Alaska 2012

[Robinhood4x4]

A couple weeks ago, the wife and I went on an alaskan cruise with my side of the family. The whole trip was pretty awesome although it started out rough.

From phx we did a layover at SFO and then continued on to vancouver...without our luggage. :shake: :chair:

Because it's a cruise with formal nights, I ended up having to buy a new suit, nice clothes and shoes, while the wife had to buy a formal dress and other clothes. The only saving grace was that we did buy trip insurance which covers delayed luggage. Still, I would have much preferred to spend my day exploring vancouver.

Beyond that, it was an absolute blast!

Landing in Vancouver at 9:10pm with the sun still up was weird.
http://antinode.smugmug.com/Vacation/Alaska-Pub/i-Ndmb7GT/0/L/IMG0408m-L.jpg

Disembarking and looking back at vancouver. Vancouver seemed like a pretty cool city, but too bad we didn't have more time to explore it. The mom and pop restaurants looked pretty good.
http://antinode.smugmug.com/Vacation/Alaska-Pub/i-SRtCZhQ/0/L/IMG4790m-L.jpg

We didn't plan it that way, but it happened to be our anniversary and they sang us happy anniversary.
http://antinode.smugmug.com/Vacation/Alaska-Pub/i-HRkTKJt/0/M/IMG4858m-M.jpg

Our first stop was Ketchikan.
http://antinode.smugmug.com/Vacation/Alaska-Pub/i-JGZFhkD/0/L/IMG5128m-L.jpg

After finally getting our luggage back, we didn't do much except walk around the town and explore. We did see a couple bald eagles though.
http://antinode.smugmug.com/Vacation/Alaska-Pub/i-H9Nwr7z/0/L/IMG5286m-L.jpg

The next stop was Juneau where we went ziplining.
http://antinode.smugmug.com/Vacation/Alaska-Pub/i-mFzHfdD/0/L/IMG5384m-L.jpg

http://antinode.smugmug.com/Vacation/Alaska-Pub/i-QJcc2cB/0/L/IMG5511m-L.jpg

Ziplining was a total blast and much less scary than I thought. At one point, we walked across a rope bridge and the guide pushed off of a tree and got the bridge swaying back and forth a few feet. I thought that was way scarier than the zip lining.

Next on the list of things to do was see Mendenhall glacier.
http://antinode.smugmug.com/Vacation/Alaska-Pub/i-B4RPnv9/0/L/IMG5677m-L.jpg
http://antinode.smugmug.com/Vacation/Alaska-Pub/i-Z2PCwbC/0/L/IMG5715m-L.jpg

The second port was skagway where my brother and I took a helicopter ride to walk on a glacier.
http://antinode.smugmug.com/Vacation/Alaska-Pub/i-Tz6ZDXv/0/L/IMG6026m-L.jpg

Here the guide is throwing a rock into a giant hole and it took a good 8 seconds for it to hit bottom. What was scary was the realization that if you slipped and fell in, nobody is even going to get your body out.
http://antinode.smugmug.com/Vacation/Alaska-Pub/i-BjFSpPL/0/L/IMG5992m-L.jpg

Running water on the glacier, clean enough to drink from.
http://antinode.smugmug.com/Vacation/Alaska-Pub/i-F6dVHVm/0/L/IMG5940m-L.jpg

The next stop wasn't really a port, but we did sail to a glacier bay NP and visit some glaciers.
Margerie glacier is one of the few glaciers still calving.
http://antinode.smugmug.com/Vacation/Alaska-Pub/i-ZJZmvb5/0/L/IMG6734m-L.jpg

I secretly snapped this picture of the biggest damn zipper I have ever seen.
http://antinode.smugmug.com/Vacation/Alaska-Pub/i-mG86FVN/0/S/IMG6769m-S.jpg

At College Fjord, there were otters galore, but no sign of shamu.
http://antinode.smugmug.com/Vacation/Alaska-Pub/i-DhRG8bC/0/L/IMG6854m-L.jpg

On our 2nd formal night, they served baked alaska for desert.
http://antinode.smugmug.com/Vacation/Alaska-Pub/i-PSjzkBc/0/L/IMG7016m-L.jpg

The ship was made in Japan.
http://antinode.smugmug.com/Vacation/Alaska-Pub/i-MtQ3D3f/0/M/P1090976m-M.jpg

Bring on the rain! I was comfy the whole time in the wind and rain and surprisingly, the cheap plastic rain cover for the camera worked well too.
http://antinode.smugmug.com/Vacation/Alaska-Pub/i-M9G8LVH/0/S/P1100001m-S.jpg

All good things must come to an end. Mt Rainier on our flight back to 108 deg weather in phoenix.
http://antinode.smugmug.com/Vacation/Alaska-Pub/i-93hPpqq/0/L/IMG0425m-L.jpg

Link to the rest of the pictures.
http://antinode.smugmug.com/Vacation/Alaska-Pub/24391351_4VWvsd

I could definitely get used to cruising!!!

[DHC6twinotter]

So awesome! I would love to make a trip up to AK someday. Looks amazing. I hear Vancouver is a pretty cool town.

The seats you had on the planes are my favorite spots. Sitting right behind the wings are great, and I love watching all the flaps/spoilers/ailerons.

[Crinale]

Very nice! Alaska is on my list of places to go. Love the pictures :D

[4x4mike]

Great pictures. How did the big zoom work out for you?

I love glaciers. We hiked and toured a couple in New Zealand and I was super impressed.

[4x4mike]

Our Subaru has a plate under the hood and in the driver door frame that says Mitsubishi Heavy Industries too.

[04 Rocko Taco]

Looks like MAYBE a Holland America ship? But not sure they are Mitsu Heavy's... I could be wrong.

WE did this a few years back but way more of a land/sea thing, and it was an incredible once in a lifetime trip! Maybe I should do a thread on it at some point.

EDIT: On second glace, looks like Princess Cruise lines logo on the Anniversary cake, right?

[oly884]

Awesome photos!

[paddlenbike]

Awesome, thanks for sharing! I need to make it up there.

[Robinhood4x4]

The zoom lens worked out well, although I think the optical stabilization is on the fritz. I'm not sure if it needs to be serviced or maybe the rocking motion of the ship made it wig out, but it would buzz and flutter unless I turned it off. It certainly drew a lot of comments everywhere I went. But then, there were a fair share of L lenses around too.

It seemed like I was the only one prepared for the weather as most people stood out in the driving rain in non-waterproof jackets and pants. The wife and I were toasty warm in head to toe goretex.

Some people didn't even have plastic bags for their dslr's and just tried to cover them with their jackets. I know the higher end cameras are weather resistant, but not all of them were high end cameras. The front lens of my giant lens got wet, but it didn't seem to matter too much. Nothing inside got wet and it never fogged up, despite being in 50 deg weather and 100% humidity.

Anyway, this was our first cruise ever and we really enjoyed ourselves. It certainly wasn't a relaxing vacation because we were always doing something, but it was so fun. The food and service were incredible, although the mass produced sushi was blah.

Yes, it was the Diamond Princess that left vancouver, then hit ketchikan, juneau, skagway, glacier bay NP, college fjord, then anchorage. My mom, aunt and uncle, brother and his kids went on to do the land tour also. It sounds like they had a lot of fun doing that too.