Picture coutesy of Casino Pays
Note: On all pictures a larger image is available by clicking on the picture itself.
The story of this trip begins in 2003 in Montreal. At the Global Interactive Gaming Summit and Expo I entered a free drawing at the booth of Casino Pays. Having never won anything for free of much value I didn't expect much but was about the first one back at the booth at the appointed drawing time. There were only about 100 entries so my odds were not bad. After more people showed up they emptied the box of entry forms and the pictured showgirl picked one...MINE!!!
The drawing was actually for a Caribbean cruise but I asked to switch to Alaska. I've been to the Bahamas already and was not very impressed with it. However we already had a vacation to Hawaii planned that summer and my wife was low on vacation days so we had to wait until the next Alaska cruising season in 2004. Finally on June 1 we flew from Las Vegas to Vancouver on Alaska Airlines.
We stayed downtown and saw as much as we could our several waking hours in the city. The picture below is of the Sam Kee building the skinniest building in the world according to the Guinness Book of Records. It touches but is separate from a larger building on the left.
This is our cruise ship, the Carnival Spirit, as seen from the cruise ship terminal.
This is the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, said to be the most authentic Chinese garden outside of China. It was very small but what was there seemed quite nice.
In the afternoon it was time to board the cruise ship. After standing in one line after another we finally were registered, cleared through U.S. customs, and on board. Here is a picture of our room, which was bigger than I thought it would be, and cleaned nicely twice a day. The maid would often fold towels in the shape of animals, and was very good at it.
As I was warned by Jean Scott, the "Queen of Comps", there would be some formal nights. So I lugged along my one and only sport coat but refused a tie was going too far. Here we are waiting on deck for them to open the doors. The first night at sea was the "Captain's Dinner" and the second to last night was the "Gala Dinner." All other dinners were more casual. The food was not much different on the formal nights, but it was pretty good every night. Be warned all drinks except water and ice tea cost extra.
The second day was entirely at sea. We had a ways to go to get from Vancouver to our first port of Ketchikan. During this day I played often with my new toy, a color GPS. At all times I knew exactly were I was down to the square yard and could zoom in and out of maps of the area. However the television also had a channel for exactly this kind of thing, so bringing the GPS was mostly unnecessary. Early in the morning we arrived into Ketchikan. I woke up early very to get my first look at Alaska.
Ketchikan was, like all of Alaska I saw, scenic beyond words. However the downtown area was very tourist oriented. We were not the only cruise ship in town and the city was overwhelmed with people coming off of the ships like ants out of an anthill that somebody poked with a stick. With Alaska crossed off my list I only have eight more states to go.
While in Ketchikan Onalisa and I climbed Deer Mountain. This is a 2.5 mile trail with over 3000 feet of elevation gain. We got about 95% of the way to the top but the peak was covered with snow and steep, so we played it safe and turned around after negotiating one big snow field. Note to Lonely Planet, your book gives bad directions on the location of the trailhead. This picture was taken about half way up.
This is Creek Street, home to the former "Good Time Girls" of Ketchikan while the city was in its prime.
Go to part 2.