Alaska | Denali Star to Talkeetna.

Back in Alaska, it's Friday, August 25 and we're headed to Talkeetna aboard the Alaska Railroad's Denali Star. The train left Anchorage at 8:15 am; we had to be at the depot at 7:15 to check in. We stopped for quick photo in front of the historic No. 1 engine (pretty good smiles for such an early morning!)

This train offered GoldStar service - it's awesome! There was one other group in the car with us; it almost seemed like our own private train.

The ride to Talkeetna is just under three hours with one stop at Wasilla. It was a cloudy day, but the views were still spectacular.

We enjoyed breakfast in the newly decorated dining car.

our table mates

The painting behind the seats is one of a series of 16 reverse glass paintings designed and painted by Ayse Gilbert specifically for the GoldStar dining cars.

Talkeetna is ... quaint. I read somewhere that the town of Cicely (from the TV show Northern Exposure) was based on Talkeetna. If you remember Cicely, you know Talkeetna!

We enjoyed lunch and beer - finally, local Alaska beer! - at the Denali Brewpub.

After lunch, Steve and Lydia took a flight tour (Lydia blogged about it here) while the rest of us visited the museum and walked down to the Susitna River. More beautiful views! If you look closely, you can almost see Mt Denali off in the distance.

We had time for one more round of beer before heading back to the station.

The ride back to Anchorage seemed even more scenic. It also included dinner (in that same beautiful dining car).

One thing you don't see in any of my photos is a moose. I finally gave up ... unlike most of the other travelers. You'd hear "Moose" and almost everyone jumped up, camera at the ready, to see. I decided moose are even harder than whales to photograph!

We got back to Anchorage just after 8:00 pm. ...and went to bed 😊.

Happy Friday, y'all!

Alaska | Anchorage.

If it's Friday, this must be Alaska. Today's travelogue is from Thursday, August 24 - the end of the cruise and the beginning of a long weekend in Anchorage. Our ship docked dark early in Seward

and we boarded the train for Anchorage.

from the Alaska Railroad website

This was our first of three train trips on the Alaska Railroad; I can't say enough good things about the company, the service, ... and oh my goodness the views. The trip from Seward to Anchorage (via Girdwood) is about four hours and it's fully narrated.

yay for knitting

and a full-service bar

We planned to travel the Anchorage to Grandview route again on Sunday; I have more photos to share from that trip - this is just a quick taste!

We arrived in Anchorage, checked into our hotel (the Historic Anchorage Hotel - really delightful and very close to the train station), had lunch (pizza!) and then took the Trolley Tour. This was a wonderful introduction to the city and its history. Our tour guide was energetic and entertaining. Highly recommend if you're ever in Anchorage.

Anchorage is a very pretty city and it was in full bloom.

in front of city hall 

The Anchorage natives call this monument to Eisenhower (president when Alaska became a state) "Eisenhower on the Half Shell"; the flowers are the best part!

We had dinner at Tequila 61° ... great food, cold beer ... and a fun bar scene.

Then early-ish to bed so we'd be up and ready for the train to Talkeetna. Stay tuned ... next week!

Happy Friday, y'all!!

Alaska | Hubbard Glacier.

Yippee - it's Friday! In today's installment of the Alaska Travelogue, it's Wednesday, August 23. We travel to the Hubbard Glacier and celebrate my mom's birthday and our last night on the ship.

When we left off last week, leaving Sitka, the skies were blue and the air was warm. What a difference a night on the open sea makes!

6:20 am

6:40 a.m.

A little over an hour later, the water was full of bergy bits and growlers.

And by 8:00 am, we could see Hubbard Glacier. It's huge (six miles wide and up to 400 feet tall)! We were still a few miles away here.

Our ship stopped about a mile away and turned in circles to afford everyone views.

It was the chilliest time we'd had on board. I love this photo with even more knits layered over me and Lydia (those extra knits are inside the Observation Lounge and we were outside).

A view off to the left of the glacier (as the ship was turning).

One of the staff (on his third or fourth Alaska cruise) suggested I try to capture the ship and the glacier as we were leaving. It's hard to get a ship and a glacier into one photo!

It's a little easier when the ship is further away ... and you don't get as much ship.

It was also surprisingly hard to photograph the glacier. It really is blue. And there was not much contrast between the water, the glacier, the surrounding mountains and the sky. Most of the photos I've shared here were taken with my phone.

By 8:45 am, we were cruising back out of Disenchantment Bay, headed for Seward, where we would disembark early the next morning.

Despite the relatively short time we spent by the glacier, the cruise did an excellent job making it a Really Big Deal. There was a lovely spread of sandwiches and pastries, hot chocolate and mulled wine in the Observation Lounge (along with all the coffees). This was the only sight that we saw exclusively from the ship. We really appreciated that there were fewer than 400 passengers on board. Even that "crowd" left plenty of room for everyone to see.

Of course, our little group had another celebration that day - my mom's birthday. Our steward hung birthday decorations in our cabin and brought everyone a mimosa for a birthday morning toast. Mother and I had lunch together.

...and then I know we played trivia; we didn't even place in the tournament but we had so much fun! and packed. The last night on the ship was casual and - thankfully - a little warmer outside by the time we dressed for dinner. Back to our pre-dinner mirror selfie shenanigans!

For dessert, our steward ordered a birthday cake and the wait staff sang Happy Birthday.

And then we tried (and tried and tried) to get some group photos. These are my favorites of all of us, Steve & Lydia and Karen & Ron.

Our cruise was almost over, but not our Alaska trip. Stay tuned - I have a few more days to share.

And yay! This is the 10th post for NaBloPoMo (which means we're one-third of the way through). I'll be back tomorrow with a cocktail (assuming this evening's taste testing goes as planned). Happy Friday!

Alaska | Sitka.

Yay! It's Friday ... which means another installment from the Alaska Travelogue. Today we're going to travel back to Sitka, on August 22.

It was another drizzly morning when we made our way into the harbor.

This was the only port where we didn't dock; the harbor isn't big enough. That also means many of the big cruise ships don't visit, so the town has a different vibe. Tourism is definitely still a major part of the economy, but it also seems more "normal".

It's also incredibly picturesque. Here's the harbor looking out from where our tender docked.

Lydia, Steve and I opted for the Art Walking Tour. We started at this little gallery (I picked up a slim volume of poetry, which I'll be sharing more of ... later this month)

and then visited Wild Arts Gallery & Glass Studio. Each of us got to pull our own glass - which was just as hard as it looks. But so very fun. I left my piece with Michelle (pictured top left below), the studio owner and glass designer extraordinaire, to turn into a custom piece. She promised delivery before Christmas; I can't wait to see (and share)!

We visited a few more galleries with the tour and then set out on our own. We walked further into town, passing St. Michael's Cathedral

and then on to the Baranov Totem Pole.

After lunch, we walked back through town to the National Historic Park to see the totem poles. Thankfully, the weather started to clear and it was a lovely walk.

looking back toward town

The totem poles were totally worth the walk.

...as was the opportunity to dip my toes into the ocean!

#fromwhereIstand

We had a nice view of the ship, too.

By the time we were back on board, the skies had cleared. I sat out on our terrace and enjoyed this view and a FaceTime call with Marc (and Holly).

It was a beautiful afternoon and evening as we set sail...

... for Hubbard Glacier.

I'll be back tomorrow (and the next day ... and the next 25 days after that 😉) with a Saturday treat.

Wishing you a wonderful Friday!