Keith and Della's Alaska/Hawaii Cruises - 2015

[mushu mama]

Love seeing the photos Keith

[KeithS]

Okay folks - on to the next day! This is trip heading up Tracey Arm in Alaska. We were blessed by a beautiful clear day and we literally took over 500 photos this day and I'm only sharing 16 (sorry - it just takes too long to sort them out!!)

Anyway - on to the photos.


Here is our view this morning - glorious snow covered mountains, blue sky and blue water!


Sea ice! In the distance is a Princess Cruises ship parked at the entry of Tracey Arm.


Humpback whale time - there were actually two of them side by side.


Donald was up on deck to see what all the fuss was about.


Mountains and valleys.


The views were like this all day long!


The photos lose a sense of scale to how big the mountains are - you'll just have to go yourselves!


The passage looks narrow - and it really was a tight fit in places!


The four of us enjoying the sunshine!


This is the Tracey Arm glacier we've come to see - and the source of all the sea ice floating past our ship all day.


Della watching the ice float past from our balcony.


Late afternoon and we are now heading back along the inside passage towards Skagway.


The crew of the ship hoisted two glacier-icebergs aboard. The ice was hundreds of years old having travelled down the glacier to the sea.


After a great day, we went to Palo for dinner with Brian and Patti.


And we were presented with the plate after our chocolate soufflé dessert!


And after dinner, I ran into Belle in a hallway and managed to grab a selfie with her The perfect end to a great day!! The next day, we head to Skagway!!

[KeithS]

The day after Tracey Arm, we docked at Skagway!


How's the weather Della?


Hmmm - don't think there will be any rain today


Skagway is a pretty little town which served as the gateway to people heading to the Klondike gold rush.


When it snows, they crank up this bad-boy to clear the railway line.


We took the historic train from the dock up into the mountains and across into Canada.


This old trestle bridge is now bypassed.


This is as far north as we go - exactly 60 degrees north of the equator!


We stop here for water...


And watch the canoeists sail past.


And now we are heading back down the mountains towards the port again.


Back in Skagway, we pose in front of the town sign.


Back on board, and we run into some new friends!


And Olaf!! Which was very fitting because this evening is the Frozen theme night!


Even our servers had Frozen themed waistcoats and we were all given light-up ice crystals (which Della and Patti are wearing!)

Anyway - our day in Skagway was fantastic and the train trip was brilliant. Next up - we visit Juneau and go dog sledding!

[calisota]

Olaf really doesn't seem to know what to do with his hands.

Greg

[Rebecca]

Wow! What great pictures. Looks like an amazing trip. I hope to do that cruise one day. Thanks for sharing

[KeithS]

Thanks for sharing

No worries Rebecca - I should be posting the next set soon. It is hard to pick a small number of photos when we have so many!

[churros]

So blue!

[mushu mama]

The abandoned train tracks/bridge reminds me of the opening scene from one of the Toy Story movies ( can't recall which one right now)...

[KeithS]

Okay - time to go dog sledding in Juneau!

Firstly, we need to catch a helicopter up to the glacier where the dog camp is located.


We are airborne - Della has never been in a helicopter before and was a little nervous.


Hey look! There's our ship!


Formation flying over the mountains.


High in the mountains over the glacier.


There's the dog camp in the distance!


Safely on the ground!


Wow - ice and snow for miles and miles.


He's heading off to get the next load.


Puppies!


Two of our dogs that took us for a ride.


Della making friends with "Riley"


Two other teams out on the ice.


The view from the driver's seat!


Della and a puppy!


Here comes our ride home!


Heading back to Juneau.


The glacier looked amazing.


Safe on the ground and we head to the shops in downtown Juneau.


And now we are walking back to our ship - safely docked in Juneau Harbour!

That's it for Juneau - another great day in Alaska. Next stop, we are heading to Ketchikan and the rainforest.

[calisota]

That's amazing! I didn't even know you could do that!

Apart from eat caribou steak in a diner, the only really memorable thing I did in Juno was see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull when it first came out. In other words, something I'm trying to forget.

Greg

[churros]

Cute puppies!

It all looks so lovely!