Tag: Juneau

Ketchikan, Alaska, on Friday, August 30th, 2019

On August 30, 2019

Juneau, Alaska

Ketchikan is near the southernmost tip of Alaska’s panhandle and is a small town squeezed between mountain and sea. It gets its name from the Tlingit Indian name, Ketchikan, meaning “Thundering Wings of an Eagle.” If you climb the 3,000 foot Deer Mountain that overlooks the town, the town, a Tlingit summer fishing camp, sprawls in the shape of an eagle in flight. It’s only a small town of 8,245, but it has Hoona beat hollow (our first stop at Icy Strait, Alaska) because that town only has 760 residents AND it takes 3 and 1/2 hours to get to civilization by boat AND that boat only runs 2 days a week! So, as our guide said, “Everybody knows everybody and we have zero crime.”

Helicopter to the Mendenhall Glacier.

Ketchikan, which is near Craig, is known as the Salmon Capital of Alaska, but Salmon cities abound up here in the North to Alaska area. All we have for an “activity” in this town is a trolley pass for the day. We plan to wander in and drift around among the many jewelry stores and those that are touting fur or bamboo goods (because they are softer than cotton).

Hubbard Glacier.

We did our flying (both plane and helicopter) on the past 2 stops, and all I can say for those of you thinking of making this trip is to bring plenty of money for the opportunities to fly over the glaciers. They don’t give those trips away and you’ll be shelling out hundreds, per opportunity. Well worth it? For us, yes, because I don’t anticipate strolling over to Sarah Palin’s house to watch Russia from her porch any time in the future, and this will probably be my only chance to visit our 50th state.

Craig on the glacier. There is actually a town named “Craig” near Ketchikan, where we dock today.

Mendenhall Glacier.

Cruising the Mendenhall Glacier.

Passing ship (the SilverSea?)

Craig and Connie Wilson on Mendenhall Glacier on 8/29/2019

This trip ends on Sunday, as we go back to Vancouver, British Columbia to depart for a plane trip back to Chicago, flying through San Francisco, this time.

Mendenhall & Hubbard Glaciers: August 28, 29, 2019

By Connie Wilson

On August 29, 2019

In travel

Hoona, Icy Strait, Hubbard Glacier

We flew in a small plane (Cessna) with 8 people on Wednesday to view the Hubbard Glacier and today we went up in a helicopter with a grand total of 5 of us, to view and walk on the Mendenhall Glacier.

The Mendenhall Glacier is about 9 miles outside of Juneau, Alaska. The ice

Craig and Connie Wilson on Mendenhall Glacier on 8/29/2019

is rapidly retreating and, 5 years ago, some of the bluffs nearby were also part of the glacier. Not any more.

We were given walking stick when we landed on the glacier and instructions were very clear as to where to walk (stay away from the whirring blades at the back of the copter.) Anyone over 250 lbs. had to pay an extra $100.

Hubbard Glacier

Merrick was our pilot and the entire time on the approximately 40 degree temperature glacier, for which we were given special boots that go on over your shoes, was about 13 minutes. Not a lot to do on a glacier in August, but one of the help was wearing nothing but a sports shirt and no coat, while I look like Nanook of the North.

Hoona, Icy Strait, Alaska

Juneau, Alaska, 8/29/19. Sixty-nine degrees.

Hubbard Glacier.

Mendenhall Glacier.

Near Hubbard Glacier.

Celebrity Eclipse from the air, Icy Strait, Alaska.

A wonderful experience!

Juneau, Alaska, on Thursday, August 29th, 2019

By Connie Wilson

On August 29, 2019

In travel

Vancouver Harbor, 8/25/19.

Getting ready to disembark in Juneau, Alaska, capital of the state. Population: 32,500. The largest state capitol by area in the U.S.

Here, we will get on a helicopter and then walk on a glacier, which promises to be unusual, interesting, and, possibly, cold. Not sure how cold it is out today, but it was NOT that cold in Hoona, Icy Strait, and I ended up stowing the huge jacket bought on the boat in the luggage part of the small plane for eight.

These pictures (if they upload) were taken from the plane in Hoona…which I may be misspelling. That “town” had a population of 706. It takes them 3 and 1/2 hours to get to the mainland area, which is a trip only available 2x a week

Vancouver beckons.

The trip by plane was supposed to last and hour and a half. We left at 3:30 and did not return until 7, so that is plenty long for me. (Some say they last 7 hours.)

Bought a Citizen watch. We leave here tonight at 7:30 p.m. having docked at 7:30 a.m.

Alaska Now and Tomorrow!

By Connie Wilson

On August 26, 2019

In travel

Vancouver beckons.

Vancouver Harbor, 8/25/19.

I’ve been trying to upload photos taken here in Alaska for the better part of the last hour. No luck. We’re in the ocean, heading for Icy Strait Point, which we will reach at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow. (That is 5:30 p.m. Quad City time).

So far, I’ve managed to shut my left hand index finger in the rest room door on the airplane flying here (Chicago to Denver; Denver to Vancouver) and sat for the duration with my finger plunged in a glass of ice. It’s a lovely purple color right now. I also think I have pulled something in my back pulling my computer bag with my 900-lb. purse perched atop it. Both of these are “no nos” for the experienced travelers among you, which apparently leaves me out.

We have booked 3 tours off the boat. One will be tomorrow at 4 p.m. when we do the Glacier Bay Flightseeing for 2 hours in a fixed-wing plane flying over Point Adolphus and Icy Strait. Glacier Bay National Park is the destination, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Three point three million acres with the ancestral homeland of the Huna Tingit. I’m afraid you’ll have to wait to see the pictures until I can get home to post them. The Internet here is not great, even though it costs something like $175 for 2 devices per person for the week. (The plane trip is $399 per person, so….)

After Icy Strait, it’s the Hubbard Glacier on Aug. 28 and Juneau on the 29th. We’ll do the Mendenhall Glacier by helicopter and guided walk for 2 and one-quarter hours. ($369 per person).

Following Juneau, on Friday (Aug. 30) we hit Ketchikan and I think we’re doing the historic Ketchikan trolley, although there are so many different options that I now am confused as to what we ARE doing.

I bought a jacket on the ship today, since it is getting quite chilly and my London Fog coat with the metal buttons is not cutting it. The buttons used to amuse Ava and Elise (the granddaughters) for hours, but they set off all the alarms at the metal detectors at the airport and won’t stay closed.

I got an e-mail from Amazon today giving me 5 days to “dispute” some copyright claim for my newest (6th) cat book and it makes no sense at all. I published both the cat books and whatever other book they are talking about, but I am in no position to make phone calls to Amazon and be on hold for hours at a time, so there’s that.

The food, as always, is good, and the ship reminds of the Celebrity Solstice that we took around Australia (this is the Celebrity Eclipse). So far, so good.