July 10: Whittier to Anchorage to Fairbanks

Today was quite the busy day. I met for the shuttle a little after 6 AM, disembarked the ship, and was on the bus in line to go through the tunnel by 7 AM. 

 

I had a front seat all to myself, so I was able to look here there and everywhere on the ride to the airport. 

Since luggage was sent ahead of us on a truck we all had to visit the tour luggage room at the airport to pick up our bags. They only let a few people in at a time and with them checking our IDs so no one grabbed the wrong luggage it slowed things down a little bit.

Hidden in the wall by security

I had a few hours to wait at the airport but once we got in the air, all kinds of fun sites were to be seen. 

Ed this one’s for you

I wish my cell phone could pick up the different shades of blues and greens I saw throughout the flight. 

Can you guess who’s peeking out above the clouds?

And meandering rivers were abundant.

When we landed I waited for another bus to take me to the hotel, the Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge. Most people headed to the rooms, but it was too wonderful of a day to do that. So I headed out to the deck and had some lunch. 

The food wasn’t spectacular, but the views couldn’t be beat.

I have an accessible room with a shower, not a bathtub. Nice! A pet peeve of mine is when rooms considered wheelchair accessible have bathtubs.

I even have a little twin bed in here. 

Luggage will be delivered later but then it has to be out again tomorrow morning around 6AM because I’m off to a riverboat cruise before I head back towards Denali. The short land tour portion of my adventure is beginning!

View from my room

July 8: Glacier Bay

If you’ve ever thought of going on an Alaskan cruise and wondered whether Glacier Bay would be an important part of the itinerary, take a look at today’s pictures. In fact, I’ll let the pictures tell the story of the day. No words needed from me.

July 7: Skagway, Alaska

 Welcome to Skagway!

Today we were docked at the Broadway dock, a prime location for easily getting into town. Except…

I received this notification. Sorry scooter people, you can’t come and go as you please yet.

I showed up at the 10:30 AM time ready to head off the ship only to be told the gangway wouldn’t be in place until 11:00 instead. Well, the heck with that. I walked myself down the steep steps while the wheelchair and assist guys carried my scooter on down those same steep steps. And off I went.

Today’s plan was a compare/contrast day. First, compare and contrast the slide area. Guests on ships docked at the forward dock have to take a tender (water shuttle) to get to shore. No ships in today though. And no visible progress on the slide.

Today

Last year

These past two years when I’ve been here post-Covid, the town has been depressing. So many store fronts closed, shops we used to visit for sale, for rent, for lease. Looks like the town is back now. My favorite place for a patty, the Sweet Tooth Café, unfortunately is now a Diamonds International.

Before

Now

The best Thai food in Alaska at the Star Fire is now a different type of establishment.

Scooter at Starfire pre-Covid

The times they are a changing’

How is the huge rhubarb looking?

Ed’s hand in the Skagway rhubarb, July 2013

My hand in Skagway’s rhubarb today

Food and drink at the Skagway brewing company? Today’s cup of chili with focaccia bread certainly did not disappoint.

Something new and cool at the hardware store - a display of ducks passengers have dropped off. Cool. (At least I think it was the hardware store. Didn’t look at the sign but I think that’s where the hardware store used to be/still is.)

Quack quack 

We will be heading up the channel for a beautiful sail away tonight as we work our way to Glacier Bay tomorrow. See you then.

July 6: Juneau, Alaska

 Hello from a dreary-looking Juneau.

With it being rainy/misty and Scooter not being able to handle wet roads well, today had to be a stay-on-the-ship day. Okay by me. I’ve been here plenty of times, just like Ketchikan, so I filled my day with random things. 

I started by people watching. With today’s low tide the ship only had one gangway open when we first arrived. That meant everyone going off the ship had to leave from Deck 7. Two lines had formed, one coming from the back of the ship and one coming from the front of the ship, with both converging at the elevator bank. I sat in Crooners with a vodka and cranberry (gotta get started on that drink package - they’re definitely making money off me with my alcohol consumption being next to nil) and watched the hundreds of folks trying to get off the ship. 

Even if I wanted to leave the ship I wouldn’t be able to right away. Announcements were made letting those with scooters and wheelchairs know they wouldn’t be able to leave for a couple hours until a second gangway was put in place. The first open one only had steps.

Two hours later all can go ashore

For breakfast I stopped by the International Café again for another Egg McMuffin sandwich. Today’s was much better than the other day’s.

Today - yum yum

Earlier in the cruise - unwelcome runny yolk surprise

I watched the man overboard drill. They basically toss a dummy into the water and a rescue boat gets sent to go pick it up. See the little orange thing with the yellow hat? He’s saved!

I checked out the lift to get into the theater. 

Even though they have a set of ramps, 

they also have a lift for the stairs. 

Looks complicated

It made me wonder why they didn’t figure out some way for wheelchairs and scooters to get to the Sanctuary. I was hoping to use it when I go to Hawaii on this ship in a couple months but it looks like access is only available by climbing stairs. Total bummer.

I spent time on the balcony (it’s a covered one, thank goodness) and watched people on the dock below and watched the tram go up and down the mountain. Poor people won’t be able to see a thing when they get up there.

I had a piece of free pizza on the pool deck

and compared it with the other day’s only-free-if-you-have-the-package pizza at Alfredos. Both tasted about the same. 

I tried one of their only-free-if-you-have-the-package premium desserts. Regular price? $12. Amount of waste? Ridiculous. 

The DaVinci

 

I watch a Carnival ship sail away from Juneau.

We’ll be sailing away from Juneau and onto Skagway where I hope the weather will be a little bit better.

So long, Juneau. See you a couple weeks!