Sorry not to have blogged about this sooner. I got home from Alaska one week ago. I don’t know why, but I’ve been having trouble getting around to my last post about the trip. Lots of pictures (about 2,500) to sort through and memories to think about.
SEEING OLD FRIENDS!
When I last left off, Aunt Ruth and I had just left Skagway on June 12th. We journeyed on to Juneau on Tuesday, June 13th. Our ship docked that morning and Aunt Ruth and I slept in. (Or more accurately, I slept in while Aunt Ruth waited for me to get up...) We caught a bus up to Mendenhall Glacier, which is about 15 miles outside of town and is 12 miles long and 1.5 miles wide. It was very big and beautiful with a terrific waterfall running down a mountain next to it. While we were up there looking at the glacier, we heard two ladies shout out “Ruth Settle!!!” We turned around and there were two women Aunt Ruth worked with at Dunn and Bradstreet over 20 years ago – this outside of town at a remote glacier in one of the most remote states! It truly is a small world…
After the ladies had a chance to catch-up and I took sufficient pictures, we caught the next bus back to the ships and hopped on a trolley city tour from there. We got to see many sights around Juneau and even saw a bald eagle perched atop a pole in the middle of the city. We finished up at the Alaska State Museum where we saw lots of photography and artwork depicting Alaskan wildlife and scenery. They also had some wildlife displays with animals that had been stuffed. We then walked about 2 miles back to the cruise ships, stopping in shops along the way. I was so impressed with Aunt Ruth – at age 90, she never wanted to stop for a rest and never lost her enthusiasm for shopping the whole day.
FANCY DINNERS, PANDA BEARS, AND SAYING GOOD-BYE
Wednesday, we had a lazy day out at sea and Aunt Ruth and I used it to catch up on some sleep, do some reading a play a lot of Gin Rummy. We passed beautiful scenery all along the way and enjoyed having a day with nothing planned and nowhere we had to be. It made me realize how wonderful it is to have time set aside like that every now and then. Something I definitely need to do more of in my life. That evening, we had a formal dinner, complete with dressing up and eating lobster! Aunt Ruth and I both cleaned up pretty nice if I do say so myself...
Thursday, we visited Ketchikan, a small, touristy town. Aunt Ruth and I spent a couple of hours strolling through some shops and then came back to the ship. My favorite store we went into was a "Bernard K. Passman" store where they had this little Panda Bear with hula hoop made out of black coral. (It cost $5,000 to buy, but they let me take a picture for free!)
That night, the ship's crew prepared a midnight buffet with ice sculptures and "food art". Aunt Ruth and I didn't eat anything, but stayed up late so we could go see what they had prepared. Needless to say, we were not disappointed!
The next day, we had another lazy day at sea. It was Aunt Ruth's and my last full day together on the trip and the last day with our travel group of two weeks. Aunt Ruth and I both relaxed for most of the day, packed up, and then met everyone for an afternoon group shot.
That night, Aunt Ruth had the audacity to beat me at Gin Rummy without me even having a chance to lay down a single card. No fair!
Saturday morning, we arrived into Vancouver and Aunt Ruth and I had to say our good-byes. :( I was planning on staying over for thee days and so was part of the last group off. Aunt Ruth and company left about 1-1/2 hours before me. I felt a huge loneliness after everyone else left...
VICTORIA!
After I got off the boat, I started walking towards my youth hostel. Unfortunately, the person I spoke to on the phone assumed I was arriving at a much closer dock than I actually did and ended up hiking about 1-1/2 miles to get there. I dropped off some of my luggage at the hostel and then headed out to catch a ferry over to Victoria on Vancouver Island. I made it to Victoria in time to drop off even more luggage at yet another hostel and then headed over to see the Royal British Columbia Museum. This was a museum with a rich collection of the history, native culture, and wildlife of British Columbia. They had extensive displays that seemed to extend on forever. It was truly one of the best and most enjoyable museums I have ever been in! After leaving the museum, I walked along the harbor sidewalk and practiced some night-time photography.
FLOWERS EVERYWHERE
Sunday morning, I took a bus out to Butchart Gardens -- a place everyone on the cruise ship told me was a must-see. It took much longer to get out there than I had anticipated, but what was waiting for me there far exceeded my best expectations! It was 50 acres of the most beautiful gardens I have ever seen! Flower gardens, Japanese gardens, a small forest, water fountains, and more. This was one of the best (if not the absolute best) photo stop on my trip!
After leaving the gardens, I made a quick stop back at the Royal British Columbia Museum, went back to the hostel to grab my stuff, and then made a dash to try to catch a bus back to Vancouver. I didn't figure out the bus schedule ahead of time and so had to catch a motorcoach back in order to avoid getting back to Vancouver at midnight. One of the guys at the hostel called the bus company for me and arranged for them to pick me up on their way. I made a mad dash to try to beat them to the bus stop. It was about 12 blocks away and they ended up pulling in about 10 seconds before me... WHEW!!! The motorcoach actually drove onto the ferry and then drove another hour after that to get back to Vancouver...
SKY CARS, SUSPENSION BRIDGES, AND STANLEY PARK
The next morning, I went over to Granville Island, a small island and quaint district of Vancouver with Jason, one of my roommates at the hostel. He's also working on a PhD up in New York -- in literature instead of economics. We had a bunch of fun hanging out until just before lunch, finishing up with a quick tour of the harbor.
From there, I walked to the other side of Vancouver and caught yet another ferry over to Grouse Mountain, a mountain overlooking the city. I took a sky car up to the top of the mountain (one of the highest sky cars in North America). There were some great views of the city up there. I relaxed up there for a bit and then took the sky car back down and caught a bus to the Capilano Suspension Bridge, a huge suspension bridge, several hundred feet above a river in the midst of a beautiful forest.
I caught a bus back to the main part of Vancouver and had enough time in the day to rent a bicycle for an 8-mile ride around Stanley Park, one of the nicest public parks I've been in. (I'd rate it up there with the parks in Sydney, Australia and San Francisco.)
I grabbed some sushi on the way back to the hostel and started packing up for my journey home. That evening, my two roommates (Jason and Himesh) and a girl we met, Stephanie, ended up staying up until about 2 AM hanging out in the lounge having a hilarious two-hour conversation that I can only describe as it was like something out of Seinfeld. It was a great way to cap off the last day of my trip.
GOING HOME
I left the hostel early Wednesday morning (June 20th) and caught a bus to the airport. It was very late, but I left early enough that I still had plenty of time. (Not like me, I know...) I flew from Vancouver to Detroit and then home to Virginia. Mom and Dad came to pick me up at the airport at about 12:30 AM Thursday morning. It was wonderful coming back to see them. We got home a little after 1 AM and stayed up until about 3 in the morning catching up and having fun.
This trip was definitely one of best I have been on. It was fantastic seeing Alaska and most of all being able to do it with Aunt Ruth. I am so impressed with everything she was willing and able to do on the trip and she serves as my inspiration in many ways. I love her and miss her dearly and can't wait until our next time together.
I better close here and wrap up. I hope to get more pictures uploaded to a website over the next few days.
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