The Very Last Alaskan Vacation Page

Just when you thought you had seen the last of my Alaskan vacation, I ran across some ephemera that was dying to be added to a page! So here you will see our room keys, a token to our favorite brewery in Talkeetna and my coffee card! I am really finished now with our Alaskan vacation! Thanks everyone for following along on the blog!

Final Cruise Ship Photos

I love buying the photos from the ship's photographer! A great reminder of where you have been on the cruise. What I have to remember about my picture in the large one is that I had been traveling almost 12-hours when it was taken LOL! Now I'm really ready to put all the pages in an album! Yeah!!!!

Let's Go Home

Our Alaskan Adventure has come to an end! What a great time we had with our friends. We flew, we rode a bus, we cruised and we took a train trip! Another fantastic vacation. We flew out of the Anchorage Airport to Seattle. We spent one night in Seattle, not enough time to do anything other than dinner close to the hotel. I am looking forward to our next big vacation!

Scenes of Talkeetna

A few photos of some of the local downtown scenery. The cabin was an actual cabin that belonged to a group of German bachelors. I know I wouldn't want to live there....or visit LOL back in the day. The flowers in the town (and everywhere we went) were absolutely beautiful! Overall, Talkeetna was just a fun little town to visit with great friends.

Talkeetna Pub

While we were staying at the McKinley Lodge, we took a day trip to Talkeetna. Had lunch at this great pub! This is probably one of our most favorite things to do with friends while on vacation! Finding a great little pub with tasty food and cold beer!

Denali National Park

We took a bus from the lodge to the Visitor Center for a short film about Denali National Park and then into the park. Saw some more great scenery, heard stories about the land from an interesting native Alaskan. It was a cold day there.....the bus driver had hot chocolate for us while we listened to the speaker.

Relaxing at the Lodge

The main lodge was very relaxing. Big couches, big fireplace, big tables and it's all for us to enjoy! The next day we will be heading into Denali National Park!

Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge

We spent one night at the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge. In the evening (yes, it's evening though light outside), we headed out to find someplace to have dinner. We were so use to just heading over to our favorite dining spot on the ship! It was nice to do some walking after being on the train for over eight hours.

Onward to Denali!!!

I love how one of the photos shows the shadow of the train! If you look closely at the other photo, there is a moose there! I had to label it because years from now I don't think anyone would be able to figure that out! Ha Ha!!! I do believe that Ron spotted that moose and shouted out to everyone in our car (you were suppose to do that!).

The train ride continues!

Just when we thought we were really making good speed toward Denali, the train came to a stop! And the stop was almost two-hours. It seems that a passenger on the train going towards Whittier, became ill. That train needed to get those passengers to the cruise ship, so they left that passenger with us and we had to wait for the medi-helicopter to come and pick her up! It was becoming a little uncomfortable waiting.....but what could we do? LOL! Anyway, the train crew decided to treat everyone to champagne and cookies!

Beautiful Scenery

Wow, I can't believe how many photos I have of the Alaskan countryside. I'm on a countdown to the end of the trip. Since I love car rides, this train ride was just ideal. You just wish you could just stop the train, get off and explore!

Train Ride

Like I said, the train was fun and long! And of course, you always fall asleep on long rides. As you can see from the other photo, we weren't the only ones sleeping! Next up will be some shots of the scenery from the train. I better start working on those pages! Should be finished with Alaska later this week!

On the Train

Here we are! Getting ready to set off on an eight-hour train trip to Denali. The windows in the train allowed for great views of the countryside. We were able to play cards, have refreshments and just visit. We had lunch in the dining car on the lower level of the car. On this trip, we flew, cruised and traveled by train! What a great vacation!

End of the Cruise

We disembarked in Whittier, Alaska. The Sapphire Princess provided us with a fantastic experience. When we arrived in Whitter, it was early, a little drizzly and it could have been a sad day but our next leg of our trip was just getting ready to begin! From Whittier, we boarded the train to Denali Wilderness Park!

Supper Time!!!

Here we are at our favorite place to eat on the ship! Great company, great service and lots of great food! Who could ask for more? I think it's probably Roy!! Ha Ha! I wish we could do this every night!

Goodbye to Skagway

Skagway is now behind us! I loved the mountain scenery, the history of the Klondike Highway and of the town! I loved the Skagway Brewing Co. (even though Sharon and I look a little tired)! What a great day with great friends!

Streets of Skagway

Here are a couple of photos of the view of the streets of Skagway. The building that Ron, Roy and I are standing in front of has a false facade. This was a Brotherhood Hall in its heyday! Lots of great shopping in this town also!

Sapphire Princess

You don't realize how large the ship is until you stand right next to it. We seemed to be closer to it in the Skagway port than any of the others. It was a great ship and I loved the room we had. We had connecting balconies with the Horaceks and the Sharps....lots of good laughs were had on the Sapphire Princess. Had to post the one of Melanie with my layout. She wants to go on vacation too!

Skagway

Our next stop is Skagway! I love having my photo taken by the ships photographers! Makes it so much easier to remember where you are. On the next page, you will see Sheryl Bizzell and her family. I knew she was on the NCL ship and they were hitting the same ports as us everyday. But, with four ships in town I didn't think we would run into each other. So, I was so pleasantly surprised to bump into her! We had just come out of the first shop of the day and right in front of Starbucks someone grabs my arm and it's Sheryl!!!! Steve took a picture of us and one of Sheryl's family. I wonder who from work/hometown I will see on my next vacation!

More of Mount Roberts

After we got off the tram, we walked on some of the trails. If you notice the picture of the tree trunk, there is a carving in it. So many people just walked past it and didn't even notice it. It was amazing! It was so peaceful up there. The sky was so blue. I'm glad we took the tram! This was a little excursion we didn't plan through the ship.