Zig Zag Around the US

[RB]

I have already posted a review of our flight to the US on V Aust in Y+ and the first few hotels/B&B's we used. We are in our early 50's & continue to want to find our own way around rather than be herded around in a big group. It is our intention to use air, ferry, bus, and train to see Alaska, Chicago, New York, Boston, San Diego & LA before we return home some 6 weeks after we left. We are not fine diners (prefer to eat at bars & the like where we are more likely to meet locals & hopefully learn more from them) and our flights are on what we see as the best deals for us (self-employed with no business travel & mainly once a yr holiday flyers so no great status earners). I will post photos as the report develops.

Alaska Air-LA to Seattle then to Ketchikan. AS453 Lax-Sea 737-800 19A & 19C coach, AS67 Sea-Ktn 737-400- 20C & 20D in coach

Booked and selected a window & aisle on 3 & 3 seating. This held all the way through & we were 2 of the few to have spare seat between us on a good flight. Two drinks run on flight to Seattle, had coke (free or could have purchased something harder) and nuts. Smooth flight & on time landing into Seattle. Good viewing of waterfronts of a very green Seattle. Easy deplane into transit for hour or so. Had first chowder of this trip & it revived memories of excellent soups of a previous Canadian trip. Found out too late that the airport is all free Wi-Fi.
Had 2 aisle seats on Seattle-Ketchikan which had no spares. One drinks run as per LAX-Seattle. Land into a cool & cloudy Ketchikan basically on time & catch boat ferry with max load of 3 down to our hotel/apartment-(see separate report.)

 

[RB]

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Around Ketchikan
Arrived about 4.30pm into Ketchikan. The Ketchikan airport is on an island, so we caught the water taxi (well old speed boat with a local character driving). The only other passenger was Lou. Lou was arriving for the Cruise boat season and is one of the pilots that guide the ships (he calls them “pennies from heaven”) in and out. One Cruise Boat leaving town. Booked into the New York Inn at Creek (see separate report). Rainy when we arrived but a beautiful day for our second day. Three big cruise ships in today, with the Island Princess the biggest – they were lined up around the ship to get back on board (glad we are taking the ferry). Walked most of the town and out to the ferry port – elk burger for lunch – very tasty. Last day was drizzle and a little cool – 4 cruise boats and about 8,000 extras in town. We walked a few kilometres out to Saxman to see the totem pole park. Caught the bus back to town had a drink at our favourite bar, the Sourdough, and then lunch and seafood chowder at Annabel’s a nice old café in the centre of town. Cruise ships loading back up – all with red shopping bags and some were wearing very strange hats. Got the free ride from the New York Inn (they looked after our bags after checkout), who dropped us at the ferry terminal at 5.00pm and caught the ferry to Petersburg at 6.30pm (right on time).

 

[RB]

Ketchikans Island Airport


Wrangell Narrows


Petersberg Main St Fri Night


4WD's Dominate


Leaving Petersberg

 

[RB]

Alaska Marine Highway Ketchikan-Petersberg on the Taku
Our stateroom is much bigger than we thought with a window and full bathroom. Adjourned to the bar then halibut burger for dinner before returning to the bar – funny mix of a German couple, a New Zealander, a farmer from Montana who hated leaving home and the local eye doctor from Ketchikan. Got up a 3am when it was just getting light and the boat was in “the Narrows”- beautiful. Met by a taxi at 4am in Petersburg and were able to use our room at the Sea Level B&B straight away – so went back to bed!

Around Petersberg
Quick walk around town which is really peaceful after Ketchikan – our room juts out over the water with picture windows all around – a bald eagle flew straight outside our window earlier. Had one drink at the local bar, bought some supplies and headed home for lunch. Not much not much happening in the way of night life, had a Chubby Chicken Pizza – very chubby! Next day a beautiful sunny day – had a good walk around then sat in the sun on our deck most of the afternoon enjoying the unusual weather. Salmon Burger for lunch – leftovers for dinner – more bird watching – lots of bald eagles around but not much sea life. Our B&B owner, Jean, drove us to the ferry terminal –

 

[RB]

Alaska Marine Highway Petersberg to Sitka
Thought our boat was in early but turned out it was another one that had broken down earlier. Our boat (the Taku) arrived on time but couldn’t get in to the landing until the other one had clearance to sail. Will be a couple of hours late into Sitka. Again had a stateroom (approx 3mX4m) with good sized window, ensuite with toilet & good shower. The bar was again a great meeting place for conversation and ate at the bar this time-just across a walkway from the cafeteria style kitchen. There is a reasonable choice available with soup of the day, choice of a few hot meals, salads, sandwiches. The bar is well priced with tap & bottled beer & a limited choice of red & white wines (similar choice to most Alaskan bars). Being early in the season the ferries are not crowded. There is parking down the bottom for vehicles (pets must be left down in the vehicles) and then a variety of sitting lounges throughout the ferry. The top deck has a solarium with ceiling heaters and also an open area. Tents can even be pitched up here. There are business lounges, a library style area & also a movie room (Avatar was being shown). A very scenic trip with sightings of our first whales and got some fantastic sunset photos.



Our Petersberg B&B from the Taku



Top Deck/Solararium Taku


Through our Stateroom Window


Always Something To Look At


Bar Of the Taku

 

[RB]

Some more photos from Alaska Marine Highway
Sunset From The Ferry


More Sunset


Just One More Sunset


Docking At Sitka 4am


Note that a 2 hr delay in leaving Petersberg resulted in a delay of 5hrs in Sitka because the triphas to take into account the tides

 

[RB]

See separate post for review of Ocean View B&B

Around Sitka-
More walking enabled us to see Sitka National Historical Park, the raptor centre sanctuary and brown beers been raised at the Fortress of the Bears sanctuary. There was a great, small aquarium that was manned by volunteers. The Sheldon Jackson museum which had an amazing array of artifacts was founded in 1887 to house the collection and a growing library. We tried the highly rated Ludvig’s restaurant and also had a few bar meals.
Sitka Aquarium



Sitka Aquarium where you could touch all exhibits



Mt Edgecumbe



We encountered a genuine native art shop where one of the owners warned thatAussies were unable to buy most stock but still spent time explaining his wares. This Polar Bear Spirit Mask is made from Fossilised whale bone, polar bear hair, walrus ivory eyes, polar bear claws & pads, sea otter teeth, sea lion K9 teeth, whalebone tongue, sea otter whiskers for eyebrows, walrus whiskers for moustache, polar bear claw for nose

They were also selling sea otter fur pillow cases at $$$ prices that only meant 9 sold last yr


Horned Owl at Raptor Rehab Centre

 

[drron]

Brings back memories.In the craft shops dont fall for the Alaska gold nuggets-they are gold but come from a mine in Gympie.
Waiting to hear more.

 

[RB]

Golden Eagle at the Raptor Centre


The Centre appeared to be a great vet hospital & research centre & 1 golden eagle has been looked after there for 18yrs (would not survive in the wild after striking power lines while hunting) & he is taken fishing in the nearby stream.

Our longest walk around Sitka took us out to the Fortress Of the Bears Centre-Alaskans seem to say everything is about a mile further when asked!-we caught a taxi back
Whale Point on the way out


Rescued Bears at the Fortress-saved after Mum had to be put down. In 2009 some bears were transferred to New York zoo


Sitka Harbour at sunset-we were getting used to late nights

 

[RB]

Brings back memories.In the craft shops dont fall for the Alaska gold nuggets-they are gold but come from a mine in Gympie.
Waiting to hear more.

Go Gymie!
I think the shop I am referring to is Indian Village Artists ( 3 Guys by the Church) Boyd Didrickson. Seemed to be fair dinkum & was proud to display a signage/authenticity in his window that we did not see elsewhere. It was interesting that he picked our accents & immediately warned that we wouldn't be able to buy things. I note on a web site "All the items at the Indian Village Artists store are strictly regulated by federal law and enforced by federal agents." He explained about the regulations of having to present the sea otter testicl_s amonst other evidence to prove that females had not been used in the production of the pillow cases!
There sure were a heap of souvenir shops everywhere we went in Alaska. So many that carried the same lines of junk. Also difficult to believe the number of jewellery shops (most apparently owned by the cruise lines) & the signs saying free gift even without a purchase. Also odd to see many of them close as soon as the last cruise ship left port.
We really enjoyed talking to someone who seemed committed & not sales pushing.

 

[drron]

We were also impressed with some of the stores honesty.We actually saw the nuggets everywhere but in Seward in an indian Craft shop also the guy picked up on our accents and I commented on the nuggets saying they looked just like the ones from Gympie-he readily acknowledged their origin.
Certainly you would be silly to buy jewellery in a cruise port-yes they are owned or closely aligned to the cruise lines.

 

[RB]

Sitka To Juneau
We caught the local bus across the road from our B&B out to the ferry terminal for our middle of the day departure. This sector on the Alaska Marine Highway was aboard the Fairweather, a totally different beast to the Taku. Built in 2004 it carries up to 250 people, hits 32 knots & is basically a high speed catamaran. Seats are comfortable, food & drinks are available but it does not have the character of the Taku. Again a scenic trip through some strong flowing inside passage. The ferry terminal at Juneau is well out of town & we wait for the free shuttle to arrive from our hotel. We get a good look at Mendenhall Glacier on the ride in.


Scenery from the Fairweather


Mendenhall Glacier from the Ferry


Downtown Juneau


Modern Towing Practices In Juneau

As per my post on the hotel reviews http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/com...and-reviews/driftwood-lodge-juneau-23456.html
we were a little underwhelmed by Juneau in the short time we were there. It was certainly bogan territory downtown on the Thurs night. The cruise ship terminal area of the city is quite a way from the new shopping centres, airport & ferry terminal

 

[RB]

Alaska Marine Highway-Juneau To Haines
We had an early start for the 20 odd minute lift in the hotel shuttle out to the ferry terminal. There were more people onboard the Fairweather on this trip. Through the Lynn Canal, apparently over 610 m in depth, and the deepest fjord in North America and one of the deepest and longest in the world as well. Again there was magnificent scenery with hanging glaciers and sightings of more birdlife, harbour seals, porpoise and a very distant whale.


I have already posted details of our B&B and some details of Downtown Haines here
http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/com...d-reviews/alaska-guardhouse-haines-23457.html

The B&B stay proved very relaxing with oysters with drinks 1 afternoon & the alluded to king salmon bbq was great. We had the run of the house & a great deck for drinks in the sun. Haines was dog heaven & it appeared that the well behaved & spoilt pooches almost outnumbered the humans. Despite this the streets were spotless.

Eldred Rock Lighthouse

Through Lynn Canal

Fort Seward grounds


View attachment 928Hammer Museum Haines









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[RB]

While it was still relatively early in our trip, our time in Haines certainly reinforced our insights into some aspects of Alaskan lifestyle.
The harsh climate certainly dictates lifestyle and mid-May meant the people were fresh at getting out & enjoying life-camping, exploring, fishing,socialising. Everyone we met was outgoing, helpful & trusting with little regard to needing security (unlocked cars & houses). The pubs are a big meeting place & all people feel comfortable at dropping in by themselves & then either joing a group or just having a quiet beer by themselves. There is little evidence of gambling (pull tabs being the old beer tickets of Aust ala early 1970's). There are certainly a lot of free camping facilities & there are many waterfront RV & camgrounds.The Haines Fairgrounds used for the beer fest are gold rush store fronts from the Disney movie White Fang.

Fogcutter Bar-pull tab gambling
Campground for Beer Festival

Skagway & Whitehorse next

 

[RB]

Haines To Whitehorse
Fast ferry to Skagway- delayed 20 minutes due to steering problems that we observed being worked on over weekend. In meantime 2 passengers bailed out fearing missing connections. Delay helped justify our decision to catch shuttle bus rather than train at Skagway. Locals suggest Skagway is the place that sold its soul & no dominated by jewellery shops owned by cruise companies. Apartments also owned by them to house cruise & shop staff. Managed to find a local food store & had excellent peppery seafood chowder.
Small Ford V8 shuttle with 8 seats left on time with mail run responsibilities also taken care of. Left town with us & 1 Japanese young lady. Excellent conversational commentary & photo stops during steep decent out of town. Saw goats, waterfalls etc. Canadian border did cursory check of passports & left green cards in passports after we instructed we would be re-entering Alaska tomorrow. Picked up the train commentator who continued our relaxed local history/geography lessons & conversations re Aust. Passed through Carcross & worlds smallest desert. Arrived at Whitehorse, a big country town with massive straight streets & we were dropped at front steps of Westmark Whitehorse Downtown by a very proud Yukon local.
Haines to Whitehorse ferry
Sarah Palin is big in Skagway-Thinking gives you wrinkles
Downtown SkagwayWhite PassCanadian/US Border

 

[RB]

Whitehorse-Dawson City-Air North
Air North no security or customs, down the arrivals steps & enter back door of Hawker Siddley 748-2A. 32” pitch. Forty seats 2 young pilots & friendly if less than svelte fa. Seats were a free for all. 2 of us sat at window of 2nd back row & got spare beside us despite only 4 free seats. Overheads were like a bus & marked as hats & coats only with an announcement to remove bags & place under seat in front. Served coffee & muffin as flew over forest fires, rivers & forests.65 minutes then land on gravel runway. Wait in small terminal (referred to as transit) & deplaning passengers received bags through what looked like an oversized pet hatch. Approx 20 min layover during which pilot did his own fuel top up. We reserved our seat for next sector with a bookmark type card from the seatback.
Then next sector, 8 passengers & original crew. Dawson City to Old Crow in Arctic Circle. Again a drink & muffin. Again forest, bare snow covered rock, tundra, swamp, ice lakes. Quick decent onto another gravel runway. All off again although you can leave cabin baggage on. I ended locked in terminal by being too long in loo but allowed out in time to reboard!
Old Crow to Fairbanks- 7 passengers & original crew. Very quick right bank on takeoff. Another drink & muffin like offering- actually presented as an offering from a cane basket. Reached 17,000 ft so less view & more smoke from forest fires. Over 100 float planes seen berthed parallel to landing strip. Quick release through back door for walk to tarmac. Photo shows staff hauling our 2 bags which were only checked luggage on the plane.The bags were dropped at the feet of the customs officers for us. US customs friendly, relocated my green card to my passport- LA had stapled both into Mrs RB’s passport. No other person in airport. Alaska Air staff helped to ring courtesy shuttle for downtown.
Dawson City Tarmac-no photo security worries

Dawson City Gravel Runway
Leaving Dawson City & mining
Old Crow Airport-Above Arctic Circle
Our Personal Baggage Handler

 

[RB]

Separate Hotel reports here
http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/com...views/westmark-downtown-whitehorse-24057.html
http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/com...eviews/bridgewater-hotel-fairbanks-24066.html


Around Fairbanks
Back downstairs & out for walk around downtown. Park on the river has display of husky pups. Back to hotel for a free shuttle around the town with 6 or so stops-1 hr circuit. Get off & visit Uni museum (use 2 for 1 voucher from our book). Fantastic display on animals (huge brown bear- 8’9” and 1250 pounds), guns, kayaks clothes. Many paintings, interactive learning and the obligatory gift shop. Shuttle back to hotel.
Dinner-Big Daddy’s BBQ. Cheapest beer so far & wine apparently best encountered up to now. Serve of nachos, rib bits, honey wings all excellent in taste & big in size. Staff outstanding & walk out with plenty of drink under the belt with change out of $us70. Fairbanks hosts a baseball game on their summer solstice where 1st pitch is 10.30pm yet the game is all played under natural light!


University Museum Bear 8'9" 1250lb
University Museum
University Museum

 

[RB]

Denali Star Adventure Class from Fairbanks to Denali.
Only 26 booked into cattle/adventure class so ends up good deal being able to move & settle into own permanent seat high in observation car with glass viewing of sky & sides. There was a fantastic model train expo run by volunteers at the Fairbanks station-model of the actual train route.Train spotless, salad roll from train very good. Conductor settles into deep conversation (fortunately at remarkably muted volume for the most part!) with fellow Americans that covers railway retirement benefits, suicide, Exxon spillage etc. Mother & 3 under 7’s mercifully decide to stay downstairs. Plenty of trees, 2 ducks & 1 raven are all to report for first hour. After 53 miles cross Alaska’s longest single span bridge then Nenana & 1905 church one of Inland Alaska’s first (everywhere in Alaska so far has massive number of churches of previously unheard of persuasions-not that we are expert). Back to trees & scrub of varying height. Two moose spotted & fellow passenger on his return journey alerted us to upcoming pond & nesting swans. We pass through Clear-(settlement) originally part of Ballistic missile early warning site, Healey & a slow wind through rugged hillside into Denali where we saw rafting on the fast flowing, dirty river. Alight train to confusion of baggage collection. The cruise ship companies each had a carriage(and not counted in the train numbers) and the travellers were herded from bus to train to bus to cruise line owned hotels-quite an operation and not the way I want to spend my holiday



Nenana RiverObservation Car




Part of the Model train-photo doesn't do it justice

 

[RB]

Around Denali Service Centre
Denali service centre generally a quiet spot, range of shops & food, “outlet” store, bottle shop etc.
Seafood chowder from the King Salmon restaurant was best so far. Also served Yukon chips-basically packet chips covered in parmesan & with a dip (restaurant is owned by the Princess Cruise lines like most other tourist related activities). At least they did us a favour in the food department.
Shuttle bus trip to Eielson in the National Park (66 miles and about 4 hours each way) a real highlight. Bus on time departure, driver had 19 yrs experience & witty commentary. The bus pulled up every time someone (usually the driver) yelled “stop” if they saw something. We witnessed 3 lots of brown bears (one with 2 cubs), caribou, moose, hares, dall sheep, possums and birds. Took longer than anticipated to get out there as one bear caused quite a traffic jam of buses. Could have gone walking anywhere along the ride but decided to stick with our driver. Turned out to be a good decision as the weather turned stormy with hail on the way back.
Raining on the second morning but took range of walks near the park entrance -Taiga Walk, McKinley Station trail & Horseshoe Lake. Plenty of beaver activity obvious at Horseshoe Lake & got good photos of beavers swimming and sat on a seat (log) they had felled for us.
busy beavers

Denali-Talkeetna
Caught the train again from Denali to Talkeetna. Again very few people in Adventure Class & we were able to spend entire time in observation car with good views left, right & skywards. Departure & arrival on time & bags delivered promptly. Staff alerts to observations were more enthusiastic than previous leg but the 16yr olds were still reading descriptions rather than adlib conversation. We spotted eagles, swans, beaver and squirrels.
Separate review of Denali Salmon Bake rooms here

http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/com...ces-and-reviews/denali-salmon-bake-24088.html

 

[RB]

Talkeetna Air Taxi Flight
We were dropped at the airport by Peg, again only a 5 minute drive. Our 2 for 1 voucher from the Alaskan Tour Saver readily accepted (arranged previously at time of booking, 1 per day accepted). We were weighed & supplied with ice boots that simply went over our own shoes. Tyler, our pilot fuelled up & then came & introduced himself. He advised that our 7pm flight (last of the day) was to be a bonus in that we were the only passengers going out. 5 seat De-Havilland Beaver was our transport, with me next to pilot & Mrs RB told she could slide across all 3 back seats to get best photos (photos thru front tended to catch the props). Excellent clear, smooth flight with McKinley out in all its glory. We were micophoned up and able to zig & zag to get best photos and observed the Kahiltna glacier, the sister peaks of Hunter & Foraker, West Buttress & noted the line being followed by the climbers. Two specks of climbers seen & then swooped over at an angle to capture shots of base camp. Smooth landing & then a plough on to a stop within a couple of hundred metres of the tents of the 50 odd climbers waiting to fly back down. There is a base camp commander & she is currently up there for a 3 month stint. Company is the ranger/safety/rescue guys that were doing 3 week stints. Chicken stir fry dinner was being served. Very strict rules applied on human & other waste so all was spotless. Climbers are required to get out & ski & stomp so the planes can land. We walked around close to the plane for quite a while & then were joined for return flight by 2 climbers who had made the top. They apologised in advance for their lack of a recent shower ( smart climbers apparently take 2-3 weeks to avoid any altitude hassles). I am told the back was quite squeezy with 3 in the back. Takeoff was a downhill skim & soon up & away. Over another climbing camp, Wickersham Wall (apparently the world’s steepest continual vertical rise). Another smooth landing back at Talkeetna & we walked ourselves back to the B&B in about 10 minutes.
Dinner was nice New York cut steaks & plenty of local craft beer (ordered a jug & it turned out to be 6 litres) & apparently nice white wine for Mrs RB. Next morning a quick walk around the small town & down to the river where again just for a few minutes were were able to see McKinley in its glory.
One of our views
Base camp from up high
We're at base camp
Base camp landing strip
Base camp boss tent


Posted separate B&B for Talkeetna here
http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/com...es-and-reviews/talkeetna-b-and-b-c-24093.html