After much talk and discussion about visiting Alaska with our dear friends,
Tom and Kathie, we finally did it.
We were joined by Mary and Paul (Tom's brother) and Marie (Tom's sister) and
Harry.
Starting Aug 10, we headed to Seattle to rendezvous with Tom, Kathie, Mary and Paul. There we met with Tom, Jr., and had dinner on the top of the famous Space Needle.
The next day we set out for Vancouver where we met our ship and Marie and Harry. The eight of us then cruised the Alaskan waters for a week.
As the cruise started, we saw our first icebergs. It was quite cold as you can see by Paul and Mary being all bundled up. We continued down the waterway, where the landscape was simply beautiful.
Our first port-of-call was Juneau (Alaska's capital city) where our highlight was a helicopter ride over the several glaciers and a dog sled ride. Oh, take a look at the trashcan design needed in this land of bears.
Back on the ship, we headed to Skagway. On the way we went through Tracie's Arm.
In Skagway, we planned to take the White Pass and Yukon Route railway. A couple of trains use the same rails and one of them broke down preventing us for taking the trip. Too bad, we were looking forward to it.
As we headed to Ketchikan, more beautiful scenery. Even some calving (chucks of ice falling from the glaciers) occurred.
Arriving n Ketchikan, we saw more floatplanes. Apparently, people get their pilot's license before they get the automobile license. They were taking off and landing looking like a bunch of bees around a beehive. Not sure if anyone was controlling these events but it sure was fun to watch. While here, several of us went on a nature hike to see some of the wildlife, fauna, and floral of the area. As we left Ketchikan, we had a wonderful sunset. We are now heading back to Vancouver and along the way we saw Orcas (Killer whales).
Well, the cruise is now over and we are on the land tour part, our second week. Our first stop was Minter Gardens, Dry Falls, and Coulee Dam.
Then one of the many highlights of our trip, Yellowstone Park. Near Yellowstone are the Grand Teton Mountains.
Now onto Jackson Hole named after the deep valley (hole) in the mountain. We took part on a Bar T Five Ranch Covered Wagon Cookout and Wild West Show. The owners are long time residents of Jackson Hole going back at least five generations. A book "Among the Shoshones" was written by Elijah Nicholas Wilson, great great uncle of the ranch owner Jim Wilson. Uncle Nick, as he is known, was a willing capture of the Shoshones at twelve years old, and he lived with the tribe from several years. A nearby town, Wilson, was named after these early settlers when the arrived in Utah in 1850.
As we headed to Salt Lake City, out last stop, we visited Yellowstone Bear Park, a privately owned facility that helps to protect the many animals are part of the area. Here we saw many of the bears, wolves, deer, etc., that are in Yellowstone Park itself but are not usually seen since they tend to hide from the humans.
Our final stop, Salt Lake City.
This trip was really awesome but the companionship was the best of all. We all had a great time. Hope you enjoyed this tour.
