(view on the map)

We spent about 24 hours in Vancouver, BC, before getting on our cruise ship to head up the Alaskan coast. We spent Saturday morning exploring the artsy stores and farmers' market in Granville Island.

(view on the map)

We took a water taxi from Granville Island to Yaletown and passed a cute house-boat neighborhood along the way.

(view on the map)

This was the lovely boutique hotel where we spent our 1 night in Vancouver. It was in a great location near the shops of Robson Street.

(view on the map)

Gastown was a really cute neighborhood we passed through on our way to the cruise ship. I would have loved to spend more time wandering around there!

(view on the map)

This was where our cruise ship, the Summit from Celebrity Cruises, was originally docked. We boarded Saturday afternoon and there was a gorgeous sunset as the ship left Vancouver heading north.

(view on the map)

Our first full day on the ship was spent cruising north through the Inside Passage in southeastern Alaska. The mountainous shoreline was gorgeous, and we saw a several humpback whales throughout the day.

(view on the map)

We took a float plane from Juneau airport to go fly-out fly fishing for salmon. The little sea plane barely fit the 7 of us with all of our equipment!

(view on the map)

After walking around the shore from Swanson Harbor, we hiked along a bear trail up the creek to do some fly fishing. There were five of us fishing, and within about ten minutes we had each caught a big Pink Salmon, aka Humpy Hookers! The creek was full of salmon, who had swum upstream to their birthplace (yes, salmon really do remember exactly where they were born) to spawn. We probably caught over 100 fish among the five of us over a three hour period. It was incredible! Our guide was from Bear Creek Outfitters, and he was great. Thanks again, Jesse!

(view on the map)

Our cruise ship's first port of call was Juneau, where we arrived about 40 hours after leaving Vancouver, BC. Disembarking in Juneau was the first time we ever set foot on land in the nation's largest state -- very exciting!

(view on the map)

We were nearing Juneau late-morning, and after a day and a half of seeing nothing but water and mountains and trees, we started seeing signs of human life.

(view on the map)

We came to Skagway after Juneau and had a full day to enjoy the cute town center, a hike up a nearby mountain (or at least part of it!), and a ride on the White Pass Scenic Railroad, which took us along the trail the goldrushers took to the Klondike region of Canada back in the 19th century.

(view on the map)

Skagway was a cute old mining town, albeit a rather touristy one these days. They even had Starbucks coffee, believe it or not!

(view on the map)

Our cruise ship had to anchor out in the bay and "tender" in to shore in Sitka.

(view on the map)

Our ship had to anchor out in the bay at Hoonah and we took "tender" boats in to shore. There was an old cannery that was restored to be a cultural center for the town, with shops, a museum, a cafe, and a theater for traditional Tlingit dance performances (which my mom even got a chance to participate in).

(view on the map)

We woke up our last full day on the cruise to find ourselves in the middle of Glacier Bay National Park (http://www.nps.gov/glba/) -- surrounded by mountains and ancient glaciers. Hubbard Glacier was the highlight. It's something like 6 miles wide, 90 miles long, and 10 stories tall...and absolutely amazing!

(view on the map)

We took a short hike up a small mountain above Skagway, and it was actually warm enough that day for us to be sweating in our t-shirts!

(view on the map)

We rode the White Pass Scenic Railway along the route taken by gold rushers on their way to the Klondike in the 19th century. Along the way, we passed over what was for a long time the tallest cantilevered bridge in the world -- and it was rather frightening!

(view on the map)

Sitka was a Russian fur trading post before it was an American town, and the Russian influence in local architecture and culture can still be seen.

(view on the map)

We went sea kayaking in a cove across the bay from Sitka, and we saw starfish and jellyfish (who knew?) in addition to hundreds of salmon jumping out of the water -- practicing their belly flops for their sometimes tough swim upstream to spawn. There were also some really cute houseboats tucked away throughout the cove.

(view on the map)

We went out with a tour group to a platform along a river where bears often come to feed in hopes of seeing at least one of the many bears that inhabit the Hoonah Island. We were quite disappointed to not see any at all!

(view on the map)

This was our final port of call and where we disembarked the cruise ship. We pulled into the port as the sun was rising and the fishing boats were headed out to sea. It was really lovely!

(view on the map)

Hope, AK, consists of little more than a town post office and an old museum chronicling the history of this goldrush town. A collection of buildings were relocated from the old miners' camp of Sunrise, AK, about 15 miles away and have been restored on the museum's property. The husband and wife who run the museum were a wealth of knowledge about the area's history.

(view on the map)

The 2.5 mile tunnel to Whittier (and the only access to to town other than via boat in Prince Edward Sound) is the longest railroad / highway tunnel in North America! There is a stop light at either end and since the tunnel is only one lane wide, traffic can only go in or out of the town once every half hour or hour, depending on the time of day.

(view on the map)

Turnagain Arm is the body of water that stretches eastward in from Chickaloon Bay. It experiences extreme tides and is hard for boats to navigate (hence the name). We stopped at one point along the way to watch a large pod of Beluga whales pass by only about 25 feet from our shore, which was really neat.

(view on the map)

Bird Creek is popular for both fishermen and Grizzly bears, who have become increasingly brave recently as they realize that it's a lot easier to eat fish that the fishermen have caught than it is to fish themselves! When we stopped by for a brief visit we didn't see any Grizzlies, but there was a pretty full rainbow overhead.

(view on the map)

Our 7-day cruise was on board the Summit, which was a beautiful 5-year-old ship. Conde Nast Traveler recently rated the Summit as one of the top 3 cruise ships in the world and the #1 ship for service and staff friendlines! And I believe it, because not only were the ship's ammenities impressive, but every staff member on board, from our stateroom attendant to our waiter to my masseuse, was friendly and helpful at all times!

(view on the map)

Talkeetna was an adorable and tiny little town a bit south of the entrance to Denali National Park & Preserve. The town center consists of about 3 blocks with restaurants, outdoor adventure centers (e.g. white water rafting trips), and some shops. As a side note, Talkeetna was featured in the show "Northern Exposure" -- the town where a moose happened to walk down the middle of the street while they were filming on day!

(view on the map)

On our way driving from Anchorage to Talkeetna, we stopped at Alaska Bush Floatplane to admire the view and check out their packages. They had a cute little log cabin and a separate big deck overlooking Fish Lake, where they have several floatplanes for trips over to Mt. Denali and the Alaska Range. The four of us piled in a tiny floatplane with our pilot and took off for an hour-long ride over the glaciers and mountain range.

(view on the map)

In our little 5-seater floatplane, we flew over the Alaska Range and Mt. Denali, the tallest peak in North America at 20,320 feet. The mountains are so huge and so tall that with nothing but rock and snow below you, it's very hard to have any sense of scale at all. At one point, when we were looking at the deep snowdrifts on some of the mountains, we supposed that they might be as much as 100 feet deep. But our pilot corrected us and said that they're actually more like 1/4 mile deep -- we were just too far away still to tell, even though we thought we were within a couple hundred yards of the side of the mountain! The mountains and glaciers below us were truly awe inspiring!

(view on the map)

They do everything big in Alaska! We saw a 73-lb. cabbage ("Bruce" was his name) and a 1019-lb. pumpkin (a new state record), among all sorts of other fun things.

(view on the map)

We didn't stay here, but we did stop by to look around and take some photos. The lodge itself was lovely, but the views of Mt. Denali and the Alaska Range in the distance were even prettier!

(view on the map)

We stayed at a hotel in downtown Anchorage, where we could walk to the shops and restaurants along 4th, 5th, and 6th Avenues.

(view on the map)

We really enjoyed this restaurant and brewery. They have cool t-shirts, too!

(view on the map)

We ate dinner here our first night in Anchorage and everything was delicious.