My First Fjord

Fjord. Such a funny word to say! But what a beautiful sight to see!

The entire first day of my Carnival cruise to Alaska was spent slowly sailing up this majestic water canyon that is the Tracy Arm Fjord. A woman was announcing over the sound system when whales or other interesting wildlife would come past and say hello to our ship passing by. (It wasn't very helpful. For some reason the whales didn't realize it takes a few seconds to whip out a phone or camera to snap a pic or video to show all of our friends and blog readers that "Look, I saw a humpback whale!!" and would dip back into the water very quickly).

This was my first look at Alaska as well. It was relatively warm (mid 60s on August 28, 2013 when we were there) considering I was expecting it to be frigid and snowy the entire time. I mean, isn't that what those of us in the continental 48 are told to expect from Alaska?

Let me be the first to tell you that was hardly the case. The only time the air was really biting was when the wind blew, but with a corduroy jacket I was fine.The water was just as turquoise and sparkling (though not see-through) as any Caribbean waters I've seen- and I've been to seven of the islands down there. The trees on the cliffs were a rich but earthy green. Speaking of the cliffs, they were very steep and only at the very tops were covered in snow. We saw chunks of blue-looking glacier ice float past us (hopefully not breaking off due to global warming!) and occasionally saw eagles or goats living their lives oblivious to the 2000+ people gawking at them from a big white ship.

We ended at Dawe's Glacier at the end of the Fjord. You could pay ($400-500) for excursions to take a smaller boat up to the glacier and see the wildlife up close and personal. I didn't have $500 to spare so I watched from the main ship with the majority of the other passengers and shot a pretty nifty two minute video that I uploaded to YouTube. I few couples my god mother and I befriended did take the excursion and they showed us pictures of seals chilling on rocks and glacier chunks. Pretty neat.

Nothing left now but to leave you with the pictures I was able to snap while in the Fjord and other waters of Alaska as well as my YouTube vid I mentioned earlier.

As always thank you for joining me on my journey across America.

Finishing Up Alaska

I've been so busy at work I didn't realize I still had SO many photos/locations to tell you all about for Alaska! I think I can eek out one or two more entries about my time in the Pacific Northwest...

SKAGWAY, ALASKA

This is where we spent the most time of all the ports during the cruise. I already told you about my time at the Red Onion Saloon there, but I visited a lot of smaller museums and sites as well.

Display showing a gold rusher moving his supplies

KLONDIKE GOLD RUSH NATIONAL HISTORIC PARK 

*Please note, the day I typed this up (October 3, 2013) the US Government was shut down, so the website may not open. Hopefully this will be just a temporary thing!

This National Park is actually a collection of buildings, trails, and historic sites between Washington and Alaska that preserves the story of the gold rush of the late 1890s. 

Taken straight from Wikipedia:

The Skagway unit protects much of downtown Skagway including 15 restored historic buildings. The visitor center in Skagway is located in the historic White Pass and Yukon Route railroad depot building at 2nd and Broadway.

From the visitor center, visitors to the park can experience the history of Skagway and the gold rush by participating in ranger led walking tours or by watching the park movie.

The park also preserves portions of the White Pass Trail and the Chilkoot Trail, which leaves from the historic townsite of Dyea, Alaska and runs to Bennett Lake, from which prospectors could raft to Dawson City, Yukon.

The historic townsite of Dyea is also part of the historical park. The trail center in Skagway is operated by both the National Park Service and Parks Canada and has information regarding current traveling conditions along the Chilkoot Trail. A permit is required to hike the 33-mile historic trail.

How the gold would have been stored at the local bank/post office-
I lost my notes so I'm going off of memory.

I entered several of these buildings in Skagway, including the main Visitor Center where I watched a 20 or so minute video documentary about the gold rush and how it affected everyone- the rushers, their families, the Native Americans that were already there, and those who struck it rich (or became bankrupt). Not a very impressive gift store, but the information was helpful. Certainly I was NOT going to go hiking, but for my more adventurous readers, I've been told it is a trail that hikers love because of its difficulty.

In one of the buildings I started chatting with one of the Park Rangers about my old job (at the Smithsonian) and why I was so into museums, and he excitedly went and grabbed an "office person" for me to talk to. Mr. Karl Gurcke is a historian for the KGRNHP, and we chatted for about 15 minutes about not only the history of the city and how it has managed to stay a float a century after the gold rush ended, but how everyday people live their lives currently. We exchanged business cards, though shamefully, I have not yet emailed him to thank him for speaking with me- but I DID mail one of my postcards!

CORRINGTON'S ALASKAN IVORY AND MUSEUM

Mask on display in the museum portion of the shop

Not a whole lot to say about this place, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. I learned a lot of Alaskan history within two and a half small rooms- a lot of it information I didn't get anywhere else. There were displays about Native myths, and details about how they carved and weaved many of their cultural items (most of which you can purchase in the much-larger store portion of the building). One neat thing was a talking mannequin that was supposed to be Captain James Waddell. He told the story of how the final shots of the Civil War were actually fired in what we now know as Alaska. THAT is an interesting fact I didn't know about and even though he looked a little worn and dumpy, I was impressed they even had that level of display to begin with. 

Captain James Waddell- he may look bummy
but he talks and moves at the touch of a button!

There were also lots of baskets made out of whale baleen
This claims to be the largest.

CITY OF SKAGWAY MUSEUM

City of Skagway Museum

I happened upon this museum by chance. Off the main hubs of the city (which is saying a lot since Skagway is about the size of a neighborhood in larger American cities), I thought this museum was a church at first. It was certainly the newest looking building I saw the entire time I was there. I paid two bucks to enter, and walked around the tiny exhibits that essentially told the story of the citizens of Skagway. Everyone from police and firemen, teachers, business men (and women!), and all social statuses were represented through their personal artifacts and belongings. There was more information about the now defunct fraternal society called the Arctic Brotherhood (whose lodge is still standing and is an information center for the city). I enjoyed that there was a lot of information about how women were able to make their own way in a town that was so overrun with men- not all the successful women in Skagway had to work at a Saloon, and I was glad to see more information about the entrepreneurs of the time. My favorite non-artifact portion of the museum? The SUPER clean bathrooms. That's always a big plus for me, and the entire place was spotless and sanitary looking!

Table from the old Arctic Brotherhood lodge

Dress from one of the women entrepreneurs-
Whose name I can't remember because I can't find my notes :(

Here are some more pics of what I saw in Skagway

The old Arctic Brotherhood lodge- the most photographed building in Alaska
Apparently architecture students really dig this place

A looksie at my combat boots. More importantly, all the sidewalks
in Skagway were wooden, something I found interesting

Recreation of a Saloon in one of the Klondike Park's buildings

Actual miner's tools excavated near Skagway and Dyea

Well, I think I have one or two more entries before I am (officially) finished with Alaska and Washington. I'm on a travel hiatus for the rest of the year, but have strong plans to visit Nevada, Louisiana, and Georgia all before Memorial Day next year! In the meantime, you can check out all of my Facebook photos (and hit that "Like" button while you're at it!) from the rest of Alaska and all of the other states I've covered thus far. 

Thank you so much for joining me on my adventure!

My First Salmon Bake

Before I begin this post, I think you should know two very random factoids about me.

1. I strongly dislike eating outdoors. When I go to restaurants I only eat out on the patios if I'm out voted by friends. If I know I am entering a situation where I have no choice but to eat outside, then it takes about 15 minutes of mental prep before I start my day to squash my weirded out vibes about being forced to eat outside.

2. I loathe blueberries. I think they taste bitter and rancid all at once. I mean, I'm not crazy about berries as a whole to begin with, but I enjoy different berry flavors in certain specific formats so long as those gross seeds aren't involved. But blueberries? I'd rather go hungry. Of the many foods I disliked as a kid but have since grown up and enjoyed, blueberries are one of the few to stay on the list of DO NOT EAT foods.

Yep. That is pretty much the face I make when presented with them.
Image from http://cheezburger.com/2669553664

So imagine my utter delight when I realized that the salmon bake I had paid $50 to attend was not only outside, but only had one dessert featuring my "favorite" fruit. Yep...this is where you insert my WTF face. However, since I paid for it, I was going to go. Besides. Surely the salmon and other offerings would make up for it, right?

Enter the Gold Creek Salmon Bake in Juneau Alaska. My money got me a round trip ride (on a school bus) from the port, an all you can eat buffet, and musical entertainment. When you first arrive, you are handed a cup of very creamy clam chowder that honestly didn't taste all that different from Progresso clam chowder with some extra herbs thrown in for good measure. Long lines (and I strongly dislike long lines!) wrap around to all the stations, including the general food buffet line and the grill where two guys were basting and flipping salmon on large metal racks. Luckily the eating area was mostly covered by plastic umbrella shaped things over the tables. The buffet included a lot of food that had Alaskan themed names- but weren't much different from what you would eat at home. (For example, the "Miner Baked Beans" were simply pork and beans with grilled hot dog thrown in for good measure.) Warning- do NOT eat the blackish looking pasta salad. It has some sort of balsamic vinegar/soy sauce flavor that is absolutely terrible and no one I saw ate it! I liked the gravy covered chicken, and the salmon, though a teeny bit over cooked, was decent. I enjoyed that even all the way up in Alaska, they had a black man on the grill.

Grilling the salmon

View of the eating area and the plastic umbrella shaped things keeping us dry

I liked that they had no problems telling us what the glaze was on the salmon (brown sugar and pineapple juice), and I DID eat a whole lot of food (after throwing away that terrible pasta salad).

I was also pleasantly surprised that I liked the Alaskan Blueberry Cake. Apparently, blueberries (and huckleberries) are to Alaska what peaches are to Georgia and oranges are to Florida. But remember, I hate blueberries so I got the piece with the least amount of berries in it after my godmother insisted I try it. It was absolutely delicious- very light and delicate tasting and it was enhanced by the lemonade I was drinking. Overall, I'd rate the food as OK. I didn't enjoy being out in the elements- especially while it was raining and in the mid 60s- but I could see how that would be fun for people that like that. They also had marshmallow roasting camp fire areas, and two cute mallard ducks that had no problem walking among the crowd and eating what they pleased.

My plate: Chicken w/gravy, grilled salmon, cornbread, wild rice,
pork and beans, and my lemonade with my blueberry cake

The gift shop on site was woefully under stocked and tiny-- several visitors asked the girl at the register if they had bottles of the sauce used on the salmon. I can't figure out why you would want to buy something as simple as brown sugar and pineapple juice, but nonetheless they lost quite a few sales because all she could do was giggle and say they were out of stock.

And the singer-- man he was terrible. I almost felt sorry for him because only one or two people clapped for his off-key, tone deaf songs that were more depressing than anything else. I would have rather they played a CD or something over the speakers.

I know it sounds like I'm griping a lot about the experience, and while there were things I liked and didn't like, I'm overall glad I had the experience. The Pacific Northwest version of a fish fry is apparently the salmon bake. But as our bus driver put it (whilst he passed around pictures of his children and gave hints that he would appreciate tips), it's obvious they make a LOT of money ($1.5 million annually we were told) and reinvest very little of that back into the dining site.

But hey, there are thousands of cruise ship passengers who will shell out that dough for the Alaskan experience. Who am I to knock their hustle?

Red Light Special

One of my more interesting stops in Alaska was my time at the Red Onion Saloon located in Skagway. A former brothel and bar (among other things), this current restaurant and mini museum tells another side of the Klondike Gold Rush-- that is, what those thousands of (mostly) men did when they weren't prospecting. As you could imagine, they drank. They played games and socialized. And they supported the oldest business in the world- prostitution. There were about 80 different brothels of varying levels at one time in the area, and the Red Onion was considered the best of them all.

Red Onion Saloon

They had quite a few different tour options available, but the one I opted for was the $10 "quickie" tour. For 20 minutes, one of the "working girls" would take you to the upper levels of the building where it has changed very little since the its heyday. There is original wall paper still on the walls, with larger swatches framed and displayed. One of the original red lanterns that advertised the "business" available for patrons is still on the inside (protected form the elements now). Even a beaded gown worn by one of the Saloon's former Madams (the woman who managed the brothel) is on display.

Inside the brother area

The Original Red Light

Beaded gown worn by a former Madam

When they were renovating the building (you know, so they could offer tours and operate a restaurant on the lower levels...) they found all sorts of trinkets left behind over the years. These are displayed in glass cases along the wall. In learning about the renovations, we were told that the dividers that would have separated each woman to give her a "room" had been removed so that groups could come through, but you could still see the staples and nails in the ceiling where they were attached.

Some items found under the floor boards during renovations

That is pretty much the gist of the tour (it was a quickie after all). I learned a few neat factoids (like Skagway had electricity before New York City, and that the ladies would curl their hair with electric curlers- in the dark though because you couldn't have your lights and curlers plugged in at the same time). They talked about the resident ghost names Lydia- but I DO NOT play around with stuff like that, so I was thankful she didn't make an appearance for us. Our tour guide (named Annie Whichway- get it?) was very personable and enthusiastic- even if the corny sex-tinged jokes were laid on rather thickly at times. I get it though, they want to play up the whole brothel thing, and dressing up with red lipstick, bustiers, and telling double innuendo jokes that come across in a family friendly way.

Annie Whichway telling us about the last Madam of the Saloon
as we stood in her former bedroom

I didn't eat at the Red Onion for two reasons. One- there was plenty of already-paid-for food on the cruise ship. (Don't let the excursions desks fool you- downtown Skagway is a ten minute walk away from the port, and there is a $2 shuttle that loops all through town if you can't handle that much walking). Two- the only food I saw on everyone's tables that looked halfway appetizing was a plate of nachos- and I didn't go all the way to Alaska for nachos. I liked that with the tour you get a souvenir garter in red and black. A pretty unique and awesome way to promote your business and create memories for your visitors in my opinion.

My hooker garter

Well, I still have a few entries left to type up for my Washington and Alaska adventures. Thank you so much for reading my blog! You can look at the rest of my pictures on my Facebook page, and as always, I'll see you on the next adventure!

I'm a Gold Digger

The land that would eventually become America's 49th state (Alaska) was purchased from Russia in March of 1867. Not even 30 years later gold was discovered, and the Klondike Gold Rush began. 100,000 people from all over the world (but largely America) made the journey towards Alaska. Of those, only about 30,000 actually made it there, and out of that number only 4,000 found any gold. It was a very rough and tedious task to undertake, all on the hopes that one would find a big hunk of yellow metal and become rich.

If only it came out of the ground this way...
Image from www.munknee.com

Let me tell you, that they were much better than I am to have that much hope. I panned for gold for 15 minutes and only found a few dozen flakes. It was tedious and not fun after the novelty of being a city girl gold prospecting wore off. Let me explain...

I did a cruise excursion to the AJ Mine/Gastineau Mill during our (too short) port stop in Juneau, Alaska- the state capital. Early in the morning, myself and about 10 other cruisers hopped onto our mini bus, and took the 10 minute ride up the steep (and scary looking!) wooded mountain side to reach the first part of our experience: the mine entrance.

We had to wear safety helmets to go inside (I mean, we are going inside of a mountain after all) and were escorted by John Hughes. He was really nice and seemed truly interested in not only the entire culture of mining, but in telling us about it and learning about what we did in our non-vacation lives. He told us that he was half Welsh and half Tlingit, and that he also carved masks that were sold in the gift shop we would see later (great self plug, I gotta admit- tell us about the stuff you make before you take us into a mine that could potentially be dangerous).

John and I outside of the mine

What I expected was a ride in an old mine cart on a rickety railway a la every adventure movie involving mines and treasure ever. Instead, there were easily walkable wooden walkways covered in highly textured... stuff... to prevent slipping and falling. John stopped us at various points in the mine to show us different steps on how ore was actually marked, drilled, blasted, and hauled away. I got a few videos of some of the demonstrations, and you can check them out on my YouTube Channel here. All in all we spent about 45 minutes in the mine, which is much colder than the outside, so if you get the chance to go, take a jacket. I had a chill with a heavy cable sweater and corduroy jacket and pants on.

At the mine entrance

John giving us a demonstration of one of the machines

After that, we were bussed back down the mountain (just as scary and steep and bumpy going down as going up!) to an outdoor heated pavilion where we learned this history of the mine and how it used to actually operate and were showed pictures of the mine during its heyday. This was particularly cool, and a little eerie, when you realized the nature-covered structure you are facing is actually the ruins of the pristine looking mine in the photograph.

THEN....

...AND NOW!

After that presentation, which lasted about 10 minutes, we were free to roam the grounds (taking care not to go beyond the rope barriers for safety reasons), and to go to the gold panning station, where everyone is guaranteed to find gold or garnets to take home with them!

Walking around the grounds, there were a ton of old rusty machines and vehicles that were used at some point in the mine's active days. To me, they were beautiful, and the conservationist in me was flabbergasted as to why they were allowed to rust and decay out in the elements without any sort of protection. Why, in a few years most of them will be too rusted out to be recognizable! But perhaps that's part of the "charm" *history nerd shudder* they were going for.

Beautiful and tragic all at once!

So, back to this gold panning. This was done under another awning (no heat this time) in dim light. Two guys showed us how to agitate our gold pans so that the silt and sediment and rocks would eventually filter out to leave us with pretty gold flakes or garnet grains to put inside of our little take home valves. I stood there for fifteen minutes, scooping two pans worth of gunk, and still needed help to get the last few bits of unwanted matter out. It was very slow, and in all that time I only found about $5.00 worth of gold. Now, if I had that much trouble in a touristy fashion, just imagine those poor souls 120 years ago having to do it all on their own without help!

See those light colored flakes to the right of the bottom circle of my pan?
That's my gold!

15 minutes of tedious work for about $5 worth of gold

I really enjoyed my time there. In talking with the two guys who helped us with our gold panning I learned that a lot of college kids from the Pacific Northwest and the Southwest come up to Alaska to work for a year or two, save up their money, and then use it to pay for college. I also learned Alaskan colleges tend to be extra generous with scholarship money. John also told us that with just a high school degree you can start off earning $80K to work in the mines, and that again, a lot of young folks come up and work for a year or two before heading off to college or other locations. While I don't think I personally have what it takes to do such intense manual labor, I applaud them for finding ways to make college more affordable!

The gift shop on site was pretty standard, but the prices were slightly less expensive than the "main" Alaskan tourist shops located in downtown Juneau. The biggest highlight was the lack of a huge confused crowd like in the shops at the port. When we were in Juneau, there were two other ships docked. Now my ship (the Carnival Miracle) holds more than 2000 guests- and we weren't the biggest ship there. So imagine 6000+ people clamoring for t-shirts and ulu knives in a handful of stores---- stressful to say the least! Anyway, at the gold mine shop, I picked up a cute pair of earrings made by a local artist using Alaskan clay and white gold. I love them, even if they are a bit different for me, and was happy to support the local arts scene!

Kinda quirky, but they were calling to me!

Well folks, I still have a TON of things to blog about from Alaska and Washington. I truly appreciate everyone who follows me along my journey via the blog, Facebook, and Twitter, and as always, I'll see you on the next adventure!

Saxman...No Charlie Parker

I was originally going to write this entry about a place I visited in Skagway, Alaska, but I see for some reason the photos from that city were not uploaded onto my Facebook photo album. I'll look into that later, but in the meantime I wanted to get an Alaskan entry onto the blog.

Charlie "Bird" Parker, Picture from Wikipedia
Just in case some poor soul doesn't "get" the title of my entry

Saxman Native Village was my only tourist stop in Ketchikan, Alaska. It was important to me to spend at least part of my trip learning about the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest. I was especially interested in learning more about totem poles, and this port offered the most options to do so. Carnival offered several excursions to visit the handful of parks that had totem poles (some authentically made by Native Alaskans, others reproductions made in the 1930s during Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration). The problem I had was that I wasn't sure I wanted to pay that much money, with prices starting at $40 and up. Good ol' Trip Advisor came through and several of my fellow travellers gave advice that there is a bus that costs $1 each way to many of the parks, and that admission at each park ranged from free to $10 depending on which one you decided to go to. $2-12 bucks sounds a lot better than $40+, so as the Queen of Public Transportation, I convinced my godmother to hop on the bus with me! The buses run on time and only every hour or so, and we'd missed the bus going to Saxman by about ten minutes, so we caught a cab for the three miles or so trip there. We paid a man in a booth $5 to enter the site, and I paid an additional dollar for a "guide" to the meanings of the totem poles.

If you choose to catch the bus to Saxman, look for this eagle statue.
The bus stop is right next to it.

First, I wanted to point out that the totems at Saxman are all Native made- no reproductions- and were carved at different points between the early 1800s and the 1940s. You can read a description of them here but hope you will still buy a guide on site as the money goes towards helping preserve the poles and the village. My favorites were the bird poles, because to me they looked more serious than some of the other shapes (such as frogs, beavers, and random people- oh yeah- and Abraham Lincoln).

One of the bird-shaped guard poles

The view walking towards the Village

For $5, we got the privilege of walking around, taking photos, and shopping at the gift shop. We were not permitted to enter the Clan House to watch dancing or into the carving station to learn about the traditional tools and methods used to create the poles. We were told that even though the Natives own the land, they lease out tourism rights to various companies and have agreed to not let non-excursion paying guests participate in activities other than taking photos. While I understood the rationale, I was a little bit disappointed.

The Clan House

Looking down to the gift shop and lake from in front of the Clan House

Unrestored beaver totem inside the gift shop

While not bad for less than $10 (if you don't count the cab ride which only totaled $15 with a generous tip), I would have been extremely upset had I paid $40+ to come here. There simply wasn't THAT much to do. I really wanted a mini bird totem to take with me, but the gift shop on site was even more overpriced than the shops near the cruise ships. One highlight, that only a few people who know me personally would understand, was a magnet of a bear totem image decorated in orange and brown. See, my high school (which is now sadly closed) had the brown bear as a mascot, and our school colors were orange and brown. Even though I graduated in 2001, I still have love for my alma mater!

David B. Oliver High School February1925- June 2011
Bears For Life!

Well, things are slowly coming together back at home. Again, I'm 99% sure I am done traveling for 2013, but plan to have a very active itinerary for 2014 and 2015 (it will be August 2016 before you know it!).

Thank you everyone for following along. More entries to come, and I will see you on the next adventure!

My Alaskan Cruise Videos

You guys know that I have a TON of blog posts to type up for my EIGHT days spent between Washington and Alaska. However, I'm dumb busy at the moment and probably won't get to it until next week. As a teaser, I wanted to leave you all with a few of my YouTube videos. You can see them all on my YouTube channel, but here are some highlights for now:

Live at Dawes Glacier

Riding the Seattle Monorail

Drilling in an Alaskan Gold Mine

My pictures from both states are also up on Facebook (but the captions are yet to come...stay tuned!)

As always, thank you for following me on this journey. It really means a lot, and I am honestly excited to complete it!