| DAY 01 | fly to fairbanks via seattle & anchorage. check
in wedgewood resort. | alaska airlines: no frills; packed
like sardines; noisy md-80 airplane anchorage to fairbanks was a
b-737, which was quieter. seattle airport: to have a cigarette
between planes, you have to walk a mile to get outside! that should
be changed! the same
was true of anchorage, but the walk was much shorter. rooms at the
wedgewood are actually apartments with fully equipped kitchens. our
stay there was too short for that to matter, though. |
| DAY 02 | tour gold mine; pan for gold. see alaskaland.
sail sternwheel riverboat. | the couple that run the gold
mine have developed a sluice system that uses astroturf to catch the
gold. everyone panned about $5 worth of gold flakes, an exercise in
planned panning. it was interesting. the riverboat trip was in a
large modern vessel powered by a hydraulic-drive sternwheel. it's a
family-owned and operated enterprise, and quite a pleasant trip one of
the most fascinating things about alaska is the 22 hours of daylight
in the summer. you never have to worry about getting things done
before dark |
| DAY 03 | bus to denali national park check in denali
princess resort. look for animals. | nice resort. riding
for 8 hours in a packed schoolbus through the park looking for moose,
caribou, grizzlies, etc. in their natural habitat was a bad idea. the
animals stay far from the route of the rumbling rattling busses. the
additional cost of an air trip instead would have been worth
it. |
| DAY 04 | rest up after nearly futile search for
animals. | the jacuzzi was nice. the alaska oil pipeline is
very interestingly engineered. above-ground sections are supported on
teflon slides, allowing movement during expansion and contraction due
to temperature extremes. |
| DAY 05 | ride train to anchorage. | if trains
used more cars like the ultra dome, more people would ride trains.
they were double-deckers, with the upper deck for passenger seating,
arranged in table-centered booths under a tinted glass dome. below
was a dining section and an open-air observation platform/smoking
area |
| DAY 05 | check in captain cook hotel. | the
captain cook was billed as perhaps the finest in alaska, gym,
jacuzzi,computer room with internet connection. BULLSHIT!. gym &
jacuzzi closed by 10 pm. computer and internet charges total $22 an
hour. local phone calls .75 a minute. ordainary rooms. can of soda?
go elsewhere. have a choice? stay elsewhere! |
| DAY 06 | ride bus to seward. board big
boat. | the boat is the sky princess, 46,000 tons, 789 ft,
1200 passengers. food, whether in dining rooms or by room service, is
free. drinks, except coffee or tea, are not. there is a spa, casino,
stores, and several bars. |
| DAY 07 | cruise college fjord | the 'j' is
pronounced like a 'y' the scenery is scenic. the staterooms are
pleasant and comfortable, though the beds are small. our stewardess,
dana from romania, gave us excellent service. |
| DAY 08 | cruise yakutat bay. see glaciers and
icebergs. | for some unknown reason, the boat people declare
certain nights formal or semi-formal, excluding the informally
inclined and impairing our enjoyment. fortunately, room service food
is equal in quality to the dining rooms |
| DAY 09 | stop at skagway | once a boom town
during the gold rush, the 800 residents survive on memories of the
whores and hordes of past times. |
| DAY 10 | stop at juneau | there are no roads in
or out of the state capitol--there are cars, but no car theft. at 30
kilopeople, it's the third largest city in alaska; the streets are
narrow and winding. |
| DAY 11 | stop at ketchikan | at 160 inches of
rain per year,it earns the title of alaska's rain capital ..and it
proved it by raining all day. it's the 4th largest city at 23.7 k.p.
(including suburbs), and right by the dock it has a fully stocked
hardware store. |
| DAY 12 | sail south | we sailed 'neath cloudy
skies, but the sea was calm.. |
| DAY 13 | arrive vancouver ride bus to seattle fly back
to phoenix. | land ho! we quickly glimpsed vancouver through
windows of the bus that took us to seattle..america west, though late
in arriving and departing, provided more efficient and professional
service. we are ambivalent about our return to a sunny 109 degree
climate |
