Hubbard Glacier Cruising (Yakatut Bay)

The atrium of our ship:



Toasting our cruise with a yummy pre-dinner pina colada.



Impressive Hubbard Glacier in Yakutat Bay.













Sunday 5/23/10
Slept well and then explored.
Note!! Next cruise insist that the cabin be center / bow even if cost is greater.
Cabin near stern. Nice but long walk to theater and dining.
Breakfast in Horizon. Buffet. Congee +++ Curried egg --, hash = canned, nothing special. Decaf cold.
Service at coffee bar shoddy but decaf = hot.
Girls shop, $10 watch, casino = $50 credit
Bill – gym
Lunch in restaurant. Mussels & snapper
Nap
Check Nuvi @ 3:30. She knows where we are. We are in Yakatut Bay. I can see glacier out the port side. It has receded well back from the bay.
Laundry
Into bay to Turner and Hubbard glacier, we see from room. Ice floes surround us. Princess naturalist suggests global warming, climate change not true, part of a cycle.
Formal dress night, we opt for a drink and then the buffet.
Scout for seats in the Princess theater and meet some Missouri fans. The guy is convinced that Lloyd is a Mo grad and learned all his football under Divine. That’s why he was so much better than RR.
1 hour show titled “Dance”. Great production numbers! My favorite was Sara Lee.

Coach and Train to Anchorage (Whittier Cruise Terminal)

A nice place to while away the morning!



Beautiful fireplace in the Lodge. Can you find the sled dogs?



Boarded the coach to the Talkeetna depot around 11 a.m. It was a one hour ride to the "depot". This is a thing that Princess definitely needs to work on - this transfer spot is out in the middle of nowhere - three porta-johns and only a few logs to sit on, and quite a long wait! Here I am enjoying my log...



It took this many buses to transfer all of the tourists coming and going. The facilities were not adequate to the task, in my opinion. But it certainly did not spoil the day! It was just a minor glitch.



Ze train! Ze train! The train rides are so much more enjoyable than the buses. The scenery along the route was as spectacular as it gets!



PICTURES FROM THE TRAIN RIDE (Talkeetna to Whittier)









DICK'S NOTES:

Sat 5/22/10
Coffee shop & internet. Finally figure out that if you keep your cup, the refills are free.
We hang out ‘til 11, bus to Talkeetna, sit in front. B&J get crying baby in back. One hour ride, last view of McKinley. Clear at top in AM, all clear on drive.
Station – the pits. Two pit toilets, log seating. 30+ min wait. Board train, car 1. It turns out that car 1 is in the front when north bound, at rear when south bound.
Crying baby in car 6.
Car 1 develops hot box, might have to drop from train. Yard workers come on board in Anchorage. If car dropped we would be reassigned to other cars but they would find us to give us our shipboard information. Trains stops near siding. View effects of 1964 quake.
Medical emergency! Our tour guide (Tammy) is MedTec. Tammy has to go forward. Train proceeds slowly south. When she returns she claims credit for keeping car 1 attached.
Good views of tide going out from Turnagain Arm and receding glaciers on the right, avalanches and waterfalls on left. Train slow, arrive nearly one hour late but still in our car.
Disembark at Whittier, good hike to check in through security. Sniders way ahead. Bill claims he saw an orca.
Find room, meet room steward (Maria Luisa)
Dinner in assigned dining room - Sniders are in the other one. Share table w/ Rod & Nancy – VT. & Charles & Cathy (Paula Deen) – Ark. Excellent company!!!
Back in room @ 11:30ish, unpack, bed just after 12. Long day!!

We boarded the Coral Princess, found our stateroom, went to the lifeboat drill in the Universe Lounge, and had a very late dinner. Exciting day!

The view from our balcony. It stayed light until 11 p.m.



Our stateroom (E 714 - E is for Emerald Deck 8.

A Free Morning and on to Mt. McKinley

We had a free morning to enjoy the Wilderness Lodge. The scenery was gorgeous, and it was fun people-watching. Dick used his laptop, and I rusticated.

INTERIOR OF THE PRINCESS WILDERNESS LODGE:



THE LINE FOR COFFEE WAS ENDLESS!



We had time to catch a shuttle to the Denali National Park Visitor Center - I'm so glad we could fit that in because it was a very informative and entertaining place.




Dick's notes:

Fri 5/21/10
Coffee shop a zoo, long lines but the kids are pleasant and friendly. Great staff! Visit VC. Talk to gal about trail-less park. When caching mentioned, she is in Anchorage in winter and teaches it in local schools. States that she grew up in small town near TC, I’m so amazed I forget to get the name of the town.
At lunch our waitress is Nicole. We talk about where we are from, she says Minnesota, we say Traverse City, she steps back and says she thinks she has waited on us before. When we tell her that this is the only time we’ve visited the dining room, she says ”No. I mean in Traverse.” She works at the Happy Hog in the winter!!!
We load the bus for Mt McKinley. A clear day and the mountain is fully visible in all its glory.
After arrival, check in, visit room, and enjoy dinner, and???
it’s time for bed

The bus ride to the McKinley Princess Lodge was two hours plus. But the scenery was so breathtaking that it flew by. They say that the mountain is only visible a few days a year, so once again we had the pixie dust. It was glorious and cloudless and we could see it clearly all day. Such luck! (Denali is the Athabascan name for Mt. McKinley.)

Fairbanks to Denali

Our beautiful train to Denali:


Waiting for the bus ride to the depot: Front lobby, Riverside Lodge: COACH FROM RIVERSIDE LODGE TO RAIL DEPOT: This was a great train ride. We left Fairbanks around 8 a.m. and got to the Denali depot around noon. We sat upstairs in beautiful observation cars, and had wonderful views of everything along the way. Breakfast was served on the first level - the food was great, and the service was great also. Here we are at breakfast: Dick and I in the observation car: At the village of Nenana, every year they have a contest to see when the river will thaw, or "go out". This year it thawed on April 29 at 9:06 a.m. People bet on the exact date and time of the thaw. It's as good as winning the lottery!

Nenana is 65 miles southwest of Fairbanks on the George Parks Highway.
Nenana is at mile 412 of the Alaska Railroad, on the south bank of the Tanana River (just east of the mouth of the Nenana River), and at mile 305 of the Parks Highway.

It is an historic community - an Athabascan Native Village 56 miles (as the raven flies) from Fairbanks and 75 miles north of Denali National Park. Nenana has air access, with a 5,000 ft. paved runway for float and ski planes.

Nenana Ice Classic 2010

The Jackpot for the 2010 Nenana Ice Classic is $279,030.00. The payout will be made on June 1st The winners are: Chris Arnold - Purchased his ticket at Marylou Redman/Diamond Jim's in Indian, Ak Donna Smith - Purchased her ticket at Carrs/Sageway in Wasilla Alison Foley - Purchased her ticket at Carrs/Safeway - Bently in Fairbanks April 29, 2010 9:06 AM Alaska Standard Time Tanana River went out Tripod clock stopped.

This is where we learned that "na" means river. Talkeetna, Chena, Tanana, and Nenana are all river names.

Here, just for you, are 16 seconds of our train ride through Alaska:

Denali Natural History Tour

Dick's notes:

Thurs 5/20/10
Board train for Denali Princess in mist and rain. Rain clears as we move south. See Dall sheep and 3 dead wolves from train. Not see Denali.

From station, shuttle to lodge. Check in and go on Natural History tour with driver Gary. He has been in Alaska 9 years, ex-long haul trucker. Very passionate about park.
From the bus we see caribou, very pregnant moose, artic hare (10 feet away) spruce grouse, ptarmigan, artic ground squirrel, and best of all a mother grizzly and cavorting cub.
Tour has stops at wilderness center, cabin for reenactor, and a talk with native Athabaskan.
Dinner at the bistro

We settled in at the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge, and freshened up for our Natural History tour.

This was a five hour bus tour that felt like an hour - and left you wanting more! We learned about the history, culture and wildlife of Denali National Park from a sincere, passionate bus driver whose life has been changed by being in the wilderness. He narrated beautifully, he was knowledgeable, and he even read us poetry. It was the most successful wildlife tour you can imagine. We saw caribou, moose, grizzly bears, ptarmigan, Arctic ground squirrel, and snowshoe hare. Unbelievable. The bus drivers were all exclaiming about how rare a day this was. We've been sprinkled with pixie dust.

MOOSE (2) This was a very pregnant moose. I'm sure she's a mama by now.





CARIBOU (2) Did you know that caribou and reindeer are the same animal? The difference between caribou and reindeer is that reindeer can fly. We have it on good authority!



DENALI SCENERY


VISITOR CENTER


GRIZZLIES (4) There's at least one bear in each picture. One of them clearly shows the cub. This was the most fascinating part of the tour for me.









ATHABASCAN MAN DESCRIBING CULTURE OF NATIVE AMERICANS



DENALI SCENERY


BACK TO THE WILDERNESS LODGE FOR DINNER