Alaska + Vancouver Island + Calgary (August 2024)

August 13th - September 4th, 2024

2-week Alaskan Cruise on the 

"Grand Princess"

Vancouver - day @ sea - Ketchican (Alaska) - Juneau - Skagway - Scenic cruising through Glacier Bay National Park - Scenic cruising through College Fjord - Whittier (near Anchorage). Most of the 2600 passengers got off here, but we stayed on to return to Vancouver. The only difference was instead of going back to College Fjord, we did scenic cruising to see Hubbard Glacier. 

+
A trip down memory lane on 

Vancouver Island, B.C. 

to visit friends from our two postings in Comox
+
Calgary 

to see Craig's family (brother, Richard & sister, Sandra)

It was great to be in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada! We just stayed at "Moda Hotel" on Seymour Street to be close to the cruise port. It was a very basic and older room, but for one night, meh! 🤷

We were SO thrilled to be able to catch up with Jack & Shirley 💗whom we all met in 2015 during our first posting to Moscow, Russia. We had not seen them since 2018, but it was like no time had passed. Francine & Alain were also with us on this journey. Sadly, Shawn & Tanya (of the "6 Cruisers") were unable to join in on the fun.

The girls

As soon as we had lunch, Craig wanted to play "Wizard"! This would be one of MANY games of Wizard as well as other card games played on this trip. I don't think we did a final tally of the big weiner, but it seems like it was Craig, as usual. 😠

Sail away party. 1st time we've seen that. It was great, got us all excited for the adventure to the
Last Frontier

It was a gorgeous day sailing out of Vancouver towards Alaska. Couldn't have been more perfect

Bye-bye Vancouver! See you in two weeks!

I don't think we had even been drinking at this point

With the "plus package", each person can eat 2 pieces of this huge cake daily along with two of those enormous sundaes (not pictured).

Fun times with my buddy Francine

Craig was SO excited when he walked by the screen and this popped up! Congratulations and happy retirement Baby! 36 years of service. 🛦
It was official as of August 1st, 2024!

1st stop: Ketchican, Alaska

One of many sea planes landing (and taking off) in most of the ports we stopped in (including Vancouver).

As the sign above says, Ketchican was Alaska's 1st city and is the salmon capital of the world. It's also Alaska's Southernmost major settlement. Population, however, was only 8200 in a 2020 census, so "major" is kinda funny. Apparently there's a lot of transient workers in these Alaskan cruise ship towns and they go elsewhere when cruise season ends (September/October). It is a cute little shopping destination with a lumberjack show and the picturesque "Creek Street" area. Since we were basically doing the inside passage twice (two back-to-back cruises, up, and then back), we learned that Ketchican was the best stop to buy souvenirs, because Juneau & Skagway were definitely more expensive for the exact same things and Whittier hardly has anything. In particular, the popular Ulu knives were sold everywhere with a very wide price range for the same product. When buying these knives, be sure it has the bear with her cub logo on the package (to show it's an authentic one made in Alaska). The ones with handles made of antlers and fossils won't come in a package because they're one of a kind, but are all authentic.

Typical Ulu knife sold in many shops along the cruise route. 

The knives in packages are the ones I was saying to look for with that little bear symbol below the blade. The ones on the top shelves are the handles made from antlers and fossils. They, obviously, cost a lot more than the ones in boxes that are mass-produced.

We were (especially Craig) thrilled to see the incredible amount of salmon spawning. Quite the sight to see! 🐟

One of many cute little otters & seals in the Creek Street area of Ketchican. I could have just watched them all day. The 2nd time in Ketchican there were more of them all fishing together.

Some gorgeous, but very expensive, carvings sold in shops. Very talented artists!

That's certainly true about the mountains!

Of course, we had to get a photo of the guys with this sign

Francine having a cuddle with her new friend

As we were about to sail away from Ketchican, I managed to catch a photo of this sea plane (circled in green) coming in for a landing in BETWEEN all the cruise ships. That's some fancy flying! Gives you a good idea of the size of these ships also! Ours held 2600 passengers and was at full-capacity for our voyage into Alaska

The bobsy-twins at the pool, in their matching swim trunks, tossing the football around. Poor Alain has to keep Craig entertained in the pool - even in Alaska! Mind you, it was about 25℃ that day in Ketchican. We were VERY fortunate with the weather on this trip.

2nd stop: Juneau, Alaska
The capital city, with a population of approx. 32,000 in 2020. The city is named after Canadian gold prospector, Joe Juneau

The beautiful Mendenhall Glacier and 

Nugget Falls

Craig rented us a car in Juneau, which turned out to be an awesome way for us to tour around on this beautiful day. We first drove to the Mendenhall Glacier & Nugget Falls area (before too many cruisers arrived). The glacier has been receding at an alarming rate (see picture below of the transition from 1958 / 1985 / 2003 / 2010 and then our picture from 2024 below). It used to extend way out into the water, but now it's barely touching

Gorgeous scenery of the glacier & falls and not very far from Juneau at all. It's best to do this on your own. No need to pay for the ship excursion. Renting a car (in a car share type of situation) was perfect!

We were all so happy to have such beautiful weather. I wanated to rent a kayak when we returned, but unfortunately we had some bad weather in Juneau the 2nd time around and I didn't get up close to the glacier like I had hoped.😭

I said "our heads are blocking the glacier", thus the reason we're leaning to our right. 😜

"Alain, go climb on the rocks below", I said. "ok", he said. I love how he's always up for whatever

Beautiful Nugget Falls that you can get right up close to. I'd say you could even go for a swim, but it is a glacier fed lake (Mendenhall Lake, which is growing larger due to the glacier's retreat), so.... Brr...💦

After Mendenhall Glacier, we drove a little ways to Eagle Beach. Craig thought he and Alain would go swimming there (knowing it would be very cold), but as beautiful of an area as it was, it was also home to thousands of dead salmon, so, ya, maybe swimming wasn't such a good idea.

Craig was my hero when he "saved" one of the salmon who was caught in a small pool of water. Circle of life though...that salmon was going to die anyway. They come to spawn and then die. So ya, he probably just prolonged his death. We were kinda grossed out by all the dead and dying salmon, but it was a sight to see. 

Just some of the dead salmon in the area. Fortunately/ unfortunately, we didn't see any bear in the area despite all the easy pickings of fish there for them.

Such beautiful scenery in Alaska, everywhere you look, but you would not have an easy life here, especially in the winter.

Our "band" picture... what would we be called?
The Groovy Cruisers? 

Alain with his eagle feather, which he kept

My hand isn't quite in the right spot, but it has the bird AND a plane in the background, so it made the cut. This is the Tahku whale sculpture - a life-sized, bronze humpback. A short hike from Juneau or a quick and lovely stop on your way back to the ship (if you rent a car)

3rd stop: Skagway, Alaska

Skagway was the gateway to the gold fields for the thousands who flocked to Alaska and the Yukon with the hope of striking it rich. It was the shortest route to the Klondike, but it definitely wasn't the easiest and many a would-be miner died trying. In 1898, during the gold rush, Skagway was a booming town with a population of about 20,000. Today, it only has about 1,000.

Landslides are a common occurrence in these majestic mountains

More beautiful scenery as I turned around to view our ship

Loved the sense of humour with the merchandise in the shops!

The Skagway Visitor's Centre (& free bathroom) has over 8,000 pieces of driftwood on the outside of the building. Built in 1899 as a fraternal order, the Arctic Brotherhood Hall served as a community gathering spot for over 100 years.

You can actually go on a brothel tour in Skagway for $20 USD. We didn't, but the ladies leading these tours were dressed the part and were quite comical. It would, most certainly, not have been an easy life as a woman who worked in one of theses "cribs" or "houses of negotiable affection".

Another cruise ship leaving Skagway ahead of us, for scenic cruising in Glacier Bay National Park. It gives you a good perspective on just how large these mountains are (when compared to the huge ship). It was awesome that they brought park rangers on the ship to guide us through and provide information along the way. We also had a guest lecturer talk about glaciers, which was interesting. 1. Glaciers are formed when falling snow gets compressed into ice over many centuries.
2. They are constantly moving downward from the pull of gravity.
3. About 2% of all the water on earth is frozen in glaciers.
4. The bright blue colour you see is because the ice is so dense and compact.
5. If climate change caused the Antarctic ice sheet to melt entirely, it is estimated that sea levels would rise by about 65 meters! To put that into perspective, that would mean London would be lost underwater!
6. When ice breaks off of a glacier it is called "calving" and those chunks are called "icebergs" (if they are more than 15 meters long). Smaller chunks are called "growlers" or "bergy bits".
7. There are SO many different types of glaciers, but the two main categories are "continental" and "alpine". The terminology is extensive when learning about glaciers 

4th "stop": Glacier Bay National Park (although not technically a "stop" because we didn't get off the ship, we did cruise through and then spent over an hour slowly spinning the ship around to view the majestic glaciers up close (ish)

Our cruise route up into Glacier Bay National Park

Seals sunning themselves on an iceberg

Yes, it was cold standing outside for hours as we cruised Glacier Bay National Park. You can't tell from the photos really, but the colour of the water is a beautiful aqua colour

Good thing Craig convinced you to buy that hat in Vancouver, huh Alain? Brr...

This 1st time through Glacier Bay was very cloudy, but the 2nd time around, we had an incredible day with sunshine and we were able to see the true beauty of this area

You can't truly capture the beauty that the naked eye sees, but these give you a decent idea. The scale is hard to tell also, but you feel like a very insignificant spec in the presence of this scenery

Doesn't this look like a fun toboggan run? Up close though, it is not at all as smooth as it appears to be from afar. There are over 1000 glaciers in Glacier Bay! 

5th "stop": College Fjord
(again, just scenic cruising, not an actual "stop")

Located in Prince William Sound, College Fjord contains 5 tidewater glaciers, 5 large valley glaciers and dozens of smaller glaciers. It's named "College Fjord" because the glaciers were named after many elite US colleges.

Harvard Glacier (left) is a tidewater glacier (meaning it flows from a mountain valley into water). The face is 1.5 miles wide, 200 feet thick depth and stretches 24 miles back to the Chugach Icefield

Ahh, happy icicles!  

The 4 cruisers. It warmed up enough to take off our hats and a couple of layers!

Seagulls taking a breather on a uniquely-shaped piece of glacier ice

6th stop: Whittier, Alaska

(Near Anchorage, where 2300 of our 2600 passengers disembarked and ended their cruise. 2300 new passengers embarked for the voyage back to Vancouver). It's about 58 miles southeast of Anchorage, where all those passengers had to travel from through a one-lane tunnel (2.5 miles long). The population of Whittier in 2020 was only 272! There's a LOT of boats in the marina though. It's a very little area for our huge cruise ship and we can see the evidence left behind by the many bears who frequent the area. We walked through one small tunnel that was full of bear poop. Gotta say, it felt a little eerie because if a bear entered that tunnel while you were in it, you're screwed! 🐻

View of Whittier from the 16th deck of our cruise ship. Some cruise passengers had not arranged for transportation from Whittier to Anchorage and there is no such thing as taxis here. Your options are very limited and need to be pre-arranged. They likely missed their flights home because of poor planning

From the 16th deck again with a view of the fantastic mountains surrounding us

It's scenic at the marina here, but there is VERY little to see and do in the town. We just went out for a little walk, bought some salt and took pictures.

I love this picture! Beautiful area, but there's absolutely NO way I'd want to live there. I spoke with this one shop owner and she's lived there for over 20 years, but was finally thinking of closing up shop and moving to Anchorage to be closer to her kids & grandkids. She was telling us about a bear ripping off the door of a nearby restaurant. Yikes!

Good one! I look like a giant!

Nice picture of our two cruise mates

After Whittier, we started heading back towards Vancouver. Instead of College Fjord we toured near Hubbard Glacier

Some richy-rich passengers paid $400USD each to go on this excursion to the Hubbard Glacier to get a more up close and personal experience. That would have been awesome, but so not worth that cost. Take note of the size of this boat now as I'll show a picture of it up closer to the glacier (for size reference)

I thought this was beautiful with the two totally different colours of the water

So, it's hard to get a sense of the size of this, but I'll show you in the next picture when you see the excursion boat (circled in blue below) next to a small portion of the glacier.

There it is, that rather large forest ranger boat, looking tiny next to the glacier.

Simply beautiful!

I love those blue sections where the ice is really compact. So pretty to see

Closer up view. I felt a little bad for those excursion people because the huge cruise ship ended up going up quite close to the Hubbard glacier also.

The day was so beautiful that we were able to capture the reflections in the water. So special!

This one is good for showing the beautiful scenery we were fortunate enough to be able to experience on our trip. Just incredible and it also shows the pretty colour of the water.

Love those reflections!

Our cruise ship's ripples.

2nd time in Glacier Bay National Park

We were so lucky that the 2nd time in Glacier Bay was a beauty of a day and we experienced the true glory of this area. The first time, the clouds were so low we didn't even know these mountains existed. 

I loved the colours in this rock

Up closer so you can see the ice formations

The 4 of us outside their cabin with the "6 Cruisers" sign that we sent to Shawn & Tanya - missing them on this cruise

2nd time in Skagway

The 1st time in Skagway we tried to book an excursion online, but that was a disaster and never happened. This time we booked from shore and went on an interesting tour as shown on the above map. This brought us from Skagway up a steep 22 km climb to the summit of White Pass near the Alaskan border with Canada. This highway roughly parallels the route taken by prospectors in the 1898 Klondike gold rush. It was interesting that the actual border control between the US (in Alaska) and Canada (B.C.) is actually 12.2 kms away from the actual border due to the very dangerous terrain that is in between. They didn't want to have people working in such a dangerous area, so the border crossing is actually located in Fraser instead. Still a very dangerous and harsh area to live or work in

I believe this is Pitchfork Falls from our map (above)

The Tutshi River Canyon

A lovely stop on our tour at the Yukon Suspension Bridge located in Northern BC, Canada!!! 

We didn't have all that much time here, but it was enjoyable and we were practically the only ones there, which was nice. We all enjoyed some Bison chilli in the little restaurant there. Yum!

Clean up continues from the massive landslide that took place on June 24, 2024 on the Klondike Highway where over 200 cruise ship passengers were stranded on the Yukon side. It was approx. 110-115 meters wide and 20m high, covering both lanes of the highway.  You still have to follow a pilot car through the area in a one-way traffic situation as they continue to clear away the debris. Our guide was apparently the last car to get through this area of the highway (on a previous tour, obviously) before the landslide. Scary!

Alain braved the glacier fed water where he said his feet started to cramp up within seconds. This was a quick little stop where the guide said not to go out of site of the tour bus because there are so many bears in the area! Geesh! And there were people camping there. 

Bear scratch marks - apparently them trying to get at the sap

Had to get proof we were, indeed, in the Yukon! 

Lovely scenery all around, but a very rugged landscape that is basically unihabited

Aunt Judy, this is for you. There were, fortunately, no stray cats to take pictures of on this trip, so this was the cutest I could come up with for you. I actually considered buying it for you! A cat nativity scene, who would have thunk it? lol

2nd time in Ketchican

Shots of Ketchican from the 15th deck of our ship

The buildings in behind the bridge are on "Creek Street", which is a cute little area to shop and observe nature. 

Bald Eagle hanging out near Creek Street shops

Some of the incredible artwork to be found in Alaska. Too expensive, but truly beautiful pieces. 

I wasn't supposed to take photos here, but how could I not sneak one in? Thankfully my one and only shot turned out ok. Beautiful tapestry work.

Fur-kini anyone?

Creek Street

Our cruise was coming to an end after a day at sea to get back to Vancouver. Such an amazing journey that we really enjoyed because it was different from anything we had done before and the scenery was incredible. SO happy we did this trip because Craig thought he had to be much older to enjoy this cruise, but he was wrong. lol

After the cruise we hopped on a little airplane into Comox, BC (where Craig was posted twice in his career) and took a trip down memory lane as we caught up with some friends we've made along the way. We were thrilled to be able to stay with Bill & Maureen (Craig worked for Bill as the EA to the Wing Commander back in 1998-2000. They/we had a lot of fun together and all these years later we still consider them to be good friends / family). Thank you for all the laughs and great food and your hospitality! It was awesome spending time with you. 💗
While there we managed to pop in on Deb & Cindy, Nadine & Stephane, Beth & Mike and
Heather & Gary - it was wonderful to see all of you! We totally forgot to get pictures while visiting them, unfortunately. Wish we had more time, as there are many others we would have liked to have seen also.

Bill & Maureen in their beautiful backyard oasis

Selfie time!

The lads, still friends after all these years.

During our visit to Vancouver Island we also made a quick trip up to Victoria to visit Aunt Judy & Uncle Mark (they're affectionately known as that because they looked after our dogs). We had a lovely lunch outside together, thank you again for lunch!!! It was delicious and so great to see you both after so long.

We were a sad to be leaving Comox, it holds a special place in our hearts. It's still such a beautiful spot, but living on an island on the West Coast of Canada is a pain when you travel as much as we do, so we will remain in Ontario (for now).

Next up: Calgary to visit some of Craig's family

Craig's MUCH older brother, Richard (lol). Seriously though, you look awesome! It was great to spend some time with him, Jennifer (& dog Jack), Elizabeth & Juan (& dog Zeus), Kaitlyn & Arrien and Madison. Thank you for your hospitality - it was great seeing all of you! 💗

The Gang - at Elizabeth & Juan's home where we enjoyed some games, a yummy brisket dinner and a lovely walk through their neighbourhood.

Our last visit was with Craig's sister Sandra and partner Mike. We loved spending time with you walking around various parks, and then our delicious dinner at the Cattle Baron! So wonderful to see you, it's been too long. 💗

We had a fantastic cruise with Francine & Alain and really enjoyed catching up with family & friends in Comox and Calgary!
Stay tuned for our next travel adventures to Nashville, Costa Rica & Ecuador!