Crews Letter #2010 03
Fairbanks
to Anchorage
Good morning Crew,
Cruise West organized the tour. On 18 September 2010, Cruise West Ceased Operations. We feel this is a sad loss.
We flew to Fairbanks with a
layover in Seattle. Long days, short
nights, are as unnerving as jet lag.
Daylight at 2330 takes some getting used to.
Day 1
The riverboat Discovery is a
three hour cruise into the heart of Alaska and the heart of a family who have
made the rivers of Alaska a way of life for four generations.
A
bush floatplane
The
home and kennels of the late four-time Iditarod
winner Susan Butcher
Some
insight into Athabasca and Chena culture
This
cruise was short in miles and time; long in history, feel and values.
Day 2 - We traveled north out
of Fairbanks to see the Pipe Line
Prudhow
Bay – 420 miles that way; Valdez – 375
behind us
We
toured the home: garden, kennel and cabin of Mary Shields, first woman to complete
the Iditarod. Even better, the tour
guide was Mary Shields. She is a
delight.
Phyl found
another dog she could love.
After lunch and a visit to
the Museum at University of Alaska, we travelled by bus to Denali National Park
at the eastern edge of Mt McKinley, in the Alaska Range.
For Marmaris Race Week we
move 100 kilos, about 230 pounds, of books off Perception. A small boat requires a limited library. A lighter boat moves faster through the
water.. One book that holds its place in
Perception’s library is Poems of Robert Service. Our first night in Denali we dined at CabinNite Dinner
Theatre. It depicts the life of early
1900’s miners. Robert Service poems were
key to much of the dialog and songs.
They acted out” The Shooting of Dangerous Dan McGrew” with Alan and Fred
standing in for two of the three lead roles.
After killing each other, Alan and Fred were on friendly terms for the
remainder of the trip. If you are not
familiar with Robert Service, check out these links for text or a reading.
Or catch the drift with the
first verse of
The Cremation of Sam Mcgee
There
are strange things done in the midnight sun
By
the men who moil for gold;
The
Arctic trails have their secret tales
That
would make your blood run cold;
The
Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But
the queerest they ever did see
Was
that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I
cremated Sam McGee. <more>
This man’s poetry captures
the spirit of Alaska.
Day 3 - We loaded on a very refined
school bus for a park road tour.
Terrain, tundra and wildlife made for a fascinating 6-hour bus
ride. On this tour we saw moose,
ptarmigan, snowshoe hare, caribou, and a lynx. The lynx was more interested in
a snowshoe hare than our bus. He was closer
to our bus than lunch. At a distance
there were Dall sheep and a grizzly bear.
With binoculars the sheep were discernable. The bear was a dark spot that moved.
Day 4 – An ATV excursion and
some time to soak in the nature of the place.
In the evening we had a
speaker who works with a team of naturalists that tracks and studies the wolves
of the park.
Day 5 – Fred joined a group
for a hike from the Nature Center to the Nature Center. At noon we boarded a
train headed south. By train, we
travelled up the Nenana River, over Broad Pass Pass, elevation 2363 feet and
down the Susitna River with beautiful scenery, several good views of the Alaska
Range and a strong reminder of how good the European railway system is.
At Talkeetna we transferred
from train to bus. This reduced the
remaining three-hour-twenty-minute train ride to less than two hours. After a wonderful dinner in Anchorage with 14
of our fellow travelers, we were in bed by midnight with a 0530 wakeup
arranged.
Day 6 – Early to rise. Fly to Juneau to wait for the cruise that
starts the next day. This is the only
day that Cruise West fell below reasonable expectations. Six of us were booked on this early
flight. Instead of a breakfast in the
hotel, a bus tour of Anchorage, and a museum tour, we left the hotel at 0600
with box breakfast, and most of a day to waste in Juneau. With the exception of the bus driver who met
us at the airport and ferried us to the hotel, the Cruise West staff didn’t
know, didn’t care and didn’t wish to be bothered. Compared with their colleagues in Fairbanks,
Denali, on the bus tours in Juneau and aboard Endeavour, the staff in Juneau
was a major disappointment.
At lunch we found a Crab
Shack with King Crab – WOW!
At the end of the day, we
toured Mendenhall Glacier
Day 7 – This day starts with
a hike in the woods and ends at sea with whales near our ship.
Early morning, Fred went on a
guided hike through a rainforest near Juneau.
Explanations dealt mostly with the processes by which bare land is
turned into a mature forest by a succession of plants. A prevalent example of bare land in this
region is what a receding glacier leaves.
Other options include forest fire, clear-cut logging, volcano and
earthquake activity.
At lunch, we were back at the
Crab Shack. Mae West said, “Too much of
a good thing is wonderful!” We agree.
During the day, the
passengers for the cruise assembled.
There were 23 on the land tour.
For the cruise, we numbered 102.
The cruise is described in our Crews letter: North to Alaska.
In her blog, Mary Shields
describes our group,
“I had my first tour last week
and the Cruise West guests were so refreshing and down-to-earth. We had a great
morning together. The dogs were happy to meet some new friends and the weather
was perfect.”
It is hard to imagine a nicer compliment.
Keep a Tight Luff,
Phyl and Fred
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