Frank & Gloria's Place Sitka

Our Cruise to Alaska

A trip of surprises

Planning was the most fun.
About our cruise to Alaska round trip from Seattle, WA to Juneau, Glacier
Bay, Sitka, Ketchikan, and Victoria, BC, Canada.

We picked up Diane & Jay Petross in Fruitland, ID. Drove to Seattle,
WA and checked in to the Quality Inn near the Seattle Center. Went
out to the Space Needle and had a good view, nice clear weather.
Looked at prices for dinner and ...

... native cultures.

Sealing Cove was next to the RV parking lot so we enjoyed walking the docks and talking to the fishing guides; even saw a sea lion one evening. Some huge yachts in Crescent Harbor.

There are lots of stores to browse since the cruise ships stop here. The art in the Devilfish Gallery, which is owned by Tommy Joseph, was fabulous.

... br>We walked up Castle Hill which was the site of the original fort when Sitka was first settled by the Russians. Sikta was the site of the handover between the Russians and the Americans when Alaska was sold to the US.

It was also possibly the site where Andy left his purchase when he stopped to take a picture. He only remembered when we were on the tender ship heading back to the ship. We returned on the tender back to Sitka but by ...

... needed! I will also say that the masseuse was incredibly skilled. It was probably one of the best massages I've ever had, and Shannon had a similar review of hers. After the massages, we returned to the lodge. Philip, the owner, and everyone at the lodge was incredibly friendly. Turns out, the lodge will sleep as many as 20, with a full-time resident on-island staff of about seven. This included seven females with room-freshening ...

Today we woke up late and took our flight to Sitka. It was mostly cloudy on the trip up, but as we descended there were some breaks in the clouds and I got a few pictures from the air. Upon arrival, the lodge driver, Shannon, and Stan greeted us. We also met the others who would be fishing with us over the three days, Forrest, Dave, and Dottie. Mark, a friend of Stan's we had met at the wedding last year ...

... this that we bought a tent canopy for our camper, and here we perfected the technique of detaching and reattaching it as we explored the city. On this day we headed for the Sitka National Historical Park, which does an excellent job of bringing Sitka's nature, history, and Tlingit culture together. In one arm of their visitor center they provide studios for native artists to work, and we met one of them today: Tommy Joseph, Sitka's preeminent wood ...

... compartment in the back of my rucksack. Unfortunately it rained for most of the day and by the time we returned to the hotel a couple of escapee pieces of chewing gum had dissolved somewhat in the bottom of the bag. Tim, the seasoned campaigner that he was, didn't complain in the slightest as his tin-foil constitution enabled him to deal with the extreme damp environment. I duly washed the bag out and left it ...

... Arkhangelsk in 1841. One of his fortés was a strong interest in native culture resulting in missionary work which incorporated Native clergy and way of life. He was an extraordinary man conversant in several languages, a seasoned frontier traveler, a craftsman, a gifted educator, and a versatile intellectual. If there was any doubt about that, he was eventually appointed Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna, the highest office of the Russian Orthodox Church. The final ...

... to figure some stuff out. I don't have much planned in terms of tours or additional tickets other places. I was thinking that I would stay in Southern and Eastern Africa. I have a couple of contacts in Tanzania, Namibia, and Kenya. I was hoping to play it by ear and ask others what places they enjoyed. Maybe I could find a group of travelers to travel with for a couple weeks. I know it doesn't sound like I have much of a plan but that was kind of the idea.

... by the glacier. This truly was a back to nature adventure and after a quick paddle around the lake, it was time to approach the glacier face. The size of the Davidson glacier face is difficult to determine and to get the proper scale of how large it really is, you must canoe right up to it (and this was one of the smaller glaciers I saw). Icebergs as big as a bus floated near me in Davidson Lake and knowing they broke off the face recently made me ...