Alaska

I was lucky enough to get to sail Alaska for the third time. This time we did the one way itinerary from Whittier to Vancouver on Princess. We flew to Anchorage for the night. It's always fun arriving when it's still light out at almost midnight- thank goodness for blackout shades. I set up a transfer/ tour for the next morning going to Whittier to board the Coral Princess. This tour was a small group (2 other couples) and we went to Mt Aleyska and took the tram to the top for a scenic view and then we had lunch in Girdwood together before stopping at the Alaska Wildlife Convervation Center. With the first two days of the cruise being glacier viewing (sea) days I wanted to jump into the fun. 

I love this itinerary because it includes Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay National Park. We enjoyed all the talks in the Princess theater informing us about glaciers, wildlife, birds, that were were going to be seeing. It really made everything we saw come to life during the cruise! The guide would point out any whales or seals over the PA system so we had time to look for them. We enjoyed viewing from our balcony but we scored some great sun loungers on the open deck which we really enjoyed. Princess had beach towels out but they also had buffalo check blankets to wrap up in.  Since there were three of us (our youngest daughter 19 went with us).  We got lucky when viewing Marjorie Glacier in Glacier Bay that the sun came out and we almost got sun burns- next to a glacier! This was also July 4th- so a wonderful festive day on the ship!

In Skagway we rented a jeep and drove to British Columbia. Since we had been to Skagway before, I highly recommend this if you are up to driving. We saw two bears along the highway and were deligted to pull the jeep over and watch them eat. We were able to pre-order lunch from the jeep company so when we got to the turnaround spot, Emerald lake we had our declicious lunch to eat and enjoy the view.  It did rain while visiting Juneau which is when we were doing an early morning glacier float tour near Mendenhall glacier.  In Skagway we found some delicious crispy halibut taco's and some amazing handmade pottery. A fun trip!