Tourism Days Nine and Ten: A Great Honkin' Slab of Ice (and Some Rocks and Floaty Bits), then Ocean Again

I was up with the sun on Tuesday, 3 June 2014. In fact, I rose in time to turn off the alarm on my phone.

You'd never guess I was still excited about seeing a great honkin' slab of ice.

It's just that, well, we haven't had a glacier in my neighborhood since, literally, the last ice age. Tornadoes we get. Floods we get. Apparently solid blocks of ice which creep along and carry great honkin' rocks with them…not so much.

As always, click on any picture to embiggen…

As we approached our goal, the view from my cabin was impressive enough that I decided haste was in order.

Objects in lens are larger than they appear

I dressed for cool weather (sweatshirt and leggings – and, for a change, socks!) and hurried up topside, to deck ten, the upper observation deck, at the bow of the ship. My cane, my camera, and I took in the vista,

Dang, are we going to get rain all the time?
Must not be summer yet…

such as it was, initially.  But, as it had been yesterday, in Skagway, after only a short while, the rains ceased, the clouds lifted and began to break apart enough to see more clearly

what was around us.

 

Peering at the crowd peering at the glacier

Dawes Glacier is feeling well-protected from sunburn

Dawes Glacier, with the sun trying very hard to shine upon it

Turning counter-clockwise from Dawes Glacier, to our entry/exit passage

Fresh, intense glacial waters

I listened to a few of the other passengers discussing what it was we were looking at (I'd overheard at least four being introduced by their companions as geologists or geology professors at small colleges. Useful to have around, when looking at rocks). Plus, the public address system carried the ship's captain's voice to us, explaining things like the vivid blueness of the ice, the bright color of the water (both having to do with the ice being purified and condensed under great pressure for millennia). The striations on the mountainsides, I heard, were from glacial movement dragging great stones across, to scrape and scour).

Sure, it looks like just a chunk of ice, but (a) it's bigger than two double semi trailers, and
(b) it's a very pretty blue

We stayed to observe the great honkin' slab of ice for the better part of two hours, I think, with the ship doing a complete 360º turn so everybody got a great shot or two.

After the full doughnut, the ship pointed away from the glacier, tracking back out as slowly as we had entered, so as to keep the wake to a minimum. And, when you get right down to it, for a floating city, the wake we left was very small.

For more than an hour, the waters were glacial-water vivid

and laden with icebergs, all sizes

But eventually we got to a point where regular waters
overran the pretty aqua of the glacial supply

Still moving at just about 15-20 knots on our way out from the narrow channels of Tracy Arm Fjord,
the clouds came back over us for most of the day

Waters were still almost like glass
as the waterway widened toward the ocean

Out on the open seas by sunset, with clearing skies

Wednesday morning: somebody else's cruise ship is heading north, while we're heading back south.
This is what the weather looked like pretty much all day. 

Wednesday, after I returned from my breakfast, I found a note on my bed, along with the usual stack of papers – schedules, announcements, and coupons – a notice that, due to a lack of sufficient interest from the passengers on this cruise, my prepackaged excursion to the Empress Hotel for formal tea had been cancelled (I guess they couldn't muster a dozen people who were willing to spend $120 on a bus tour, a visit to Butchardt Gardens at peak springtime, plus a lovely cuppa, served in style, with a variety of tasty desserts).  I would be free to book a different excursion through the hospitality desk, if I wished, or I was also free to be fully reimbursed for that package, either in cash or ship's credit. I arranged for a simple all-you-want-to-ride bus pass, and took the difference in cash. I would, I told myself, go for a ride, and then spend my Thursday shopping in Victoria, by jingo!

Since there were no land excursions to be had on Wednesday while we were on the open ocean, the crew had arranged all manner of entertainment. I took advantage of very little of it. There were some sales on items from the ship's duty-free shops, and I did consider buying some snooty liquor to bring home, but, well, there was nobody at home I thought would appreciate what they had in stock. (I was also disappointed that they didn't have any ship postcards. Those would have been, for me, the coolest of the cool.)

Wednesday was also the Big Day for Making Memories…that is, for everybody who wanted pseudo-studio pictures of themselves to dress in their Sunday Best and head to deck five, where, all around the central atrium, crew members had set up photo "booths", with scrims, and drop scenes, witty banter to keep the smiles on film from looking too forced. I put on my One Dress (I had bought it for my class reunion last summer, and then hadn't worn it, so it was fresh and pretty and felt completely strange), and joined the gang for our photo opp. My friend had prepaid for a full package, and who was I to begrudge her this record?

After our photo session, we had reservations for dinner not at the usual place –
all other evenings, we'd supped at the main "restaurant", but tonight, we dined in style, and on the ship's tab, due to the tangle over our rooms and room cards, back on that first day. We had a table at the ship's steak house.

For those who are unfamiliar with cruise practices, there are several tiers of services available on board. Your generic ticket, while it isn't exactly steerage, does not get you into the health club, spa, or upscale dining establishments. You have to pay extra for those. In fact, other than your bed, head, and baseline meals (which are quite luxurious in their own right), almost everything else you might want to do on the ship will cost you extra on your account. For example, to drink anything other than that doubtable tap water – e.g., bottled water, sody pop, or juices – I paid about $20 per day for the prepackaged privilege of carrying around an insulated adult version of a sippy cup, into which the bartenders would pour ice and my beverage. If I wanted alcohol added to it, I could have paid double for the package, or bought single drinks – on my shipboard account – for about $8 per drink, on average.

So, when I say we dined at the steak house, I'm saying we got a bonus service, and we didn't pay for it, because there had been a spot of trouble my friend had raised a stink about, on day one. All five of us were offered a meal that evening at the premium dining room of our choice. My personal preference would have been the Chinese "restaurant", and I know my friend's niece was very interested in testing their sushi bar (she is a chef at a raw bar in New Orleans), and the boys…well, the boys would be happy to just have plates shoved in front of them, and there was an unlimited pasta Italian place. But my friend was not going to eat all those vegetables that they put in Chinese food, and no way would she even approach the door of a place serving raw fish, and she wasn't in the mood for Italian… so steak it was. I wasn't going to complain. I kind of like steak. I kind of liked it in the regular dining room. But what makes my friend happy….

The crew of our Carnival Cruise ship Rhapsody of the Seas was very interested in making sure everybody was as happy as they could make them, within reason.

And, when I say "within reason", I mean it. We all five got free meal upgrades, but the beverages served (no, we didn't drink Diet Coke™ with our T-bones) were not gratis. My friend's niece discovered that specialty waters were available, so, feeling a need to share, she ordered several bottles for the table. At an extra $8 per liter. Which, she declared, was a fair price. Call me a philistine, but, much as I appreciated that it had a lovely flavor (or lack thereof, as compared to many bottles and cups of aqueous solution), I'd have been fine with a Dasani™. Or maybe even tap water. Well, not really plain tap water. But a good glass of filtered tap, maybe. With a twist. As long as they're not drawing from my hometown well.

But we drank a liter apiece. That was an extra $40 for water.

The steak was worth it, though. And my chocolate-laden dessert…sublime. On the other hand, my friend's niece ordered a crème brûlée, but ended up with something more closely resembling a crème caramel…she was more impressed with the work of the dessert chefs at the regular dining room than in the premium space.

Still, it was a satisfying "freebie".

After dinner, a live show. Followed by the rest of the gang playing, drinking, and smoking in the casino, and my thinking about going to bed early, but actually slipping away to soak in the hot tub, because my knees still felt like they'd been stumbling down mile after mile of slopes. And, then, to sit and watch the waves go by.

With one companion.

Found loitering in my cabin, Wednesday after breakfast.
I let him hang around for the rest of the trip.

Tourism Day Eight: Skagway and the White Pass Rail

Monday, 2 June, 2014: a day I had been anticipating for months and months – ever since my seester had sent me enough money for my birthday to pay for a train trip. It was, in fact, the one thing she informed me I must not miss.

There had been two separate excursions available – at 9:30, and then again, at 11:45-ish. Knowing how likely it was that I'd be up late every night, I didn't think it wise to book the earlier trip, so I'd booked the lunchtime run up the hills. That gave me plenty of time, once I woke at an indecently early hour, to have a leisurely-paced and luxurious breakfast with a view of the train I would be taking,

My chariot awaits

followed by an easy fifteen-minute stroll from the pier to the town of Skagway.

I really did feel welcomed

Well, easy for most people. For me, it was a challenge, especially as it was sort of drizzling, making the footing faintly slick. But, since it was cool and damp, I was in heaven.

Along the path beside the road, the city had posted a sign encouraging people to enjoy everything Nature has to offer, there. I had to take a pic…mostly for the spelling error (or, was it deliberate?).

Pedal/peddle… It's nice to see that they encourage 
salesmanship over bicycling

I walked past most of the little shops, but I did, actually, stop in to see what postcards they had at the WP&YR book store and gift shop…besides post cards.

They had quite a bit of history

I found a book for Pop, a set of magnets for The Bat, and a couple of other items (plus, of course, some post cards), and, having had a pleasant chat with the store manager, I took my bag and wandered out to see the town.

I guess the early-20th-century architecture didn't really blow me away, and they had yet to open, that morning, the Red Onion Saloon and Bordello (which the boys were bound and determined to visit), I didn't take pics of the town itself. Well, not the buildings. Just the stuff which piqued my interest:

You know you're in trouble when this is your snowplow

I confess to being a foamer. Of sorts. I can't afford to follow my impulses very often, but give me the opportunity to put my grubby paws on a locomotive, or spend a night in a caboose, and you have me at "choo."

Seriously, cut through your snow in Virginia or Texas with this. Ha!

Well, after all, isn't the big draw for tourism today in Skagway that they have this rail excursion? The ships can't all be coming for the Red Onion…

Okay, well, maybe the scenery has a little to do with it.

Which is my other reason for booking the rail excursion. Besides being a train ride.

It wasn't cheap – it ran to $129 per person, when I booked. And, for a three-hour tour (a three hour tour!) that seemed a bit steep, initially. But my seester had told me it was a can't-miss, and she had paid for it, so, there I was, biding my time, hoping the weather cleared up enough to warrant the trip. After all, if the clouds are low and dropping drizzle the entire way up the slope, blocking my view of the landscape, there isn't much point to following my seester's instructions. 

But I was hoping I wouldn't need a refund. I wanted to brown-bag my lunch and see more of Alaska. 

And I wanted to ride that train.

Into the heart of town I went, to window shop some more, and to pick up the freebies and otherwise affordable items I could find for presents, now that the stores were finally opening for the day.  For the record, the people who work in those gift stores are well-informed, well-trained, very friendly, and, in a couple of cases, from Illinois. It was a lot of fun chatting with them, although I'm sure it would have been more fun for them if I'd brought them some hefty commissions. Instead, I brought home about $30 in stuff, not including the postcards and gear I'd picked up for the parents.

By 10 a.m., the clouds seemed to be breaking up, but so did much of my energy. I was shopped out, and needed to get back to the pier, to catch that train. I stopped in at the office of tourism and asked about procedures and costs for the local buses. The ride around town and to the end of the pier was a couple of dollars, easily accessible right out the front door to the office, there, and, at that hour, all mine. A few people were riding inbound, but most were still just strolling into town. I chatted with the young woman who drove the bus – she, too, had come up from the lower 48, for a summer job, and had been considering staying to become a permanent resident.

Small towns, no matter where they are, have a certain appeal.

Now we're rolling

Well, I made it back to the ship in time to get a little lunch at the buffet, then catch my train. The next three hours were a magical ride, punctuated by narration from the loudspeaker, giving snippets of history of Skagway, the Alaska/Yukon gold rush, the trail, the rail, and the geology. (Click on any picture to embiggen.)

Here are a few impressions from the ride:

There were many, many locomotives built, used, and, occasionally, lost on this rail run. Some of the best, classic ones have been rescued, and are either already restored or are in the process of being restored. # 52 was in progress as a restoration project.

Steam Engine 73 had already been run, this particular morning, and was cooling down in the yard as we went past.

Yonder lie locomotive parts. You may detect a trend, here

Just a reminder: my locomotive had a diesel engine. It's slightly less sooty.

We started our ride at sea level, where the stream widens out

gradually climbing

and climbing…

Well, that escalated quickly…we're nearing the mules' & horses' point of no return.
When they fell off the higher trails, there was no rescuing them.

Oh, good. A trestle bridge. That looks sturdy.
Unless Clint Eastwood is nearby with Eli Wallach.
And a lit cigar.
Please don't let me fall please don't let me fall…

And how darling! it comes with a tunnel!

Yippee. Another, bigger trestle bridge. 

Gulch. No foolin'. But that bridge…it's literally 100 years old!

Yeh, we're not crossing that.

We get another, newer bridge. And, oh, joy! another tunnel. 

We're nearing the top.

Small glacial lake. Rumor is, some tour guides skinny dip here in August.
I'm betting they don't have kids in May. Unless they're Scotsmen.

The pass narrows

Finally at the end of the line. White Pass station. Technically still in US, but semi-functioning RCMP/customs station.

The train's locomotive disconnected at the end of this line, turned around, and reattached at the other end of the train, so it could lead us back downhill (brakes on the front end! I like the logic of that!). We were given instructions on how to flip the backs of our seats, so that we could reverse our own positions, and still be facing the direction the train was heading, instead of being left to Look Back in Anger (see what I did there?).

At the same time, the pair of docents switched positions, too, so that the young woman who had been taking tickets and handing out leaflets on the way up, did the narration over the public address system on the way back down. Meanwhile, the young man who'd been talking all the way up, was now offering free bottled water and selling video, hats, and other souvenirs on the way downhill. I wouldn't have minded being able to get video or hat – or both – but I was saving my money for tea and memorabilia at the Empress Hotel in Victoria, come Thursday.

So I just continued to enjoy the view and take my own pictures.

Looking back downhill…

Heading back downhill…

Getting back downhill…

No horses or mules buried in the old city cemetery…
but maybe a coupla dawgs (wink wink)

Bit of the best graffiti…
there was plenty to see, near the shoreline

When I got back to the ship, there was enough time for me to get to my cabin & dress for dinner, but not much time to stretch out on the bed and relax…well, I'd have had to move this little guy that Adi left for me, anyway.

I moved it eventually. 

We set sail again from Skagway around 6 p.m., and we moved outward until sometime just after dark (somewhat past midnight), when we turned up into Tracy Arm Fjord, heading for a glacier.

Geology lesson: the round-topped mountains were
severely eroded away by glaciation.

The pointy-topped (sawtooth) were too tall from their uplift
for the glaciers build up enough to scrape them down.
Or so I'm told.

I was asleep for that turn. But I'd set my phone alarm clock to wake me by 5 a.m., so I could be up topside when we arrived at our great honkin' slab of ice. 

I was a little excited, so my sleep was fitful.