August 23, 2016
Last week as we sailed into the Tracey Arm Fjord, we were all up by 5 and on Deck 11 to watch our entrance into an icy stretch of water, topped by the Tracey Arm Glacier. It was beautiful. Waterfalls streaming down mountains that alternated with patches of bare rock and sparse green vegetation. Huge blue chunks of ice floated past – none big enough to do us any damage, and they were floating out of the Fjord faster than we were steaming in. Finally, there it was – a wall of ice 20-30 feet deep, a quarter of a mile across, flowing timelessly down the mountain and dropping into the Fjord! It was incredibly beautiful. I got coffee and continued to watch.
We all moved to Deck 12 for better views and stood there as the captain stopped short of the glacier and then turned the Explorer of the Seas in a slow, tight circle. Ninety minutes later, we drifted back out of the Fjord on our way to Victoria. That night at the show, Cruise Director Ken announced that we had been in front of Dawes Glacier, not TAF because there was too much ice in the passage to the original destination.
Well this morning, Bonnie got up at 5 o’clock, dressed in the dark and went up to watch our passage into the Fjord from the Starboard side of the ship. Last week she had camped out on the Port side and wanted different views. I got up at 7, just as she was coming back in the stateroom to warm up, and we went back out together. Words are inadequate descriptors for what we saw. But as the Captain moved us in close and began a slow revolution to port, we recognized our old friend, the Dawes Glacier. There were two curving black streaks that ran up across it that looked – as Kyle put it last week – like someone had been driving a four-wheeler up the glacier (they had not, of course, but it is the dusty erosion from the sides of the mountain which form the valley in which the glacier rests).
Bonnie and I watched for a time, and then went back into the Windjammer and had breakfast. Sometime later the Captain came on and confirmed what we already knew (we 2 and 4 others who were doing back-to-back) that we were at the Dawes glacier. And then he announced that no ships had gone into the Tracey Arm Fjord this season because there was too much calving ice, and this morning as he passed the entrance it was much too foggy to enter even had the way been clear. And he said, we could not have gotten as close to the Tracey as we did to the Dawes. So, good job, Captain! And thanks for the spectacular look around!
Speaking of spectacular, I will let Bonnie regale you with our bus and train ride from Skagway into the Yukon yesterday. Again, words pale to the beauty we saw.
And Here We Go!
Today we did not have to arise so early. We didn’t have to be on the dock for our bus till 10. We had breakfast and David wanted to return to the cabin but not me. I went down to Deck 4 and stood on the port side to watch people get off. He said he would come down about 9:30 but he actually arrived early (9:15 surprise). We were to meet a bus parked along the ship. Our ramp to the dock was off deck 4 at the front of the ship. We had backed into the port and a Royal Caribbean ship, Radiance of the Seas was to the aft of us. It has been following us around the passage. We could see the buses on the dock along side the Radiance. So (you know how antsy I am) we left the ship and headed that way at 9:30. It turned out that was where we needed to be so we sat down in a little bus type shed and waited. They asked do you have your passport of everyone, as your ticket told you that you had to have it. We were going to travel over into Canada. Well bus or I should say buses arrived. And we were told to line up on the yellow line single file as the bus would back up along that line. Yeah right. So we got in some sort of line and wound up about 2/3 the way back. Well, when we got to the head of the line they sent us to the second bus. So we got the front ( handicap) row seats. Great seats. Well, the first bus pulled off and got about 500 feet and stopped because we couldn’t go. Some “guest”had to go back and get his passport. Well, that person and his group were late everytime we stopped and we had to wait on them to go. The back of our bus had about 6 or 7 younger children who were quite loud and rowdy for the entire bus ride. Those people sitting in the back part of the bus were not happy and when we got ready to get on the train said they were not riding on the rail car with them. Fortunately our bus was assigned to two rail cars and they were able to escape them. At the end of the train ride when we got ready to board the bus to head home the aforementioned people jumped into the handicap seats before we could get on the bus. Very rude people.
Well, more pleasant talk. The ride up the Yukon highway to the Canadian border and the entrance to the Yukon was stupendous!! The mountains, rivers, lakes, glaciers, waterfalls, etc were unbelievable. Our young guide and driver was from a milk farming ranch in Utah. He had recently graduated from college with a degree in Spanish and linguistics. He was headed in the fall to airline pilot school to learn to fly the jets. He was very knowledgeable. He had read and studied and could tell us a lot. David enjoyed talking to him because he had read some of the same books David had read to do his talks.
There are just no words to describe what we saw. We stopped at the border to have our passports checked and stopped at the entrance to the Yukon to turn around and head back to lunch at the suspension bridge we had passed early. Our stop was about and hour. Bison chili and a large home made roll and tea, juice, (both were horrible) water or coffee was our lunch. After consuming most of my chili (made of meat, beans, peppers, onions, carrots, corn), I purchased a bag of “Dutch” brand chips and 2 candy bars called Wondabars for $6. Our bus driver recommended the candy bars. The chips were fantastic (they satisfied my salty need) and the candy was also tasty.
After again being delayed by our wayward fellow travelers, we finally headed back down the hill to Bruster to board the train for the last stretch of our trip. The ride was cool. Tall tressles, inky black tunnels, interesting narrative and outstanding sencenery. WOW! The bus ride I feel was better because there weren’t long stretches where our view was blocked by the trees along the railroad. All in all it was a neat ride.
We returned to the station and Luke met us with the bus for a short ride back to the ship.
Luke had pointed out one of two grocery stores in Skagway (we went to the IGA last week). This one is the “Tomato Store.” Luke said, “You say ‘tomato,’ we say – and paused for us to make the appropriate response – and then continued, we say ‘expensive.’
We came back on board and headed to supper, where we both enjoyed little angus beef sliders, then went to the show with the London comedy magician from last week. I wondered how performers can tell the same jokes and say the exact same things show after show and not get bored with themselves. Nevertheless, the show was very good. Then we were off to bed.
