Start off with the best picture of the trip. We were halfway down the Alaska inside passage in the equivalent of a zodiac. When we spotted a small pod of Orca, we followed them back into the bay our ship was anchored at. And luckily snapped a picture of mother and daughter about 50 feet in front of us with our ship in the background. Well the blind cameraman gets lucky finds a shot once in a while.

Anchorage

We flew into Anchorage via Seattle for a couple days to get use to the time zone. We stayed in the downtown tourist area at the Hilton. Nice high rise that survived the earthquake and you could see where the halves of the building separated a bit. Found a great locals pub the F Street Station for haddock cheeks the first night (make sure to sample from the big block of Tillamook cheese at the corner of the bar).

We took the trolley tour for a quick glimpse and summary of the town. While along the Turnagain Arm it was clear enough to see Mt McKinley (from Anchorage !!!). Also had a few beluga whales fishing for salmon, though they looked mostly like waves getting close to shore.

Later took a tour to the wildlife rehab center for a sampling of the wildlife around Alaska.

That tour included lunch at Alyeska ski area.

Train to Denali

Next was catch the train to Denali. Lots of scenery and views of Mt Mckinley but not much wildlife this leg of the trip. It is a full day trip to Denali which is a very small town. If I had to do it again it would have been better to just go to Talkeetna which is a bigger tourist hub for Denali.

While in Denali we did a Jeep tour, once again striking out of wildlife viewing (don't worry we made up for it later).

August is a great time to go, as early frost has cut down the bug population so we could ignore this warning sign.

Seward

Then onto the train again, this time continuing down to Seward. The plan in Seward was to take a glacier cruise, but that day the winds and waves were up and no one was venturing out of the sound. So we did get to see some sea otters, but no glaciers.

While in Seward we went to the wildlife center where Nancy made some new friends.

We also went kayaking on Bear Lake, we saw lots of salmon, an eagle, but missed a glimpse of a bear that our guide spotted.

Prince William Sound

Next up to Prince William Sound for another glacier cruise. A very murky day but we did see a lot of sea otters and sea lions. We did this trip without a car, and it was arranged by Canada by design (so mostly by train with one leg by shuttle).

The clouds lifted enough to see the glaciers.

On the last day in Anchorage we had some time to kill so we went to a dog sled training and competition area. We also got to visit the week old puppies.

Join us for a ride in the summer. The dogs were just lying about until we approached the sled and then it was LET'S GO...

While waiting in an airport lounge I noticed a line of black SUVs crossing the tarmac. Looking around it was Putin or his entourage landing for a summit with President Trump.

Inside Passage Sitka to Ketchikan

Next we flew down to Sitka to meet our small Alaskan Dream ship for an inside passage cruise. They run a number of these small ships for around 50 people, though we only had 26 on this voyage.

Sitka is a cute little town, which while it services large cruise lines, they dock quite away from the downtown. One coincidence we almost had was that we got onto the boat in Sitka and friends of ours from Timber Pines had just gotten off on the trip right before us. Only missed them by minutes.

While the cruise ships can get into some glacier sounds, some are too narrow. Here we share some space with the big guys.

Close to the glaciers seals take advantage of the small ice chunks breaking off for lounging. While there they are safe from their main predator the Orca.

Here we started to see a lot more land dwelling wild life

We stopped by many glaciers along the way and went up for a closer look.

Juneau

Generally we had good weather during the trip, but from Juneau on we had sunny days. In fact the weather service issued a heat warning for highs in the 70s! Definitely not Florida.

In Juneau we docked next to some larger ships.

A stop in Juneau always includes a visit to the Mendenhall Glacier, which for us was a clear bluebird day, a real rarity.

Wrangle

We had been seeing whales. seals, seal lions and otters along the way. But one spot we stopped for an hour surrounded by a dozen or more whales feeding around us.

Here is a bubble net from a whale herding small fish to swallow.

Humpbacks patrolling for food.

And showing their tail.

We stopped at Haida Gwaii, which is a small part of the original Haida tribe area. The Haida were known as the vikings of the Northwest, and their influence covered most of the Pacific Northwest with trading as far south as Peru. This is definitely off the normal tourist route and is only open to Alaska Dream cruises. Here is a traditional totem pole, totems originally carved by the Haida.

Ketchikan

Our last stop was Ketchikan. Ketchikan is overrun by cruise ship passengers with 4,5 or 6 docking any day during the season. Wow tourist overload, like Tahoe during the holidays. We did catch the lumberjack show (much like one we saw in Vancouver last year).

We did get away taking a jet boat trip up to the glaciers.

And got to see one calving.

return via Seattle

We did the tourist things in Seattle Pike Place Market, Space Needle with a Chihuly Garden and Glass Exhibit.

We also ate our way across Seattle, french bakery and coffee

and excellent Chinese food (dim sum)