The "Volendam" - Skagway to Vancouver

The Volendam at Skagway.

The last stage of this tour was a four day cruise from Skagway to Vancouver. We boarded in the morning and got settled in our stateroom. To our surprise after booking a moderate priced cabin with a small verandah view, we had received two upgrades in the few weeks prior to our trip. The cabin (sorry, stateroom!) turned out to be on the highest accommodation deck with its own private balcony with outdoor setting. Inside we had a lounge area with comfortable sofa, mini fridge, and desk, as well as a king size bed, plentiful hanging and drawer space and finally a well appointed ensuite bathroom (with a spa bath!). Needless to say we were MOST comfortable and remembering the small cabin with bunks and porthole that we had for 5 weeks on the old 'Fairstar' on our trip to England in 1971, I was quite bemused with the luxury of it all.

As well as a complimentary dinner at the very posh Pinnacle restaurant on the first night (which normally costs extra), we also dined very well at the Rotterdam Dining Room and a very fine Italian dinner at the Caneletto. For breakfast and lunch we ate at the more casual Lido. We had made friends with several couples on our tour so most of these dinners were very convivial with happy chatter so much so that we didn't manage to get to any of the evening entertainment provided on board.

On the second day of our cruise, we sailed gently into Glacier Bay. The first we noticed from our cabin were very small icebergs floating past. Up on deck we were confronted with the awesome sight of the huge, very pale blue glacier in all its majesty. Quite breath-taking. Occasionally, there would be a loud crack and pieces of ice would fall away to became icebergs bobbing in the water. Certainly a sight never to forget.

On the middle day of our cruise we docked at the very pretty harbour town of Ketchikan. I must say I have never seen so many souvenir and jewellery shops in my life. Our guide on our excursion to the Saxman Native Village joked that Ketchikan meant 'place of many jewellery shops'. Saxman village is the home of many of the Tlingit natives and we were told and shown a little of their culture and also had a performance of native dancing. The participants were of all ages and one little boy of about 4 quite stole the show - he was so serious about his dancing.

We later learnt about the Tlingit totem poles and visited the carving workshop. There were some very beautiful re-carving of old poles as well as new ones - some of which had been commissioned and which cost up to $6000 per foot. They prefer to keep to the traditional styles of carving and one recent commission for a Star Wars totem pole was politely declined!

Later that day we enjoyed a Lumberjack show in Ketchikan. This was great fun with two 'teams' - one Canadian and one America competing in various events with the audience encouraged to loudly support 'their' team.

Our last day at sea was a quiet one and we took the opportunity to investigate all the places on board which we hadn't yet discovered. A beautiful little library and an internet room, a quiet reading lounge, a piano bar, and the Crow's Nest which was a stunning room with 180 degree views from the front of the ship. (Did I tell you we were invited to the Captain's cocktail party before dinner one evening?? Very high society we are, don't you know!)

All too soon we again had to pack our cases in readiness for disembarking at Vancouver. We've had a fabulous cruise following on from the wonderful land tour of Alaska and the Yukon, but will miss the lovely people we've been travelling with along the way.

Fairbanks to Skagway

We travelled on to Fairbanks by coach through some wonderful scenery, unfortunately this was when the rain started. It was still warm though but very soggy! We were scheduled to fly on from Fairbanks to Dawson by a chartered 727 the following afternoon leaving the morning free for some sightseeing around Fairbanks. However later in the evening we were told that the chartered plane had some engine trouble, so smaller Hawker turbo-prop planes would be used and also that this meant that we’d leave earlier in the morning. Saw little of rainy Fairbanks as, with about 30 of our group, we flew from there to Dawson City.

This is a picturesque little town whose population is currently around 800, but in the gold rush era of 1897/99 it reached around 30,000. All of those early gold-seekers faced an incredibly hard journey to reach the nearby Klondike goldfields. When they disembarked at Skagway, they had to climb up over the White Pass or the Chilkoot Pass through the heaviest snow for years. Not only that but Canadian law decreed that each person should bring 1 ton of provisions with them to enable them to survive a year in this wilderness place. This usually meant 40 trips up the Chilkoot Pass to ferry their provisions and 40 down the other side. Many died along the way and only a very small percentage made it to Dawson City and the Klondike goldfields, and an even smaller percentage found enough gold to become rich.

We had several days at Dawson City where there are many of the old buildings still remaining. Many have been restored, but many are still many waiting in a sad state of repair. One of the problems being that the permafrost quite often causes the buildings to sag or rise up on their foundations. This raffish, rough but pretty town is popular though, and with the influx of tourist dollars, more buildings will be gradually restored we hope. They have a great museum beautifully restored with extensive woodwork and wonderful artefacts. It still houses a courtroom which is used about once a month.

On our last night in Dawson City we visited Diamond Tooth Gertie’s Follies and later at another Dawson pub, witnessed brave (foolhardy?) folk attempt a Sourtoe Cocktail. This is a real preserved human toe in a shot of whiskey – the idea is that they drink the whiskey and that their lips touch the toe. The successful ones get a certificate. Needless to say we didn’t join this illustrious group.

From Dawson City we travelled on by coach to Whitehorse for a night and next morning at Fraser joined the Yukon and White Pass Railroad train with quite spectacular scenery up over the Pass and down into Skagway. Again this is a lovely harbour town from the goldfields era and although by now the weather had turned misty and rainy, we thoroughly enjoyed having a few days to explore the area. Peter discovered the local Fire Station and spent an hour or so being shown over the Station House - he was most impressed with all the equipment they had for such a small town. 

One of our excursions was to a Musher’s Camp with Sled dogs. We learnt more about the Iditarod Race, and experienced a ride with 16 wonderful, keen Alaskan Huskies pulling us up and around a  steep and curvy  route. These dogs are just wonderful and loved running and pulling the sled. During summertime they usually breed, and just take it easier, however large ‘treadmills’ have been set up and one unleashed dog was running in one wheel for at least fifteen minutes just for the joy of it.

So far we have travelled by plane, train and coach through the mountains and many kilometres of ‘the last frontier’ so far north that we have had almost continual daylight. We have had the good fortune to actually see Denali (Mt. McKinley) – earning us membership of the rare 30% club, a feat that few have accomplished. We have seen in the wild - bears, moose, caribou, reindeer, bald eagles and  ground squirrels. We have followed the route of those old-time Stampeders through the coastal mountains and the isolated forest and tundra of the Yukon Territory. It has been a wonderfully interesting trip.

Tonight we sail on the Holland-America ship “Volendam” and look forward to the four day cruise down to Vancouver.  

Denali and Fairbanks

Leaving Anchorage for Denali was by the McKinley Explorer - a double-decker glass domed train which took eight hours for the trip. We had breakfast and lunch on board and a very entertaining 'host' kept us
entertained along the way. We were impressed that this man was 78yo and he said he just enjoyed working - and as a train host he felt it was a party each trip. The scenery was spectacular along the way and remained so for the three days we were in the Denali Park. The NP strictly controlled development within their area, but just across the road it was designated 'Preserved Park' and commercial shops and businesses abound.

The Park with its lodges was beautifully designed and laid out. Everything - tours, etc - operated from the central Chalet and shuttle buses ran every 10 minutes or so around the many accommodation blocks. Our first excursion was an 8 hour afternoon Tundra Wilderness coach trip up into the mountains and on through the tundra. Again the scenery was just wonderful and we wondered if we might be among the 30% of visitors who get to see Mt McKinley (aka Denali). Usually as it is so huge it creates its own climate and so mostly it is covered with mist and impossible to see. When we finally got close enough, there it was! She kindly lifted her misty skirt for us but modestly kept her peak under wraps. My photo really doesn't do it justice.

Along the way we kept a look out for the animals of the park - caribou, reindeer, dall sheep, moose, ground squirrel, ptarmigan and bear. Apparently bears are the most elusive and halfway through the trip, Peter spotted one. Everyone was thrilled, but we were in luck and spotted another four. So very lucky to see such a good lot of animals in the wild. We arrived back at 9.30pm very satisfied. It rarely gets dark here at this time of the year with sunset around midnight then a twilight until sunrise a few hours later.

Next day, I decided I needed to see a doctor for this rotten head cold that has once more descended on me. The NP clinic were very efficient and warned us that the consultation could cost about $300. Gulping (through my very sore throat) I agreed and soon a doctor was there assessing my condition and prescribing some medication to help. The bill eventually came to a whopping $377 - which we'll claim back from our travel insurance later on.

Our last excursion was the Husky Homestead tour which was a visit to the home of Iditarod champion, Jeff King and hearing all about that incredible race of around 998 miles held each year and of the many dogs and puppies that he breeds and trains. In summer, the dogs 'rest' and the females breed and look after their pups, but even so all dogs were eager to be hooked up for a trial run. The very young puppies were very cute and there were no shortage of visitors eager for a cuddle.

We sadly left Denali and travelled about four hours by coach to Fairbanks. Our excursion here was to the old gold diggings (Fairbanks' gold rush began in 1901). It was very well presented but began first of all with an explanation of the massive Alaska PipeLine under which we walked to get to the small train taking us through to the diggings with an entertaining commentary and a little music from an old time conductor. We had a gold panning demonstration and were then let loose with a pan and a bag of gravel to try for ourselves. Peter and I didn't do too badly and had our panning skills complimented. The gold we found sadly will not pay for the trip but was weighed up and valued at $49US.

We planned a further look around Fairbanks next morning as we were due to fly by charter plane to Dawson City in Canada in the early afternoon. However this wasn't to be as later that night we were advised that the chartered plane had developed engine trouble and so we would be flying in much smaller turbo prop Hawkers - and leaving early morning. All went smoothly, though, and the flight - although noisy - brought us safely to Dawson City and the easiest Immigration/Customs which we've ever experienced.