Lori's Travels

On Wednesday, the last activity at Glacier Bay National Park’s Bartlett Cove was a polar plunge for any cruise passenger who was brave enough to do it. I wasn’t so brave but Stephanie was one of 6 who took the challenge. Donning swimsuits and life jackets, those hardy folks jumped off a floating dock, then just as quickly got back out.

We started underway again and had another delicious dinner onboard. Mine was halibut with a spinach and strawberry salad, plus dessert of lemon meringue pie. After dinner the two naturalists briefed us on what would be happening the next day, then we went to bed.

I’ve forgotten to mention previously: the cabin toilets use salt water to flush, taken from water around the ship. At night, if we don’t turn on the bathroom light, we can see the toilet water sparkle with bioluminescence when we flush. It’s pretty fun to watch.

Thursday morning we arrived in Juneau just before breakfast. The weather was dry and relatively calm. There were only two giant cruise ships that had followed us into port (not many) so we looked forward to our activities. Our boat docked close to downtown. After breakfast, we left the ship and walked to a waiting bus that took us to Mendenhall Glacier National Park, about 30 minutes outside Juneau.

At the park Stephanie and I wanted to see birds and other wildlife, so we walked along a boardwalk path that crossed a creek and pond. As we approached the creek, we saw a black furry head that turned out to be one of three small black bear cubs and their mother. They were in the woods maybe 50 feet away from the boardwalk. The mother immediately signaled her cubs to climb a tall deciduous tree while she looked nervous at the bottom, standing guard. They climbed away to the top and other people joined us looking at them from the boardwalk. Stephanie and I backed up to lessen the pressure on the mother and we watched from a distance. In a few minutes, while the cubs remained high in the tree, the mother bear returned to grazing grass near the creek and boardwalk. Stephanie and I took another path away from the bears.

We walked along some other paths toward the glacier and visitor center, enjoying the views and birds. After about 90 minutes at the park, we reboarded our bus to return to town.

Our next stop was the Alaskan History Museum. We took in the exhibits for the next hour or so, then walked to the ship in the rain. Back onboard, we made ourselves sandwiches from ingredients laid out on the lounge’s bar. Later in the afternoon, one of the naturalists gave a short presentation in the lounge about the salmon life cycle and strategies the bears use to catch them.

Friday was our day to visit Tracy Arm and Endicott Arm, two long fjords with glaciers at the end. Thursday night, we had anchored near the opening of the two fjords. It was a quiet and calm night without the sound of the ship’s engines, little wind and no movement. The deckhands and captain raised the anchor early, before 6 a.m., but Stephanie and I were already up, looking for birds and animals along the shore, so we watched the excitement of raising the anchor too. Then we hung out in the bridge for a while after the ship got underway.

As we progressed in the narrow fjord of Tracy Arm, its dramatic rock walls got closer together and we saw more small ice bergs and pieces along the way. It was beautiful. We couldn’t go its entire length to the glacier due to the large amount of ice in the passage, but we admired the beautiful scenery and all the ice as the ship turned around and went back the way it came.

We were eating lunch as we entered Endicott Arm but were interrupted by two exciting wildlife sightings: a pod of more than 6 orcas swimming by and then two moose standing on a grassy point. Both were unusual and we felt lucky to see them.

Endicott Arm was wider than Tracy Arm, without so much floating ice, so we were able to reach the end and view the Dawes Glacier, which was magnificent. We took a ride in the hard bottom pontoon boat to get up close to the glacier, seeing and hearing the glacier calve smaller pieces off. The calving looked like an explosion of snow and ice, creating a loud boom and large swells. We were far enough away to stay out of the danger zone and the calving was exciting.

After returning us to the ship, the deckhands went back out on their own in the small boat to collect a piece of ice, “a bergy bit,” from the water. They then challenged us to guess when it would melt and write down our guesses, for a prize to whoever was closest.

Dinner was delicious as usual and I enjoyed a salad, scallops and cheesecake. We went to bed while the ship made its way to Saturday’s starting location further south.

Early Saturday morning, the ship dropped anchor in a place called Ideal Cove, a small protected bay. After breakfast we had the choice of going on a hike or out in kayaks. Stephanie and I chose to kayak in the cove and we put our rain gear on. Two deckhands helped us don life jackets and get in the double kayak on a platform on the back of the ship. We were pushed off the platform and free to paddle around anywhere within sight of the boat. We did a loop around the cove in calm water, looking for wildlife, while it drizzled lightly.

After lunch and a little nap, we all got into three jet boats that had arrived at our ship and were tied up at the back. The jet boats sped us to the LeConte Glacier, which is not far from Petersburg. It’s a fast moving glacier, progressing forward 75 feet per day. We saw lots of beautiful blue ice bergs that had calved from the glacier and gotten stuck in a shallow place at the mouth of the fjord and then the glacier itself, which is 2000 feet high at the end. There were also quite a few seals on ice bergs in the fjord, a place where orcas don’t go so the seals feel safe to have pups there. The jet boat tour took about 90 minutes, after which they brought us back to the boat.

During dinner on the boat, the Baranof Dream transited through a narrow channel between two islands, starting near the city of Petersburg. We benefited from a couple hours of cell phone connectivity while passing by Petersburg. My salmon dinner ended with chocolate mousse, and everything was very tasty. After dinner, a briefing by the naturalists gave us a preview of the next day’s activities. Then we went to bed.

Monday morning, we woke up early after a good night’s sleep. Downstairs in the hotel, we fueled up with yogurt, an English muffin, fruit and hot tea. Then we walked across the street to a beach and did some birdwatching, seeing a couple different species of gulls on the shore. About 9:30 a.m., we left our cruise-tagged bags in the lobby to be picked up by cruise staff at 10, and we checked out of the hotel to walk into town, taking a path through a large wooded park into Sitka. The park had a nice forest, shoreline, and several Tlingit totem poles with interpretive signs. There were lots of cruise passengers from two large cruise ships in the park with us.

When we reached town, we stopped at a recommended food truck serving fish, and I had some great halibut tacos for lunch while Stephanie enjoyed a bowl of chowder. Then we walked to the reception room for Alaskan Dream Cruises and relaxed for a couple of hours. About 4:30, all of the 46 passengers on our cruise boarded a small day boat to be taken to our cruise ship, the Baranof Dream. Once onboard, Kevin, the captain gave us a safety briefing while we sat in the lounge. Then we were taken to our staterooms where our luggage was waiting for us.

The ship left the harbor and sailed for about 30 minutes to small Fin Island, still very close to Sitka, where there was a restaurant waiting for our group. There we enjoyed our choice of prime rib, salmon, Tanner crab legs, vegetables, soup or chowder, and dessert. After dinner the staff lit a bonfire where we could make s’mores if we wanted (I passed up that option). We were taken in the day boat back to our ship, where we were briefed by two naturalists, Liana and Natalie, about the next day’s activities while the ship got underway. We returned to our cabin to go to sleep.

Tuesday morning, Stephanie and I woke up really early, about 4:30 a.m., after sleeping well. It had been choppy for a bit during the night, but the beds were comfortable and warm, and when we woke up it was relatively smooth outside. We took our time getting up and getting dressed, then about 6:30 we walked up to the bridge to see the view and ask the captain some questions. From the bridge, we spotted a humpback whale and spent an hour there. At 7:30 we went to breakfast in the dining room, where there were several menu choices including omelets, pancakes, oatmeal, yogurt, etc.

The morning activity was a hike in Tongass National Forest, where we could choose from an energetic, intermediate, or leisurely hike. We chose the latter so that we could enjoy the birds and plants. The staff took each of the three hiking groups to the beach in a hard-floored inflated pontoon boat powered by an outboard. It is brown bear country, so we were told we needed to stay close to each other and talk, and one or two staff members armed with bear spray went with each group. On our short, leisurely hike, we walked about a half-mile, spotting and hearing a few birds, identifying plants, and seeing quite a lot of bear scat on the trail.

The interesting thing was that the tidal change was huge, a 20 foot change over 6 hours. In the hour from when we were let off on the beach to the end of the hike, 60 minutes later, the wide expanse of beach nearly disappeared. It was about 50 degrees during the hike with a cold wind, but it didn’t rain. Everyone wore several layers of clothes, with hats and gloves, so we were comfortable. Once we returned to the ship, lunch was served in the dining room. Mine was a portobello mushroom burger, potato chips and berry crisp with ice cream. Then we returned to our stateroom for a short nap.

In the afternoon we spent some time on the bridge with Kevin, the captain. At 3 p.m. was cookie time in the lounge, accompanied by a talk on glaciers and volcanoes of Alaska by Natalie, one of the naturalists. I then spent some time in the room, reading a book on my iPad. Dinner at 6:30 p.m. was adobo rockfish for me and Stephanie, although there were other choices too, plus panacotta with blueberries for dessert. There was a beautiful sunset and view of some mountains, then we chose to go to bed shortly after the 9:30-ish sunset since we hadn’t slept enough the night before.

Wednesday was our day in Glacier Bay National Park and we woke up around 6 a.m. to the sight of small ice bergs and pieces in the water, as well as steady rain. Stephanie quickly dressed to go out to look, while I took a short shower in the “shoilet” (combined shower and toilet). After dressing I joined Stephanie outside on the deck to see two glaciers near the boat: Margerie and Grand Pacific Glacier. We also saw sea otters floating in the bay.

Breakfast was at 7:30 again. At each meal, we’ve sat by someone we haven’t met or talked with before, so we’re slowly getting to know our fellow passengers. After breakfast and cruising a little bit further, the captain alerted us to a brown bear on the rocky shore and we watched him for a while, as he turned over and scraped rocks to get something to eat. We also saw quite a few new types of birds in the bay. It continued to rain. About 10:00, Liana gave a talk about the history of Glacier Bay and the park, which is 100 years old this year. Then we cruised by a large rock knob called Gloomy Knob, with several mountain goats on it.

After lunch, we cruised to a small island named South Marble Island, home to lots and lots of sea lions that were hauled out on rocks, plus some puffins and cormorants. A humpback whale swam between us and the island as we approached. The rain had finally stopped so we got good looks at the sea lions and birds.

Stephanie and I began our Alaska cruise vacation this morning at her house, where we got a Lyft ride through light traffic to the airport. The airport was busy, of course, as expected on a holiday weekend, but we sped through a TSA Precheck line in record time and emerged on the other side of security harried and hurried but with all our clothes still on and our gear intact.

Our flight left roughly on time and it was a short one hour and 45 minutes in the air. But I made a mistake of opening my water bottle spout without thinking and was treated to a fountain of water under higher pressure in the bottle than outside of it, spilling all over my shirt and pants. It made the flight a little uncomfortable but I was happy to see that by the time the plane landed, it had nearly all dried thanks to the dry warm air inside the plane.

We deboarded via a roll-up ramp, walking into cloudy Sitka. Inside the small airport, we were met by an Alaskan Dream Cruises representative. She took Stephanie and I and 4 other people to our various hotels in a company van.

At our hotel, the Eagle Bay Inn, nobody was home so the cruise employee called the hotel owner/manager while we waited. We were soon let in by a young man and another employee joined him to check us in.

There another employee from the cruise company who met us to take us to The Fortress of the Bears, a place that has 6 brown bears. They provide a home to orphaned bears, since Alaska has no law or assistance providing rehabilitation of bear cubs. We learned from our driver that at least two brown bear mothers with cubs have been seen repeatedly in town this year. That gave us pause about our plans to walk through a wooded park tomorrow morning on the way into town.

After spending some time watching the bears being fed, our driver gave us a ride back into town, where we walked around, saw many ravens and bald eagles, visited an old Russian cemetery, and then ate dinner.

We ate dinner at a restaurant downtown called Mean Queen, where I enjoyed a great veggie burger and salad. Then we walked about 30 minutes through town to our hotel. The weather had been off and on showery, and it continued that way during our walk to the hotel.

On Friday morning, it dawned clear and sunny again in Goldendale. After breakfast at the Quality Inn, we checked out and startle the final leg of this state park trip. The first stop was Brooks Memorial park that was about 20 minutes north on Hwy 97. It’s located on the Little Klickitat River and was a nicely wooded camping and picnicking park. We only stayed a few minutes because it was quite cool outside.

On to our next park of the day: Fort Simcoe. This park is located on the Yakama Reservation and is fairly remote. There aren’t any highway signs guiding a driver to the location. It’s the site of an Army fort from the 1850s and there are several rebuilt buildings representing the originals.

When we arrived, we were surprised to see cattle grazing on the mowed grass of the park while an employee worked nearby on the sprinkler system. We were the only visitors. As we walked around, we frightened some of the cows, which trotted off. There were many Lewis Woodpeckers in the oak trees, which was interesting to see, since they don’t show up in the western part of Washington. But we were disappointed that there weren’t more interpretive signs telling about who the fort was named for, nor the history of the area.

After leaving Fort Simcoe, we drove to the final park of this trip, the Yakima Sportsman park. It had been developed by a Yakima Valley Sportsman Association in the 1940s and given to the state. We parked near a small lake to relax and look for birds. Nothing unusual showed up, so we moved on. Our breakfast hadn’t really stuck with us, so we found an Olive Garden restaurant in downtown Yakima and ate an early lunch. Then we headed west for the 2+ hour drive back to Issaquah. It was the end of another enjoyable state park trip.

Another sunny day greeted us Thursday morning in Vancouver. After enjoying the free breakfast at the hotel, we started out toward our first state park of the day, Spring Creek Hatchery, located along the Columbia River in Skamania County. We parked on the grounds and walked toward the visitor center, appreciating the view of Mt. Hood across the river.

At the visitor center, an employee was just unlocking the door and we walked in with him. It was a small visitor center with displays about the salmon cycle and a viewing platform to watch spawning salmon, but nothing was happening this time of year.

Next was the Klickitat State Park Trailhead in the small town of Lyle. The trail runs along the Klickitat River and about 50 miles up into the dry hills of the Goldendale Plateau. We just stood near the trailhead parking lot to see the river and a few birds that were flying around.

The third park of the day was Doug’s Beach, a very small park that offered a couple picnic tables and undeveloped shoreline along the Columbia River, which we reached by walking over railroad tracks that paralleled the highway. It was a quiet little park, but I imagine the shoreline access is a big draw on summer weekends.

We ate lunch at the next park on my list, the Columbia Hills Historical at Horsethief Lake. The lake is one that was created by a railroad track berm that cut off a little inlet of the Columbia River. The park itself was large and grassy and provided a nice view of the river. We found a dry picnic table between running sprinklers, laid out a tablecloth and enjoyed a lunch of hummus leftover from last night’s dinner plus pita bread we had bought along the way. We saw some Brewer’s blackbirds in the trees around us, plus a Western kingbird and Yellow-rumpled warbler. Quite a pleasant place to eat lunch.

The fifth park of the day was Maryhill State Park, another beautiful grassy and treed park on the river. We walked out onto a small jetty that bordered a swimming area to look back at the park and out on the river. While we were there, we saw a small, dark brown weasel looking back at us. It was very small and cute, and disappeared quickly into the large rocks that made up the jetty.

Our final park of the day was the Goldendale Observatory, where we had a 9pm reservation for their observatory show. First we drove there in the daylight to scope it out. Then we returned to the town of Goldendale to make sure the hotel had room for us that night, rested for a bit, then had salads for dinner at the Simcoe Cafe in town.

The night show at the observatory started at 9 p.m. but they wanted participants with reservations to arrive before 8:30, so we did. We took a few photos of and from the observatory grounds while we waited. The sun was setting and it was a mostly clear sky.

About 40 arrived for the show, and the one and only park ranger who is currently assigned to the observatory was Troy, who was an amazing astronomy expert, very interesting to listen to, and had worked there for 13 years. The other three employees who had previously worked at the observatory had lost their jobs or been reassigned due to state budget cuts, so Troy was giving all the shows: two a day Thursday through Sundays.

We first looked at Jupiter and its moons through the large 24-inch telescope. We also looked at a binary star named Mizar with a 10-inch telescope on the patio of the building. Then we looked at the moon with their 14-inch telescope. Troy was narrating, operating the telescopes, and answering questions through all of this. He also pointed out the International Space Station when it passed overhead, while we looked at it with our bare eyes, and a few other stars and planets. There was a cool wind blowing after sunset, so we were happy to go inside the dome and then, finally, in the classroom on-site.

In the classroom, Troy used a great 3-screen TV system to show and talk about several astronomical topics. It was very interesting. We were there until nearly midnight. It was good to finally return to the hotel to sleep, but the show was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.