Saturday, 20 June 2015 - Whittier to Anchorage

After a night of no sleep, I got out of bed around 6:00. We were leaving the ship and heading to Whittier and Anchorage this morning. Our cruise was over and we started on the land part of the trip. Pro tip: find out when you book a cruise where the luggage is off loaded before passenger disembarkation. We were quite fortunate? to have a room right below the gangway to shore. All night long the luggage was taken down and the metal clanging and ship shaking kept this light sleeper awake. It will be an early night tonight.

We docked in Whittier around midnight and at 8:05 left the ship for our trip to Anchorage. It was about an hour by coach, but we made a couple of stops on the way. In transit we traveled through a 2.5 mile tunnel that was one-way only. There were 8 safe places in the tunnel in case of emergency. Only about 55 people can transit the tunnel at one time because that is what the safe houses can accommodate.

Our first stop was Portage Lake, another glacier fed lake. Again, such a breathtaking vista.

 

Our second stop was the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. It is a place for helping animals recover and then be reintroduced into the wild. Today's weather was mild, but cloudy. Keeping watch was this majestic eagle.

There were moose, caribou, muskoxen, a couple of lynx and some bears - We finally found us a bear, even though they weren't in the wild.

We arrived in Anchorage a bit after noon. After checking our hand luggage at the Princess desk in the Visitor's Center. Our timing was right to be able to get on an Anchorage City Trolley tour. It was an hour long ride through the city that gave some history and insight into what keeps Anchorage going as the largest city in Alaska. A large part of the population here have airplanes and slips are as common as leasing parking places in other cities. The number of small aircraft was pretty impressive and they even have the right of way. The oil industry created quite a boom in the state's economy and it continues today. There is no state income tax or sales tax.

 

After the Good Friday, 1964 earthquake most of the downtown was destroyed. When buildings were rebuilt, a number of them were painted. This one shows the whales that are native to the area.

We checked into our hotel for the night - the Captain Cook. It was a very comfortable room, spacious, clean, and with cable and Internet. Dinner at Fletchers, a pub, in the hotel completed a very even paced and enjoyable day, despite the massive Princess confusion at hotel check-in.

 

Bucs lose again in a near perfect game for the Nationals. Need to get back on the winning track!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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