[Ken & Deb 06/2019] It started with a phone call from our kids several months earlier. They called to surprise us with an early anniversary present -- a gift that would become the most remarkable and enjoyable gift we had ever received. It was the gift of adventure. It was the gift of travel. It was a gift of both "Firsts" and "Lasts." And it was the gift of time with family. And it would become much more...
BEHIND THE PHONE CALL | We raised our three kids in the mountains west of Denver, Colorado. While it was a fantastic place for adventure and scenery, once or twice a year we were fortunate to be able to venture beyond Colorado's centrally-located, rectangular border. As a homeschool family, we were able to travel during the school year and avoid the predictable summer crowds. This gave us time to explore some pretty neat nooks-and-crannies of the United States that most children only read about. |
From before the kids were each one year old we would take road trips. We traveled in all directions and even into Canada and Mexico. We visited all of the US coasts. Learned about forts and culture; lighthouses and history. From holding Banana Slugs in the extreme northwest to alligators in the extreme southeast, we experienced all kinds of flora and fauna. State by state, we toured many of the National Park facilities. Unfortunately, our time ran short and one-by-one Mallory, Robby, and Chris moved on to college, and Deb and I became empty-nesters.
It was then we realized that we had raised a family of "forty-niners." In our tens of thousands of miles toured, we had made it to only 49 of the 50 United States. I am told that only 3% of Americans ever make it to all fifty states, so we were in good company, we thought. The trip to Alaska just never materialized. We came up just one state short.
It was then we realized that we had raised a family of "forty-niners." In our tens of thousands of miles toured, we had made it to only 49 of the 50 United States. I am told that only 3% of Americans ever make it to all fifty states, so we were in good company, we thought. The trip to Alaska just never materialized. We came up just one state short.
Downtown Ketchikan, Alaska. Claiming our 50th state at our first port!
| Then came the phone call from the kids, "Mom, Dad, we would like to send you on a cruise to Alaska for your 40th anniversary..." Deb and I were in tears. It was such a perfect, thoughtful gift. But there was more. The kids went on to share that they would be coming with us! So not only would this be an anniversary present, it would be a family reunion, and our first cruise (for each of us). It would be a family vacation together again (exploring together just like the old days, right?). And we would all get to our final and 50th US State at the same time! | AS A FAMILY, |
| | We would be sailing on the Star Princess. Of course we were speechless -- this would be our first cruise. The Star Princess is a 17 deck, 3100-guest city-on-a-boat loaded with Las Vegas abundance and distraction. The staterooms are like five-star hotel rooms (though smaller). There were multiple swimming pools, gourmet restaurants, a small mall, a gym, and countless entertainment venues ... Not to mention a 950-seat stage-theatre (with fly space), an art gallery, and casino. |
Everything was First Class. Even the food (we had been warned about the food). On one night, a line of wait staff paraded through the dining rooms each carrying a Baked Alaska! There was so much food; all kinds of food. From casual places on deck to multi-course, formal dining down below. We took advantage of as many dining options as we had time. If you were seated in one of the dining rooms for dinner and you didn't like what you saw on the menu, you could order whatever you want. If they had the fixin's on-board, they would prepare it for you. What's more, if you couldn't decide between two of the entrees, say the lobster and the steak, they would prepare and bring you both entrees! Ellie, our granddaughter, figured this out pretty quickly using the dessert menu!
Mallory, her husband, Devin, and Ellie, our granddaughter, flew with us from Denver to Seattle. There, we met up with Robby and Chris (our sons) at the Pike Place Market (we had coffee at the very first Starbucks). After a little fun and exploring in Seattle (yes, we went to the REI flagship store), we boarded the Star Princess at Seattle's Pier 91. We were overwhelmed with excitement from the moment we first stepped on the gangway. We found our way to our staterooms and began to get to know the big boat.
After about a day-and-a-half of learning our way around all of the decks and trying different dining options, we docked at our first port. Ketchikan, Alaska, is the largest city in the southeastern portion of Alaska. Like most of the inland waterway towns, Ketchikan is a fishing village that feels like time has passed it by. It's slow-paced. It's authentic. It has a quaint fishy smell. It is also home to "The Deadliest Catch" TV show.
After about a day-and-a-half of learning our way around all of the decks and trying different dining options, we docked at our first port. Ketchikan, Alaska, is the largest city in the southeastern portion of Alaska. Like most of the inland waterway towns, Ketchikan is a fishing village that feels like time has passed it by. It's slow-paced. It's authentic. It has a quaint fishy smell. It is also home to "The Deadliest Catch" TV show.
| Ketchikan was our first Alaskan experience. So we did things that "felt" Alaskan. After we posed for our "50th State" portrait (see picture, above), we watched a lumberjack competition (Canada vs. the US). It was cleverly done with all the typical machismo you would expect from sweaty, young, muscle-bulging, manly lumberjacks who carry customized, long chainsaws and throw axes from the audience to a small stump on a stage 50-feet away. The United States came in second. The Alaskan folk music was fun, too. It reminded me of country and Appalachian blended together. Only sometimes it wasn't in tune. And it was playing in all of the shops! I liked it! Very local sounds! THE MOST PICTURESQUE | The Alaskan sun rose about 4:20AM and set around 10:20PM, so there was plenty of daylight. The daytime temperature during the cruise ranged from the mid-sixties to the mid-seventies, getting a little cooler as we traveled north. Plus there was the ever-present sea-breeze that kept things feeling fresh. The sky was overcast a couple days, but we saw blue sky the other days. We had rain only one day -- the morning of the day we were in Ketchikan. The cool air was another reason the cruise was so fun -- it was 92 degrees with 80% humidity when we left Texas! ...Was |
Our second port was Juneau -- the capital of Alaska. Each of these Alaskan towns seemed to be wedged on the only flat spot around -- perched between striking and jagged mountains and the pacific waterways where we were cruising. The cities punctuate the beloved Alaskan mountains like a seedling growing on a rocky cliff -- seemingly in constant struggle to keep from being squeezed out into the sea. Juneau was no exception, and this remote town is of respectable size. A little over 30,000 people claim Juneau as home. They say there are only three ways to get to the remote commercial center of Juneau: By airplane, by boat, and by birth canal!
| | We were in Juneau long enough to catch the bus to an out-of-town trailhead to Mendenhall Glacier and Nugget Falls. The hike was great exercise for us -- we had been dining quite well on the cruise and had saved some calories just for this trail! Surprisingly, this Alaskan trail took us by snowbanks and through miles of rain forest (think "temperate" rain forest, not tropical rain forest). For it to be so lush and green in this Alaskan springtime made it very special to us. |
On this cruise, there were about 2900 passengers. After a while, you began to recognize faces -- afterall we had all been cooped-up on the same steel boat with each other. But imagine what it is like to see such a large ship (or two, or three) all show up at one of these tiny, seaport villages at the same time! All 2900 of us on the Star Princess are eager to elbow our way down the gangway and into the picturesque fishing village as quickly as possible. So what happens?!? You bustle your way into town only to see the same 2900 faces (and more!) in all of the restaurants, gift shops and tourist attractions! Everywhere you went there was an instant crowd! The SAME crowd! Even in a town the size of Juneau. We bought a magnet.
There were a lot of memorable highlights on this trip, on-board, and in every port city. In Skagway, the highlight was a ride on the historic White Pass & Yukon Railroad. From sea-level, this half-day excursion wiggled us up into the mountains over White Pass and into British Columbia, Canada (we had to take our passports, though nobody asked to see them). The narrow-gauge railway ran multiple trains that day, so we could look down the canyons, or up higher on the mountains, and see other WP&YRR trains filled with camera-holding tourists as those trains rounded turns, entered tunnels, and crossed trestles. At one switchback we could look down the steep canyon towards the nestled, 800-population Skagway as it sat tucked into the bottom of a mountainous "V" limited only by the crystal blue water of the channel that led us there. It was beautiful.
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At each port, in each town, we adventured to experience some of the local history, culture and geography. Whether it was watching a lumberjack competition, learning how to read the story on a totem pole, or seeing how sled dogs are trained. With our extra time, we enjoyed the local shops and even a saloon or two. At the Red Dog Saloon, for example, we enjoyed 'Duck Farts', a famously, local quaff that you have to finish in one swig (in front of an audience of locals, I might add). I think that is the first time (and probably the last) I have ever done shots with my family! We bought a magnet.
"There is no way a ship this big can fit in here," I thought to myself. As the Star Princess ever-so-carefully navigated up the Tracy Arm Fjord, you could see the ship pushing one thousand year-old ice bergs out of its way. You can hear them as you pass -- ice bergs make a kind of soft-glass-cracking kind-of-sound as they melt. As the ship cautiously cruised northward, the ice bergs got closer and closer, and the channel got more and more narrow. The glacier that was calving the ice bergs was getting nearer by the minute. On deck, as you crossed curiously from port to starboard, and back again, you realized how close the walls of the channel were -- so close that you could see the flora and fauna of the mountains passing at either side of the ship.
Before this cruise, if you had told me that ice bergs were blue, I would have laughed. This was such an incredible experience to us -- to be so close to the Sawyer Glaciers. With the ice bergs floating nearby and the snow-capped mountains as they stretched mightily upwards out of the fjord It was stunningly picturesque and absolutely beautiful. I think I used four whole rolls of film. And then we bought a magnet.
Before this cruise, if you had told me that ice bergs were blue, I would have laughed. This was such an incredible experience to us -- to be so close to the Sawyer Glaciers. With the ice bergs floating nearby and the snow-capped mountains as they stretched mightily upwards out of the fjord It was stunningly picturesque and absolutely beautiful. I think I used four whole rolls of film. And then we bought a magnet.
| | THE ONLY WAY TO SEE THIS SCENIC AND UNINHABITED PART OF AMERICA IS BY |
The scenery was almost indescribable ... like a collection of beautiful nature postcards depicting panoramas never before seen. There were bald eagles and whales (and bears, but we did not see any bears). And I had no idea that this part of Alaska was so mountainous. The mountains were wonderfully abrupt and covered with thick, green forests -- it would be unusual to see a dead tree. Occasionally there would be a small cabin set in a quaint dale -- a lonely plume of smoke coming from the chimney. The forests were pure and uncontaminated. I was led to fantasize that no human-being had ever walked in some of the places that we sailed past. Small tour boats would float by a picturesque waterfall before us -- there were so many waterfalls. The inland waterway was so clear you could just about see to the bottom of the channel. At night, on deck, there were no lights other than the four- or five-zillion stars in the sky. And the crisp air was as clean and fresh as air can be. Ahhhh ... I'm ready to go back...
| Victoria is respected as the most British town that is not in Great Britain. The highlight of this port was surely the Parliament Building as its perimeter illuminates in specks of white light at sunset. The grassy green park that surrounds this most famous legislative hall seemed to be a popular place for "young folks" to gather at dusk. There was a friendly sense of activity and belonging. This big city had a friendly small town feel. | Victoria was the only port city on our cruise that was not in the United States. We got in late, so our walking tour was just as the eclectic city was warming up its evening activities. We took in the downtown area, including the wharf, ChinaTown, the Custom House, and Market Square. Victorian architecture was prominent -- the late-century colonial influ-ence was reminiscent of the east coast and very touristy. We bought a magnet. |
| | VICTORIA - THE CAPITOL OF BRITISH COLUMBIA - IS LOCATED AT THE SOUTH END OF VANCOUVER ISLAND |
| We arrived in Seattle the next morning and were hustled right away off to the airport; such a quick-paced ending to such a relaxed adventure. We hardly had time to say good-bye to our family. The cruise time went fast. We were always busy with activities on-board and expeditions at port cities; every moment a memory for eternity. Except for Seattle and Victoria, everything we saw was unique and new to us. The fact that there was no Internet or cell phone service on the cruise was a blessing -- it made for plenty of good old fashioned talking. And after we got back to Texas, it only took about three days for our legs to stop flexing-and-bending-and-rocking as if we were still aboard ship! Texas doesn't rock -- at least not that way. | Alaska really was the Last Frontier. For us, it was the Grand Finale ... the fiftieth of fifty states. We were so blessed to be able to share it with family. We had a very special time. We bought a magnet. |
