Transportation Purgatory

We just finished the trip back...

Turnagain Arm from the Bus

We got up yesterday morning at 5 AM Alaska time (EDT-4) on the ship to have breakfast, and catch a bus (excuse me, motor coach), from the dock in Seward to Anchorage to catch the plane.  The bus ride from Seward to Anchorage take about 3 hours through some pretty steep and tough looking country, finishing with a trip down Turnagain Arm, a branch of Cook Inlet with 30 ft tides.

We reached Anchorage Airport in three hours, plenty of time to catch the flight, had a bit of coffee, got a wheel chair for Mom, and struggled through security.

TSA must die...  We already know the agency would not necessarily have caught the last "underwear bomber" (although, the "naked" scanner caught me inadvertently trying to smuggle a crumpled up $1 bill in my front jean pocket. Of course, it had a false positive on my back, too).  The system we have now is simply "Security Theater" in an attempt to convince us that the feds are controlling terrorism.  The usual tradeoff of life for dollars is a  few million dollars per life, (it used to be about $6 million per preventable death was a rough line, but I suspect that inflation and stupidity has at least doubled that).  The TSA has an annual budget of circa 8 billion, so you would hope it would save at least a thousand  lives annually.  There's certainly no evidence that it has done that.  But they do carefully  check out 88 year old women in wheel chair.  It's easy; they don't move very fast.

Cook Inlet from the air

The cruise line had promised, for a fee, to have our large bags checked through all the way to Baltimore (and involving a change from Alaska to United Airlines), but a certain level of confusion had suggested it might not work perfectly.

The first leg of the flight back was from Anchorage to Portland, Oregon, where we changed planes, but stayed within the terminal and the security zone.  It took what seemed hours for mother to get off the plane, but we made the next flight out, Portland to San Francisco, without too much stress.

East Coast Sunrise

At San Francisco, we parted ways from Mom and Dad.  As we suspected, our baggage checked to Baltimore stopped at San Fran, and we had to go baggage to fetch it.  After saying goodby, we took our big bags up to a fresh check in with United, and a fresh trip through security in a different terminal.  After a little confusion, we found our gate, waited until Group 7 was called (I think that's after pigs but before chickens), and got onto the plane for the cross country leg, San Fran to Newark, New Jersey.  The plane was a little late, what with boarding all the pigs and chickens.  As we ran down the ramp to the plane, they announced that the overhead compartments were full and that our larger carry-ons would have to be checked at the gate, which we did dutifully, but not happily.  It was supposed to catch up with us in Baltimore...  It was now after 10 PM PDT.

We got some sleep crossing the country, and arrived in a driving rain storm (but no thunder) in Newark, a little late, some 7:00 AM EDT.  The next flight to Baltimore was scheduled for about 8:30, and left about an hour late, due to the pigs and chickens problem, as well as a very long line on the taxiway. 

We arrived in Baltimore about an hour late, but still moving.  One piece of the "carry-on" baggage that was supposed to catch up to us from San Francisco has not yet caught up with us; it apparently took a liking to Newark.  We made it home by 1 PM EDT, more than 24 hours after we started, and having stopped in five different airports, which is apparently a local record.

Georgia Will Miss the Room Steward

Getting off the ship this morning in Seward. Sitting here in Lido waiting for our group to be called for disembark, for a long bus ride to Anchorage, and even longer plane rides home.

Glacier Bay

This morning (Friday, 5/18, in case this doesn't get posted until later) the Zaandam sailed into Glacier Bay. At the mouth of the Bay, the ship had a couple of Park Rangers, and a native "interpreter" put on board. One of the rangers announced events through the loud speakers, and the native told stories in the main theater.

As soon as I went out on deck, around 7:00 AM, I saw a pair of dolphins or small whales of some sort. The land around is very rugged. High mountains jut right out of the Bay, which is a very long and deep glacier fjord. Within living memory, most of it has been filled with glacier, most of which has retreated away since the bay was discovered by Vancouver in the late 1700s.

We spent most of the morning out on deck looking at mountains, glaciers and wildlife. The sky was heavily overcast, not surprising for the region, but a bright sun would have helped the photography immensely. I still took over a hundred photos. Hey, digits are cheap.

The ranger clued us in to the presence of these Mountain Goats, way up on the sides of one of the shear rock walls. I would never have spotted them myself, and until I saw the zoomed in photo and saw they had legs, I was never convinced.

Later, from the comfort of the Lido deck, I spotted a pair of Brown Bears foraging on a big alluvial fan. I managed to get outside and find a place at the rail to try a couple of photos.

Eventually, we made our way up to the end of the inlet, where two glaciers came down. One, the Margery Glacier, was nearly pure blue and white, while the other, the Grand Pacific Glacier, was almost black from the heavy load of dirt and rock it had brought down from the mountains.

The ship stopped up here for an hour while we attached for Margery Glacier to calve. It did several times, often with loud rifle shot sounds, followed by a huge crashing sound. I managed to get a few photos of this as well.

Day at Sea

Yesterday, Friday the 18th we cleared Glacier Bay around 4 PM. The rangers and the native interpreter were last seen boarding their tender and heading for the Park headquarters near the mouth of the Bay.

Once out of the Bay, the ship swung to the North, headed for our final stop in Seward, and we got off of the tail of the Sea Princess, which had been roughly an our ahead of us since Juneau. She turned south, headed back to Seattle.

Once out of Glacier Bay, the sun made some effort to pop out, as we headed north, towards the open ocean. As Georgia and I did a few walking laps around the Promenade deck to try and work off a little of the fat we have accumulate at the Main Dining Hall and Lido Deck (the more or less permanent buffet and viewing area), we spotted a school of porpoises that looked like they were working a school of fish.

Last night as we were leaving the late show (an interesting musician who played banjo, saw and turkey baster, among other instruments), we noticed that the ship had developed a bit of a roll. This morning the sea is moderately rough, with waves up to maybe 5-6 ft, and a pretty wind. The skies are gray and misting a bit. Altogether a good day to stay inside and accumulate a few more calories.

Skagway

The ship pulled into Skagway, Alaska this morning before we awoke. After our usual lingering breakfast, all of us caught the shuttle into the town. Skagway is a town of 800ish full time residents on a fjord, nestled in a narrow valley between snow capped peaks. We were fortunate to hit it on one of it's rare sunny days:

The "main drag" in town is a half mile of tourist shops, mostly jewelry, but also the usual assortment of relevant and irrelevant souvenirs, and a few pseudo-period eateries.

Skagway is notorious for it's vaguely shady past. The main route into the Klondike for the Alaskan gold rush, Skagway was plagued by gangsterism and con men, personified by "Soapy Smith", now the town's most famous character. Of course, like all frontier towns, it was also host to a number of "fallen women."

These girls were advertising for a production on town history.

Alas, I could not stay for the show, as we had lost my parents temporarily, and we had to go on a scavenger hunt for them. It turned out they had gone back to the ship.

Mendenhall Glacier (and More Juneau)

After another leisurely breakfast we got off the ship and arranged for a bus ride to and from Mendenhall Glacier. At the glacier, we left my parents at the visitors center and Georgia and I head off for a hike up to near the head , and just below Nugget Falls.

Icebergs floating in Mendenhall Lake

Later in the afternoon we walked off the ship into Juneau, looking for a new bridge between the camera and the IPad. After visiting an Apple store and three camera stores, and walking 2 miles, we found one not 100 yards from the ship.

A couple of old friends from Maryland in a new location.

Juneau is full of Ravens. Not the little old crows from home, but giant, heavy beaked, diamond tailed Ravens

Juneau

We arrived in Juneau. It's cold, misty, and spitting rain off and on.

I managed to drop the little go switch that transfers pictures from my point and shoot camera to the IPad while switching batteries, so I will have to rely on the IPad camera. Too bad, because it's not nearly as good.

Our sister ship, the OOSTERDAM, already in port. We have a long period to go to shore today, 10 AM to 10 PM, so perhaps we'll get some more sightseeing in on shore.

Ketchikan

Our first stop in Alaska is the port city of Ketchikan. The ship eased into the dock in the early morning, and we were out on deck to see the last line being tightened up around 7:30 AM.

We had a long, leisurely breakfast and went into the town with the 'rents around 10. More below the fold.

Georgia Being Unfaithful...

Monday, our day at sea. No wireless connection, except to pay a ridiculous amount to the ship, and gray skies, so there wasn't much to post. As always, food and drink on the ship is plentiful and excellent. After dinner, we went to the show "Broadway Love Songs", and then to the piano bar.

Leaving Vancouver

The ship sailed more or less on time, 5:00 PM

Zaandam

We arrived at our home for the next 7 days after a long shuttle ride through Vancouver. It took about an hour to get through the various lines and get onto the ship.

Our ship is the Zaandam, operated by Holland America. At 785 ft, displacing 61,400 tons, a draft of 26 ft, with 11 decks (for passenger use, more hidden for the crew) and carries 1432 passengers and a crew of 620.

We're docked downtown at the cruise terminal, with a good view of the harbor. A few shots.

Richmond, B..C

We style overnight in Richmond, British Columbia, the sole reason we had to go through Canadian customs yesterday.

Prices in Canadian cents per liter. Multiply by four for an idea of US cost.After breakfast with the 'rents at the hotel, Georgia and I took a little walk, and ended up down by a branch of the Frasier River.

The Frasier is a working river, with heavy tug traffic.