Icy Straight Point was a cute little town, with over-priced fish and chips and not a whole lot else. We got to see a bald eagle who was pretty cool and laid back. Probably because he knew he could eat us if we caused any trouble. Other than that we just wandered around the woods there. The Captain of the boat went bear watching but didn't see any. He's pretty funny, he's norwegian and thinks everything is smashing, and he really likes bears.
After that we headed to Ketckikan, which is a fairly big town. Well not really but compared to others we had visited. It has an area called creek street where all the buildings are built on stilts over the edge of a creek, it was pretty nice looking but the stilts looks pretty slimy and old so hopefully they don't fall down. We got to see a bald eagle that someone had shot and then someone else had looked after, it couldn't fly, but it liked to flap a lot. We also got to meet a hawk and a tiny owl who was really cute. They also had been saved.
Yesterday we went to Victoria on Vancouver Island, which is a pretty cool town. It has about 300 thousand people there, so its pretty big. We went out for dinner, which made a nice change from the ship food, which while its nice its pretty heavy and we wanted something different, after that we got a horse and carriage ride which was really fun. We had a horse called Mike who responded to words so they didn't use reins. After Victoria, we got back on the boat and woke up in Seattle and disembarked this morning. We catch our bus back to Vancouver this afternoon.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Alaska
We wrote this on Wednesday but couldn't post it til now:
On Sunday we boarded the Norwegian Pearl, after waiting in line for 3 hours. Through the US customs they had about 6 people processing US citizens and 2 processing foreign including Canadians. Seeing as we left Vancouver there were a lot of Canadians hence the wait. We got on the boat and were pretty excited to explore. There is so much stuff on here; a bowling ally, pools, hot tubs, movies, theatre, casino, shops and food. There is so much food on board. And so many fatties, bum bags and perms.. About half the restaurants are free and the others have a cover charge of about $10-$20. Its all surprisingly yum. We had expected it to be greasy American food, but there is a whole heap of different stuff. There is a buffet, a couple of proper restaurants, and one with burgers and things. Eating is our favourite past time on the ship, but we've also seen some comedians and dancers and things in the theater, played a fair bit of Big Buck Hunter Open Season PRO in the arcade, lounged in the sun loungers and watched some covers bands.
For 2 days we went through the Alaskan Inside Passage, and the Tracey Arms fjord to get to Sawyer Glacier. We couldn't make it to close to the glacier because there was too much ice, but we did get to see some spectacular scenery. We got to see a bear hanging out on the shore, he was pretty cool.
Yesterday we docked in our first point, Juneau. Its pretty small for a capital, but pretty cool. We saw the governors house, where Sarah Palin lived, we went out to a glacier that was pretty massive and chilly and looked at Russian dolls and ate some Russian dumplings.
Juneau is kind of like Pleasantville in that its roads dont lead anywhere. To get there you have to arrive by boat or plane, even so there are still fast cars, I couldn't work out why.
Today we arrived in Skagway which is a goldrush town. When the Klondike goldrush happened, Skagway was one on the main ports in. The town now has about 700 year-round residents and pretty much looks like it did during the goldrush – its not a big development town. The area around is pretty amazing. To be let into Canada from Alaska the people looking for gold had to take enough food and clothing to last a year which became known as the 1-ton rule. They must have been pretty tough to carry it over the mountains that are around the town, and most of them didn't find any gold anyway. Now there is a railway over the mountains, which would have been nice to go on, but it was too pricey for us.
We're off to Icy Straight Point tomorrow, which doesn't exist in our lonely planet book, so it must be pretty small. We've enjoyed our trip so far, and feel pretty young. We're about 20 years younger than anyone else not with their parents. Everyone else all seems to also have cruised many a time before. The old people let loose, getting buckets of Budweiser at 9.30 am and staying up til midnight at the cabaret shows. They love it!
On Sunday we boarded the Norwegian Pearl, after waiting in line for 3 hours. Through the US customs they had about 6 people processing US citizens and 2 processing foreign including Canadians. Seeing as we left Vancouver there were a lot of Canadians hence the wait. We got on the boat and were pretty excited to explore. There is so much stuff on here; a bowling ally, pools, hot tubs, movies, theatre, casino, shops and food. There is so much food on board. And so many fatties, bum bags and perms.. About half the restaurants are free and the others have a cover charge of about $10-$20. Its all surprisingly yum. We had expected it to be greasy American food, but there is a whole heap of different stuff. There is a buffet, a couple of proper restaurants, and one with burgers and things. Eating is our favourite past time on the ship, but we've also seen some comedians and dancers and things in the theater, played a fair bit of Big Buck Hunter Open Season PRO in the arcade, lounged in the sun loungers and watched some covers bands.
For 2 days we went through the Alaskan Inside Passage, and the Tracey Arms fjord to get to Sawyer Glacier. We couldn't make it to close to the glacier because there was too much ice, but we did get to see some spectacular scenery. We got to see a bear hanging out on the shore, he was pretty cool.
Yesterday we docked in our first point, Juneau. Its pretty small for a capital, but pretty cool. We saw the governors house, where Sarah Palin lived, we went out to a glacier that was pretty massive and chilly and looked at Russian dolls and ate some Russian dumplings.
Juneau is kind of like Pleasantville in that its roads dont lead anywhere. To get there you have to arrive by boat or plane, even so there are still fast cars, I couldn't work out why.
Today we arrived in Skagway which is a goldrush town. When the Klondike goldrush happened, Skagway was one on the main ports in. The town now has about 700 year-round residents and pretty much looks like it did during the goldrush – its not a big development town. The area around is pretty amazing. To be let into Canada from Alaska the people looking for gold had to take enough food and clothing to last a year which became known as the 1-ton rule. They must have been pretty tough to carry it over the mountains that are around the town, and most of them didn't find any gold anyway. Now there is a railway over the mountains, which would have been nice to go on, but it was too pricey for us.
We're off to Icy Straight Point tomorrow, which doesn't exist in our lonely planet book, so it must be pretty small. We've enjoyed our trip so far, and feel pretty young. We're about 20 years younger than anyone else not with their parents. Everyone else all seems to also have cruised many a time before. The old people let loose, getting buckets of Budweiser at 9.30 am and staying up til midnight at the cabaret shows. They love it!
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