Alaska 2008: Day 10 (Train to Anchorage)

After ten days in Alaska, it was time to head south to prepare for our trip
home. We rode the Alaska Railroad back to Anchorage, sitting in Holland America’s
fancy McKinley Explorer cars. The ride was incredibly scenic, but very slow
(8 hours). After two days in a row sitting in buses for 7+ hours, I wasn’t
interested in sitting around again, so I spent most of the trip on the platform
downstairs, watching the scenery go by.

This is the final installment of my trip photos, as we fly home to SFO today
(Wednesday). I hope you enjoyed the trip as much as I did!

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Alaska 2008: Day 9 (Denali National Park)

Day 9 of my trip was billed as the best day to see Alaska’s wildlife. While
it wasn’t quite the "zoo" that I was expecting, we still saw Denali’s most
famous residents: brown bears, caribou, dall sheep, and moose. Our tour lasted
nearly seven hours, with the excellent driver/guide making the time pass quickly.

Before that, though, we took a trip to the park’s sled dog kennel. Denali
still uses sled dogs to patrol the park in the winter, and we got to meet and
greet most of the dogs. They’re all remarkably friendly, and they seem to love
what they do. They did a little demo with 5 dogs on a gravel trail, and they
were really moving fast. It was also funny to see how excited the dogs
when they were getting the sled ready… lots of barking "choose me!".

Pictures of everything after the link!

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Alaska 2008: Day 8 (Driving to Denali)

We were up way too early on Sunday, as the cruise portion of our tour had
come to an end. We left the Zaandam at around 7:45am and were quickly loaded
onto a nice motorcoach for a grueling 8 hour ride to Denali National Park.
The ride was scenic, but the driver wouldn’t stop talking, much to the dismay
of his passengers.

I managed to actually take a nap, and when I woke up, we
were about to stop to take a look at Mt. McKinley. The mountain is not a common
sight in Alaska, but we lucked out today — we could see it fairly well. A
while later we pulled into the "town" of Denali, where we checked in to our
hotel.

There’s really no "night" this time of year — the sun is up something
like 20 hours a day. It’s a bit odd being outside at 11pm with "afternoon"
lighting still in effect.

I’ve got a few interesting pictures from our long bus journey after the link.

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Alaska 2008: Day 7 (College Fjord)

The last full day of our cruise was spent in College Fjord. This fjord was
as smooth as glass, and filled with seals, otters, whales, porpoises, and birds
of all types. There were quite a few glaciers to see, too, though there was
no dramatic calving like in Glacier Bay.

Photos from Day 7 of my Alaska trip after the link below.

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Alaska 2008: Day 6 (Glacier Bay)

We spent our sixth day cruising through Glacier Bay, Alaska. If you like glaciers,
this is the place to be. After the link I’ve got a bunch of photos, plus some
cool movies of glaciers calving.

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Alaska 2008: Day 5 (Skagway)

On day 5, we stopped in Skagway. Like Ketchikan, the city itself isn’t very
exciting. There are some quaint old buildings, though most of them contain
chain jewelry stores, or tacky t-shirt shops. It kind of felt like Fisherman’s
Wharf at home.

The highlights of the day included a trip on the White Pass & Yukon Railroad,
and our departure from the port. I’ve got pictures of everything after the
link.

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Alaska 2008: Day 4 (Juneau)

On day 4 of our cruise, we stopped in Juneau. My folks went off on a whale
watching / glacier trip early in the morning, and my excursion wasn’t until
the afternoon, so I was on my own for a change. I took a tram to the top of
Mt. Roberts, walked around the town, ate lunch, and then it was time for my
"Photo Safari". We took a special boat designed for photographers out into
the inlets surrounding Juneau. After that, we had a land portion near the Mendenhall
Glacier.

Needless to say, lots of photos were taken — and you can see my favorites
after the link.

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Alaska 2008: Day 3 (Ketchikan)

Today will probably end up as the most adventurous day of our trip to Alaska.
The highlight, as you can see, was a floatplane trip to Misty Fjords National
Monument. This was my first time in a turboprop (a 1953 Dehavilland Otter),
and surprisingly, I was more relaxed than I am on a commercial jetliner! We
also spent some time walking around Ketchikan, the self-proclaimed Salmon Capital
of the World.

Hit the link below to see all of today’s action!

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