Ketchikan, Alaska

Our ship, the Crown Princess docked at Ketchikan Port, Alaska in the morning. Roy and his painting group left for Ketchikan town early to paint. We tried catching up by rising earlier than usual too. It was raining that morning. We knew the artists would be painting at this picturesque place called Creek Street, so we followed suit. It was a good thing for us the place was not yet teeming with crowded tourists, that Lucas, Martha and I got to enjoy the serenity and unique beauty of the area, much to our delight.

Ketchikan, Alaska - it was a wet morning. We went first to the visitor center, Martha took hold of a map, and we proceeded to explore the beautiful place.

An overcast day.

Following the map, we passed through some commercial area, went through a short tunnel, walked a few, and wallah, we reached Creek Street.

At Creek Street.......so uniquely beautiful....

Very picturesque. Fortunately it was still empty of crowds.

The shops were just opening. So pretty!

We decided to visit a quaint museum. The Dolly House Museum - the house of the last legal madam of the district.

 

An interesting story and place to see.

We enjoyed Creek Street so much., visited lots of shops and bought a lot of things. Here Lucas was interested to have pictures taken with wooden bear carvings.

Chainsaw carvings....My husband works in a hardware, he sells a lot of chain saw by the way.

Artists at work.

Can we have another shot of the beautiful place?

On our way down from Creek Street. It was really worthwhile to have a head start. Look at the streamline of visitors teeming in...

Being a mason, my husband took delight in taking Masonic temple pictures during his travel.

A close up picture of a Masonic temple in Ketchikan.

I like taking picture with quaint beautiful houses though.

And memorable and historical places too. Hehehe.

 Lucas and the anchor at the pier.

Goodbye Alaska, it was so nice to be here. We'd come to love you during this short voyage.

Thank you my God for this wonderful opportunity. Thank you so much.

Glacier Bay

I woke up one morning to a beautiful Alaskan bay scenery from my stateroom window. Today the ship was cruising through Glacier Bay for passengers to view. Roy took off early with his painting group before we even woke up. They were out there somewhere painting on the deck of the ship. Lucas, Martha and I woke up all excitedly. We hurriedly went to the 15th floor for our morning buffet breakfast first. Alas, all the dining view windows were already taken by the earlier risers. We however found a nice table for strategic overlook. After breakfast, we went searching for a deck with a more vantage view point. Martha brought us to the upper front deck for better viewing. Everybody was oh so excited:

Woke up to a beautiful Alaskan bay view.

Wonderful sights from the buffet breakfast window.

Approaching Margerie Glacier!

Wow, we found and settled at a nice vantage point for viewing. Actually every side of the boat was a vantage point for the ship turned around thrice for everybody to have a good look of the glacier.

Martha and the Margerie Glacier. We were so excited. We even saw some glaciers calving in, followed by loud crushing sounds. It was really a novel experience for all of us.

Really beautiful!!! After the calved-ins, more icebergs appeared on the bay.

More carved ins and more icebergs.

 A chunk of iceberg with birds standing on it.

The Lamplugh Glacier was huge, more bluish but dirty. According to the commentator, "The glaciers eat the mountain for breakfast", as it moved forward to the bay. They were formed millions and millions of years ago.

Extend of the Lamplugh Glacier

We finally found Roy and Peter Seiler painting at the port side of the deck.

Mr. Peter Seiler, the reknown artist.

More bay view

Another glacier yonder, and the Crown Princess steered away from the bay for another day.

And here are Roy's postcard sized paintings of the Glacier Bay. Well done, Roy!!!

Skagway, Alaska

The second port of disembarkation was Skagway, Alaska. We took the Skagway train excursion to the mountain top bordering Canada. I thought the train would stop for us to explore the Yukan valley but no, it didn't, to my disappointment. However I/we got to see beautiful mountains sights from the train though. It was a good ride all together. After the train excursion, we ate lunch and roamed the Skagway town. Roy painted at certain section in town, while Martha and I went shopping for souvenirs.

All excited inside the Skagway train for your mountain pass excursion.

Skagway train tracks

Flower path......

Wild flowers along the sides.

Mountain pass.

See the front stretch of the train entering into the tunnel? We were advised to sit at the last car where the view was more beautiful. Indeed it was.

Entering the tunnel.

Canyon view.

USA bordering Canada.

Back to Skagway town

Roy painted while his father looked on.

Nice little town. Enlarged copy of the family picture.

The mountain, the town and the trains behind us.

It was getting late, got to go back to the ship. Another nice, wonderful day in Alaska.

Juneau, Alaska

In Juneau, Alaska; Lucas, Martha and I went around the quaint town and took the cable to the mountain top for a sky view, while Roy went to Friendship Bridge to paint with his artists' group. In the afternoon, Roy came back to go on an excursion with us to Mendenhall Glacier. He continued to paint in there, while the three of us trekked the trail to Nugget Fall. The scenery was superb. It was a stupendous experience to see the glacier.

Crown Princess docked at the first port -Juneau, Alaska. Everybody was excited.

It was a rare beautiful sunny day in Juneau, Alaska.

 Took a picture with the bear at the visitor center.

We ate lunch from the food trucks. Martha had halibut fish and chips. Really delicious!

Alaska has a big number of Filipino community. Here's a Rizal bust at the center of a garden square.

Excursion to Mendenhall Glacier.

A close up shot of the glacier

A chunk of glacier remained at the center of the body of water.

Closer view.

 

The glacier and the fall yonder. Having ample time, we decided to go to the fall.

It was a long walk but worth it. Took picture while approaching Nugget Fall......magnificent scenery.

Mother and daughter enjoying the mists of the fall and the air; touching the cold water and absorbing the beautiful sight.

Great view! A wonderful day!

With Roy at the visitor center. It was a nice beautiful day. So happy to be here....

And I was able to pick my precious nuggets too. Hehe. Priceless!!!