Summary of Trip to Idaho & Alaska - August 2012

Just a final word (or two) on our trip this summer of 2012 to Idaho and Alaska with a few other states thrown in (Montana, Washington and Oregon). 

Trip highlights would be:

Stanley, Idaho, and the Sawtooth Mountain range

The Lewis & Clark Highway (US 12) from Lolo, Montana, to Kooskia, Idaho

Coeur d’Alene and Lake Coeur d’Alene in Idaho

The Italia Trattoria restaurant in Spokane, Washington

The fertile Wenatchee Valley and Yakima Valley in Washington

The pretty town of Walla Walla, Washington

The Hamley Steakhouse in Pendleton, Oregon

The Oregon Trail Interpretive Center near Baker City, Oregon

Eating freshly caught salmon and halibut and salmon and halibut and……….

The many beers we sampled from small, local micro breweries

Denali National Park and getting to see Mt. McKinley on a clear, sunny day

Spotting wildlife (grizzly bears, moose, caribou, and Dahl sheep) in Denali NP

Alaskan sourdough pancakes

Crossing the Arctic Circle in Alaska

Chinooks seafood restaurant in Seward, Alaska

Kenai Fjords National Park with sea otters, humpback whales and orca whales

The many glaciers of Alaska but mainly Holgate and Hubbard glaciers that we saw

The Royal Caribbean seven day cruise

The views of Juneau from the top of Mount Roberts

The well preserved historic town of Skagway, Alaska

Tracing the gold trail from Skagway into Yukon Territory, Canada

The many whales sighted up close at Icy Strait Point near Hoonah, Alaska

Creek Street in Ketchikan, Alaska

Vancouver, Canada, and especially the Capilano Suspension Bridge

Some things I learned:

Alaska is beautiful – in summer.  I don’t think I could stay one long, dark, cold winter there.

There’s little difference between a caribou and a reindeer.  Some say reindeer are domesticated caribou.  I’m guessing the rein in reindeer mean they are trained to respond to reins.

There are many places along the Oregon Trail where one can view the original wagon ruts.

Prices are still high at the Pendleton Woolen Mills outlet/retail store.

There’s not much to see at the Grand Coulee Dam.

Vancouver must be one of the world’s most livable cities.

The one dollar coin in Canada is called a “loonie” and the two dollar coin a “toonie”.

Before their trip to the moon, NASA astronauts did some preparation for their mission at the Craters of the Moon National Park.

In Alaska people can purchase and carry rifles, shotguns, handguns or big knives without a permit.  We saw several with knives.

Jack London was one of the hopeful gold miners who crossed the White Pass into Yukon Territory.

The native Tlingits thought William H. Seward was stingy (he didn’t throw them a party after they threw one for him) and defamed him in a totem pole.  They painted his ears and nose red which indicates stinginess.  

And I’m sure a lot more that I can’t remember right now.

Things we didn’t see that I wished we did:

Wolves in Denali National Park

Beluga whales in Captain Cook Inlet

The northern lights (Aurora Borealis)

Inside Passage and Vancouver, BC - 2012

We departed Ketchikan Wednesday night, August 29 and set our clocks ahead one hour thereby losing an hour.  Thursday was a day of rest at sea with no scheduled stops.  After breakfast, Jeanne, who had been taking care of our dining needs, gave us, and a small group, a tour of the kitchens on the 4^th and 5^th floors – the Cascades Dining room where three-course dinners are served by a head waiter and assistant waiter.  This is where we ate most of our dinners and occasionally breakfast.  It was a great tour and we were pleasantly surprised how clean the kitchens were.  It was a relaxing day.

As scheduled we arrived at the opening of the Canadian (British Columbia) portion of the Inside Passage about 4:00 pm.  I went to the bow and saw two humpback whales and three seals in about an hour.  At 5:00 pm Rita and I attended an interesting talk given by a husband and wife of the Royal Canadian Police.  The talk and slides was mostly about the history of the Yukon and the role of the Mounties as gold was discovered there.

At 7:00 pm we went to our last dinner in the Cascades dining room and just as we sat down at a window table the curtain was raised and we were treated to the antics of three orca whales just off the starboard side where we were seated.  About 15 minutes later we saw more orcas and yet again a third time as they entertained us throughout dinner.  Finally we returned to our cabins and re-packed our suitcases for tomorrow’s departure.

I woke at 6:30 am Friday morning and looked out our port hole to see that the captain was exactly on schedule as he said we would be sailing under the Lions Gate Bridge then and we were.  The ship docked in Vancouver at 7:00 am and we had breakfast before getting our hand luggage and assembling in the Colony Club.  We opted to depart at 9:30 am and all went on time.  Canadian Customs was brief and friendly and we found our big suitcases quickly and were out to the taxi stand in no time. 

We arrived at the Sunset Inn & Suites hotel about 10:00 am and were happy to find our room was available to us.  We had stayed here last year and find the hotel friendly and nicely located.  We unpacked then, while I downloaded several days of photos, Rita took a short nap.  Around noon we found an ATM for Canadian money then walked to the Aquatic Center for a boat taxi to Granville Island.  The open markets on Granville Island impressed us last year and did so this year as well.  We had lunch on an outside deck and walked around the many shops.  Rita even found a quilt shop! 

For dinner we visited a restaurant we enjoyed last year on English Bay Beach.  The Boathouse restaurant has excellent seafood and I had a trio of fresh halibut, salmon, and ling cod baked on a cedar plank, their signature dish.  We had scenic views of the beach and setting sun.  With the meal we had a bottle of British Columbia Sandhill sauvignon blanc which I have to try to find here in Austin.  We also had two large desserts which our friendly waitress said were made in-house – they were decadent.  Finally espresso to top off a great meal.  We walked back to our hotel down lively Davie Street.

Saturday I decided that the hop on – hop off sightseeing bus would be ideal for us as Rita was not up to a lot of walking.  We did a lot of walking in Vancouver last year, much of it in the rain.  Today was bright, clear and sunny with a maximum temperature of 72.  Besides that the sightseeing bus stopped just a half-block from the hotel.  I purchased an additional side trip to see the Capilano Suspension Bridge.  So we boarded the bus about 9:30 am and did a loop through Vancouver, seeing much we had seen before – Granville Island, Library Square, Royal Drill Barracks, Chinatown, Gastown (with statue of Gassy Jack), and hopped off at the steam clock in Gastown.  At nearby Canada Place, where our cruise ship docked yesterday, we boarded another bus that took us across the Lions Gate Bridge to North Vancouver and the Capilano Suspension Bridge, Vancouver’s top attraction. 

The scary bridge is 450 feet of wobbling planks 230 feet high above the Capilano Canyon floor and river.  It sways, bounces, hops, and throws one off balance.  It is also fairly crowded with tourists.  We managed to cross and then took a nature trail among the tall trees on the other side.  But we had to re-cross the bridge once more to return.  It was fun.

We returned to Canada Place and walked to another brewery we enjoyed last year – the Steamworks Brewery on the edge of Gastown.  We split a good sandwich but each had our own tasty beers to drink.  After lunch we hopped back on another sightseeing bus to Stanley Park.  Unknown to us, we could (and did) depart on another bus that just goes around Stanley Park in about an hour.  Finally we re-boarded another sightseeing bus that took us down crowded Robson and Burrard Streets to our hotel.  It was a nice day of sightseeing beautiful Vancouver.  We walked to Thai Basil restaurant for a spicy Thai dinner before re-packing for the airlines.

Sunday we bid goodbye to Vancouver with an early departure.  We set our alarm clock for 4:00 am to get a taxi at 5:00 am to the airport.  Our flight left at 7:30 am and we had to check in two hours beforehand.  We cleared US Customs at the Vancouver airport and caught our flight to Denver.  We had a small lunch at the Denver airport then caught our next flight to Austin.  We arrived in Austin about 6:00 pm, stopped to have a Tex-Mex dinner and then shopped for groceries because the refrigerator was empty at home.  It was a great trip but we were happy to shower in our own bathroom and sleep in our own bed tonight.