Tag: Alaska Cruise

It was in August of 1970 that Janeen and I were last in Victoria BC and visited the Butchart Gardens.  All those years ago, we were very different people – married a year, no kids, living in Riverside CA and driving a Jeep pulling a home- built camping trailer on vacation to Seattle with a side trip via ferry to Victoria.   At that time, I didn’t know what a GARDEN person Janeen would become or how critical it was to visit gardens when possible.  So, as this Alaska Adventure had an opportunity to get to Butchart Gardens it was a no brainer to sign up.

Unfortunately, our ship docked late in the day so the actual excursion didn’t even start until about 6:30 in the evening making the trip a night time adventure.  As part of the excursion, there was a tour of a Butterfly Gardens, which was the first stop.

Victoria Butterfly Gardens offers a unique opportunity to wander through a tropical environment to the beauty and wonder of various butterflies along with poison dart frogs, tortoises, iguanas, flamingos and several free flight birds.  When we entered the building, there were glass cases with a variety of smaller butterflies and insects so you can get a up close view while they scurried along.  

Going through the double doors into the tropical jungle brought us to the butterflies and other amazing things.  

We have been in several butterfly habitats and this would range in the mid-size range but being located in Victoria made it very special.

Butchart Gardens started its life as a limestone quarry.  Robert Pim Butchart (1856–1943) began manufacturing Portland cement in 1888 near his birthplace of Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada. He and his wife Jennie Butchart (1866–1950) came to the west coast of Canada because of rich limestone deposits necessary for cement production. In 1904, they established their home near his quarry on Tod Inlet at the base of the Saanich Peninsula on Vancouver Island.  It seems that for a number of years, Butchart had a virtual monopoly on the production of concert at a time when construction was moving quickly – and thus he had a few extra dollars lying around to allow his wife to be creative.

In 1907 Isaburo Kishida, a sixty-five-year-old garden designer from Yokohama, Japan, came to Victoria at the request of his son to build a tea garden for Esquimalt Gorge Park. This garden was wildly popular. Several prominent citizens, Jennie Butchart among them, commissioned Kishida to build Japanese gardens for their estates before Kishida returned to Japan in 1912.  Thus started the transformation of the quarry to a world class park with multiple gardens. 

In 1909, when the limestone quarry was exhausted, Jennie set about turning it into the Sunken Garden, which was completed in 1921. They named their home “Benvenuto” (“welcome” in Italian), and began to receive visitors to their gardens.  In 1926, they replaced their tennis courts with an Italian garden and in 1929 they replaced their kitchen vegetable garden with a large rose garden to the design of Butler Sturtevant of Seattle.

Janeen was delighted to find many Tom Carruth cultivated varieties (someone she knows from the Huntington Library in San Mario, CA and who is a world class rose breeder).  In 1939, the Butchart’s gave the Gardens to their grandson Ian Ross (1918–1997) on his 21st birthday. Ross was involved in the operation and promotion of the gardens until his death 58 years later.  Ownership of The Gardens remains within the Butchart family; the owner and managing director since 2001 is the Butcharts’ great-granddaughter Robin-Lee Clarke.

As we walked around, nightfall was complete and the wonderful views we were hoping for were not possible.

The Dragon Fountain

However, there was lots to see and plants flood lit along the way.  

In addition, there was a concert going on so we had a lovely musical soundtrack for most of our journey.  

Pictures I took of the Sunken Garden – note the moon in the middle picture

A quick visit to the huge gift shop and back to our coach we went.

This was the final stop on our Alaska Cruise.  Overall, our ports of call were more interesting than anything on board the ship.  The ship was HUGE with over 4,000 passengers, shops, shows and other entertainment opportunities – none of which we took advantage of during our time at sea.  Yes, we did have a couples massage and Janeen had a spa treatment or two but generally we aren’t big ship fans.  Furthermore, we didn’t see any glacier so I’m not certain there are any left in Alaska!  OK, I know they are but we didn’t get to take the Mendenhall Glacier – which was one of the main reasons for going to Alaska in the first place!  So, another adventure for sure to this part of the world is on the list. Our next adventure is a Fall Color tour in New England later this month. More Blogs to come!

After arriving in the Port of Skagway, we disembarked and climbed aboard a coach for a ride to the train station to take a ride on the White Pass Scenic Railway.

Built in 1898 as a way to expedite travel during the Klondike Gold Rush, the White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad is a three-foot-wide narrow-gauge railroad that climbs from sea level to almost 3,000 feet in the first 20 miles. An engineering marvel, it features two tunnels and travels over sky-high trestles and bridges. Considered an impossible feat, the railway was completed in 26 months by blasting through the mountains with 450 tons of explosives. The 110-mile railroad was officially completed when a final golden spike was hammered into place on July 29, 1900, in Carcross, Yukon. The route continued operation until 1982, and in 1988 was partially revived as a heritage railway.  In 1988 it was purchased by Carnival Corporation & plc, the parent company of Princess Cruises, and has been delighting riders ever since!  

It has been fully restored with comfortable passenger coaches featuring large picture windows and are pulled by diesel locomotives. 

As we travelled along, there was narration provided highlighting the scenic views and historical significance of the train.  

While there were beautiful views, the overcast skies kept the sun from shining limiting the grandeur of the vistas we could see.  However, there was beauty all around with waterfalls, mountains and lakes but alas, no roaming herds of animals to see.  

The train starts Skagway and makes its return trip after a stop in Fraser British Columbia.   After having our passports checked, by Canadian officials, we started back to Skagway.  

The train does a loop so we weren’t seeing the same vistas on the return trip.  Naturally, when we reached Skagway, US Customs officials made sure we all had the proper passport to return.

A quick ride in our couch, brought us to Dredge Town where we panned for gold!  Dredge Town is the site of a gold rush era operation that was in operation until the late 1950’s.  

Our guides, dressed in character, showed us how the dredge operated and how individuals panned for gold (and still do) along the stream beds of the region.

After being taught by the “crusty old prospector”, we gathered our pan and began to swish and swirl in our own pool of water!  

After doing all the gyrations, we ended up with about 8 or 9 gold flecks in the bottom of the pan.  

After taking our treasure to the assayer, we learned we had $39 worth of gold!  

After learning the value of our treasure, we ventured over to the dining hall for a smoked BBQ lunch including ribs, chicken and various side dishes.   

Our day complete, and $39 richer, we went back to town and rejoined the ship.

Alaska Adventure – Juneau

Prior to arriving in Juneau, our ship went up the Endicott Arm towards the Dawes Glacier.  Endicott Arm is a 30-mile fjord that snakes through the Tracy Arm-Fords Wilderness Area. At the head is the majestic Dawes Glacier.  

Taking out ship up the fjord was not easy – although the depth along the valley walls is quite steep and thus very deep.  

It was hoped that as we got closer to the Dawes Glacier we would be able to see it – but weather conditions did not work in our favor – while we got about a mile away from the face of the glacier, it was completely hidden behind the low hanging clouds!  

There were various drifting blocks of ice along the way but nothing so big to be a concern.  So, the Captain turned the ship around and headed towards Juneau

Juneau is the capital city of the state of Alaska.  Located in the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle.  The Greater Juneau Borough municipality is larger by area than both Rhode Island and Delaware.  Downtown Juneau is nestled at the base of Mount Juneau and across the channel from Douglas Island. As of the 2020 census, the City had a population of 32,255, making it the third-most populous city in Alaska after Anchorage and Fairbanks.  Juneau experiences a daily influx of roughly 6,000 people from visiting cruise ships between the months of May and September.

 
The city is named after a gold prospector from Quebec, Joe Juneau, though the place was once called Rockwelland then Harrisburg (after Juneau’s co-prospector, Richard Harris). Juneau is unique among the 49 U.S. capitals on mainland North America in that there are no roads connecting the city to the rest of the state or North America.

The absence of a road network is due to the extremely rugged terrain surrounding the city. This in turn makes Juneau a de facto island city in terms of transportation, since all goods coming in and out must go by plane or boat, in spite of the city’s location on the Alaskan mainland. Downtown Juneau sits at sea level, with tides averaging 16 feet (5 m), below steep mountains about 3,500 to 4,000 feet (1,100 to 1,200m) high. Atop these mountains is the Juneau Icefield, a large ice mass from which about 30 glaciers flow; two of these, the Mendenhall Glacier and the Lemon Creek Glacier, are visible from the local road system. The Mendenhall glacier has been gradually retreating; its front face is declining in width and height.

We had not signed on for any excursions for our port of call in Juneau – which was very disappointing as we didn’t get to the Mendenhall Glacier (so NO proof there any glaciers in Alaska as far as I’m concerned). Once we escaped the ship, we walked around the city a bit and window shopped.  There are clearly several interesting spots along the way.  Red Dog Saloon has been provided food, drink and entertainment since Juneau’s mining era and continues today serving the hungry locals and tourists. 

 Further along the road we found Tracy’s King Crab Shack serving king crab legs by the ton!  They serve four different kinds of crab – Red, King, Snow and Dungeness along with battered shrimp and a variety of sides.  

We ventured in and I order the ‘small’ order of Red King Crab while Janeen ordered the Crab Bisque.  

We looked at the possibility of taking the Mount Roberts Tram to the top of the mountain but the line seemed to be at least an hour long so we did a pass. 

 Clearly there is a lot to do in Juneau but our visit was a bit disappointing as the two major highlights – Mendenhall Glacier and the Tram up the mountain would have been enjoyable – so another visit to this place needs to be on the agenda.

If you have taken an ocean cruise, on a larger ship, you may have seen the on-board art seller Park West Gallery.  This art seller is on many cruise lines and we ran across them when we were on our first ocean cruise in 2019.  At that time, we purchased several pieces and over the last couple of years bought a couple more.  As a result of those purchases, Park West Gallery offered us a “free” Alaska Cruise on Princess.  We have booked an Alaska cruise several times and had to cancel for one reason or another.  So, when they offered up the trip we said yes.  On our prior bookings we had included the land portion but for this it was only the sea part of the Itinerary that was offered.   We figured “why not” and thus we found ourselves heading to Seattle for departure on Discovery Princess this past week.

Let me state at the outset, we are NOT big fans of large ships.  Our trip through the Panama Canal was on the smallest ship in the Princess Fleet with maybe 800 passengers.  This ship, the Discovery Princess, is one of the newest in the fleet and carries over 4,000 passengers.  Needless to say, we don’t really care for all of the things that they offer – unlimited eating opportunities, casino, various craft activities, pools and lots and lots of drinking so there won’t be much about the actual Cruise – but there will be some discussion of the several excursions we have taken that got us off the ship.

Ketchikan, Alaska, is truly the beginning of the last frontier. Set at the southernmost entrance to Alaska’s famed Inside Passage—a network of waterways that snake through some of the most beautiful wilderness in the world—Ketchikan is best known for three things: feisty salmon, idyllic scenery, and an incredibly rich Alaska Native culture.  

Due to our thriving, century-old commercial fishery, Ketchikan is known as “The Salmon Capital of the World” and they are proud of their fishing culture and passionate about providing opportunities for visitors to catch and/or otherwise enjoy the best seafood on the planet.

The year-round population of the City is maybe 10,000 with another large number seasonal workers coming in to support the tourist trade – from about April to the beginning of October.  As we walked around the town, which didn’t take very long as there isn’t much to see, there were various shops selling all the traditional souvenirs and jewelry.  When I asked several people if they were local, the consistent answer was “no, I just come for the season”.  Several people said they follow the cruise ships – winter in the Caribbean and summer in Alaska.  Most, if not all, of the shops close up (including boarding up windows) at the end of the season 

Our first excursion, after docking in Ketchikan, was on a small boat ride where we were guaranteed eagle sightings, eagles’ nests and views of the Totem Bight State Park along with some other interesting views from the water.  Once off the ship we boarded bus for the 20-minute trip to the boat we had an interesting narrative about Ketchikan and the history of the place.  Our bus driver was actually a resident and certainly provided some interesting commentary about the City.

On board, we were offered a beverage (coffee, hot chocolate, water) and the use of binoculars and the trip began!  Our Capitan, a 5^th generation local, guided us out and pointed out various points of interest including 

We had the option of sitting in the heated main cabin or enjoy the open-air observation deck – we chose the open-air deck!  It wasn’t very long before an eagle was sighted – seems with the white neck, they look a lot like a golf ball sitting in a tree – at least from a distance.  

As we got closer to them, they become recognizable for sure.  While I had hoped to see them diving for fish in the water, they were usually stationary and only twisted their neck as we motored along.  

The entire area is part of the Tongass National Forest which covers a good portion of this part of Alaska.  Along the way, we were able to see the totem poles and clan house of Totem Bight State Park from the water. 

 Additional views from the water of colorful cabins and unique homes round out this breathtaking seascape houses were quite interesting – remember, all of this area is an island and thus most transport is via boat or float plane.  

Along the way, we were offered sampler plates with salmon spread, crackers, bull kelp pickles, artisan chocolate and assorted beverages which were enjoyable for sure.   Unfortunately, we didn’t see any moon jellyfish, whales, deer or other animals as we motored along.  We did see some seals but that was about all for marine life.  However, even though we didn’t see much wildlife, the time on the adventure was well spent and enjoyable.  

The narrative provided was informative and included some historical points of reference including the history of The Guard Island Lighthouse – a 100-year-old beacon to safeguard the ocean going sailors.

All-in-all it was a nice trip and one we enjoyed very much. If you find yourself looking for something to do in Ketchikan I would suggest you check them out. https://lighthouseexcursion.com

Because there is such an influx of out of town help, they have a shortage of housing. One of the solutions was the use of a retired ferry – docked by where we joined our tour boat trip.

Once off the boat, we got on the bus and back towards the Ship or to walk around the town of Ketchikan.  As we had several hours, we wandered around looking at the various shops and up to the river that runs through – where the salmon run.  

While we did see salmon in the river it was not as great as it might have been a couple of weeks ago when the river was teaming with salmon on their way up.

Heading back to the ship, we noticed these lovely mosaic banners hanging from posts.

Back on the ship we relaxed and got ready for our next adventure.