» in general
visiting alaska is one of those things you put on your list of stuff to do before you die, but like eating healthy and exercising regularly, people probably talk about doing it more often than they actually do it. so when the opportunity to go on an alaskan cruise presented itself, deciding to go was a no-brainer. everyone knows alaska is a beautiful place, but you may not realize how incredibly huge, rugged, and desolate it is. the saying "the more i learn, the less i know" can be applied here because the more you see of alaska, the more you realize you haven't seen. seeing alaska by cruise ship is a comfortable and relaxing mode of travel but can also end up feeling superficial. you get dropped off in little tourist trap towns with usually just a few hours to do something and given the ruggedness and desolation, it's not that easy to get around once you're off the ship unless you have booked an excursion with some onshore tour place. if you want to get the most out of your time onshore, you are probably best off signing up for excursions ahead of time, but even so, when you're trying to visit a big place in a short amount of time, you're just not going to be able to see it all. we mostly flew by the seat of our pants and the hikes and bike rides we went on were generally whatever was easily accessible from town and ended up not being that much unlike what you could do anywhere in the pacific northwest. however, cruising into the tracy arm fjord amongst icebergs and jagged mountains or leaving skagway and seeing beautiful mountain ranges in every direction, more than make up for any medocrity in other aspects of the cruise (much of the "medocrity" can be attributed to the fact that alaska is just far away and it takes a long time to get there by boat). if the pacific ocean were really just a bathtub occupied by some giant little kid and to him our cruise ship was just some little toy ship and he could have picked us up and plopped us down near skagway, that would have been cool. i mean, can you imagine a bathtub that big?

leaving seattle.

everyone.

at sea.

» ketchikan
it rains a lot in ketchikan and it rained while we were there. we went on a 20 mile bike ride along the coast and got soaked to the bone, fortunately it was not cold.

misty mountains.

at port.

the bay, the town, the docks, and creek street.

despite the rain, we rented some bikes in town and rode along the shore. along the way we came across a creek with a bunch of salmon flopping up it.

the first waterfall we came across.

the second, much larger, waterfall we found.

there was a steep trail along the falls through the lush enveloping forest that led up to another waterfall.

» tracy arm
tracy arm is a narrow fjord where granite peaks rise sharply from the water, covered in greenery and cascading waterfalls fed from the melting snow above. glaciers calve icebergs which drift about aimlessly and provide a resting spot for seals. it was at this point of the cruise that alaska showed it was unlike any place i had ever been.

drifting blue ice.

the steep granite walls of tracy arm.

meandering waterfall.

blue iceberg.

it was very windy on the deck.

sawyer glacier. the picture on the left is the best one i got because we didn't get that close and it was early morning. on the right is a picture of sawyer glacier from the internet.

chilling on the parents balcony, a waterfall, icebergs, and our sister ship.

since the picture taking conditions were not good (early morning, harsh light) when we were there, here are some pictures of tracy arm that i found on the internet.

and here are some better pictures of the sawyer glacier.

leaving tracy arm.

» juneau
juneau, the capital of alaska, is a fair sized city that is pretty well cut off from the rest of the world by mountains. try to take the freeway out of town and you will just end up at a dead end. nearby juneau is a large and easily accessible glacier (mendenhall).

from tracy arm to juneau.

juneau sits at the base of a large mountain.

mendenhall glacier, where icebergs are born.

green peak near the glacier.

here we are, standing in front of the glacier.

on the trail near mendenhall glacier, probably the greenest place i have ever been.

on the trail and the very large mendenhall falls.

glacier from above.

» skagway
there's gold in them thar hills.

a dried up river bed, falls, and a pool.

salmon swimming up stream.

pulling out from skagway.

jagged peaks.

there were many interesting mountains all around.

detail.

mountains still surround us as the sun sets.

» white pass

valley.

3 giants.

snowy peaks.

shrubs.

a large chunk of rock.

» victoria

victoria.