ALASKA CRUISE Part 1: Seward, Valdez and Glacier Bay, Guest Post by Susan Kean

Reid Glacier, Alaska.

My friend Susan Kean and her partner George recently went on a Viking cruise in Alaska. I thank her for sharing her thoughts and excellent photos from the trip.

Our Viking ship, Orion. Though it looks large, it’s much smaller than Princess etc.

Our Viking Alaska cruise began with our arrival at the Anchorage airport on a Sunday afternoon, where we were picked up by a bus and, with the help of an entertaining driver, arrived two-and-a-half hours later in Seward, where we boarded our cruise ship, the Viking Orion 

Trees that survived great earthquake, preserved by the salt water from the tsunami.

The drive was fascinating. We saw the remains of trees that were killed and fossilized by the great earthquake in 1964. Much of this area was wiped off the map both by the ground sinking eight feet and the 30-50 foot tsunami that wiped out the towns. The recovery and resilience of the people is commended.

View of Seward  from our cabin. We are at the back of the boat!

We spent the next day in Seward. Glorious weather! 

One of the many wonderful displays at the Alaska Sealife Center, Seward.

We visited their Aquarium, the Alaska Sealife Center, where the sealife of Alaska's west coast was beautifully presented. And I couldn’t resist visiting an extraordinary fabric shop…a quilters paradise in the old town of Seward.

Susan at the Whitney Museum, Valdez.

We sailed at 4:00 p.m. to our next stop, Valdez. We were thrilled to see a bald eagle, but I gather they are very common here! In some places there are more eagles than people! 

Bald eagle.

In Valdez we had the interesting treat of three museums. First, the Whitney Museum, made up of many amazing items collected by an antique shop owner who traveled the coast of Alaska. 

The transportation system.

Good Friday, late afternoon, the 9.2 earthquake struck.

The second museum, the Valdez Museum, covered the history of the area with records of the earthquake and the recovery from the huge oil spill (March 24, 1989.) It took extraordinary work to restore the sea and shore wildlife that was hit so hard by the oil. It has mostly recovered by now. The Old Valdez Exhibit also features the history and culture of the area.

Inside an early pioneer cabin.

The next part of the trip was cruising for two days in Glacier Bay. 

Close-up of Hubbard Glacier--six miles wide and 400 feet tall!

It’s hard to understand and appreciate the splendor of it all. Generally, the glaciers are retreating and opening up new places for exploration. There is concern that if this were to continue at is current pace it would raise the sea level significantly.

We were tickled to see a full rainbow briefly from our cabin on the back of the ship

The pot of gold is lost in the ocean.

To be continued. Look for Part 2 of Susan's Alaska trip next week.