Gallivanting Grandma

Thursday August 29, 2019

Today is the last day of our 7-Day cruise aboard the Celebrity Millennium. We traveled south along the Inside Passage from Seward, Alaska, stopping in several ports. Tomorrow morning we’ll arrive in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It’s been an active and fun cruise.

This morning, we scheduled to take a “Behind the Scenes” tour to see the workings of the ship. First, our guide took us up to “The Bridge” located on an upper deck in the bow of the ship. This is where navigation and steering of the behemoth takes place. There is no huge wooden wheel however there are many monitors and a relatively small “joy stick.” There were just two people “driving” the ship! One officer was watching the “Auto Pilot” which was actually doing all the work. Another officer was looking out of the front windows to see where where the ship was going. Amazing!!!

The navigation area was behind the steering section. There were just two officers; one man looking at monitors and the other making coffee:

Next we went to the “Control Room” which is where all the systems on the ship are managed. Everything is monitored and controlled from here: engines, generators, electrical systems, plumbing, alarms, air-conditioning, desalination, waste removal, security, communication, etc. etc.  It’s a large room full of monitors and one man watching them:

The next area we visited was the huge stainless steel kitchen for the main dining rooms:

Then we descended several flights of stairs to the Laundry Room. Two men were feeding sheets into a machine which dried and folded them in minutes:

Our tour was extensive and fun. It took two and a half hours to run around and up & down to see everything. We worked up an appetite and went to the Oceanview for a tasty lunch. The dessert offerings were too pretty to eat:

We returned to our cabin to pack and watch the scenery from our balcony. The weather was gorgeous: sunny, cool, crisp, and clear. At one point we saw splashing in the water. First a spout, then the dark moving curve of a dorsal fin, and finally a large tail. It was a pod of whales stirring up the calm bay!

Later, we went out to the aft deck to watch the sun set. It was a spectacular ending to an amazing Alaskan adventure.

Wednesday August 28, 2019

the ship arrived in Ketchikan early this morning. It was a bright sunny day and 51 degrees. We were fortunate to have a beautiful dry day because the naturalist on the ship had said that rainfall in Ketchikan “was not measured in inches, but in feet.” The city gets an average of 13 FEET of rain each year. There are only 60 days of sunshine per year. We were VERY lucky!!!

We watched from the balcony as the Celebrity Millennium slowly cruised past several other ships and docked in front of the Holland America’s Amsterdam. It simply amazing how the crew can “park” these behemoths like valets in a parking lot!

Ketchikan looked like another small Alaskan village, sandwiched between the sea and the mountains, developed for tourists and supported by cruise ships. Ketchikan has the world’s largest collection of totem poles in the world. Our plan for the day was to visit Totem Bight State Park and the adjacent Potlatch Park which are located 30 minutes outside Ketchikan. We learned we could take a public bus to the parks, so we set out to find the bus stop.  On the way, we stopped at Creek Street which was full of tourists.

The Creek Street Historic District was the “Red Light District” during Gold Rush days and it is still a major tourist destination. Today the buildings are occupied by shops, restaurants, and cafes.

Ketchikan Creek is a salmon spawning area and looking down into the water, we say hundreds of salmon swimming up stream.

All of a sudden, the salmon dispersed and jumped out of the water in a flurry of excitement! Behind them was a harbor seal hunting for his breakfast!! There were two harbor seals in the creek looking for food.

Jeff and I boarded the 10:25 public bus to ride ten miles out of town. The bus filled up with cruise ship passengers and local moms with young children, teenagers, and grizzly old men. A local woman, who began a conversation with me, said she was happy to have cruise ships in port because it gave her employment in a local fish processing plant and she could earn $8,000 this summer. The factory closes in the winter and she has to find other employment. The bus pulled up to a Walmart store and the woman wished me well and got off.

Jeff and I left the bus at Totem Bight State Historical Park. The park was established on the former site of a traditional Native campground and contains a collection of 15 totem poles and a replica of a traditional chieftain’s house. Skilled carvers were hired to repair or duplicate the totem poles. The park was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.

The wood-frame house had a low oval entrance which led into a single room decorated with carved “house posts.” There was a central fire pit to heat the house.

Adjacent to the state park is Potlatch Totem Park, a privately owned facility built on ancient Tlingit fishing grounds. The park features a large clan house flanked by four smaller clan houses, designed to show how local tribes lived through the 1800s.

We had paid $5 each to enter Bight State Park but there was no admission fee for Potlatch Park. When I asked a worker, she said that Potlatch runs a gift shop which pays all expenses to maintain Potlatch. Potlatch Park had exhibits of antique guns, old cars, and also a totem restoration building.

We returned back to Ketchikan early enough to explore the Creek Street area and see salmon jumping up the rapids on Ketchikan creek.

We hurried back to the Celebrity Millennium late in the afternoon. The shops in Ketchikan were closing as cruise passengers returned to their ships and the huge ships were leaving the port. Four ships had been in Ketchikan today bringing about 10,000 tourists to the Alaskan village, perhaps doubling the population of Ketchikan. Amazing……

Tuesday August 27, 2019

Icy Strait Point is a privately owned cruise ship destination outside the small village of Hoonah, Alaska. The Huna Totem Corporation, a group of about 1400 Alaskan Natives, purchased the property in 1996. The site was developed and opened to cruise ships in 2004.

A 1930s cannery was restored and converted into a museum, restaurant, and shops. I read that the cruise ship business accounted for more than half the local economy.

The main town of Hoonah is a short bus ride away from the tourist area. It’s mostly a Tlingit community of  about 800 people. “Hoonah” is the adopted spelling of Xunaa which means “protected from the North wind” in the Tlingit language.

We walked around town and took photos. There were several very interesting totem poles, especially those at the Hoonah Indian Association tribal office:

Where else can you visit the”coolest rope shop in Alaska” and have a free IQ test?!

On our way out of Hoonah, we spotted a bald eagle high in a tree in the center of a residential neighborhood:

Fishing and tourism are the main sources of income for the locals.

We returned to the ship and watched as it left the dock. Another large cruise ship was behind us and moved in to visit Icy Strait Point. We relaxed aboard the Millennium and watched the scenery of Alaska as the ship cruised southbound along the beautiful Inland Passage.

Monday August 26, 2019

The Celebrity Millennium arrived in the tiny town of Skagway, Alaska early in the morning. In the local Tlingit language, skagway literally means ‘beautiful woman’ and refers to the myth of a woman who transformed herself into a rock that blows strong winds into the bay and causes rough seas in the area. Luckily for us, she was quiet today.

Gold was discovered in the Klondike region of Canada’s Yukon Territory in 1896 and Skagway became the gateway for thousands of prospectors who arrived by ship. They climbed the mountains through White Pass and onward into Canada. By 1898, the population of Skagway grew to almost 10,000 people, making it the biggest city in Alaska at that time.

Today, Skagway is a tourist town fueled by an endless supply of cruise ship tourists from April through October. A local tour guide told us there are only about 500 year-round residents who brave the frigid winters.

In 1898, the White Pass and Yukon Route narrow gauge railroad was put into operation to transport prospectors more easily across the mountains. Unfortunately, the stream of gold seekers began to diminish by the time the railroad was completed and by 1900 the “Gold Rush” was nearly over. However, we were not deterred from taking an excursion on the restored railroad up nearly 3,000 feet to White Pass Summit on a train pulled by a genuine vintage steam engine.

There was a tour guide aboard who provided running commentary throughout the journey. He explained the history of the region and the hardships of the prospectors and railroad construction workers. He also pointed out significant landmarks, natural sights, and wildlife. We also had a lovely young “train guide” in our car named Raven who passed out snacks and drinks. Our wooden passenger car was built in 1909. The seats were comfortable and we were able to go out between cars to take pictures.

At one point, the train stopped and one of the conductors climbed down onto the tracks. She walked to a switching signal box and manually moved the tracks to divert an on-coming diesel tourist train. It was fun to watch:

It was a 3.5 hour – 40 mile – round-trip ride up to the Summit of White Pass: elevation 2,885 feet. The skies cleared as we climbed over the mountains above the tree line and we were treated to spectacular views.

The international border is marked by a replica of the log border station used by the North West Mounted Police during the gold rush. Out front are flags of the United States, Alaska, British Columbia, the Yukon Territory, and Canada.

We returned to Skagway in plenty of time to explore the town. It’s all about shopping, shopping, shopping……

Along the steep rock face of the hill next to where our ship was docked there was interesting graffiti. Someone told us that when the captain of one of the ships is making his last cruise before retiring, crew members enlist a dock crane to write the captain’s name and ship on the rocks. This was just one small part of the wall:

We hurried to return to the ship before “Sail Away” to relax and enjoy a pleasant dinner as the sun set over the mountains.

Sunday August 25, 2019

The ship slowly moved through the beautiful mountainous Gastineau Channel and arrived in Juneau early in the morning. It was another overcast day with clouds hanging between the cliffs. We took a shuttle bus to the cablecar to go up 3800 feet to see the spectacular view from Mt. Roberts.

Juneau, the capital of Alaska, is unique because there are no roads connecting the city with the mainland due to the rugged mountains surrounding the city. The city hugs the coast at the base of the mountains and all people and goods must arrive and depart by ship or air.

The only things at the top end of the cablecar, besides the views, are a gift shop, restaurant, and a small “nature center.” For us, the best part of the climb was watching a young indigenous carver work on a totem pole.

Juneau is located within the Tongass National Forest which is 16 million acres of “one of the last remaining intact temperate rainforests in the world,” according to the Alaska Wilderness League. The region is the ancestral home of the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian peoples.

We rode the cablecar back down to the city and walked to the Alaska State Museum.

It was raining when we left the museum so we walked back along the shore toward the ship. The weather reminded me of the popular description of British weather: “If you don’t like the weather, wait a few minutes. It’ll change….” And it did!

When we reached Tracy’s King Crab Shack, we saw long lines waiting to get into the restaurant. On the street next to the crowds of people there were huge pots of boiling water filled with crabs!

We returned to the ship filled with memories of Juneau.