Trip Report: ALASKA. Northbound Hubbard Glacier. Millennium. June 22, 2018.

We were flying with Marathon Helicopters.

https://www.marathonhelicopters.com

We had booked the Glacier Landing tour:

“15 Minute Flightseeing Tour...... Includes a landing at the base or on top of a glacier to include an exploration of the area for about 15 minutes....... Here you will take some of the most amazing photos of your entire Alaskan trip.”

Short and sweet for under $200 pp.

The confirmation email is the clearest, easiest email. It even includes a map with a hyperlink.

Seward is an easy town to navigate…we had passed the entrance to the Seward Airport several times now…the most helpful navigation in the confirmation email: “We are the 3rd building with the large deck. Please park in lot in front of building on the street.”

Technically…we 3 were AT or just slightly ABOVE the total weight limit of 600 pounds.

I did see a scale in the office…it is a real concern.

Shortly after booking, I called and talked with Marathon and after discussing the situation, we were given the go ahead for the tour. In our favor: We weren’t going on a long flight AND we all pretty much weighed the same…so we were an even distribution of weight in the helicopter.

Everyone may recall that Mike, our pilot, had given the thumbs up to enjoying the cruise and said not to worry about dieting on our vacation. Woo hoo!

We like Mike already.

In the many trip reports I’ve read…a constant theme is how gorgeous and beautiful Alaska is…my theme is how friendly and personable everyone is.

The young lady working the phones and check in is as sweet as can be. She summers in Alaska…as so many do…and winters wherever she and her boyfriend feel like it. Last winter, she was in Arizona…next winter, they’re thinking about Costa Rica…

Take care of final paperwork and payment…use the extremely nice semi-permanent porta-potty…

Did we have an Advil?

Aw…DS had a bit of a headache. Pretty sure we could all have had a better water intake while kayaking…we made a fortuitous grab of a Nalgene bottle and some Advil.

Note to self…if you go to a glacier…bring more than one Nalgene bottle. Bring ALL the Nalgenes you have available.

Time to fly.

Mike loves flying. His job doesn’t get old. He said so himself. He was ready for a great flight on this beautiful day…and so were we.

The helicopter seats 4 total. Mike drives…DH, our tallest, took shotgun…the best view and the most leg room. DS and I were in the back seat.

The cab is cozy. It feels a bit like being in a huddle…with seats and seat belts. Cozy feels secure.

We donned our headsets…which would allow us all to talk to each other during the flight…

Sunglasses are a MUST.

We are all wearing souvenir hats…DH’s from Ketchikan, DS’ just purchased beanie, and my just purchased fleece ball cap.

Time for lift off.

The overhead rotor motor hums to life…the rotor wings start spinning around…you can see the tips in your periphery vision. One minute you are on the ground…

And then you aren’t.

It’s a bit like being in an elevator. A glass view-out elevator. Going up…

The only difference is that this “elevator” might tilt just a little…

No tummy flutters though…it’s all very stable feeling. Just the thrill of flight…gaining a new perspective.

Our overhead view of Resurrection Bay…

Our destination lies this way…we were headed to Godwin Glacier.

Another view of Resurrection Bay. In the foreground is the local correctional facility. It was a topic of conversation on our kayak excursion…talking about how they have one of the best views that no one can see…

Flying over the first tree covered hills and into the distance…

The beauty of a shorter helicopter tour is found in the focus.

We had a very specific itinerary…a specific direction.

Our attention focused on the path to our destination. Godwin Glacier.

We saw Godwin Glacier from afar yesterday…it is visible from Resurrection Bay. We could see it from the jetboat.

Now we were approaching Godwin, a valley glacier, from above…flying over unspoiled terrain. Watching Godwin come into view…transforming from a barely discernable feature on the landscape to an in your face intimacy.

Because we were going to LAND in the midst of the great wide open…the long reaching views were given a framework for comprehension. We could marvel at the vastness upon vastness in all directions…a horizon of white broken by craggy peaks. The wilderness sprawl was even more awe inspiring when we honed in on the one tiny spec of white…landed near it…and realized how big that little spec actually is.

We were flying…but it didn’t feel HIGH off the ground. It’s not that disassociated view of the ground from a cross country commercial flight. You can see the shadow of the helicopter…and clearing make out the features of the ground:

But the forward view commanded attention:

Godwin Glacier…closer and closer.

Climbing up the surface of the glacier…

The glacier has and is carving a path through the mountains. Peaks rise above the glacial plain in rugged contrast to the field of white…

It is a field of white. Mike is explaining how the appearance of the glacier will change over the course of the season. How the snow becomes incorporated into the body of the glacier.

We are in an intimate space. Not too far below…the glacier. In our immediate vision…the peaks…

Flying around a peak…suddenly the world opens up again…

The pictures are tilted. Yes, the helicopter tilts...but rather than feeling precarious...it is more in the way of a bicycle going around a turn. The tilt feels natural and normal while turning...and quickly levels as the forward path straightens.

We’ve circled around…taken a bit of a scenic route to our landing zone.

DH and I have differing memories as to what the name of the glaciers are in the area where we landed…and which glacier Mike was talking about when he told the story of unofficially naming the glacier.

Mike explained that there are tons of glaciers…ALL over…and most of them are unnamed. He has taken couples on tours…knowing that a marriage proposal was in the works…and because of situations like this…has unofficially named the glaciers. It’s much cooler to be able to talk about getting engaged next to the “insert the name here” Glacier.

The unofficial name is known. All the local helicopter pilots recognize the name and the glacier.

Now whether or not Mike was referring to the big glacier we landed next to…or the hanging glacier above…IDK. DH’s memory and mine aren’t in sync.

No matter.

There are two glaciers here. The bigger one with that frozen glacier lava-lookalike flow…and a hanging glacier that is literally clinging to the mountain side.

The hanging glacier is here…Mike is doing a fly by…circling around again.

We’re going to land on the moraine of this larger valley glacier…

The hanging glacier is more readily apparent here…

Is it because we haven’t been here before? We can’t look down and comprehend the magnitude of the toe of the glacier. Doesn’t compute. Our brain is likening the sight to previously seen views…everything from spilled milk on up.

It isn’t until you get to stand in front of the side of the toe of the glacier that you can appreciate how big it really is.

Is it a creek? Is it a river?

A SMALL river emerges from the toe of the glacier.

There’s not a set trail down to the large creek. Forge your own path through the gravel and rocks. You don’t need hiking boots…but I’m wearing mine for ankle support. DS is wearing an old, holey pair of Converse…and wishing he had worn his boots. I would recommend any shoes without holes!

Mike tests a large boulder on the way down…pushing as hard as he can. One of these days…he says…that boulder is going down. He doesn’t want to be on the down side of it when it does…so he tests it every time.

He points out all the other boulders around the water and the one on the glacier itself.

Mike leading the way…

The sound of rushing water is fairly loud. All the boulders and rocks…it’s a mini-rapids scene with fairly fast moving water heading down to Resurrection Bay.

There’s a shelf at the end of the glacier. The melt seems to happen from below first…

It’s like a mini-cave. I can absolutely see the appeal of touring glacier ice caves.

DS is playing with the ice…smacking the edge. When the ice hits the rocks…it sounds like breaking glass.

Water is running everywhere.

All along the toe of the glacier...as the surface slopes down to ground level…water trickles down the slopes and off all the ledges…

The tall side of this terminus area has waterfalls at random intervals. Every depression along the “glacier bluff” is a mini waterfall:

On this day…a side spout functions perfectly as a water bottle refill station…

The most amazing water I’ve ever tasted. EVER.

If you have showered with soft water versus hard water…and it feels so much better to wash with soft water? Drinking glacier water has that same this-water-is-so-much-better-than-other-water quality.

Glacier water is so clear. So clean tasting...and it HAS a taste. It has BODY to it…but all at the same time, it’s light. So refreshing.

We 3 wished we had brought all 3 Nalgenes.

We savored that water…

There’s a large gradual slope of what looks like snow coming down from the side of the glacier.

We walked along it for a bit. Maybe we could walk up to the surface of the glacier?

The snow was too deep…your feet sink down…revealing the glacial blue under the snow’s surface…

I think you would need to be better prepared to be able to walk up this snow…Snow shoes might be necessary. We didn’t make it too far up the slope…

Our flight to the glacier was just over 10 minutes. Mike was extremely generous and according to my photo time stamp…we had about 25 minutes at the glacier, not the 15 minutes allotted according to the tour description.

I know that there was not another tour scheduled after ours for at least one hour…and IIRC when booking, I could choose any time from 2:00 PM until 4:30 PM.

I think this is why Mike could afford to be generous with our tour. Giving us time to retrieve our Nalgene from the helicopter…fill it up….…and otherwise allowing us to naturally reach the end of our interest in exploring the immediate area.

We had several photo sessions where Mike took our family picture with various spectacular backdrops.

And I had plenty of time to satisfy my click happy self.

A few of my favorite shots from during the landing…

Our ride…

Looking up at the hanging glacier…the snow field...this edge of the big glacier looking so “dirty” …

Family portrait…

It was time to fly back to the air field.

I suppose it is an airport…but air field evokes a more accurate mental image.

Mike complemented me on my door handling skills.

He had shut DH and DS in on the other side of the helicopter. Closing their door and locking it into place. I was sitting behind Mike…so I was the alone on the other side of the helicopter while Mike was helping DH and DS. Not realizing that Mike’s assistance was probably more along the lines of a safety check and less about courtesy…I just hopped into the helicopter on my own. Shut the door…gently because there’s no need to slam it…and slid the door lock home…just like being in an airplane bathroom.

As I write, I realize that Mike was verbalizing his safety check for me as a passenger as he recounted what I had done with praise and compliments.

Mike is deliberate in all that he does. Methodical. Not in a referring to the manual and hoping to cover all the bases kind of way…in an “I’ve-done-this-a-thousand-times” kind of way.

It makes you feel like you are in good hands. Picked a good pilot. You don’t feel anxious so you can just enjoy the ride.

It’s quite a thrill…riding in a helicopter.

It’s the perfect vehicle for flight seeing.

I wonder how the wings of a small plane tour would affect the view?

There is no obstruction to the views out of the helicopter cab. Window seats for everyone. The “windshield” is huge…wide and tall. The side windows are like a car…your lower body is shielded by the solid door…and then it is a large window above.

I wonder how big the windows are on a flight seeing plane?

Again…steering the helicopter can involve a bit of a lean…just like a bicycle. Upon lift off, we headed “home” and had a bit of a tilt…

Which quickly adjusted to a level flight path and view…

We weren’t that far above the ground…the tallest mountains around us were taller than we were. I don’t know if that is a normal flight pattern…or if we were flying lower for fuel economy, given our collective weight. We were intimate with the mountains…not above them on the flight home.

Resurrection Bay with the correctional facility in the foreground.

The fog on the bay in the distance…

Heading over the bay and to the airfield…

The flight back to the air field was about 6 minutes.

Outbound…we had flown over the bay, into the mountains down the river path…then strayed from the river to fly over to Godwin Glacier proper…flying up the length of the glacier. Then coming back around to almost rejoin our original flight path…following the river to circle around our landing spot (hanging glacier fly by) before landing on a glacier moraine.

Homebound…we just flew back along the river path to the bay…directly over the bay…you can see today’s cruise ship in port:

Over the delta…

And then turning for our approach to the air field. This was our most significant tilt during the entire ride:

Quickly, we leveled off as we flew down the tarmac to our landing spot:

We were level as we landed:

It felt like something had been scheduled while we were touring…or there was simply an update to the schedule. Mike left almost immediately to pick someone up somewhere…we barely had time to say thank you before he was off again.

We were left to bask in the glow from the excitement of our helicopter glacier landing.

Where Hubbard was a perfect exclamation point for our cruise…the helicopter was the perfect exclamation point for our land tour.

There are significant minutes in life. Many pass without any impact on memory but there are a few that leave a lasting impression…a few minutes loom so large you can’t believe how short the lapsed time was for memories created.

Our bear encounter on the river…those TWO minutes were significant. Neither DH nor myself can believe how short that encounter was. We were IN those two minutes. Our mindfulness seems to have elongated time.

The same goes for this helicopter tour. This was a significant 45 minutes…

This is an experience that prompts sentences like, “It was so much to take in”.

A bit like going to a museum...and seeing so much in a short span of time. After a while…you tilt…overload…you start skimming the artwork and the pieces whereas you might have been studying them in the beginning.

We never hit overload during our helicopter excursion. It was the perfect amount of time. I was happy to have been in the area for a bit…to have a familiarity with the area…but to have seen the landscape from a different perspective. And then have the opportunity to gain a new vantage point for an old view, so to speak.

This is the perfect end of trip excursion. There was NO exertion. Nothing but pure enjoyment.

It seemed especially appropriate for this to be ABOVE all that we had done over the past two weeks. That after two weeks of being on the ground…or on the water…we would finally get into the air.

While contemplating booking the helicopter, we debated whether or not 45 minutes was worth the cost of admission.

It absolutely was…we felt no need to DO anything more with our day.

This was a very satisfying tour...which is one reason why I have honored this tour by breaking it up into several pieces. Also...I hope that my details might alleviate any concerns that other first time helicopter fliers might have.

We were ready for our scenic drive north.

To detour a short ways down the Sterling Highway to pick up our salmon…and drive into Anchorage for our overnight before flying home the next day.

Anita, what an amazing trip and the memories will last a lifetime! Thanks so much for taking us along.

Sharon

Anita, what an amazing trip and the memories will last a lifetime! Thanks so much for taking us along.

Sharon

I agree, it was fun following the story of your adventure, and what wonderful memories for all of you. Ship excursions are just fine, but you show how it's possible to go off on your own for a tailor-made experience. I'm sure it's encouraging for others to read about... not only how you did it, but how it turned out.

Your pictures make us want to see Alaska again!

Your review is a must read for all Alaska travelers . You took an ordinary cruise and made it into a super adventure ! I loved the review .

Anita, what an amazing trip and the memories will last a lifetime! Thanks so much for taking us along.

Sharon

Sharon...thank you for reading along!

I agree, it was fun following the story of your adventure, and what wonderful memories for all of you. Ship excursions are just fine, but you show how it's possible to go off on your own for a tailor-made experience. I'm sure it's encouraging for others to read about... not only how you did it, but how it turned out.

 

Your pictures make us want to see Alaska again!

Margaret...I can't wait to see Alaska again. Not sure when that can happen...but definitely it is on my to do list for another vacation.

I have taken 6 cruises as an adult now and I have never been on a ship's excursion. I hope it is encouraging for others...

Your review is a must read for all Alaska travelers . You took an ordinary cruise and made it into a super adventure ! I loved the review .

Thanks Sally! It was a great adventure. I'm so glad you enjoyed it!

I'll take this opportunity to add that I do have a bit more to share...I'm going to bring this review all the way home. I also have some wrap up thoughts to share. I'm very close to the end but not QUITE done yet. ;p

Following along with baited breath (like the fishing comment?[emoji23]). Anita, you really need to compile this trip prereview & review into a manuscript & submit it to Celebrity & Alaska tourism bureau. Fantastic read & I’m going to miss reading the adventures with my coffee. Thanks for a great read!

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For the rest of today…we are preparing to go home.

We were ready to go home.

We had left home on the evening of Tuesday, June 19, to stay in a Marriott brand hotel near the Raleigh airport for our early morning flight on Wednesday. Tonight, 13 days later, we would stay in another Marriott brand hotel near the Anchorage airport for our early morning flight on Tuesday, July 3.

There were several things we could have done in Seward. Hikes we could have taken along the ride home. Sights to see…places to visit…but we were good. The helicopter ride was so incredible…we didn’t need another bite.

It was about 3:00 PM when we started driving north on the Seward Highway.

At the junction of Seward and Sterling Highways is the Tern Lake Wildlife Viewing Area. There were several cars stopped here. The Milepost says “Watch for arctic terns in spring and trumpeter swans in the fall. Bears are occasionally spotted on the small islands in Tern Lake.”

We were headed for the nearby USFS Tern Lake Picnic Area…which has a much-needed toilet.

This could be a wonderful stop during a salmon run. There’s a viewing platform…

We were the only people here at this time…

We continued on the Sterling Highway to the Salmon Run Lodge to pick up our salmon.

http://www.salmonrunlodgeak.com

The Sterling highway...I like how the blue school bus shuttle gives a clue as to how tall the surrounding mountains are…

We paid $29.39 for our 9.5 pounds of salmon filets to be portioned, vacuum-sealed, frozen and packaged. We had a small box with a Styrofoam cooler that fit perfectly into the box.

We had the option to ship it Fed Ex, but opted to take it ourselves. We were assured that the fish would stay frozen, especially since our cooler was packed full.

No suspense…it did arrive frozen just fine. TownePlace Suites, like so many Alaska hotels do, had stored our box of salmon in their freezer storage overnight.

The cheapest fuel along our path on the Seward and Sterling Highways was the Tesoro in Girdwood. I didn’t know then, but Alaska has the cheapest state fuel taxes in the US. My home state of NC ranks in the top 15 for most expensive…so I suffered NO sticker shock in Alaska…except the shock that I was paying about the same for gas as I did at home.

At least in Girdwood, which was significantly cheaper than any other station we saw along our drive.

We stayed at the TownePlace Suites by Marriott Anchorage Midtown. I hadn’t recognized this as being our future hotel when we ate at the Moose Tooth Pub and Pizzeria…when stepping outside to see it and the Embassy Suites, where Mom and Dad had stayed.

This was a splurge hotel, but still the least expensive Marriott option. I could find less expensive hotels…but the insignificant price difference didn’t persuade me from my Marriott loyalty…there are perks to status and there’s comfort in knowing your brand.

This TownePlace was NICE.

I’ve stayed in several now…and this one is one of the nicer, more recently remodeled or built ones. There is a full kitchen and a 4-top dining table. The only bummer about TownePlace IMO is the single lounge chair.

We completely unloaded the rental…using the handy dandy luggage carts.

Our evening was spent lounging on the beds…watching World Cup…leisurely organizing and packing the luggage…getting Moose Tooth take out…pizza AND a six pack…and trying to get to sleep early…

In the MOST comfortable bed for DS during the entire trip. The Vancouver king-size still ranked higher for DH and I, but this comfortable queen was a WELCOME change from all our sleeps since Vancouver.

I had read that Anchorage was one airport that you really need to get to early. You never know when the tour buses will arrive…as we had seen a few days ago. Also…this is an airport that doesn’t have the downtime others usually have…this is the airport that doesn’t sleep. Flights arrive at ALL hours…flights leave at ALL hours.

I read 2 hours minimum.

After our close call in Raleigh…we opted to follow the 2 hour minimum advice. We were aiming to arrive at the airport at 4:30 AM.

It’s not as difficult to wake up in the wee hours of the morning in Alaska. You can’t call it o’dark thirty. The sun is UP. It’s light out. While you may feel like you are dragging yourself out of bed…as soon as you hit the light of day…something happens and you can function at a higher than zombie level fairly easily.

We drove ourselves to the airport in the rental. The on-site car rental agencies are walkable…located just across the “street”…the road for dropping off and picking up. DH dropped off DS and I with all the luggage…returned the car…and then walked back to meet up with us to check our baggage.

The Anchorage airport has a weigh station near the entrance to the baggage drop off lines. You can weigh your luggage and verify if you need to do the luggage shuffle to redistribute your weight to avoid baggage fees BEFORE you enter any drop off lines.

DS and I verified our duffle bags while DH dealt with the rental.

The luggage drop off line was long…but not outrageously long. I did get the impression that it is consistently long throughout the day. Most counters were open. There were several antsy people in that line…either stressed over their flight time or simply impatient for travel.

Security also had a line…but again…while I would say that it was well populated, it wasn’t outrageously long either.

Our biggest time crunch came when security had to hand check our salmon.

Our salmon was completely UNPACKED. Every salmon filet was wiped down on both sides to do what I think is the test for explosive residue. THAT took a long time. But to the credit of the TSA agent…he repacked our salmon and retaped everything as he had found it.

Our salmon looked gorgeous…delicious…it was the first time we had seen what it looked like all processed. AWESOME.

Flying was uneventful…if long and tiresome.

We had a connection in Minneapolis. The Delta area of that airport is NICE. They had a burgers and more joint that was an open kitchen with a bar top counter all around. Use an iPad to order your food. You can eat at the counter or take it to go. You pay through the iPad as well, so no need to wait for a check.

The iPad was available for your internet browsing pleasure. It also had a flight tracker.

There also were televisions above the kitchen…and they were playing the World Cup matches.

Time passed quickly, but we had time enough to enjoy a tasty sit down meal.

On the way to the gate…I also saw several seating areas that were outside gate areas. It looked very lounge like. I would take a Delta connection through here again.

We also had a connection in Atlanta.

This was a long travel day…with two connections. We had booked our flights in October 2017…therefore, Delta had the opportunity and DID change our flight schedule several times.

What had begun as a 4-hour layover in Minneapolis and a just over 1-hour layover in Atlanta…ended up as a 2-hour layover in Minneapolis…a timely lunch break after snoozing off and on from Anchorage, and a 2-hour layover in Atlanta…a timely dinner break.

A hopper over to Raleigh…and then a 90+ minute drive home.

We walked through the doors of our loft at approximately 1:30 AM on Wednesday morning after being awake and traveling for approximately 18 hours.

Wednesday, July 4. A good day to sleep in. A paid holiday.

Thursday, July 5…our official 21stwedding anniversary.

Our big Alaska adventure was finally at an end.

Following along with baited breath (like the fishing comment?[emoji23]). Anita, you really need to compile this trip prereview & review into a manuscript & submit it to Celebrity & Alaska tourism bureau. Fantastic read & I’m going to miss reading the adventures with my coffee. Thanks for a great read!

 

 

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Thank you Melody! It makes my day to read such a lovely complement!

To everyone that has made it to the end of my Trip Report...I wanted to offer a bit of a thank you for reading along. I appreciate the few that have posted here...and the fact that the little bit of conversation here has been very complementary and positive. It truly makes me feel good to read how my report has been helpful and/or entertaining.

Thank you to everyone that has suffered through the long page loading times...as the pages of this thread are extremely photo heavy because there is little in the way of short conversational posts here.

As a token of my own appreciation for the positive vibe going on this thread...I have prepared what I call Anita Latte's Alaska Vacation. It is a guide that includes the names of most everything that has been mentioned here in this TR, as well as many of the expenses.

I did not bother to include expenses for most dining and souvenirs. I feel that dining is very personal. What you order...how much you choose to spend on a meal. Also...how to reconcile a weekly grocery and/or dining out budget into a vacation budget is again, personal. Dining expenses are therefore a bit of budget puzzle and including them would muddy the waters of my attempt to share my vacation expenses.

Also...I did not include fishing license expenses. There are many fishing licenses. What worked for us in specific was to purchase week long fishing licenses with one day king salmon stamps. Reconciling that week-long expense that applied to cruise and post-cruise into a report where I am trying to report cruise, pre-cruise and post-cruise expenses wasn't working for me...so I excluded it.

For what it's worth...our entire vacation, minus all the exclusions came to $9255.89.

Happy anniversary to me! Happy anniversary to you! Happy anniversary to uuuuuuuuuuuuusssssss! Woo hoo!

You can find all the details...as well as hyperlinks to most of the hotels, tours, ports, restaurants, and other information I thought helpful here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rHmM54XjLtHQW95AdRohG0k_DENL8eI4/view?usp=sharing

And because I'm cool like that...here is a repost of each Today:

Embarkation: Vancouver...Friday, June 22, 2018

Sea Day: Inside Passage...Saturday, June 23, 2018

Ketchikan...Sunday, June 24, 2018

Icy Strait Point...Monday, June 25, 2018

Juneau...Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Skagway...Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Hubbard Glacier...Thursday, June 28, 2018

Disembarkation: Seward, AK...Friday, June 29, 2018

If anyone has any questions...if there is something that I didn't cover here...please ask away...I'll answer to the best of my ability.

Anita, after reading many trip reports here on CC, in my opinion yours is certainly one of the most complete and most informative. You have done a super job reporting about your amazing trip. There is something for everyone. We did an Alaskan cruise some years back and would like to go again. While we most likely will not include the fishing, camping portion, I have picked up some good ideas for port visits that would be different from our first cruise, your pictures are spectacular (especially of the glaciers) and I didnt have any problem with page loading. It was so thoughtful of you to include all the details and info in your last post. Many a time I’ve ended up reading thru a multi post trip report a second time to pull out a some details I wanted to include in my plans.

Thank you again for sharing your memory filled trip with all of us!

Sharon

Enjoyed reading about your adventures. Our trip was a few weeks after yours. You brought everything back to life for me. I saw the artist cabins in Denali and was wondering if your son will be in one. I do hope you (or he) will report on that aspect when the journey

Thanks for your excellent report ! I have taken note of your excursions, especially the helicopter, and am looking into them for next year.

Awesome review, Anita, thank you so much. We'll be on the Millie next August, for a south-bound cruise.

Best wishes, fair skies and smooth seas!

Anita, after reading many trip reports here on CC, in my opinion yours is certainly one of the most complete and most informative. You have done a super job reporting about your amazing trip. There is something for everyone. We did an Alaskan cruise some years back and would like to go again. While we most likely will not include the fishing, camping portion, I have picked up some good ideas for port visits that would be different from our first cruise, your pictures are spectacular (especially of the glaciers) and I didnt have any problem with page loading. It was so thoughtful of you to include all the details and info in your last post. Many a time I’ve ended up reading thru a multi post trip report a second time to pull out a some details I wanted to include in my plans.

 

Thank you again for sharing your memory filled trip with all of us!

Sharon

Thank you Sharon! I often think of myself as an excellent editor...in the case of travel planning...having the ability to look at what others have done and thinking how I would apply what they did in exact deed or idea to what I would do. I don't think anyone would truly benefit from completely reproducing what someone else did for themselves...it's all about editing. I'm very happy to have inspired ideas for your own vacation...my intent 100%.

Enjoyed reading about your adventures. Our trip was a few weeks after yours. You brought everything back to life for me. I saw the artist cabins in Denali and was wondering if your son will be in one. I do hope you (or he) will report on that aspect when the journey

I'm glad to help you revive your own vacation memories. I like writing these reports because it helps me process my own memories. My life is pretty uneventful in the normal day to day...but vacation days pack in a wealth of new and different and special. So much happens on vacation and I don't take time to really process it all, I can easily forget. I don't want to forget!

Interesting that you saw the artist cabins in Denali. DS did not apply to go that particular camp over the summer. It may be something that he would do in the future. I don't recall the ages that apply but I believe it includes college ages...I think he has many years still to apply to and potentially participate in that summer program. It really was just the catalyst for me to look at Alaska cruises...and the idea that started this whole vacation rolling.

Thanks for your excellent report ! I have taken note of your excursions, especially the helicopter, and am looking into them for next year.

The helicopter was fantastic. I hope you can go! Happy vacation planning!

Awesome review, Anita, thank you so much. We'll be on the Millie next August, for a south-bound cruise.

 

Best wishes, fair skies and smooth seas!

Thank you! You'll get to sail Millennium after her Revolution update! Very exciting stuff. Happy sailing to you!