Holland America Cruise/Overland Summary

John Mahaffy at Whistler BC.

Holland America's Noordam.

The 75 stairs up from our cabin at Denali to the lobby of the Mt McKinley Resort.

Two of the indigenous people I had the opportunity to talk to.

Our guide Julie, who did a bang up job.

The Denali chain of mountains... simply stunning.

This is the view of Denali at Wonder Lake that tourists can no longer get because of the road collapse in Denali NP. It's from the internet and obviously taken on the perfect day.

The beautiful Yukon River, the longest in Canada at 3185 kilometres.

The mighty Yukon River, which starts east of the coastal mountains in southern Yukon, flows through Alaska from east to west and terminates in the Bering Sea. 

The struggle of the salmon who swim the length of the Yukon River to Whitehorse without eating!

Here they come... John and Bruce at Heathrow.

Summary of the Holland America Cruise of Alaska

I thoroughly enjoyed the inside passage cruise to Alaska. Unfortunately, the weather was not as nice as I would have hoped but given that we were traveling through the temperate rainforest that gets 11-13 feet of rain annually it should not have been a surprise that it was mostly cloudy, damp, and cool. However, the weather did not adversely affect any of the activities or excursions I took. It was strange and a bit lonely to be on a ship with 2000 people and not really meet anyone as they were all couples or families. However, I do like my own company, and I had my music and Kindle to entertain me. I love being on a large ship on the ocean watching and listening to the waves. I enjoyed wandering the outside decks admiring the views of the coastal mountains and smelling the air. I especially enjoy the outside decks at night. I found the town of Ketchikan the most interesting and attractive town and thoroughly enjoyed the excursion to the river to watch the black bears fishing for salmon, and the White Pass train ride from Skagway, Alaska to Canada through BC and into the Yukon to Carcross. The food on board was abundant and decent and I tried not to overindulge. I noticed that the portions they served seemed to be smaller than I might have expected but anyone who wanted more of anything only had to go to the cafeteria area where you could gorge to your heart’s content. I mostly avoided the cafeteria area and ate dinner in the smaller specialty dinning room, but it is a bit strange eating by yourself in a restaurant. I enjoyed having a balcony, and although I didn’t sit on it frequently because of the weather, it was nice to be able to see the views and the light coming in. I was amazed at the ability of the captain and the ship to negotiate parking behind or beside other ships and docks, and tight turns in dead end bays like in Glacier Bay.

Only 43 of the 2000 people continued on the overland portion of this 18-day tour of Alaska. Again, they were all couples, and I made the odd number. I talked to most of them over the next 11 days, but there were still people I never got to know. On the land portion of the trip we had a guide, Julie, who did an excellent job shuttling us about, giving guidance and making suggestions for excursions, and making sure that everyone was okay. The highlight of the land portion was undoubtedly the flight around Denali, which was truly spectacular. It is interesting that it is simply called Denali, not Mt. Denali or Denali Mountain. I also enjoyed seeing bears, moose, and caribou in their natural environment. We learned lots about the incredible life cycle of the salmon and how it not only affects their survival, but also that of all their predators and the whole ecosystem. Nature and how it all fits together is incredibly intricate. Other than the scenery and wildlife of Alaska, the human focus was of the incredible stories of the stampeders who gave up everything for a chance at instant riches. They endured unbelievable and almost unimaginable hardships, in the wilderness and rugged terrain during the often brutally cold winter conditions. The Canadian government dictated that each prospector had to carry a year's worth of supplies to the Klondike. They did not want to have to feed and supply all of these newcomers. They traveled into areas where there were no white people, but suddenly thousands of miners and stampeders arrived who then had to build shelters, homes and towns with basic tools and supplies. After that came the next wave of people: saloon keepers, prostitutes, shopkeepers, bankers, doctors and other people needed to administer to the needs of the miners and help relieve them of any gold they might have been fortunate enough to find. Every town had a musical play for us tourists that highlighted the heroic stories of the stampeders and those that followed. We didn’t learn too much about how all of that affected the local indigenous people, but we all know that it adversely affected their whole lifestyle, culture and land ownership. They were simply pushed aside, forcibly evicted and attempts were made to either assimilate (using residential schools) or eliminate them. So far on this trip I have had little opportunity to meet or mingle with indigenous people. I have seen them but the only ones I talked to were the ones who were carving the ocean canoe and the two indigenous guides we had at the native village museum on the Chena River in Alaska. The focus of this trip has been the exploration and settlement of the north by the white Europeans. History is always told by the victors.

Trying to connect the two trips, the Northwest Passage with Adventure Canada and the Holland American Alaska overland/cruise meant I had about a week in the middle to spend somewhere. I originally met Barb Reid, a teacher from the Yukon, in Ghana on my Project Overseas experience in 2014. I sent a note to all my friends that I was embarking on this journey, and she graciously offered her guestroom if I was in Whitehorse. That provided the link and gave me a place to hang out until the Arctic portion commenced. I welcomed the opportunity to take a break from group travel and get to know one place in the Yukon more thoroughly. Barb was a great guide and took me on a few hikes, showed me around town, took me swimming in cold lakes, paddled with me on the Yukon River and introduced me to a few friends and two of her children. It is invaluable to have a local person to show you around. It was really interesting to hear the stories of the people who choose to live in this remote area of Canada. Whitehorse has a frontier mentality, and they love the outdoors and the remoteness of their lives. They talk about the long cold winters and overwhelming hours of darkness, but they still love it here. Many people have stories about encounters with wildlife, from moose to bears and stories of hunting and fishing and wilderness treks, and canoe and camping trips and even dogsledding journeys. Very different from big city life in southern Canada. Many of residents of Alaska and the Yukon seem to be very adventurous people. As were many of the cruise passengers, and because most of them were retired elderly people (me included) the tour was described as ‘the most adventurous old folk’s home’.

And speaking of people, this trip has provided me the opportunity to meet up with some excellent friends. Right from the start in Vancouver to the end in Toronto. In Vancouver, John Mahaffy, an old and dear friend from junior and senior high school in Toronto agreed to come from Vancouver Island to meet me in the city. We had three terrific days exploring at Grouse Mountain, Capilano Canyon and Whistler all the while catching up with our lives. It felt very much like all the years apart didn’t change our relationship. Then spending time with two people I thoroughly enjoyed working with in Ghana in 2014, Barb in Whitehorse and Lyle in Edmonton. As I am typing this, I am happily awaiting the arrival of the two English lunatics who I had the pleasure of traveling to Antarctic with in 2018. This trip will finally allow John, Bruce and I to visit the Arctic after a three-year delay due to COVID. The three of us will travel the Northwest Passage in reverse and we will arrive back in Toronto on September 17^th just in time for my mother’s 90^th birthday! What could be better than travel, adventure, exciting places, and great friends? So, stay tuned the best is yet to come.