Alaska Discovery Centre.
The weather brightened up and we went for a walk along Creek Street, originally the brothel area. Every house was a brothel in the 19th and early 20th century.
Ketchikan is well known for salmon running in July.
We then hopped on the free bus for a tour round town.
Back on the boat for dinner and a show.
Today we cruised around Glacier Bay, a US National Park. Some of the Park Rangers joined our ship for a running commentary on what we were seeing.
We were very lucky with the weather again!
Margerie Glacier
The Johns Hopkins Glacier
We saw a bear walking along the shore line.
After lunch we went to a talk about the Park by one of the Rangers. Followed by a talk about the Tlingit people by Kevin, the Alaska Native Voices Cultural Ambassador.
The Rangers, and Kevin, then left our ship
We entered the Team Trivia Challenge with some of our group and won!
Off to a presentation about Ketchikan, our port for tomorrow.
A brighter day today, with some sunshine and blue skies. We went on the White Pass and Yukon Route Railway. The railway was built in 1899 to take prospectors to find gold.
The route climbs from sea level in Skagway to almost 3000 feet at the summit, crossing the Canadian border.
We left the train at Fraser and transferred to a coach for the return journey. The views were spectacular, with deep snow all around.
The coach stopped at Liarsville, which was the basecamp for people heading up the pass to the Klondike to search for gold. Reporters stopped there and to avoid the perilous journey they made up stories based on what others told them, hence Liarsville.
We had refreshments and sat in the ‘Hippodrome’ to watch a performance by ‘locals’ from the past.
We then tried our hand at panning for gold!
Eventually we arrived ‘home’.
Today was the highlight of our trip. We had booked an excursion on a small boat to get closer to the whales.
We docked in Juneau and had a quick look at the town.
A coach took us to Mendenhall Forest where we hiked for a mile to view the Meldenhall Glacier.
Collin, our guide and driver plucked an iceberg from the lake.
Back on the coach Collin took us to our little boat for the whale watching trip.
Eyes peeled we sped along Stephen’s Passage. When whales were spotted Captain Mitch would slow down and stop.
We saw a pod of at least 6 orcas, several humpback whales (including a male, a female, and a calf) and sea lions resting on a buoy.
Emma, our guide, was very excited. She said we had been very lucky to see as much as we did.
A very exciting day!
What day is it today ………
Sea Day today.
I went to a talk about the best places to spot whales etc. The weather has changed and it is wet and misty today.
In the afternoon I went to a Mahjong group and played against a Chinese lady and her mother. We had 3 games and I won one!
For dinner we went to the main Dining Room rather than the buffet.
After dinner we went to the theatre to see a comedian.
Looking forward to seeing whales tomorrow!
This morning we had a lovely breakfast in the Blue Horizon Hotel before being taken on the short trip to the port.
We boarded the Zaandam and watched as it left Vancouver.
We went to a talk about what we may be lucky enough to see on our cruise.
After a ‘Welcome Aboard Steak Dinner’ we watched a talk/film about Alaska.
‘Solid Gold’ show tonight!
After a comfortable sleep in our room on the 14th floor of the Blue Horizon Hotel we joined our group for a coach tour of Vancouver.
We passed many interesting buildings, the steam clock, the Olympic Cauldron and the gates to Chinatown, before stopping at Stanley Park.
After returning to our hotel we were free for the rest of the day.
Andy and I went down to Vancouver harbour and sat and watched the sea planes taking off and landing.
For our evening meal we had a lovely steak at Chop House, sitting outside and enjoying the view.
Tomorrow we board our cruise ship!
We left Kamloops on our way to Vancouver. We passed Kamloops Lake and drove alongside the North Thompson River. The scenery was very different to that which we saw yesterday, beginning with desert like, dry areas.
We spotted Osprey, big horn sheep, several bald eagles on nests, deer and a marmot.
We stopped unexpectedly and were told that the train in front had developed a mechanical fault. It would take an hour to fix.
So we sat back and enjoyed our lunch. The food on the train was excellent.
Eventually we continued on our way, enjoying the ever changing scenery.
We were told by the train manager that we were running 3 hours behind due to the delay and to the fact that we had been travelling at slow speeds behind the other train.
We arrived in Vancouver at 9.30 and at our hotel at 10.00pm. After 13 hours on the train we are very tired!
It was a great trip though. We enjoyed every minute of it. The team who looked after us for the two days were lovely.
Update
We were so tired last night when we arrived that I didn’t quite finish the blog.
The team who looked after our carriage were great. They had worked a 14hour day but were still smiling at the end of it!
We finally arrived at the Rocky Mountaineer station to find our coach waiting to take us to our hotel.
View from our hotel room window on 14th floor.
Very exciting, but early, start to the day as we boarded the Rocky Mountaineer for the first leg of our trip – Jasper to Kamloops.
Boarding was quick and easy and the long journey through fabulous scenery began.
Breakfast and lunch were provided plus constant drinks and snacks.
The journey took nine and a half hours (during which we changed from Mountain time to Pacific time) which passed quickly as we relaxed, ate, drank and looked out for wildlife. Alerts were called out when animals were spotted. We passed bears, deer and a bald eagle in a huge nest. Unfortunately Andy and I didn’t see the bears. Maybe tomorrow!
Today we left Banff to drive 140 miles through Banff and Jasper National Parks on the Icefields Parkway ‘one of the world’s most scenic drives’.
The scenery was amazing throughout the route. Our first stop was at Bow Lake.
We drove on past beautiful lakes, mountains and forests ……
to the Athabasca Glacier, one of 6 glaciers that flow from the Icefields. We rode the Snow Coach to the glacier and were able to walk on it! It was very windy, cold and snowing but exhilarating!
Our next stop was the Athabasca Falls.
We drove on to Jasper, seeing elk on the roadside along with evidence of a devastating forest fire that hit the area in 2024.
After a night in the Forest Park Hotel we will board the Rocky Mountaineer tomorrow!
