Into the Heart of Alaska

INTO THE HEART OF ALASKA

I love Alaska, and have had the pleasure of visiting it on nine different cruise ships so I could rate them with regard to price, ports of call, entertainment, and which are best suited for families.

Discovering Alaska by sea is just half of the adventure. It is in the heartland of the state that you will find lush forests, meadows brimming with wildflowers, rugged snowcapped mountains flanked by miles of open tundra and an abundance of wildlife that can only be found in the world’s untamed places. To explore the best of Alaska’s dramatic coastline and wild interior, we recommend a cruise tour to Alaska’s heartland.

So what exactly is a cruise tour? Also known as the ultimate Alaska experience, a cruise tour is a holiday that combines a three, four or seven night cruise with a three to twelve night land itinerary. The combination allows you to see the mighty shoreline, visit historic towns, and explore the untamed heart of Alaska and Canada.

Each of the cruise tours travel to a different one of Alaska and Canada’s amazing parks and reserves. There are several to choose from. By no means can you see it all, but nothing compares to having a relaxing day surrounded by unparalleled beauty or filled with flight seeing, hiking, river rafting, or fishing. I have even tried dog sledding a couple of times. My husband Roy jumps at the chance of visiting Alaska. He goes fishing from several ports and has the salmon smoked, cut into portions, and shipped home packed in ice. Halibut is also a good catch. This is a marvelous destination for a group of men to go on a fishing adventure together. There are some fantastic fishing lodges to choose from both in Alaska and Western Canada.

The cruises sail the Inland passage between May and October, and I love to see the hot pink fireweed covering the hillsides and the soft richness of the night sky. It is very calm sailing thru the inland passage, so people need not be afraid of being sea sick.

I love to see the moose and elk grazing on the rich fields and hundreds of eagles as we go on our journey north. I’ve done float plane and helicopter excursions into the interior, and landed on glaciers, and lakes. I am a birder, and I am always thrilled to see puffins, as well as lots of Orcas.

Vancouver, British Columbia, is the starting point for most of the cruises. I recommend you staying a few days in this delightful town, lots to see and do, and even go across to Vancouver Island for a visit. I also like an excuse to go to Butchart Gardens. They also have a cruise sailing from San Francisco to Alaska so if you don’t want to fly, this is a perfect trip for you. There are also sailings to Hawaii and Mexico out of San Francisco. Perfect holiday for people on walkers or wheelchairs. You can also join a cruise from Seattle, which is also a lovely town to spend a few days in before getting on board. Go up there on the train, which is a lovely overnight experience.

Some of the historic towns which the ships dock at are Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Sitka, Petersburg, Seward and all are worth visiting. I love the train trip from Skagway to the Canadian border. The land itinerary can cover Anchorage, Fairbanks, Eagle, Dawson, Whitehorse and Denali National Park. A wonderful experience is to take the train from Anchorage to see Denali National Park. Most of these places have not changed in 100 years. You have to be a real survivor to live in Alaska. On one trip I met with the President of the Juneau Garden Club and she drove me around to see several outstanding gardens of their members. I complain about squirrels in my Los Altos garden but it is nothing compared to the tales of having huge bears climb over fences and up trees to eat their apples and judging by the number of broken branches, it happens regularly.

I was told by one of the Alaska Tourism Board executives that because of Global Warming, the glaciers of Alaska are melting fast. When you see photographs taken over the last 100 years , you can see the rapid melting and big differences in how they look today. Seeing the Hubbard Glacier you stand in awe at Alaska’s most massive tidewater glacier. It runs for 76 miles.

The Tracy Arm and College Fjords are both surrounded with glaciers, and you see sixteen of them all names after Ivy league colleges when they were discovered in l899. In

Glacier Bay National Park is wonderful to watch a huge chunk of ice split off a glacier and crash into the sea. The sound is like thunder. The impact shoots water hundreds of feet into the air. You hold your breath as you catch the moment on film, then you wait for it all to happen again. Glacier Bay has more actively calving glaciers than anywhere else in the world.

Alaska is a great place to buy art work. One of my treasured possessions is a very large framed photo of the Northern Lights which I bought in Anchorage on one trip. They shipped it to my office. If you are interested in seeing the Northern Lights, Fairbanks is the place to go January to March for spectacular viewing.

Maureen Jones

All Horizons Travel/Frosch

825 Santa Cruz Ave

Menlo Park, CA 94025

650-961-2340 direct

www.AHTInfo@Frosch.com

www.froschvacations.com