4.29.2018 NCL Pearl to Alaska live writeup- and I don’t even sail for 75 days!

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Ok. So back to the Skagway road trip. I posted a lot of scenic photos but let’s talk some specific points of interest. The first was the gold rush cemetery and Reid falls. I posted about that already above.

 

There are lots of little pull offs on the side of the road along the highway. I used Murray’s guide, a book you can download online for a small amount. It’s very helpful for context and what to look for. If you don’t have a navigator, then create pins for all of the things you want to cover, on a map program. Preferably something that can be used offline because there isn’t much in the way of a signal for most of this.

 

So, there are plenty of beautiful stops (I started at 8am in my rental car, and returned it at 7:15pm. I did not dawdle anywhere, but I probably stopped more than the average bear.) but I am only going to talk about a few.

 

First stop of note that I will mention:

 

 

Pipeline falls. A beautiful waterfall, with a hydro electric pipeline next to it. Leads down to Goat Lake. I just like the name goat lake, and the ugly pipeline is pretty amazing to look at if you think of the sheer enormity of it.

 

 

Bridal veil falls- the water is said to be pure enough to drink but this early in the season it looks pretty unremarkable. Maybe it always does- the bulk of the falls is under the highway and not visible.

 

 

 

This weird little suspension bridge is on a very active fault. It’s very new, and is suspended over a small but deep chasm.

 

 

Customs! Was super quick and easy. There was a white pass railway train stopped there.

 

 

 

 

 

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If you are happy to spend $18, this is a fun, cool, touristy thing not far into Canada.

 

 

 

It’s the Yukon suspension bridge, and I thought it was a fun stop. It’s got some other things to look at. The power went out right after I paid for a hot Chocolate but before I got it. Thankfully, it came on again.

 

 

It was cold and windy. And there was a lot more snow than I expected.

 

 

 

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Mount Racine across the lake, not sure what the other one was but it was remarkable.

 

The snow is diminishing.

 

 

Most of the time I was alone at these stops but sometimes I caught a bus. Usually I just sat in my car for 5 minutes, they were rarely there longer than that, and sometimes didn’t even get out of the bus.

 

 

 

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It starts getting really dry once you hit the Yukon. This is across the street from the famous sign, dail peak. There are often sheep and goats on here but i didn’t see them. There is also a woman selling jewelry and water.

 

 

 

This is the remains of some sort of part of the Venus silver mine, collapsing off of the cliff. They actually blocked off the pull offs so people wouldn’t climb on it and die, so I had to slow way down and take the Photo out the window. No one was around.

 

I may have mentioned it, but in my non-cruise life, abandoned buildings are my jam. This is as close as I got on my trip. It’s related to the silver mines.

 

 

 

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Conrad City: an old mining town that was there and gone in the blink of an eye. I am not entirely sure my rental car was allowed back here but the driving was safe. I pulled over and walked around awhile. There are only a few remainders of what was:

 

 

This is the ruins of the city’s old tramway. You can see the top up at the highway:

 

 

Bove island. During the gold rush lots of boats wrecked here. It was very windy.

 

 

If these gates are down there is probably an avalanche.

 

 

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Carcross! Wasn’t quite ready for guests. Ran into some people I knew from the cruise who know I am vegetarian with vegan leanings (I let the vegan part go on trips) and mentioned the local coffee shop had vegan offerings.

 

It was the only thing open In town. There was a historic general store (closed) and a bunch of modern “tiny house” type touristy places.

 

 

 

 

 

The coffee shop had cute blankets outside. And a cute dog.

 

I went inside, eager for some hot coffee...

 

 

I settled for some makeshift iced coffee (coffee snob here: iced coffee is not simply coffee with ice in it, you brew it differently. Not their fault, we were improvising because Carcross’s power was indeed out.), some cold pizza, and a Vegan cupcake.

 

 

 

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A little more carcross:

 

 

 

 

I didn’t indulge, but that bottom left sign usually means “welcome friend” to me.

 

 

 

This church was moved from, god, somewhere else. I forget where.

 

 

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Just past carcross is the carcross desert. The dunes are pretty cool, and it was nice to sit in the warm sand.

 

 

I missed my cat fluffy:

 

Maybe you can see the resemblance:

 

Maybe not. Oh! There are toilets here.

 

 

 

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A little further up was something called caribou cross. I thought it was another town but it was/is a family amusement with a petting zoo and such. I didn’t spend the money but I did get a coffee (hot, but not great. And then I saw something amazing:

There! On the cliffs!

 

 

Look closer!

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Oh, they are fake.

 

Maybe it was the early season but this place was a ghost town.

 

 

 

 

 

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Aaaand the grand finale, the turn around point, emerald lake! It is bright green!

 

 

Erm, except when it’s covered in ice. Note the greenish tinged section where the ice is thinner

 

 

Oh well. Time to turn around. I believe it was 4:30.

 

From here,except for customs, I did not stop until I got to Dyea road, which is right before you hit Skagway again.

 

 

 

 

 

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Dyea was an old goldrush town that is mostly disused. There’s a lovely overlook of Skagway:

 

 

Dyea road is long and windy and has some parts that could really be bad for a distracted driver. It kinda feels like Skagway’s Hana Highway. It’s super cool though an has some great things to see. There was a modern and an early 20th century cemetery that I didn’t stop at- I wanted to but I was beginning to be concerned about the time. It was about 6 at this point, all about was maybe 745? I had somewhere I wanted to be.

 

 

 

 

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I did not get to check out the Dyea historic site but I did check out the cemetery. Most of its inhabitants died in an avalanche on April 3rd, 1898.

 

 

 

 

This was one of my favorite parts of the drive.

 

 

 

 

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Now it was time to fill up the car and return it to Avis. Avis was so friendly and the process was so easy. I walked the half mile or so back to the ship.

 

Some photos of Skagway:

 

 

I took this photo solely for the mountains. My cruising buddy and I (for all cruises but this one!) have been friends for over 30 years. If you watch greys anatomy, she is best described as “my person.” Well, when we were 14 we were strangely obsessed with the story of Uruguayan flight 571, aka the Andes Survivors. Now when I mean obsessed, I mean we had figured out the seating chart on the plane, could recite all of the survivors and victims names in alphabetical order, and had an “Alive Daily Calendar.” We also had a sort of tasteless joke book. Anyway, I took this photo just so I could send a text that says “hey Nando, do you see those (word for a female anatomy and also a bird) up there?”

 

She did not disappoint by answering with an appropriate response. Quotes from the book.

 

Anyway, here’s more photos of Skagway proper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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It’s 730pm and I made it back on the ship!

 

La cucina has always been a restaurant that seemed subpar compared to the other paid restaurants. I was going to go, but I was craving carbs, and delicious olive oil. My waiter, from Nigeria with a name I can’t pronounce, was amazing and I took a photo of his name so I could make him my vacation hero. He had a great voice too.

 

As a vegetarian, my choices here are limited but I know that NCL’s red gravy (pasta sauce for you non Italians) is no good.

 

 

I actually forgot to take a photo of my meal. It was pesto pasta.

 

 

 

 

 

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I did remember to take a photo of the main dining room menu. And the dailies for the next day

 

 

 

 

 

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The night was young but surprisingly I retired early.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[jimbri]

Your photos are great!. The cemetery photos are very touching. Looking forward to the rest of your review.

[Beachiekeen]

Wow what great photos. We took a tour with Chilkoot through Skagway which was great but when you do it on your own like you did, you get to see so much more. I love seeing the different landscapes from when our trip was in June. Here are some of my pictures so you see the difference:

 

Bridal Veil Falls

 

417 by Steph G, on Flickr

 

Emerald Lake

 

464 by Steph G, on Flickr

 

And I took almost the exact same picture!

 

500 by Steph G, on Flickr

[Weetahbugdotcom]

Wow what great photos. We took a tour with Chilkoot through Skagway which was great but when you do it on your own like you did, you get to see so much more. I love seeing the different landscapes from when our trip was in June. Here are some of my pictures so you see the difference:

 

 

 

Bridal Veil Falls

 

 

 

417 by Steph G, on Flickr

 

 

 

Emerald Lake

 

 

 

464 by Steph G, on Flickr

 

 

 

And I took almost the exact same picture!

 

 

 

500 by Steph G, on Flickr

 

 

 

Wowza! The falls is startling- the emerald lake, I knew I was missing what beautiful colors you have in yours, with the ice, but it’s still disappointing that I did!

 

 

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[Beachiekeen]

Yeah but you saw soooo much! And the snow capped mountains are gorgeous!

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Day 5: Glacier Bay

 

I woke up before dawn and the silence and the moon was striking. The iPhone photo doesn’t do it justice but I wasn’t about to set up my camera.

 

 

To be honest, and maybe I missed it. But I wasn’t really sure when or what to expect. They left a brochure on my bed about glacier bay, but nothing was said about not-to-miss Times. I learned somewhere that 10am-ish was where the magic happened. I was really lazy and laid in my bed, then jumped into the shower at like 830 when I realized I could miss something.

 

I got out of the shower and realized I was looking at the wrong clock. It was an hour earlier. D’oh! At least I could have a relaxed breakfast.

 

 

I NEVER eat desserty breakfasts. EVER. Always savory. That being said, I felt like I had to try the French toast in there at least once and boy howdy am I glad I did towards the end of the trip. It was amazing, and the Bloody Mary hit the spot that morning.

 

That morning they opened the bow of the ship, where the crew hottub sits, to everyone, for glacier viewing.

 

 

Yeah... that was super crowded and I remembered why I got the aft balcony in the first place:

 

 

I made some coffee in my stateroom and cuddled up with my blanket and enjoyed some quiet time.

 

 

 

 

 

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If you have a balcony, seriously, just do the glacier from there. It’s so much better, and the ship rotates.

 

If you keep the tv on the bridge cam you can see what the front of the ship is seeing and hear the narration so that you can see it a few minutes later. We did see a pretty amazing calving of the glacier. I thought I got it on video but I can’t find it- it’s possible it’s on my iPad which I haven’t turned on since the ship. It’s ridiculous how many devices I had on.

 

As you get closer to the glaciers, the water gets murkier, the sea birds get crazier. There are lots of chunks of ice floating, and from your balcony it just seems really ethereal.

 

Oh and I saw a goat!

 

 

That’s ACTUALLY a goat. From a 300mm lens. If you want to see a goat in glacier bay you will definitely need at least binoculars.

 

It was still pretty cold this day so what I did was I had my lounger and blanket set up outside, but I often sat on the little cylindrical seat that goes under the vanity, in the doorway of the balcony, and that was enough to keep me warm (but still see everything) if it got too cold out.

 

 

 

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They call the sound a glacier makes “white thunder” because it’s white and sounds like thunder. You see it before you hear it.

 

I thought I heard it when I wasn’t facing the glacier, and I didn’t hear it when I actually saw a glacier calf. (Calve?)

 

The most amazing thing is how blue the glaciers are. None of these photos are enhanced.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This ugly thing is a glacier too. It’s not pretty, it’s just sort of grey and sludgy, but it’s important as far as the history of this ever changing place is. Anyway, more blue ice in the next post.

 

 

 

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(Most of my photos are of Margerie Glacier. The one in the one picture above is a different one, but I forget the name.)

 

 

 

 

 

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