Alaska Cruise - First Excursion

This was our first official Excursion Day.

We woke up to rain and clouds.

We jumped on our assigned buses. They were very comfortable. Our driver/tour guide was a student from Logan. He was LDS (of course) and the same driver we had last night that drove us to the Salmon Bake. He said a lot of the drivers are from Utah. They train in Provo. He is the one that told us about how he and his wife live in the dry apartment (no running water) and have a gym membership so they can shower. (ick)

First we went to the :Trans-Alaska Pipeline

The 800-mile-long Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) is one of the largest pipeline systems in the world, stretching from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez, the northernmost ice-free port in North America.

 They even provided these nifty ponchos even though Fred was totally prepared with our own.

We are both stylin!! Really glad we had good rain gear and warm clothes. It was a nice change to wear sweaters. I was glad not to be on vacation where it was hot and muggy.

Isn't Fred cute! 

We got to ride this little train on the railway. It was fun. Everything was so interesting. The sound system for the entire tour was excellent. The people outside on the shoreline along the way were hooked up so we could hear them. It was really great.

 Everything was so interesting, but I don't remember may details to tell you. You will have to go and learn it for yourself.

 This is the next part of the tour: 

Gold Dredge # 8

From a ride on the Tanana Valley Railroad into the gold fields of the Interior to a tour of the mining camp and gold panning, Alaska's mining history comes alive at the Gold Dredge #8.

 Panning for Gold

I didn't want to do it, but I did.

 Here are all the workers -  very patient with everyone.

 The couple who sat across from us at this lunch we later got acquainted with while on the ship and have exchanged our info with. We hope to maybe cruise with them again. 

Riverboat Discovery

A cruise aboard an authentic sternwheeler riverboat along the Chena and Tanana Rivers offers a demonstration of a fish wheel, as well as insight into Athabascan Indian culture and the Iditarod.

This is the "training camp" of Susan Butcher's iditarod dogs. This is her husband on shore talking to us. She is the second woman to win the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in 1986, the second four-time winner in 1990, and the first to win four out of five sequential years. She is commemorated in Alaska by the Susan Butcher Day.  

We got off the riverboat here and walked around this area.

They brought in some of the Iditarod dogs so we could ask questions and get a closer look at them.

This is salmon drying,

 Bi planes are a big deal here. This is one that took off and landed. 

         The pilot was talking to us from the plane.

This is a map of our southbound journey. 

Like I said on my first post, at the moment when Fred and I were cracking up on that bus going back to the lodge, I just knew we were going to have a great time. I honestly was not that excited about the cruise to Alaska. I figured we had lived in the Pacific Northwest for 34 years and I had seen beautiful scenery with green trees and water before. When our good friends had to cancel coming along, I really dreaded the trip. I just figured it was going to be 10 days of eh. I did not want to come back. 

It was fabulous. 

We have already booked a cruise to the Panama Canal for 15 DAYS - January 2018!!!!!