Alaska Trip
I begin my narration about our wonderful Cruise in Alaska and our subsequent travel to Denali National Park, with my deep sense of gratitude to Radhika and Vidyadhar who gave us this once-in-a-life-time experience.
My biece asked me to give a description about geographical positions of these locations. So I will start with that. This brief travelogue is for my family members and my friends, who I am sure would enjoy sharing my experience during this beautiful trip. I have not attempted to go into accurate documentation of geographical facts or phenomenon of these places in Alaska. It is for an audience who would like to read it as my fellow travelers and see the places through my eyes, without bothering to go into minute details. For people who have easy access to the internet, I would suggest that they surf the net and read about these places.
Durham, where we live is in the east coast of America. The airport is called Raleigh-Durham, abbreviated as RDU. Alaska is in North West. The time difference between the two places is 4 hours. When it is midnight in Alaska, it is 4 am in RDU( Raleigh-Durham ). We commenced our journey on 15 th of July 2002 from RDU to Seattle (West coast) via Cincinnati ( East). It was about 2 hrs flight to Cincinnati and from Cincinnati to Seattle was 4 hrs or so. The time frame is almost like traveling to London from RDU. We stayed that night in a hotel after our arrival in Seattle.
The next day (16th July) we drove around Seattle. It is a very big place. It is right on the coast of Pacific ocean. That evening we drove to Vancouver. The drive is about 3 hrs. It is one of the most scenic drives. Vancouver is in Canada, so we had to cross the Customs and Immigration border. Indeed it was a different experience, crossing the Border! U.S.A. and Canada have a special relationship; American citizens and Green Card Holders (called Resident Aliens, by US Government) do not need a visa to visit Canada. At the border, we did not even get down from the van. The Immigration Officer sitting in the booth asked Vidyadhar, who was driving, what our nationalities are. Vidyadhar said five are American Citizens and two are Indian Citizens with Green Card. The Officer enquired if the children were accompanied by their parents. "Yes", replied Vidyadhar. Another question "How long will you be in Canada?". Reply "One night before embarking on our Alaskan Cruise". No papers were scrutinised! We were told, "Welcome, have a good time!". We were simply waved in.
We went around Vancouver in the evening(16th ). It was great.
Our Cruise in "The Dawn Princess" commenced from Vancouver on the 17th July in the evening. We were a big group with our friends and their families. Radhika's IIT classmate Nithya and her family were one among us. I have to mention this now. Radhika and Nithya, the IIT class mates were together in our Kashmir trip (1977). Again in 1997 Nithya had joined us during our cruise to Bahamas! This was the 3rd vacation, the friends had planned together! There were four families, all of them, very close friends who joined together on this cruise. Each family flew into Vancouver, did their own sight seeing while in Vancouver and gathered at the port of Vancouver to board the dawn Princess on the 17th evening . The Kamaraju's children, Siddharth and Ankith are of Milind and Ashwin's age group. Nithya's children, Akhil and Arvind are of Arvind's age group. No girls! I have to mention an interesting comment here which Arvind made. One of Radhi's friend Lakshmi had got her father all the way from Bangalore and treated him to Cruise trip. Radhi asked Arvind whether she can hope such a treat from her children when she gets old. He said that in all the cases the daughters are the persons who are treating their parents, not the sons!
The Cruise
There is a big procedure before you board the ship. The luggage we carry are handed over to them. The baggages are handled so efficiently. Different coloured tags are attached depending upon the class and the cabin's situation in the deck level. There are about 2000 and odd passengers . Like a magic wand every ting is sorted out so fast. When we arrive in our cabins the luggage will be waiting there! Another interesting thing is while on board we do not use any currency transaction. They issue identity cards with our names and credit card particulars. Any purchases in the duty free shops on board, purchase of drinks, gambling charges if you gamble in the casino on board, any Spa or beauty parlor charges are charged at the end of the cruise to the credit card. Every thing else is free. Food is free. Entertainments are free. Swimming pool, gym, Jacuzzis ( hot water pool with whirl pool etc), a fabulous 24 hrs buffet, are free. The experience is some thing like Arabian night dreams! It is like traveling in a five star hotel without the worry of any bills! It is something like Alice in wonderland. You have seen Titanic ! The ship was not that big, but all the same the internal features are very much the same. I want you to see the pictures in Group One. Milind has covered only a few views. When I come to India I will bring the video. You can see more. A few figures that would interest you about the ship:
Number of passenger cabins ? 999
Normal passenger capacity- 2050
Maximum passenger capacity?2,272
Normal crew figure---------------870
There is great excitement when the ship launches its journey. Everybody gather on the top deck for the big event. On the public address system there is continuous commentary about the launch.
We were on Deck 9. Luckily we both had a cabin which is used by wheel chair bound persons. So it was very spacious compared to the rest of the cabins the others got. Milind, Ashwin and Arvind had one cabin. Radhi & Vidyadhar had a Cabin with a Balcony. You would be interested in the price of each ticket. Each ticket cost $800. The cabin with balcony was $1000 each. I tell you, the cost of these tickets are worth every penny! They pamper you like any thing. It was a 7 nights cruise, of which 2 were formal nights & 4 smart Casuals. People really dress up like what you saw in Titanic. It was fun dressing up every night before dinner. (While roaming around during the day time everybody is dressed very casually) The Dining rooms were exquisite ! The choice of food was world class. They had Indian cuisine also . Our group of 17 people had three tables. The head waiter and the junior waiter attending on tables are the same for all those seven nights. So they become quite familiar and serve you with such affection. You will notice that they come from different countries, when I tell you their names.
Head Waiter: Mr. Giuseppe (Italy),?
Waiter: Mr. Joaqupru (Portugal),
Junior Waiter: Mr. Sammy (Romania).
Oh dear ! starting with some exotic soups and ending with fabulous dessert, it was like Arabian night dreams! All are given the choice of eating in the 24hrs Buffet also. So we chose to eat breakfast & lunch on the deck 14 which always had a fantastic view all around. Only during dinner we all used to meet at the formal dining room. Every one had their own company and agenda to do what they liked to do. Taking walks in deck 7 was a favourite occupation for every one. There were blankets and deck chairs on 7th , 11th , 12th and 14th decks for the people to sit and watch the voyage which I will cover shortly. You will see these deck chairs in the picture where you see the swimming pools.
There is a room attendant assigned to every room. They keep the room spotless. Radhi and I were thinking about each and every body so much.
The Voyage and the shore excursions.
The information about the voyage, the daily entertainments, various activities were all organized in a " Princess Patter " newsletter which they would post out side every cabin in a letterbox for the passengers. This gave the passengers the knowledge about where we are on the sea and the choice to choose any particular activity. Most of the time everybody is wandering around in the open decks enjoying the spectacular view of the wonderful glaciers landing in the ocean.
Millions of years ago all this place was Ice lands like the Artic circle. Due to global warming the ice fields started melting. Tons of ice, almost like mountains started moving under the pressure exerted on them because of the melting of these huge ice fields. When they started moving they crushed the rock underneath and moved to wards the ocean. When they came in contact with the salt water the ice started melting away leaving behind the rocks which we now see as glacier mountains. The wonder is that we actually witness today all the geographical changes presented before our eyes as living proof. The process is continuing before our very eyes. Now you should see picture of the Glacier Bay. You will understand what I mean. You can see the huge Glacier meeting the ocean. It is awesome. One entire day the ship travels in this Glacier Bay. It actually takes us to the end of the bay further which you cannot go anywhere. It is surrounded by glaciers on three sides. The ship actually takes a full U turn to reach the open sea again!
The glaciers reflect the blue light from the sun rays. All the other colours are absorbed. when you look at the glaciers you feel like bowing your head before the nature's force. You suddenly hear a huge thunder like noise which they say is the calving of the glacier. If you are lucky, it seems a huge chunk like a little mountain might break and fall in the ocean with the thundering noise. When we enter the glacier bay, a ranger who is an expert in the field boards the ship. He is brought in by a boat from the shore. He or she comments from the top deck. It is very interesting. They give so much of information about the sea life, the flora and fauna. Everybody has a binocular ( The Americans know how to equip themselves!) The ranger spots whales, sea lions, and so many things which we sea in the national Geographic channel. The experience was outlandish. The weather was so good. It was not cold at all. I cannot do full justice to the awesome nature we witnessed in any number of pages I may attempt to write. You can go to the web site. Just type "Glaciers. ". You can read about them.
The ports of call
Vancouver( June 17th ), At sea ( 18th ), Ketchikan (19th ), Juneau(20th ), Skagway (21st ), Glacier Bay (22nd ), College Fjord (23rd ), Seward (24th )
There are many shore excursions on these ports. The ship arrives in the morning at these ports in the morning. The whole day we can go around the ports. People choose what they want. These tours are booked well in advance. These charges are not included in the price of Cruise . I will not go into the elaborate detail of the tours we took. I will only mention a few.
Radhika had booked a bus tour at this port (Ketchikan). After a good breakfast in the ship we walked down the ladder to the port. According to tide level the ladders are placed. For example when you walk down in the morning you would have taken the ladder from the 5th deck. But by evening when you come back you would be entering the ship from the 7th deck! depending upon the tide.
Here when you take a tour the bus driver himself/herself becomes your tour guide too. The lady who drove the bus was a very interesting person. It is a beautiful island. The place comes alive during the tourist season between May and October. Shops mushroom. The place is surrounded by snow covered mountains. The highlight of this place is the Saxon village where you see Totem poles. The local people have expressed many of their historical events by way of "figure carving" on these huge poles. If you go to site of "Totem Poles " you will get an idea of what I am trying to explain. Supposing somebody want to express Ramayana on a Totem pole carving , he would have tried to bring the essence of the story in one Totem pole!
Other than this she showed us the nest of a bald eagle. The bird is huge. The strange truth about them is that when they mate they become life long partners, I believe!
After spending an entire day at Ketchikan the ship traveled overnight and came to Juneau. It is the Alaskan capital.. Strangely enough this capital city is not connected by land to the mainland USA. It is huge island. We took a tour to the Mendenhall Glacier.
Before I go any further with my narration I would like to give a short note about the Glaciers. If you have already visited our web site you would be familiar about I am about to write.
Glaciers are actually ice fields moving and melting due to global warming and the lack of sufficient snow fall. Thy are tons of ice moving as glaciers. Some meet the ocean and some carve their way through the mountains forming huge gorges. It is an awesome natural phenomenon which you come across face to face in Alaska. Before I finish this article you would read much more about these glaciers.
This particular one that we saw in Juneau is Mendenhal Glacier. Some people took flight seeing tour of this glacier. Since we had planed to go flight seeing Mt McKinley, we just took a bus tour here which took us as near as 100 feet from the glacier. It is awesome. They are supposed to absorb all other colours from the sunlight except blue . We could see the beautiful blue tinge reflecting from it. Please visit our web site for the experience of looking at this photograph.
On our way back we visited the Salmon Hatchery. The history of the salmon fish is really a very sad one. Some of you may be aware of their life cycle. Till today nobody is able to explain why they travel across the world from the pacific ocean near Alaska all the way as far as Japan and come back to the place of their birth to spawn and die eventually. The life cycle of a Salmon starts in the fresh river water where they are hatched. After some time they start their travel in the sea water. They travel thousands of miles. But, for their mating season they come back to the rivers where they were born. This is where the most strange phenomenon comes in action for which till today there is no valid explanation. They swim in the reverse direction in order to complete their journey. In the season it is so strange seeing thousands of these salmons traveling against the currents. It happens every year. When they arrive in the fresh water the female lays thousands of eggs on the river beds, the male impregnate the eggs by simply squirting their sperms on these beds of eggs. Both the partners circle around these eggs for days. They have been starving through the whole process of this procreation. They are so tired and they simply await their death after completing this life cycle. Salmon is one of most sought out fish commercially. So what is happening now is there is a big industry flourishing around this life cycle of salmons in Alaska. They have built man made dams for salmon crossings. The Salmon jump in these man made dams and lay the eggs in the Hatcheries. The hatchery then lets off these babies in the ocean. It is a miracle and the unknown phenomenon how these fish remember the smell of their birth place and return to the same place for spawning year after year. One has to see it to believe. I would recommend any body to visit the web site where you can read and see the pictures of the Salmons.
After Juneau our next port of call was Skagway. We took a railway tour of the White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad . It was a four hours railway journey through a very scenic mountain railroad. Every railroad had some history behind it. This is was built during the Gold Rush in the Yukon territory in 1896. People flocked to this place from all over Europe to find this yellow metal. People undertook arduous journey in this tough mountain terrain under severe weather conditions braving the winter storms, to find gold. in the mines in the Yukon river basin. This railroad was built subsequently to make the journey easy. Presently the railway journey is only a tourist attraction. There is no gold rush! But in the shops, even today you get gold nuggets in a small vial filled with water. The purity of gold is assured. This train picks you up right from the port. It was a memorable trip.
After leaving Skagway , we traveled for two days in the Glacier Bay . This was the high light of our Cruise. I have mentioned already how the ice fields melt due to global warming. Some of them travel and meet the ocean. The glaciers start melting when they come in contact with the salt water of the ocean. This process results in the formation of glacier bays. This natural phenomenon is brought before us in this region. It is awesome to see these huge glaciers standing like ice mountains devoured by the ocean in a slow process. The ship takes us to the bay's end where you can see the process in action. We could hear thundering noise once or twice from inside the glaciers. There is constant action inside the glacier. The pull of gravity and the slow melting makes the glaciers break with thundering noise. It is called calving. When huge chunks cave in, the ships cannot enter the bay because of the floating icebergs. You see only the Tip of the ice berg"! It maybe huge inside the water. It may wreck the ship! Think of the " Titanic" ! The ranger who boarded the ship while we entered the Glacier Bay explains in detail about the various phenomenon of this place including the flora and fauna, the sea life and other things. All the passengers enjoy the scenery from the open deck at the top. The weather was perfect that day. The ship spends very relaxed hours here. It turns a full circle inside the bay enabling all the passengers to have a full view of the glaciers, and then heads to the open sea to continue its further course .
The next day we sail through the College Fjord, another glacier formed bay. The weather was just the opposite of what we had the previous day. It was very chill with high winds and rain. Most of the passenger were wrapped in rain coats and blankets. Our friends and family members were all viewing from the 7 th deck where you have the protection of roof around the other wise open deck. I wanted to be out in the open, braving the cold rain and wind. Poor uncle also had to suffer because of me because he did not want to let me out of his sight! Poor Milind and Ashwin were driven by Radhi in search of us. She wanted us to come to her cabin which had a balcony. I could have stayed there warm and cozy and also enjoyed the view. My child hood experience in the Nilgiri mountains must have been acting up to defy the cold wind and rain of Alaska! Poor Radhi, wasted most of her time during this College Fjord trip worrying about her parents' position among the two thousand and odd passengers. I should have called her and told her not to worry about us. ( There are telephones every where for the convenience of the passengers to call each other and leave messages or talk ). I am not going into detail about this place because it is also very much the as the previous one . Only difference was that we had awful weather compared to the previous day.
The next port of call was Seward, where our wonderful Cruise came to its final destination. The four families had further plans, of course ! I had mentioned earlier about the American way of renting a car or a van for traveling purposes where ever they are at a given moment . This is the easiest way of traveling here. It works out cheaper than any other mode of transport. You make the reservation for a van or a car depending upon the number of persons traveling . The keys will be waiting there wherever you want to pick them up. You can rent a car at one end of America & leave it on the other end . The companies which rent them out are all happy to collect and pick up the vehicles wherever one leaves them !
So the four families picked up their vehicles at the Seward Port. Our final destination was Talketna where we had planned to go on a Flight Seeing expedition over the Mt McKinley, the highest peak in North America. It is known as Denali in the local language which simply means " The Highest ". From Seward we traveled via Anchorage to Talketna. It is about 5 hrs drive. The route was very scenic, meandering the mountainous . As soon as we left Seward we went to see the exit Glacier. The name itself suggests the phenomenon. As I have mentioned earlier this Glacier presents exactly the opposite phenomenon of the Glaciers in the glacier Bay. There we met the glaciers flowing from the ice fields, meeting the ocean where it starts receding because of its contact with the salt water of the ocean. The process there seems to be continuous. They are still active. As compared to that it is sad to see the exit glacier, which is actually is exiting. We could see the land marks of its existence. They have indicated a number of land marks where the glacier was till a few years before, that is within the last century! You would want to go back to our web site to see the pictures of this exit glacier. In one of the pictures you could see the melting glacier water flowing from underneath the glacier.
We spent almost an hour at this place. We had our lunch at a place called Moose Pass. The place was so beautiful. It was a small restaurant on the bank of a lake with a back drop of a snow clad mountain. More than any thing the owner had a framed piece which said " The Shakti Atta Mills, Noida " This surprised us. He said he was partner of that flour mill in Noida which we were all familiar with. It seems he used to fly from Alaska to Noida many times, in the past. We never expected to meet an American in Alaska who knew about Noida !
We drove past Anchorage which one of the main cities in Alaska. We were intending to see the city on our return trip because that is where we had to take our flight back to RDU.
We arrived at the flight seeing airport at Talkeetna just in time to board our flight seeing planes! It was 7 pm. You must be wondering what sort of flight seeing trip I am talking about which will take off after seven in the evening. Well I am talking about the land of midnight Sun here! Yes we were now very near the northern most part of our earth. Two more days of travel by road would have taken us to the North Pole!
There are many small airports with mini planes who organize these flight seeing attraction. It is a two and half hours flight which gives you breath taking tour of the Mt McKinley in the Alaskan ranges. One should really be very lucky to have an experience like this. The weather should cooperate too. It seems many tourists return disappointed because most of the time the peak is covered with. clouds Alaska has lot of rains too. It seems this place is governed by its own climatic conditions because so many factors play a role! Mountains, Glaciers, ocean, wind etc. The best of weather-man may not be able to assure you whether you will be lucky to accomplish this flight seeing tour without any hassle! We had perfect weather! The Sun was so bright . We had to wear Sun goggles! The planes are very small. The maximum is a 5 seated one. The pilot himself is a guide. Our group traveled in four planes.
I want you to go back and refer to the photos of the Mt McKinley and its glaciers. The aircraft flies over the Marsh lands before the Alaskan range looms high and mighty before our eyes. There are many glaciers emerging from this range. (The constant flow of the melting water from the glaciers results in the formation of the marsh lands in this region. Alaska is very famous for mosquitoes because of these marsh lands.) Each person is provided with a head phone and a microphone set. We can communicate with the pilot and ask him questions whenever we want. He explains. It is essential that we carry binoculars. He showed us the base camp of the mountaineers who were climbing the Mt McKinley. We could see the climbers as small dots. Since the sun light was so bright the surrounding mountain range could be seen clearly. We flew over three major glaciers. He landed us on the Ruth glacier which you can see in the picture. The feeling was something beyond any words could possibly describe. It was eerie to set foot on the glacier. It was about a mile wide where we landed. The pilot said it could be three to four thousand feet deep. Imagine this huge glacier slowly moving underneath us in snails pace! It is something beyond our imagination when we encounter this nature's marvel in person! Each flight seeing ticket cost about $175 . But it is really worth it. If the weather is bad the money is fully refunded! One of the passengers, I heard her saying , that she wanted to do it again if there was place in the next flight! So you can imagine the popularity of this trip!
Our next attraction was our travel in the "Denali National Park". That we did the next day. Before hoping to that narration I would like to tell you about the place we stayed. Radhika had made reservation in the " Denali Over Look Inn". Nithya's family and we shared this place. It had the most beautiful over look of the Mt McKinley. Please look at the last photo of our trip. You will know what I mean.
When we came from the flight seeing trip it was almost 10 pm. The sun was up still. Even after midnight the twilight lasted for a long time. So I can say that I saw The land of The Midnight Sun!
The next morning , we drove again on a mountainous route for more than two hours and reached the Denali National park. Radhi had booked a bus tour of 8 hrs inside this National Park. If I tell you that 8 hrs of drive is just a little portion of this national park you can imagine how big it is. Again the bus driver is our guide. The main attraction on this tour is spotting the animal life inherent to this region, to name some of them, Brown bears, Moose, Caribou, Porcupine etc. Great care is taken in the balance of ecology. The visitors have strict rules of conduct. We are free to get down and wander and hop into the buses again. Some people camp also. It was a great adventure. We could not see many animals that day. Well every thing cannot be perfect always. The travel reminded me of traveling in the Himalayan mountains. In 1977 we traveled one full day from Jammu to Kashmir . That remains so green in my memory even today. Some travels live and die with you with ever lasting impressions!
The next day, that is on the 26th Aug our return journey started from Talketna Inn. We all bid a sad farewell to that beautiful place. Our return flight was from Anchorage almost at Midnight. So we decided to wander some more in the region before bidding final farewell. Nithya and Radhi teamed up to see some more interesting places. The other two families left because they had to catch earlier flights. About an hours drive from Anchorage there were some interesting places along the mountains where the ocean had inlets. We arrived at a place were we witnessed " Bore Tide" This is again a natural phenomenon which occurs on specific days depending upon the wind factor, the Moon's position and the tide. Given a particular speed of the wind and the position of the Moon the chart in that view point indicated that we were about to witness the " Bore Tide ". It really happened at that given moment! We could see the Tide entering the Bay from the sea. It took more than 30 minutes for the tide to arrive where we watching from. It was awesome!
We had dinner at Anchorage with Nithya's family. They were staying behind for one more day at Anchorage. We returned the Van at the airport and boarded the flight back to Seattle. From Seattle to Cincinnati and from Cincinnati to RDU. Alaska is four hours behind the time Zone of RDU. The journey back home was very tiresome of course !
I hope you enjoy sharing my experiences of this great trip to Alaska!
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