Cruising: On Shore

Posing with a new friend

 A big part of any cruise are the ports a ship stops in. If you have ever cruised you know that these ports are divided into three parts .... Shopping, History and Excursions.

Our trip to Alaska was filled with all three. Our three ports of call were Juneau - the unlikely capitol of Alaska, Skagway -the gateway to the Klondike, and Victoria, British Columbia.

We stopped in Juneau first. Greeting us as we pulled into the dock were a pair of American bald eagles. These birds are as plentiful in Alaska as crows are here at home. This pair were enjoying a breakfast of fish that had been left on a boat dock. I suspect that it was setup for a photo op but nevertheless, it was fun to see the magnificent birds so close.

Alaskan Bikini

Tommy and Big Rob took a shore excursion here. They went out on a day long salmon fishing trip where they pulled in their limit. The captain of their fishing boat was great and knew just where to take them. They took the fish to a local place where they could choose how they wanted it processed. Tommy chose to have his half smoked and had the other half done in steaks. The processor than ships it home for you (which is great since there is no 'frig in your state room on board). Several of our group took a white water rafting trip while we were in Juneau. They were provided with protective clothing and had a great time.



Carl taking a glass blowing class in Skagway

The rest of us took the shuttle into Juneau. It is just about a 5 minute bus ride but we had the best driver ever. In those 5 minutes he gave us a brief history and mini facts of Juneau. In fact, before we could even get on his bus he asked us each a trivia question about Alaska. Mine was what number state Alaska was .... Easy Peasy! Number 49 (thank you Fifth Grade State Reports!). His questions got more difficult when he asked us what the state bird of Alaska was (it's the Ptarmigan if you were wondering). He also shared, very emphatically, that most Alaskans were not fans of their most famous citizen, Sarah Palin. It seems that the number one Juneau business (followed by fishing and tourism) was government. The majority of Juneau residents work in government jobs. It seems that while governor, Palin had lobbied to move the state capitol away from Juneau, an unpopular idea among the locals.



White Pass Train

Shopping in a port town is pretty much the same everywhere ... tee shirt and curio shops and jewelry stores. Buying jewelry seems to be something cruisers do and I can only look at so much tanzanite and diamonds. But there are those little gems tucked away in the many, many shops. One interesting "Only in Alaska" item we found was a leopard fur bikini. Something our family does traditionally is try on goofy hats for photos. In fact the dorkier we look the better. I tried on a wolf hat that I seriously thought about purchasing to use in the library.

Another feature of many of these stores are large stuffed animals or wood carvings that just scream "take a picture with me!"



Skagway museum

Our next stop is one of my favorite places ... Skagway. Only 3,000 people live here. Our guide told us that there is no jail and only 3-1/2 members of the police force. We saw one .... a bicycle cop... patrolling. Tupac (seriously, that was his name), our guide, said that the worse crime that occurs is someone "borrowing" a bike. I love the history of Skagway.  The minute you get off the ship you see the White Pass train . This is the number one tourist attraction in town. Skagway is beautiful and we chose to walk the mile into town. Along the way are beautiful wild flowers and trees that compliment the mountains splendidly. I love the little historical parts of Skagway that hold their own amidst the souvenir and jewelry shops. The National Parks Service conducts free walking tours of the town.  I stumbled into the NPS historical museum and had a lovely conversation with the rangers that were preparing for the visit of a day camp group. The museum had several gold rush related interactive displays.

Craigdarroch Castle

Skagway has many great shore excursions. This is where we did our ziplining trip and Carl visited the Jewell Gardens for his glass blowing lesson.

 Our last port before ending our cruise was Victoria, British Columbia. Victoria is a beautiful city filled with flowers. From the gardens to the hanging baskets you get the feeling very quickly how important flora is to the city. On our visit five years ago we toured the Royal BC Museum which can take several hours to go through. This time we chose to take a bus tour of the city and visit Craigdarroch Castle .  The "castle" has served as the family home of the Dunsmuirs, a military hospital during WWI, and a college. The historical society has worked hard to restore it to its origins, even tracking down the original furniture to display. The woodwork inside is fantastic and the showpiece for me was an amazing main staircase (87 stairs). There are also 33 original stained glass windows.

While some our group were touring, others took the opportunity to golf at one of the beautiful Victorian courses and a few others had high tea at another Victorian landmark, the Empress Hotel.

Going up the 87 castle stairs

We enjoyed all of our shore excursions on this cruise but we left several things undone. Which only means that we will need to make another trip to Alaska....maybe in another five years.

Ziplining

Hiking in Alaska

Maybe I should have bought this

Feeding the friendly seals in Canada