Sitka

We’ve been to Sitka once but it was 6 years ago, so we looked forward to visiting this interesting little town again. It was settled by Russians and still has a strong Russian influence. The ‘centerpiece’ landmark of the town is the Russian Orthodox church. We arrived at Sitka at 8:00 am. The last time we were here, we had to tender from the ship but now the cruise ships are able to dock. In some ways that is very nice, but it was quite a hike up a hill to get to the area where the shuttle buses were to take us into town. That was fine for us, but I imagine it would be difficult if not impossible for some passengers using wheelchairs, walkers, canes or having any ambulation limitations. 

We got into town shortly after 10 and grabbed a shuttle to take us to the Fortress of the Bears. This was really the only ‘excursion’ we had in mind for the day. We soon were on the school bus that took us to the Fortress. It was much smaller than we expected and at first we were a bit disappointed in the facility. It looked like the bears had been put in a less than optimal environment. 

However, as we spent time there, we soon saw that good use had been made of what used to be water holding tanks for the nearby pulp mill. The refuge had made it as natural as possible with fresh circulating water, trees, bushes, etc. Each day, the 8 resident bears are allowed to ‘choose’ which of the three holding areas in which they want to spend the day. There are 5  brown bears and 3 black bears. All of the bears were rescued as orphan cubs for various reasons. They are fed a natural diet of foods they would normally eat in each season including live fish stocked in the ponds within the tanks. 

By the end of our visit there, we were impressed with what had been done for these bears that would otherwise have died. They would have never been able to survive in the wild and are well-taken cared for and loved. 

"The Bear Necessities"

After spending an hour at the Fortress of the Bears, we went back into town. We knew that we wanted to try to find a Russian Santa and after searching a few shops, we found the perfect one. We got a really good discount on a Santa that we both really liked at the Grandfather Frost Russian Christmas Store. As you can imagine, I was in heaven. The most beautiful Santa there was priced at $2000, marked down from $4000! Yikes!! A little rich for our blood, but oh so beautiful. These Santas are hand carved and hand painted. Mine in particular is carved and painted by a married couple—-he carves, she paints. 

In the next shop we found some beautiful, warm blankets. Brian bought one for himself (and for Ellie—let’s be honest) and got a nice carved native mask wall hanging. Sitka loved our money!!

Shopping done, we headed back to the ship, happy with our day in Sitka. We hope it’s not another 6 years before we return. 

Evening was dinner in the main dining room where we had a nice time visiting with a couple from New Jersey. Most nights, we have just been at a table for two so this was a nice change. After dinner, you guessed it, cabin time.

Tomorrow—-our last sea day!

Hubbard Glacier---aka Sea Day With a View

 We knew that today would pretty much be like a sea day, scheduled to reach Hubbard Glacier around 3 in the afternoon. I wasn’t feeling all that great, so after breakfast I headed straight back to bed and slept for another two hours.

We had a little lunch on the Lido deck then headed out to see the sights on the 12th floor outdoors deck. We’ve been especially lucky weather-wise and today was no exception. By the time we started seeing the glacier, the skies were clearing and it was a nice temperature. The captain slowly eased us as close to the glacier as he legally can and gave us a nice view for almost an hour, then slowly turned the ship do all sides could see. We went back to our private veranda when the ship was nearing port side to the glacier and had a spectacular view. I had forgotten the attachment piece to my camera’s tripod, so we did our best to take a ‘selfie’ from the veranda of us in front of the glacier. It turned out okay for amateurs!!

The rest of the afternoon was spent cruising toward Victoria, our final port on this cruise. We’ve had a marvelous time on this cruise but are getting anxious to get home. We miss our family and our new puppies!

In the evening after dinner we went to the ship’s theater and watched ‘Race’  a very good movie about Jesse Owens. Then back to the cabin where we stayed up quite late watching videos, reading, editing pictures.  

Tomorrow—Sitka.

Kodiak

Another new port for us. We docked in Kodiak early morning, 7:00. We had no specific plans, so we took our time and didn’t leave the ship until about 10:00. The shuttle from the ship dropped us off in front of a little museum, so we decided to take a look at it. 

Built around 1810, the building is the oldest of four surviving buildings constructed by the Russians when Alaska was a Russian territory. Kodiak was the first permanent Russian settlement in North America, and served as its territorial capital until 1808. This building as a storage facility (or "magazine") by the Russian American Company. When Alaska came under American control, the building was purchased by the Alaska Commercial Company, which continued the business operations previously engaged in by the Russians. In 1911 the building was sold to W. J. Erskine, who used the building as a private residence, constructing a new stone foundation for the building and enclosing its porch. He sold it in 1948 to a company which rented it out. After the 1964 Alaska earthquake and tsunami damaged the city, the building was acquired by a government redevelopment authority. Ownership was eventually transferred to the city, which leased it in 1967 to the Kodiak Historical Society. The building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1962, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.

It was small, but an interesting little museum. We looked around, bought a few postcards and a Christmas ornament. Then, we moved across the street to the Kodiak Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center. This also was a small attraction, but we found it to be very interesting. There was a lot of information about the area’s wildlife including birds, salmon, and of course the Kodiak Brown Bear. ‘Kodiak Refuge’ is comprised of many little islands, the main island being Kodiak Island. The town of Kodiak is the largest town on these islands (which isn’t saying much!). There are 3500 square miles of land and 3500 Kodiak brown bear inhabiting these islands. The Kodiak bear lives no where other than Kodiak. They are the largest species of brown bear, often as big as grizzly in size. 

From the visitor center, we wandered the town a little bit. It’s pretty small and there really isn’t a lot to be seen. Most activities of the town revolve around fishing, hunting, hiking, camping, kayaking, etc. 

Back to the ship by noon, we had a quick lunch at the Dive-In, a little place on the ship that makes the yummiest hamburgers and hot dogs. We enjoyed some time on the Lido deck, then headed off for our afternoon naps. LOL We are going to miss this when we get home!

Tomorrow—cruising Hubbard Glacier (basically a sea day—-Yay!!)

Hooked on Homer

We arrived and docked in Homer at 10 am which meant for a nice, relaxed breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill. After eating, we gathered our belongings and headed to the end of the pier where we were to meet for our scheduled tour. This was one of only two ship’s tours that I purchased, Best of the Bay. We were soon on our boat, The Discovery, and on our way. 

Brian and I sat on the upper deck where there were probably only 15 people. Not crowded at all and we had easy access to the sides and front of the boat for viewing sights along the way. It was an absolutely gorgeous day in Homer, sunny, but a little cool. As we boated out of the harbor, we passed our cruise ship which made for some nice pictures. 

Across the water, our first viewing area was Gull Island, aptly named for hundreds of sea gulls as well as other species of sea birds. My main interest for the day was to see puffins, which we did right away. There weren’t a lot of them, but we did see 4-5 in the waters. Cute little birds. There were also Common Murres, interesting birds themselves. The Murres “lined up” on the sea. As our boat motored around the island, if we came near to them they just casually dived underwater, not seeming to be frightened or bothered by us at all.

                                                 Gull Island...Sea gulls, Common Murres

                                                              Tufted Puffin

                                     

                                     

                                     

                                                                    Common Murre

After viewing these birds on the island, we headed off for more sights. Soon, we spotted a whale spout off in the distance. We were able to get a little closer, just in time for the whale to surface and then dive, giving us some nice shots of the tail flip that every photographer wants to capture. We also came across several sea otters as we boated around the bay. So cute!

                                                                 Sea Otter

As we traveled around the bay, we did see two different whales dive, several sea otters, eagles, and three Black Oyster Catchers. Even without all the wildlife that we saw, the scenery would have been enough. It was breathtakingly beautiful in every direction. A stunning day of nature. 

When we returned, we took a nice long walk around the harbor and to the end of Homer Spit. Truly a beautiful little town, surrounded by mountains and the sea. We stopped at a restaurant and had lunch out on the patio, enjoying the view of the harbor, mountains, and sea. Lunch over, we made our way back to where a shuttle picked us up and took us back to our ship. Tired, but very satisfied with this beautiful day, we took a nice late afternoon nap, leaving Homer at 5:30. This was a new port for us and we would love to come back some day.

                                                    

                                                                      Halibut

Dinner this evening was Le Cirque in the Pinnacle Grill. For this one night of the cruise, they change the menu and decorations to replicate the popular New York restaurant, Le Cirque. It was delicious. I had lobster salad as a starter, chilean sea bass for my main entree, and creme brûlée for dessert. Brian had a caesar salad chateaubriand for his main course and a chocolate souffle. Scrumptious!!

We took in the entertainment at the showroom which was a juggler/comedian. Mildly entertaining. We haven’t been very impressed with the shows, therefore most evenings we just go back to our cabin and watch videos or read. We’re boring! 

Kellie's Anchorage

What a lovely day we had in Anchorage, thanks to Kellie, the daughter of some of our best friends in the world. She and her husband lived in Anchorage for a while and she gave me some great tips on where to go, what to do on our day in Anchorage. We pretty much made her tips our check-off list and it worked out really well.

We had made reservations for a rental car. We took a taxi to the rental place and soon had our little Subaru, ugly-color SUV. Our first stop—Fred Meyer. No, that wasn’t on Kellie’s list. Yes, we are still seeking to solve the Black Slacks Saga!!  Thanks to GPS we found a Freddies and it took about a second to get the security device removed from the slacks. All that bother for an almost instant solution. LOL Oh, the agony of this first-world problem!!

Okay, on to Kellie’s list. We headed out to Woronzof Point Park, near the airport.  Here, we just made a very quick stop, took a couple of pictures of Cook Inlet and then headed off. I’m sure we could have spent hours there, hiking and looking at the surroundings, but we wanted to move on.

Our next destination was Potter Marsh. We had no idea what to expect, but when we got there we were very pleased. It was “accidentally” created when they were putting in the railroad in that area. The marsh has become home to many birds and animals including moose, bears, wolves, eagles, etc. We didn’t see much wildlife, just a few birds including an eagle. However, we really enjoyed walking the boardwalk and taking in the beauty around us. 

After out time at Potter Marsh, we got back on the Seward Highway (Alaska Highway #1) and continues along the shore of Turnagain Arm. The scenery all along this highway was more and more beautiful at every turn. We made a few stops at viewpoints, including Beluga Point. If I lived here, I would want to go on long drives every day. I can’t begin to describe the majesty of these mountains rising so abruptly out of the sea. We even saw two glaciers along the way as a bonus. 

Our final stop on Seward Highway was the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. I love these places. The setting is always so simple, natural. The animals are rescued for various reasons and can’t return to the wild because they wouldn’t have the skills to survive. For instance, the bull moose (Hank) was rescued as a young calf with a broken leg. The large brown bear was found as a cub abandoned by his mother because he had gotten porcupine quills in his feet and couldn’t walk—dehydrated, malnourished, he was nursed back to health but would never survive on his own. An eagle found had a wing amputated because it had been shot. Anyway, I am always happy to support these refuges. We had a great time at this refuge, walked the full loop seeing many beautiful animals. This was a great experience. 

At first I had been a bit nervous about this day. I hate to waste time trying to decide what to do, trying to find places, but this day went like clockwork and we thoroughly enjoyed the nice drive, no time limits, nobody’s schedule but our own. 

Both of us quite hungry now, we checked off one more stop on Kellie’s list—-The Moose ’s Tooth Pub and Pizzeria. She had claimed it was the best pizza she had ever eaten in her life. Sounds good!! We found the restaurant, parked and found that it was apparently a VERY popular place. It was PACKED, crazy busy for a Monday afternoon. It only took about 20 minutes, though, and we were seated. I ordered a small “Santa’s Helper” pizza (fitting, right?). Brian, not really feeling the desire for pizza, ordered a big bowl of beef barley soup (which was SO yummy!). The pizza was good!!The crust was perfect, the topping a great mix of pepperoni, chicken, bacon, and steak strips with red peppers, olives, and some green vegetable. Red and green—Christmasy!! Heh.

We dropped off our car, took a shuttle to downtown to catch another shuttle back to the ship. A very happy, satisfying day in Anchorage. 

We got back to the ship just in time for a showing of the movie “The Jungle Book” in the big showroom. A really enjoyable way to end the day. 

Thanks again, Kellie. You helped make our day in Anchorage just perfect!!