Scagway Alaska

This was an email written on May 14th in an internet free zone.
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It is 7.15 am on Wednesday and we are in Scagway, way up north in Alaska.

The morning air is crisp and clear with a tinge of diesel. There are 3 liners in port, including ours, and 2 ferries. One is leaving on my left as I write. There is a hum in the air from the ships in an environment that it
is still.

On my left a majestic mountain sits. White capped at the top and down its side about half way where dense bush sits quietly. In front and to the right of me, above the 2 Norwegian cruise ships (Norwegian Star & Pearl) sit 2
more mountains. To the right of the ships is Scagway, a town I have glimpsed for the first time, as I walked the decks in cool morning air.

Both mountains are well clad in snow at the summit. The more distant and central one is grandly covered in snow except for a small section. Its peak reaches upwards, proudly as it watches over Scagway. The sky is white making
for a misty but clear connection between sky and mountain.

In the foreground behind our Norwegian sister ships a scene of bush and trees lies beneath the 3rd mountain and a few houses dot the bush. However, it looks like most housing is down in the valley in the town. The bush is
both a dark green and a lighter green in the trees with some tinges of grey and as my eyes climb up towards foot of the mountain.

This is a town where people came with hopes and dreams in search of gold. First reading suggests a wild town where it was every man for himself. Stories of men pushing their bodies to the limit exist and they sought riches in the mountains.

Today we will go ashore explore the township and then journey up the mountain by train. Our exploration will be a gentle one not like the experience of those who often swam ashore before carrying their gear up and over the mountain.

Margerie glacier in Glacier Bay. The Margerie Glacier is an excellent example of a tide-water glacier: a glacier that extends into a body of water

Email written onboard the Diamond Princess May 15th

This is a photo of the Margerie glacier in Glacier Bay. We parked outside
this today on the ship. After spending hours on the deck we retired to the warmth of our stateroom at had our own personal view. Pretty good eh!

Here is a web link http://www.lcss.net/glacierbay/Glacier_Bay_glaciers.htm#Margerie%20Glacier

If you want a room like this ring Belinda at Flight centre Kalamunda! Well done Belinda.

The Canadian Rockies was an amazing wilderness experience and today has added again to our marvelous wilderness adventures. The Americans might be a bit tardy with their immigration procedures but they are looking after this place very well.

Around 6 am the local rangers, minus tonto, boarded our ship. They gave us information about the National park, glaciers, wildlife, etc.

I am not sure when I will log on for this but hope you enjoy it. Postcards are somewhere in our luggage!

Love and Joy

Graham & Jennifer




Australian Licorce in Anchorage

we arrived in Anchorage today after visiting a wildlife sanctuary, another tramway to a huge mountain where international skiing occurs and the local museum with an brilliant and thorough presentation on Alaskan history. along the way we continued to chat with people and hear of lives lived differently. today a guy who has been to China 21 times!

once booked into our sunshine filled room at the Copper Whale Inn, we wandered around Anchorage. It is a city and so different from our other Alaskan visits to towns with an interesting past and a unique quality. This is a city that seems to be growing and developing - oil seems important!

anyhow we wandered into a cute shop and discovered licorice. all sorts of licorice including 2 types of Australian licorice. we haven't seen much Aussie influence around apart from wines on dining room wine lists, which we have avoided. we chatted with the young shop assistant. she claimed the Aussie licorice was her most popular brand.

so we drank out coffee and wandered some more. another chance meeting with a young couple from Houston took place in the park. we had our final chat - the first one started in a queue as we attempted to get on board our ship. I must have chatted 3 or 4 times with him as our path crossed on the ship.

well we are tired tonight. after dining with 2 Australian couples, we danced hard and went to bed late. We had to get up early to leave the ship and catch our tour. We discovered we now have to turn on taps again. for a week on board the Diamond Princess we have not turned on a tap. they just worked!

But fancy, Aussie licorice popular in Anchorage.

Return to Vancouver May 8 & 9

may 9th 12.30 pm.

Vancouver is an hour away. 5 hours late but we are almost there.

We have descended from Jasper through the mountain ranges and massive canyons along the mighty Fraser River away from the magnificent and awesome Rocky Mountains.

The advantage of being 5 hours late has been travelling in the daylight through the canyons west of Kamloops. Normally we would have missed this. It has meant seeing again what we saw on the way up to the Rockies. This time we were on a different track and could see things from a different perspective.

During our trip back we had dinner with Darlene and David from Saskatoon. A mother and son travelling to Vancouver for family celebrations. As we descended from the Rockies we talked about Canada and Australia, our similarities and differences and for a short time enjoyed our geographic togetherness.

The Rocky Mountain experience was an awesome, amazing, jaw dropping experience. Tired old words that struggle to describe the grandeur we have witnessed.

At Jasper Park Lodge we lived in a National Park and walked by the lake daily and gazed up to the mountains. On top of Whistlers Mountain is a little hut to where the Tramcar flies. http://www.jaspertramway.com/ You can a virtual tour at the website! The tramway was always visible sometime during the day, but not all the time as clouds passed by, the weather changed and on the last morning it snowed! The snow was great for two West Australian tourists but not for Lodge management wanting to open the golf course for summer.

The other wonderful experience at the lodge was swimming. A warm pool in front of the lodge provided a poolside seat to the mountains. An almost surreal experience!

We walked to breakfast through the snow on our last morning in Jasper (Thursday 8th). Throughout our stay we had had breakfast in our rooms with provisions purchased in town. On the last morning we celebrated a magnificent week in Jasper by dining in the Meadows room with Amy.

I have thought about my time in the Highlands of Scotland throughout my stay. The Scots we met quite rightly pointed out the Highlands were smaller. However, they both have place in my mind as places of awesome beauty that provide pleasure while intimidating at the same time. The message is something like play with us well and with care and you will be ok. Take risks at your peril.

And so it is farewell to the Rocky Mountains, farewell to my beautiful daughter for a few weeks and forward to Vancouver and Alaska and Victoria on Vancouver Island.

8.30 pm We have been in Vancouver for 7 hours and have 270 degree views from our hotel window of Vancouver. It is absolutely magnificent. We ate well at the Old Spaghetti House after hearing the Gastown clock strike 5 pm. http://www.gastown.org/ However, we are back in the city away from the rural Jasper and it feels so different.

Tomorrow a new adventure. Our cruise north. Tonight we have just witnessed a ship leaving the harbour destined for adventure. Tomorrow it is our turn.

It is snowing in Jasper

today is May the 8th in Jasper Park Lodge. It is the day the golf course opens for the summer and we leave for Vancouver on the train.

We awoke to snow. Over the past hour it has seemed to get stronger, but I know nothing about snow so who really knows! In a few minutes we will walk through the snow to have breakfast with Amy. She is training today so we meet early so she can be ready to go at 9am.

Goodness knows how this will effect life up here as there are lots of people dying to play the beautiful golf course. I had planned to go and watch a few holes, as it is an intriguing course.

cheers,

Graham

Rocky Mountaineer April 27 & 28th

Arriving at Rocky Mountaineer station

Rocky Mountaineer April 27 & 28th

The train was due to leave Sunday (27/04) at 7.30 am. All was going well until the Taxi driver deposited us at the wrong railway station. However, the Rocky Mountaineer people anticipated that possibility and had a guy waiting with a vehicle to transport us to the correct station.

That experience was a window on Rocky M people’s service. We had a wonderful 2 days meandering our way to Banff with an overnight stop at Kamloops.

The train had a mixture of Australians, Scots, English, Canadians, Americans and one Kiwi, and a wonderful woman called Lyn serviced our carriage. The journey was just marvellous. There are so many difference experiences along the way it is hard to describe them all. Massive canyons, waterfalls, rivers, mountains, cute villages and one bear standing beside the train line. The family from Canberra were ecstatic to see the bear. I managed to shoot him – well part of him with my camera. So far it is the only bear we have seen.

Castle Mountain

This is a most beautiful and stunning part of the world. It is so peaceful, so absolutely amazing.

This photo is of Castle Mountain near Lake Louise and was taken from the train. We passed the mountain again on the next 2 days as we first visited Lake Louise and then drove from Banff to Jasper.

Thjs mountain almost lost its name to a famous USA President. Fortunately it didn't. I have been inn the highlands of Scotland and driven in an out of Glencoe with snow all over the mountains. They were beautifully intimidating. However, the Canadian Rockies are bigger and better and awesome.