Alaska Land and Sea Cruise
2022
Land
Day 1 -2 Fairbanks
Day 2 - 3 Denali Village Park
Day 3 -4 Talkeetna
Day 4 -5 Anchorage
Day 5 -6 Seward
Day 1 -2 Fairbanks
Day 2 - 3 Denali Village Park
Day 3 -4 Talkeetna
Day 4 -5 Anchorage
Day 5 -6 Seward
Sea
Day 1 - Seward
Day 2 - Cruising / Hubbard Glazier
Day 3 - Juneau
Day 4 - Skagway
Day 5 - Icy Point & Haines (Ft. Seward)
Day 6 - Ketchikan
Day 7 - Cruising
Day 9 - Vancouver
Day 1 - Seward
Day 2 - Cruising / Hubbard Glazier
Day 3 - Juneau
Day 4 - Skagway
Day 5 - Icy Point & Haines (Ft. Seward)
Day 6 - Ketchikan
Day 7 - Cruising
Day 9 - Vancouver
After a long 21 hour journey from Orlando to Fairbanks we arrived at the Pikes Peak Lodge. We met our tour guide Max and got us all setup and then the next day we traveled the Chena river on the Riverboat Discovery III. We watched a sea-plane take off and land, enjoyed Susan Butcher's Trail Breaker Kennels and learned about the Athabascan native history at the Chena Native Village.
We traveled from Fairbanks to Denali Village Park via bus. We enjoyed several great days of dinner show, visiting the north side of Denali National Park and Dog Gone It kennels before leaving for Telkeetna on the Wilderness Express.
In Talkeekna we enjoyed a flight to Denali and landed on the Don Shelton Amphitheater, I was amazing to be so close to Denali while walking on the glacier. The Don Shelton Mountain House is on a mountain that you will see in the photos. It was built before the 1980 expansion of the national park and it is available for rent. We did not stay at the Don Shelton house but we stayed at the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge.
We left Talkeena and traveled to Anchorage via the Wilderness Express railcar. The next morning we visited the Anchorage Native American Art museum and traveled the afternoon to Seward via bus. We stayed at the Windsong Lodge. It is located along the resurrection river and just outside several national park areas. A truly beautiful lodge that gives you an Alaskan experience.
Before getting on the Radiance of The Seas we enjoyed a Kenji Fjords tour Kenji Fjords Tour. Here we enjoyed seals, otters, orca and humpback whales, puffins and more.
We started our cruise and the first sight was Hubbard Glacier. e were about 4 miles away from etc actual glacier due to the ice flow and the captain not wanting to damage the ship. It was an amazing sight to see the bluish ice color of the glacier.
We stopped in Juneau and was to have a helicopter flight to walk on Mendenhall Glacier but due to low celling cover and rain, the flight was cancelled. We walked around Juneau and discovered the red Dog Saloon. Was not very impress with Juneau since it was mostly jewelry stores that you find in any Caribbean port.
We traveled to Skagway, I would love to send more it here. It is a quaint Alaskan gold mine town. It is managed by the National Park Service and being kept as it was in during the gold rush era. We visited the historic cemetery then went on a train ride to White Pass. The railroad is a narrow gauge train built to haul miners up to White Pass and the Yukon territory.
In the evening we traveled to Haines which is where Fort Seward was located. There are several small gifts shops with local artisan work available. The actual town of Haines was closed expect for a bar.
Next up is Icy Point, which is a tourist development being built on the site of the old salmon canary. It is part of Hoonah which consist of four clans making up this tribal community. Even though Icy Straight is owned by the Hoonah tribe it is managed by an outside management company and being developed as a tourist stop. While there we went on a whale watching tour and was successful in seeing a humpback mother and calf. You will notice a double tail flip in one of the phots. We also saw harbor seals and sea otters. Afterwards we went searching for bear with a guide who was armed, just in case. We did not see any thought since there are still in the woods eating berries and woods. They will be in the stream eating fish in early July. We did watch a Bald Eagle catch a rainbow trout and enjoy his dinner.
Lastly Alaskan town was Ketchikan, we went on the Misty Fjord cruise and saw beautiful fjords more seals and a volcanic plug that was raised above the seal level. I will say Ketchikan must have the most tourist gift shops I have seen in one town :)
This brings our 13 days to close in Vancouver, we were beat from a busy few weeks but went to Stanley Park to enjoy the totem poles. We had a very early flight ( had to be up at 2:30 AM so just grabbed food and crashed :)
We look forward to returning to Alaska to explore some more of its beauty it has to offer.
We traveled from Fairbanks to Denali Village Park via bus. We enjoyed several great days of dinner show, visiting the north side of Denali National Park and Dog Gone It kennels before leaving for Telkeetna on the Wilderness Express.
In Talkeekna we enjoyed a flight to Denali and landed on the Don Shelton Amphitheater, I was amazing to be so close to Denali while walking on the glacier. The Don Shelton Mountain House is on a mountain that you will see in the photos. It was built before the 1980 expansion of the national park and it is available for rent. We did not stay at the Don Shelton house but we stayed at the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge.
We left Talkeena and traveled to Anchorage via the Wilderness Express railcar. The next morning we visited the Anchorage Native American Art museum and traveled the afternoon to Seward via bus. We stayed at the Windsong Lodge. It is located along the resurrection river and just outside several national park areas. A truly beautiful lodge that gives you an Alaskan experience.
Before getting on the Radiance of The Seas we enjoyed a Kenji Fjords tour Kenji Fjords Tour. Here we enjoyed seals, otters, orca and humpback whales, puffins and more.
We started our cruise and the first sight was Hubbard Glacier. e were about 4 miles away from etc actual glacier due to the ice flow and the captain not wanting to damage the ship. It was an amazing sight to see the bluish ice color of the glacier.
We stopped in Juneau and was to have a helicopter flight to walk on Mendenhall Glacier but due to low celling cover and rain, the flight was cancelled. We walked around Juneau and discovered the red Dog Saloon. Was not very impress with Juneau since it was mostly jewelry stores that you find in any Caribbean port.
We traveled to Skagway, I would love to send more it here. It is a quaint Alaskan gold mine town. It is managed by the National Park Service and being kept as it was in during the gold rush era. We visited the historic cemetery then went on a train ride to White Pass. The railroad is a narrow gauge train built to haul miners up to White Pass and the Yukon territory.
In the evening we traveled to Haines which is where Fort Seward was located. There are several small gifts shops with local artisan work available. The actual town of Haines was closed expect for a bar.
Next up is Icy Point, which is a tourist development being built on the site of the old salmon canary. It is part of Hoonah which consist of four clans making up this tribal community. Even though Icy Straight is owned by the Hoonah tribe it is managed by an outside management company and being developed as a tourist stop. While there we went on a whale watching tour and was successful in seeing a humpback mother and calf. You will notice a double tail flip in one of the phots. We also saw harbor seals and sea otters. Afterwards we went searching for bear with a guide who was armed, just in case. We did not see any thought since there are still in the woods eating berries and woods. They will be in the stream eating fish in early July. We did watch a Bald Eagle catch a rainbow trout and enjoy his dinner.
Lastly Alaskan town was Ketchikan, we went on the Misty Fjord cruise and saw beautiful fjords more seals and a volcanic plug that was raised above the seal level. I will say Ketchikan must have the most tourist gift shops I have seen in one town :)
This brings our 13 days to close in Vancouver, we were beat from a busy few weeks but went to Stanley Park to enjoy the totem poles. We had a very early flight ( had to be up at 2:30 AM so just grabbed food and crashed :)
We look forward to returning to Alaska to explore some more of its beauty it has to offer.
This is a mixture of Kathie's and my photos.