ALASKA... | FindPenguins

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Trip start
August 29, 2024
ALASKA...Traveler
Day 1...Seattle, Washington
August 29, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 68 °F
Made it to Seattle. We are spending the day exploring Bainbridge Island and maybe some local music later
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ALASKA...Traveler
Day 2: Pikes Place Market
August 30, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 64 °F
Started with an Early Morning food tour of Pikes Place Market. Yes, we saw them throwing fish!!! Tasted so many local food from local vendors. Chocolate, coffee, cheesecake, taco, salmon, tea, biscuits, gelato ... you get the idea!!Read more
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ALASKA...Traveler
Day 2, continued
August 30, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 73 °F
Finished our day walking to the Space needle and stopping at any cool "beverage " place along the way!

Space needle was a must. It was pretty creepy on the rotating glass floor at the top.

We ate seafood on the pier and are ready to tuck in for our early flight to Vancouver BC tomorrow!Read more
TravelerMust talk when you get home. Just left Alaska!
8/31/24Reply
TravelerIn person!
9/1/24Reply
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ALASKA...Traveler
Day 3. Vancouver BC
August 31, 2024 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 79 °F
Early flight to Vancouver. We met another couple on our flight who is going on our cruise and also loves beer! See you soon!

We did a walking food tour of Gastown, which is a pedestrian only area near the water. Good food and fun history. It was an old logging town that burnt to the ground and was rebuilt!

We met up with our travel friends, Jim and Cathy Klink. Spent the rest of the day catching up, drinking and eating.Read more
Traveleryes, that was me eating sushi
9/1/24Reply
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ALASKA...Traveler
Day 4...finally heading to Alaska!!
September 1, 2024, Coastal Waters Of Southeast Alaska And British Columbia ⋅ ⛅ 68 °F
Got on our cruise ship today. Holland American Noordam. Very efficient, but long anyway. Of course, I got tagged at every security spot... kind of...

What a beautiful day to set out to sea. We have seen many whales already, for free!!! No shore excursion necessary!!

We are enjoying the food, the people, and the entertainment!Read more
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ALASKA...Traveler
DAY 5??...CRUISE ALL DAY!
September 3, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 61 °F
This was a day at sea, so not much going on. We explored the ship, found the bars and played games. Brian did the polar bear plunge...in the 85° pool, but had to stand outside and take the polar bear pledge!!! We had a fabulous dinner and enjoyed the dual piano bar, as usual.Read more
Traveler1. we didn't know it was 85 deg. 2. they tossed a few buckets of ice in right before the plunge. ok, we were so cold from the pledge, many of us jumped back in to warm up
9/3/24Reply
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ALASKA...Traveler
Day 6...Ketchikan
September 3, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 63 °F
No rain and sunny. What a blessing. Ketchikan only has about 65 days a year when it does NOT rain. They get an average rain fall of more than 12 feet a year. We went on a wildlife quest. Saw salmon swimming upstream. Saw a bald eagle come from the trees and grab a fish from the water. Then we were indulged in an All you can eat Dungeness crab lunch...OMG...

There was a contest to see which table could build the tallest tower ("freestanding, crab shell on top"). Brian's decades in DI finally paid off, as we were 18 inches taller than the 2nd tallest tower!

We spent the day on board playing trivia...we won the 70's music trivia!!!

We are headed out to Juneau tomorrow. ... See you soon. Oh, and Brian made more travel beer friends!!Read more
TravelerYummy!
9/5/24Reply
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ALASKA...Traveler
Day 7...Juneau
September 4, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 54 °F
Juneau was great. We went on a 4 hour whale watch, and it was awesome. We saw humpback whales everywhere! Many tails as they dove down deeper. Even saw one whale breach and go airborne!!!

Around here, bald eagles sit on light post as casual as can be!!!

We made it back to town, where we went to the Red Dog Saloon and drank Duck Farts! So good! May be a new staple at our house! Went to Alaskan Brewing! And two more breweries... but lost count. Yes, Brian made beer friends again. Great lamb dinner on board and music. Early morning tomorrow....Read more
TravelerMy favorite
9/8/24Reply
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ALASKA...Traveler
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Day 8...Skagway
September 5, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 52 °F
What a cute town! Old west style and well kept. Our big adventure got cancelled because of high winds, but we were able to get with the sled dogs and musher camp. Literally, families send their Musher dogs to "summer camp" they train by pulling tourists in wheeled sleds along dirt trails. Very cool to experience this.

We then got to hold 1 week old puppies and play with 14 week old pups.

Settled in again with piano bar music. Tomorrow we cruise Glacier Bay.Read more
Traveler So jealous!
9/7/24Reply
Traveler Same pic!
9/8/24Reply
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ALASKA...Traveler
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Day 9...Glacier Bay
September 6, 2024 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 45 °F
Day at Sea. Cruised into Glacier Bay National Park. It was beautiful despite the rain and clouds. The bow of the ship was open for us to view when we approached the glaciers. They are very large!!! They served Dutch pea soup on the bow to enjoy while we watched. Very very windy!!!! Because of the very windy and rainy conditions, our afternoon and evening on the ship was VERY, very rocky. The dancers were canceled and replaced with the stand-up comic. The pool on the deck became a wave pool, sloshing over the sides each time. We continued our streak of getting the coffee of the day, the coffee alcohol of the day, and the cocktail of the day! Tomorrow is another day at Sea. Maybe the ship will rock me to sleep tonight!!!Read more
Traveler Wow!
9/7/24Reply
TravelerWe were at Glacier Bay back in the 80’s. I would love to compare pictures to see how it has changed.
9/8/24Reply
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ALASKA...Traveler
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Day 9...at Sea. College Fjord
September 7, 2024, Gulf of Alaska ⋅ ☁️ 48 °F
Wow! The seas settled this morning. The rain stopped. The sun even tried to come out. We had a relaxing day playing games and listening to live music.
The glaciers were great! Here are a few photos to show the beauty.
Tomorrow, we leave the cruise ship and start our week on land!Read more
TravelerVery cool!
9/8/24Reply
Yummy! [Sarah]
9/9/24Reply
Traveler Beautiful!
9/11/24Reply
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ALASKA...Traveler
on the way to Denali!
September 11, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 50 °F
Back after a few days' hiatus. Wed was train to Denali. 8 hrs in a glass topped viewing car. Some pics, but the one that's just green trees next to the train represents the most common view... got in with EVERYONE else, so scrambled to find dinner, then early bedtime since the Denali tour is 6am ThursRead more
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ALASKA...Traveler
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DENALI!
September 12, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 48 °F
As most of you know, Denali (formerly Mt McKinley) is the highest peak in North America (20,310 ft). "Denali" is Athabaskan for "the tall one." On the bus at 6:30, then we travel 43 miles into the park. Mountains, rivers, valleys galore, but pretty much everyone was hoping to see "big" wildlife (moose, bear, caribou...) and Denali itself.

We saw a female moose almost as soon as we entered, so hopes were high for a good wildlife day. This was followed by: Spruce Grouse, Ground Squirrels, Ptarmigans (Alaska's state bird) and a couple Dall Sheep way up one of the hills. The wildlife highlight came about 3/4 through the tour when a Bull Moose appeared. and stayed close for 10 mins or so! We saw Denali twice, one from 65 miles away (blue circle in that mtn pic) and again from 50 miles (red circle). Up this afternoon: flight tour to the mountain!

Final pic is where the early summer wild fire was-just behind where our tour is staying.Read more
Traveler Bullwinkle!!
9/13/24Reply
Traveler😀 there were squirrels as well
9/13/24Reply
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ALASKA...Traveler
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Denali by air
September 13, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 43 °F
So, yesterday's planned flight got postponed to this morn. No way to see Denali, so took a chance on today. Great decision! Views all along the flight, despite the low clouds and light rain when we took off, were spectacular! Very clear the whole way and Denali (and really that whole area) were breathtaking. Words don't do it justice, so just look at the pics.Read more
Traveler Wow!
9/13/24Reply
TravelerAwesome views!
9/13/24Reply
TravelerSpectacular!
9/13/24Reply
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ALASKA...Traveler
Fairbanks
September 14, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 57 °F
Today was filled with Tour activities. Started at the Alaskan Pipeline (note: Brian's 1st job in 1981 was working at Sohio working on pipeline issues. 43 years later, he saw it in person). Then the group panned for gold ($10 richer now!).

After lunch was a riverboat tour on the Chena River, where we saw a dog sled camp and a mock up of a native Athabaskan village, with reindeer! At the dock, we got to "Experience Alaska at 40 below. " Much colder than the 85 deg Polar Bear Plunge on the cruise ship!Read more
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ALASKA...Traveler
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Aurora Borealis/Fairbanks
September 15, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 43 °F
Many hotels in Alaska will give you a "wake-up call" if the Northern Lights are visible. After several nights of sound sleep (ie, no call), it happened last night about 10:30pm! The lights are often easier to see through your camera than with your naked eyes. My eyes saw a pale gray streak, while my camera caught the green you see in the pics. They didn't last that long, maybe 30 minutes tops (not sure if they came back later). Flying home tonight...wonder if they'll be visible from the plane...Read more
Traveler Amazing!
9/15/24Reply
Traveler So very cool!
9/19/24Reply
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Trip end
September 16, 2024