Date: Jan 17th

Type:  Contrast

RE:  Alaska

By:  Toni

Well, last week I had the chance to begin telling you all about our wonderful vacation to Alaska and didn't even get a chance to you a thing about the exciting itenrary "Voyage of the Glaciers".  So lets pick up where we left off.

Seward, where we begun our journey is a beautiful setting on the scenic Kenai Peninsula, nestled against 3,000-foot Marathon Mountain on Resurrection Bay, a quaint place to walk around and enjoy.  The ships look so grand from this small seaside village.

We woke up to cruising the College Fjords the following morning.  I'm sure it's an amazing setting, but for us it was mostly fog.  We certainly couldn't argue with Mother Nature so if she threw some fog our way we just had to understand, that's what makes it a wilderness adventure.  On a clear day you are completely surrounded by 16 ice-blue glaciers all named after the Ivy League colleges that sponsor them.

We spend the following day in Glacier Bay and Mother Nature decided to cooperate.  The weather was beautiful and the scenery spectacular!  Here massive glaciers stretch from the ice-draped St. Elias and Fairweather mountain ranges to sit at the end of majestics fjords.  The Muir, Johns Hopkins and Margerie Glaciers are the most "active".  You can hear the Glaciers "calving" (when the ice falls off), its incredibly exciting waiting, watch and listening.  We got some wonderful pictures and fantastic video of this, a treasure for us to always remember.  Here's my advise, make sure to be on deck, any deck will do and as the ship turns, which is quite amazing in itself this 77,000 ton ship turning on a dime, cut through the closest doors to the other side.  This way you always have your eye's on the glacier at all times, giving you the opportunity to see it "calf" several times (depending on the day).

Skagway is a rustic mining town packed with tourist.  We hiked out to the cemetery where Sopie Smith's grave is and a beautiful waterfall that actually reminded me of a tropical rain forest.  We also hiked right next to where the cruise ships dock, here we were able to enjoy a great view of the town and contine on to two gorgeous lakes.

Juneau the capital of Alaska was our next stop.  We enjoyed a trip to Mendenhall Glacier, you know you just can't get enough of those glaciers, the truth is each is different and unique from the last.  We did an easy hike with the ranger and learned all about the different flora, fauna and wildlife.

Ketchikan is a picturesque as they come, a great place to walk around; the town is built on piles out over the water and clings to the slopes of Deer Mountain.  Here we did our own private boat excursion, the captain took us out where there was a dead whale and sure enough we were able to spot a black bear dinning, it was very exciting and all to ourselves.  He then took us to some rock out crops, as we got closer you could see a large group of seals.  They were not too excited to see us, as they all jumped into the water and begin barking at us.  Yes just another amazing day!

Our last day was spent cruising the Inside Passage.  I just can't tell you how incredible the views were each and every day.  I hope if you enjoy exciting scenery and wildlife that you have Alaska on your list of must do's.  Please give our experts at James TravelPOINTS a call 303 442-2340, let's make it a reality.  If you are interested in a cruise make sure to contact our Cruise Specialist, LaRue Hadden.