It was Alaska
Commenter “om” was the one who guessed right about my trip: I went on a one-week cruise from Vancouver to Alaska. That sunset in yesterday’s photo was one of the highlights of the trip, and I almost missed seeing it.
Sunset comes late in the Alaskan summer. I was lying down in my cabin around 10:10 PM one evening. My cabin had something called a veranda, which is a small deck. I figured the last time I was on a ship was in the early 1960s, and I’d been wanting to go to Alaska for decades but now was finally doing it, and I thought it made sense to pay a little extra to be able to just step out and see the sights. After all, the scenery was the reason I was going.
So that evening when I was lying down, I happened to look out the window and see a tiny tinge of pink. It occurred to me that it might be a lovely sunset; I’d seen one two days before that was quite pretty. So I stepped out and, lo and behold, saw the most spectacular sunset I’d ever seen in my life. Here it is again in case you missed it:
This one is just of the sky, but it really emphasizes how incredibly intense the colors were:
Here’s another wonderful sight I saw from that veranda while cruising along Glacier Bay:
Why was I lying down that night? Well, for the entire cruise I had COVID. The experience was somewhat nasty but basically uneventful. However, it turned out to have been a really good thing that I got the cabin with that veranda, because I pretty much had to lay low.
To be continued in another post, with more photos …
Alaska is incredibly beautiful, the weather is often the price we pay for it.
We have sunsets like that all the time and they last and last. My family and I went to Hawaii once and everyone told us to make sure we caught the sunset. So we did. It was nice but if you blinked you’d miss it.
We did that Alaska cruise in 2015. Beautiful, beautiful!
I suppose the COVID diagnosis prevented you from taking the narrow gauge railroad from Skagway to the Yukon. Quite a trip!
I almost bought a house in Alaska. It was just north of Homer, one of my favorite places. A few years ago we went to a new resort at the far end of Denali Park. I’d been to Denali several times before that resort was there. It was an old mining claim that was developed after a long legal fight with the owners of the Denali resort. It was 50 miles from the highway outside Denali. We went there in September to see the aurora borealis. It was the last week the resort was open and pretty cold but a great experience. Shorter days, too.
Those are some beautiful landscapes
Ahhh!
Two cruises I would have liked to have made and never did. The one you just experienced; and the Danube River.
That’s it. I over dosed on large ships and oceans. Not interested.
My Alaskan experience. One memorable day I did fly from Hawaii, to Midway Island, to Adak, Alaska and finally to Anchorage. One night in Anchorage, then on to Seattle. That’s how you get from Hawaii to the Mainland if you can’t carry enough fuel to go direct.
Tough luck on your COVID impacted cruise.
On 7/12 I received COVID as a birthday present. I was with my wife in the infusion center for her chemo treatment and we both caught it. It was our first time; and there were no complications. By the way, we were back in the infusion center yesterday, and nearly all of the staff were masked, which they had not been previously. I asked a Nurse whether they had had a run of COVID but she either did not understand or ignored the question.
My daughter caught COVID while in Australia for the Women’s Soccer World Cup. She had a nasty case before the vaccines were available, and has been ultra careful since. So, she got a booster before the trip, and was masked almost constantly, unlike everyone else in her group. Go figure. Fortunately, she cleared just in time to make the flight home.
How neat that you got to go to Alaska for a bit!
Neo,
My wife and I were on a cruise from Vancouver to Anchorage, Alaska starting July 6 and ending July 13. Our cruise ship was in Glacier Bay on July 11. Maybe we were on the same cruise??
John Wilcox:
Close but no cigar. I was on the Zaandam fron July 3 to July 10 and it started in Vancouver and returned to Vancouver. I never got to Anchorage.
Kate:
Yes, I had to miss the railroad trip, unfortunately.
I’ve done the Alaska cruise five times. It’s always been a delight.
To get up close with those glaciers where you can witness firsthand how they reduce mountains to rubble is memorable and an education.
For those who are young and plan to go, let me offer a couple of recommendations.
1. Add on the trip to Denali and Fairbanks after you get to Anchorage. You’re already there, you might as well see some of the interior of Alaska.
2. For a real peak experience, add a week at Brooks Lodge. Brooks Lodge is in the Katmai National Park and located on the Brooks River. In late August/early September there is a run of salmon in the Brooks River that attracts the brown bears. It’s an incredible ting to be able to watch the bears feeding on the salmon up close.
To top it off, you can fish for monster rainbow trout in the Brooks River. I spent a morning fishing and by noon my arm was sore from playing all the fish I had hooked.
Brooks is not a place for people who aren’t nimble on their feet, as seeing the bears requires hiking some distance on rough trails. Fishing requires being able to wade in a fairly fast current. So, plan to go while you’re able.
Some info:
https://www.nathab.com/alaska-northern-adventures/alaska-wildlife-safari/?utm_source=Bing_Yahoo&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=brooks%20lodge%20alaska&msclkid=c8a4072e36b214e95a8a618095b9a92c&utm_campaign=Search%20-%20Alaska&utm_term=brooks%20falls%20lodge
Back in the day, our punster neighbor and his wife went on an Alaska cruise.
“Juneau where we’ve been? Alaska ‘nother one.”
Ok. “I took a cruise and all I got was Covid” could read your trip’s T-shirt.
EXCEPT for the Trophy photos!
That’s priceless…
Beautiful.
I live in Fairbanks and have for over 30 years. The sunsets and the aurora never cease to amaze me. There’s nothing like it.
Did the Anchorage to Vancouver cruise a few years back, it was my first cruise and I enjoyed it, mostly because we went with friends. We flew to Anchorage early and spent a couple of days hiking and biking first. Also, we rode the Skagway narrow gauge up to the Yukon, but then we hopped on bikes and rode downhill all the way back, quite a blast!
More recently we did a Danube cruise, Austria, Germany, Czech Republic. I have to say, I enjoyed that equally and maybe a little more. You’re surrounded by the beauty of the Baroque and the Renaissance, the churches, abbeys, and cathedrals are breathtaking, and these countries have done a pretty good job preserving the ‘old’ areas so that they’re not overtaken by modern features, traffic, etc.
OLDFLYER, we did a cruise down the Danube, all the way to Romania. It was fantastic.
My Wife just completed her 6th and final (we hope) infusion. Now, we wait for a Pet Scan in Sept. They are doing a blood test every week, to stay on top of things. The ports are just amazing.
I think you said you were a Navy Pilot.
Neo: It looks as if you had a great vacation–you deserved it! I am copying my post from the previous comment section, because I think you might have missed it.
While in Seattle, you might have come across some of the women who blacklisted both my DH and myself because we refused to let him work for them anymore. They have stalked me and had us both shunned for 25 years now. During these years they have taught young women in their inner circle the rough art of “women’s leadership skills”. The crude art of bullying when they should have been teaching the next generation the rewards of grace.
For some it is an old tradition: try to buy something of value for 10 or 20% of worth, and if they won’t sell– destroy the creator personally and take what they want. I pray you did not meet up with any of these women in Seattle and that you won’t forget who and what they really are, when you are having a conversation with yourself about which women should lead, and what attorneys are expected to do to preserve our democracy. During the first five years after they blacklisted us and stalked me, I asked 23 attorneys for help. Not one in Seattle, Everet, or Olympia would help. Their response was always the same “I can’t–they will destroy me.” This should give you insight as to what our future will be like if we don’t start to demand a return to an agreed upon set of ethics.
Anyway, hope you were able to leave all that ugliness behind for a few days.
Best,
Lovely photos, thanks for sharing. I visited SE Alaska as a young man, it is indeed a beautiful state. I was astounded to learn Juneau, the state capital, is not accessible by road.
As for wonderful scenery, I have been fortunate to visit all 50 states and some of the most memorable for beauty are the coast of Maine, much of Utah, NW Montana, coastal Oregon, and NW Washington state. California too. In the Midwest, the eastern shore of lake Michigan is relatively unknown and thus vastly underrated. And I am partial – not objectively of course – to the southern half of my native Missouri.
I took a similar journey 50 years ago. I boarded at Prince Rupert and departed at Haines. Then up into the Yukon where I spent the next several years as a claims staker, bushwhacker and prospector. Great experience.
Later I ended up in Seattle spending the better part of 20 years. I know of the women that Anne describes. Not to be trifled with. I believe these are the ones who put Obama forward.
Witches of the Sound. Voldermorts of Seattle?
We did the cruise last year: a true treat on the bucket list! Looking forward to seeing the photos!
Fantastic fotos – thanks, Neo.
Hope you’re all well from Covid.
For landlubbers I strongly recommend a tour on the Alaska Railroad. Get to see the interior of Alaska as well as the coast.
Great pix, Neo! I tell myself I would like to take a cruise to Alaska someday, but my wife is not up to it right now. And likely will never be. Our daughter lived there for a couple of years a decade ago. I wish I had visited then.
Baked Alaska. Yum.
n.n.:
I had baked Alaska one evening on the cruise for dessert.
neo:
Congratulations for going for it!
My grandfather was a successful businessman and left my grandmother well-off when she was in her late sixties. We all hoped she would do something — she talked about Egypt or just going back to California — but she stayed in her little Florida apartment and played solitaire until she died in her 90s.
Xylourgos–Thank you for your support. These are the women who demanded that protestant churches accept homosexuality or else.They are the women who filed law suit after law suit to destroy the Episcopal Church. You are right these are the women who chose and paid for Obama to take office.
That is a very sad story, huxley. Different strokes for different folks and all that, but not going anywhere? OTOH, I can understand a widow in her sixties or older not having the desire to travel alone.
My best friend’s wife died in her sixties. He decided to travel but used a group travel outfit like Trafalgar, and found he didn’t feel lonely or left out on his trips. I guess it just takes the desire to go and then find a way.
Definitely need to make that trip!
Your pictures made me appreciate the sunsets we have regularly in the desert of Eastern Washington. It’s so easy to take the Creator’s beauty for granted.
Here’s a local photographer and a recent sunset just outside of town.
https://www.facebook.com/kevinroylancephotography
I’ve enjoyed all the comments and pictures. Sounds like Alaska would be a nice trip to make!
“It’s so easy to take the Creator’s beauty for granted.” – so true!
Brian’s link to his local photographer encouraged me to recommend one of our missionaries who is a professional photographer and has made some stunning pictures of our landscape here.
This is one of the Milky Way from Martin’s Cove.
https://www.markromesser.com/p831678384#hdc914453
Click on the small pictures at the bottom of the screen for the full gallery of the Pioneer Trail:
https://www.markromesser.com/f62983687
Neo,
You wrote:
“Close but no cigar. I was on the Zaandam fron July 3 to July 10 and it started in Vancouver and returned to Vancouver. I never got to Anchorage”
We were on the Sapphire Princess. Both our ship and your ship were in port at Ketchikan on July 8, although only simultaneously for a couple of hours..
We hiked a portion of the Rainbird Trail starting at the south access point, and then explored the touristy parts of downtown before returning to the ship. I have a vague recollection of seeing your ship docked there.
Closer but still no cigar.
And did they pass in the night?
I used to travel to Sitka every 3 months to do service on machines in the Alaska Pulp mill near town. It was an easy trip- took me 3 hrs to do the work, so I was done soon after I arrived on Monday. Then, I waited around till Friday for the mill to turn everything back on (everything was down for maintenance). I used to joke to people that I met the cute girl while I was there (there weren’t many). Turns out, she was this woman: https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1997/07/17/missing-woman-found-after-12-years/
@ Alan – what a fascinating story!
That’s awesome. I went to Alaska one year ago myself. It’s a perfect time of year to go. But were you not able to do any of the excursions in the towns due to your illness?? I hope you at least got to see Skagway from the ship, that’s the best destination the cruises go to IMO.