- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
Let me just start off by saying I'm not a fan of cruises, but that's how we started our Alaskan vacation this year and honestly, it's not a bad way to see the Inside Passage. We were able to catch a handful of amazing locations easily and quickly, then transition to alternative methods of transportation. I mentioned to Scott @ID Bronco that he saw a greater variety of animals than we did in his Glacier NP thread and he requested seeing more of our trip, so you can blame him for this thread.
Thia was a family vacation for my wifes side of the family. We flew into Victoria, BC and boarded the ship in the afternoon... the first full day was a sea day, but the scenery traveling was still pretty impressive. By the morning of the 2nd day the ship was in port at Ketchikan. We had a very early fishing booking and as we left the boat, the weather was cold... in the 50's and raining. We met up with our guides, found the dock and loaded our group up into two boats and headed out into the bay. Our guides knew what they were doing and in no time at all we were pulling in Silver Salmon, Coho and searching for the desirable King Salmon. It rained off and on, but we were prepared and it was an absolute blast. Our boat didn't land any King Salmon, but the other boat hooked one and the youngest girl landed a monster.
After the fishing excursion we went into town to explore and find some lunch. Ended up eating at the Alaska Fish House, it was pretty good, I had a Blackened Salmon Bowl, the wife had Crab Legs.
The next day we headed into Juneau for a canoeing adventure at Mendenhall Glacier and Lake. The glacier is 3000 year old and over 13 miles long! The canoes are massive, holding 15 people. The trip took a couple hours, I think it was 3-4 miles of paddling that we ended up doing. We rowed across the lake over to a massive waterfall and had a little snack break with some hot cider to warm up with. It was cold, the weather kind of spit some rain and snow but that was OK because we were working hard... at least, I was.
After the trip around the lake we were pretty hungry, so we ordered 4 pounds of King Crab legs at Tracys King Crab Shack for nearly $300, to share. That is the most money I've ever spent on a meal, but I figure I'll probably only be in Juneau once and we do love crab legs! The legs were served in a bucket with lots of butter... and they were so damn good. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. It doesn't look like a ton of food, but it was plenty. Also had an Alaskan Brewing beer to wash it down and that just added to the experience! We wandered around the dock for awhile afterwards, trying to walk off the meal.
Thia was a family vacation for my wifes side of the family. We flew into Victoria, BC and boarded the ship in the afternoon... the first full day was a sea day, but the scenery traveling was still pretty impressive. By the morning of the 2nd day the ship was in port at Ketchikan. We had a very early fishing booking and as we left the boat, the weather was cold... in the 50's and raining. We met up with our guides, found the dock and loaded our group up into two boats and headed out into the bay. Our guides knew what they were doing and in no time at all we were pulling in Silver Salmon, Coho and searching for the desirable King Salmon. It rained off and on, but we were prepared and it was an absolute blast. Our boat didn't land any King Salmon, but the other boat hooked one and the youngest girl landed a monster.
After the fishing excursion we went into town to explore and find some lunch. Ended up eating at the Alaska Fish House, it was pretty good, I had a Blackened Salmon Bowl, the wife had Crab Legs.
The next day we headed into Juneau for a canoeing adventure at Mendenhall Glacier and Lake. The glacier is 3000 year old and over 13 miles long! The canoes are massive, holding 15 people. The trip took a couple hours, I think it was 3-4 miles of paddling that we ended up doing. We rowed across the lake over to a massive waterfall and had a little snack break with some hot cider to warm up with. It was cold, the weather kind of spit some rain and snow but that was OK because we were working hard... at least, I was.
After the trip around the lake we were pretty hungry, so we ordered 4 pounds of King Crab legs at Tracys King Crab Shack for nearly $300, to share. That is the most money I've ever spent on a meal, but I figure I'll probably only be in Juneau once and we do love crab legs! The legs were served in a bucket with lots of butter... and they were so damn good. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. It doesn't look like a ton of food, but it was plenty. Also had an Alaskan Brewing beer to wash it down and that just added to the experience! We wandered around the dock for awhile afterwards, trying to walk off the meal.
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