Juneau and Ketchikan

Juneau From the Ship

Alaska’s Gastineau Channel, a prized fishing ground for the native Alaskan Tlingit people for thousands of years, provides the scenic setting for Juneau. The capital of Alaska since 1906, this former mining town came into being shortly after two prospectors, Joe Juneau and Richard Harris, arrived in 1880 and learned from Chief Kowee of the presence of gold in a nearby creek. By the mid 1940s, gold mining had declined, leaving the government as the basis of Juneau’s economy. Alaska became a state in 1959, and plans to move the capital to a larger city fell through. Today the lucrative trades of fishing and tourism augment the business of governing the state.





We began our tour with a stroll along the city’s main street and visited lots of gift shops, some touristy, most exhibiting lovely works of locally produced art. At a row of tour stalls on the pier, we booked a bus tour to see both the city and the famous Mendenhall Glacier, a dazzling frozen river that sprouts from the Juneau Icefield.

The Mendenhall Glacier

The Ice Up Close - So Blue!

The Crystal Symphony Docked in Juneau

The next day, the Symphony docked at Ketchikan, the "Salmon Capital of the World." The busy harbor teemed with seaplanes and boats, and though the frontier streets beckoned, we wouldn’t have time for a stroll through the town, much of which perched on pilings over the water. We had booked a 5-hour catamaran cruise to Misty Fjords National Monument.

Ketchikan also bears the dubious distinction of the "Rain Capital of Alaska." We began our tour in the covered top deck wondering if the drizzly gray skies would be with us all day. Soon, we were out on deck, for the weather cleared as we made our way through a lush green wilderness carved out by glaciers. Using an entertaining storytelling style, a knowledgeable naturalist told us of the geology, ecology, and history of the areas we visited. For me, Misty Fjords, which provides a breathtakingly beautiful habitat for bald eagles, wolves, bears, deer, moose, fox, and goats, and other sea and animal life, was the highlight of the cruise.

Misty Fjords

New Eddystone Rock (Volcanic Formation)

One of Misty Fjord's Many Waterfalls

Water Deep Green from the Trees
 and the Minerals on the Lake Bed

We spent two relaxing days at sea returning to San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge, enjoying the Captain’s Formal Farewell dinner along the way. We’d had a wonderful time, seen lots of gorgeous scenery, eaten some great food, met new friends, even played a game of Mexican Train Dominoes with my aunt and uncle. I hope to enjoy another Crystal cruise one day and hear Louie Armstrong warbling "What a Wonderful World" as the ship departs each port.

♪ Oh, yeah! ♫

Skagway

We woke to find the sea filled with good-sized chunks of ice, some with seals aboard. The captain announced that the icy conditions ruled out our scheduled trip to the Hubbard Glacier. Though disappointed, the passengers made no complaint. We sailed out to sea and on to Skagway.

At the height of the Klondike Gold Rush, prospectors entered the goldfields through Skagway. Surrounded by snow-capped mountains, this frontier town sits at the head of the Taiya Inlet on the northern end of the Lynn Canal, a fjord on Alaska’s Inside Passage. Skagway derives its name from Schkagua, a native Alaskan Tlingit word meaning "Home of the North Wind." The wind blew nonstop as we strolled along the old-fashioned boardwalks, and the locals told us it does so every day of the year.

A Quick Walk into Town

Statue of Gold Rush Prospectors

Skagway's Main Street

The restored buildings look as they did in the late 1890s, when Skagway was the largest town in Alaska. A few saloons remain, but most of the businesses are geared toward tourism now. We visited several jewelry and souvenir stores and the museums tucked between them.

Wax Figures in a Saloon Museum

Nothing special in the jewelry stores, I thought. Then I spotted a display of ivory jewelry carved from woolly mammoth tusks. I had to ask about it, as I thought such relics would be in a museum. The store owner told me that mastodon and mammoth tusks still turn up everywhere in Alaska, most notably in river beds, where they pop out as the soil washes down. Depending on whether the tusks are found on private, public, or federal land, forms are filled out, the paleontologists have a look, and if they don’t want it, the finder of the tusk is free to dispose of it as he or she wishes.

A Mammoth Tusk

Next up: Juneau

Sitka, Alaska

A day at sea gave the Crystal Symphony’s talented chefs a chance to present their Grand Gala Buffet, a fantasy of culinary delights. From the ice sculptures to the vibrant displays of delicious food, they put on a fabulous show.

Early the next sunny morning, the Symphony stopped at Sitka, the former capital of Russian America. Nestled in a jewel of a harbor surrounded by snow-capped mountains thick with spruce trees, Sitka is reputedly one of the prettiest towns in Alaska.


Russian explorer Alexander Baranof arrived in the area in 1799. After defeating the native Alaskan Tlingits in a series of bloody battles, he established a colony/trading post, which he called New Archangel. The Russians sold Alaska to the United States in 1867, and the town received its current name. Sitka is derived from Sheet’ká, a native phrase meaning People on the Outside of Shee, "Shee" being the Tlingit name for Baranof Island.

The ship anchored out in the harbor, and we took the tender in to explore. We toured St. Michael’s Cathedral, a Russian Orthodox church built in the mid-nineteenth century that houses an array of religious treasures and artwork.

St. Michael's Cathedral, Sitka

A stroll along the scenic waterfront brought us to the Sitka National Historical Park, where we watched a documentary on the history of Sitka from three different perspectives: the Tlingit view, the Russian view, and the American view.

We only had a few hours in Sitka. I would have liked another day! The tender brought us back to the Symphony for a hurried lunch, after which we boated back into town for an afternoon excursion aboard the Sea Life Discovery. From this ingenious semi-submersible vessel, we viewed several fascinating underwater habitats, including an eel grass bed and a giant kelp forest. A diver went down with a video camera to show us some fantastic sea life. We enjoyed a cruise through Sitka’s scenic harbor, and at the end of our tour, our Tlingit guide told us that his language has no word for good-bye, only "Until we meet again."