Days 3 & 4 - Sea Day and Ketchikan

After spending just about 24 hours in Vancouver, we headed over to the cruise ship terminal so we could board the boat, the Statendam by Holland America Line. Here is our boat, the Stately Statendam, as the lady on the intercom would call it daily.

The line to go through customs and security was very long. After that, we were able to get on the boat and take our bags to our stateroom. Luckily, the rest of our bags had already arrived ahead of us. We dropped everything off and went about the ship to explore a little bit before we had to go to the lifeboat practice. We grabbed a quick snack at the Lido Restaurant; the ship's Golden Corral-like buffet. The food there was just OK (we much preferred to eat in the nicer dining room). After eating a snack, we had to go to the lifeboat practice. That took awhile because people had to find their correct lifeboat station and then we had to learn how to put on our life jackets.

After that, we went around the ship a bit more to explore and see what was there. We found the shops, the casino, the dining room, the gym, the showroom (where all of the nightly entertainment shows are), the movie theater, the art gallery and the pool to name just a few places. I even found the laundry room. After looking around for an hour or two, we decided to get ready for supper. The boat was still in Vancouver and was not able to leave at its scheduled time because someone on the boat was sick and they had to send another boat out to take this person off and take them to the hospital. So, we headed to eat while enjoying a view of the Vancouver bay. The dining room was nice, although the service was pretty slow. It took about 2 hours to be served and eat our meal. After we ate, we headed to the show. Once we sat down in our seats, someone asked if we wanted to be a part of the show. We said sure, not really sure of what we were getting ourselves into. It turned out to be a really fun contest in which we raced another couple in making a bed and also creating a towel animal (a cruise ship staple). We ended up making a snake! We tied the other couple and we each won a book about how to make different kinds of animals out of towels. You might be the lucky recipient of one next time you visit us.




After the show we went and got some sleep because we hadn't gotten too much the past few nights due to our travel schedule. The next day, which was a sea day, we participated in many on board activities including a tour of the main ship kitchen. Below is just a small part of the kitchen.

We also got to "sea" many cool animals and shapes made out of bread, such as this lobster.



We also got to attend a cooking show where the chef cooked up some salmon. There were also some seminars relating to shopping in the ports, which were not that helpful. Although the speaker did give us some coupons so we could get some free earrings and necklaces from some of the jewelry stores.

Then we prepared for our first port stop in Ketchikan, Alaska, which was the following day (new entry #102 on the list).


We had an exciting excursion booked on the Bering Sea Crab Fisherman's Tour.



It was a boat that used to be on Deadliest Catch, named the Aleutian Ballad, but was then converted to a boat for passengers (i.e. tourists). They took us out on the boat and showed us how to catch bait fish for the crab pots. They also showed us how to pull up a crab pot on to the boat. This first pot had king crab (part of #86) in it. Here you can check out a nice Wikipedia article relating to fishing for king crab in Alaska.

The fishermen held up the crab and we all got to "pose" with it. It's pinchers were a little too strong for us to be trusted to hold it ourselves. ;)

After the king crab, they pulled up another pot with Opilio crab (part of #86). These crabs do not have the same bumpy and rough shells that the king crab do. They also do not have such large pinchers, so we were able to hold these ourselves.

After looking at and learning about the crabs, we also got to see octopus, sea stars and various kinds of fish that live in Alaskan waters. Then, we got to our favorite part of the tour. There is a small island off of the coast of Ketchikan that is owned by Natives. The waters around this island are also owned by the Natives as well, so in this area, Alaskan state regulations do not apply. Usually, in Alaska, feeding eagles is illegal. However, the fishing boat company has entered into a joint venture with the Natives and we were able to throw pieces of fish from the boat and feed the eagles. It was pretty impressive; there were about 30 eagles flying around our boat picking up the fish out of the water.

After we saw the eagles and all of the other animals, we headed back in to shore. The tour was great and we were planning to walk around Ketchikan for the rest of the day and explore Alaska's first canning city. We went to the museum that was attached to the local library and we got to learn about the city's history. Ketchikan has a rich Native Alaskan history too. Members of the Tlingit tribe lived here. There were also many great totem poles which were restored to their original condition.
After a long and busy day, we headed back to the boat to get cleaned up for supper. We took one last picture of our boat in the port of Ketchikan, Alaska's First City and the Salmon Capital of the World.

Rebekah

This and That

Well, the summer is over in Anchorage...and it has been for a couple of weeks. The nice weather (the couple of days that were left) were surrounded by cold and rain. So, we haven't really taken any trips recently but we have done a few things around town.

A couple of weeks ago we FINALLY decided to climb Flattop (#35 on the list). The weather was nice and warm and we had the day free. The trail slowly eases uphill for the first part past Blueberry Hill (where you can pick berries) and then turns up some flights of wooden stairs built into the mountain. After about a mile you reach some benches which are the resting point before the final ascent. A lot of people turn back here, because this final part is more difficult. It is much steeper and quite rocky (some scrambling around boulders necessary), but we saw kids as young as 5 making the climb.

(view of Anchorage from part of the way up the trail)

By the time we got up to the top, some clouds had closed in on the side of the mountain destroying our view but it was still a nice hike that we will definitely do again.

From the top you can typically see down into Anchorage on one side, down into Potter's Marsh and part of Turnagain arm on another, and back into Chugach State Park from the other 2 sides which leads to some really cool views in all directions.

(you can see people scrapping up the beginning of the final ascent)

On another weekend we drove up to Eagle River and took the 10 mile trip back into Chugach State Park to the Eagle River Nature Center (#22).

There is a nice information center here with trail maps and information on animals, the park, and the history of the area in general. One of the main hikes is closed this time of year (it goes past the river which leads to bear-human problems) but we took a stroll down one of the short loop trails.

On this trail is a salmon viewing deck where you can look down into the pools of the river and see some Red and Chum Salmon.

They weren't huge fish, but some looked to be at least a few pounds.

The Nature Center is also a point on the Historic Iditarod Trail, which we already saw started down in Seward. It ran up from Seward through Girdwood and Chugach State Park, through the Nature Center and up from there. There is a hike from Girdwood to the Nature Center that goes along that path, but it is 24 miles long one-way.

Afterwards we drove the rest of the way up to the Alaska State Fair in Palmer (#63). Since it was a nice day we apparently weren't the only ones who had this idea as we waited in about an hour of traffic to get to the parking lot. The fair was like any other state fair with high prices, lots of food, and lots of country folks. Rebekah ordered a giant block of fried potato chips, which she only managed to eat about a third of.

We spent a few hours walking around and looking at the award winning vegetables, farm animals, and arts and crafts before we headed home. On the way back we stopped by the bluffs past Earthquake Park in Anchorage to get some pictures of the city from across the water.

The airport is right across the street, and as you can see a few planes flew right over our head while we were there.

Winter is almost here and soon we will be writing about skiing instead of hiking!


Steven

Mining and Fishing - Real Alaskan Pastimes

Last weekend we visited Hatcher Pass Lodge and Independence Mine Historical Site (#64 on our list), both located up towards Hatcher Pass from Palmer. For those that remember, we tried visiting these earlier but were told they did not open until June 20th so we came back. Hatcher Pass Lodge is a nice little lodge, situated up in the Talkeetna mountains. There are rooms where you can stay and there is a quiet restaurant that serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We did not eat there but the food smelled delicious. As we were pulling out of the lodge, a marmot ran across the road in front of us and posed for some pictures (part of #86)

Then we drove a little ways farther up the road to Independence Mine. It was the biggest hard rock gold mining location in all of Alaska. The buildings were all still standing, but some of the other structures (stairways, railways, etc.) have begun falling apart. We gave a $5 per person donation to have a guided tour from one of the volunteers there. The tour lasted about an hour and was very informational.

From there we tried to drive through Hatcher Pass towards Willow, but discovered the road doesn't open until sometime later in July (it had still been snowing in the pass). So, we are going to have to travel up there a 3rd time later in the summer. As proof that the weather was still a little bit of a question mark we got caught in a hail storm as we were leaving the mine.

On Monday we both took the day off from work and went King salmon fishing up on the Little Su (new entry #90). We woke up at around 3am, just as the sun was beginning to rise (strangely from the North), and headed up through Wasilla down to the landing where we were meeting our guides for the day. Just as we pulled into the area of the landing a mother moose and a baby moose ran across the road in front of our car, and Rebekah made sure to get a picture.

We pushed off and headed South from the landing as the guide began introducing himself and telling us how the fishing had been going lately. It was not a promising conversation as nobody from his boat had pulled in a fish all weekend. However, as we rounded one of the first corners a Bald Eagle (the first we have seen) was resting on the banks and took off flying right in front of our boat (I wasn't able to get my camera out of my pocket fast enough). We headed down and through the first few holes of the day it appeared it would be more of the same as nobody got any hits or movement at all. We were back trolling with spinning rods and were beginning to give up hope when one of the other people we were with got a huge hit. She fought the fish and fought the fish and finally pulled in the 30 pound King salmon. From there, the day got better. Two holes later Rebekah brought in a small 3 pound King salmon. It was less than 20 inches, technically considered a Jack instead of a King, so Rebekah was able to keep fishing (there is a one King salmon limit on the river, once you keep one you can't even drop another line in).

Two holes after that I nailed a 10 pound King Salmon. It was by far the biggest fish I have caught, and I thought it was huge until I put in the cooler next to the 30 pounder. Everyone caught a salmon except for the guy who organized the trip. But in the end he was glad he didn't, because his girlfriend's 30 pounder will be enough salmon to last them all winter.

We were very lucky to catch three fish. It was a down year since salmon run on a 5 year cycle and 5 years ago the Little Su had major flooding which killed many salmon. And it is said that it takes around 40 fishing hours to pull in your first King salmon, as they are the biggest and most particular salmon. Other salmon, such as the Silvers only get up to about 15 pounds but will bite at just about anything and you can keep up to 2 Silvers. That would be a different type of salmon fishing, but would also be fun and we will probably try that at some point.

Our guide at the Alaska Salmon Fishing Guides was excellent. And while we caught 3 fish, all of them were small by Alaska standards. On the Little Su, 30 pounds is the average King salmon brought in with the top end being around 50 pounds. And on other rivers the average King salmon pulled in is 50 pounds with the top end reaching over 100 pounds.

The fishing was excellent and we will definitely be doing more of that. Even Rebekah enjoyed it! And we had the river to ourselves that day (highly unusual) and only saw one other boat the entire time we were fishing.

Anyone who wants to come up and go fishing is more than welcome!


Steven