Alaska 2026: Skagway

 

On Wednesday morning June 24th, 2026 we sailed into our northern most destination, Skagway, Alaska. This town is best known for the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897. On previous visits to Skagway we found ourselves avoiding the train rides because it always seemed like a full day event. After further study (and listening to the naturalist presentation on our cruise ship)  I found that there is absolutely a shorter version of the long train rides that turn around is White Pass, about 20 miles up into the mountains from Skagway. 

The train cars looked historic on the outside but were very nice inside with each car having its' own heating stove and restroom. I would first like to say that anyone who has the opportunity to visit Skagway should take this 3 hour tour. It's 90 minutes to White Pass where the train turns around and now your view is completely different heading back down the mountain, almost 3,000 feet below. 

Any pictures you see of this train ride (which is well documented with YouTube videos) do not do the scenery justice. You simply have to see this for yourself. There are trueley moments when you just cannot believe what you are looking at. 

I will add that after too many shore excursions to remember, this was absolutely one of the best experiences of my life. It was absolutely the highlight of the entire week. One of the coolest views is that of another train on your same track but across a valley and one thousand feet higher than you are at the time.  

When you get to the top at White Pass, you will cross the Canadian Border into British Columbia. No need for your passport here, because you are never leaving the train. Well, there doesn't seem to be anyone here to check your passport anyway. When you look close and see NWMP, it stands for the Northwest Mounted Police. The actual border crossing station is about 12 miles down the mountain toward Skagway. 

We learned on the train that while thousands of people came to Skagway for the Gold Rush, it was very short lived as travel conditions were treacherous. Apparently, the only people that got rich during the Klondike Gold Rush were the owners of hotels, bars, restaurants.....and brothels.  

    

Alaska 2026: Icy Strait Point

While I have visited Alaska a number of times, this is a place I've never been. I wasn't expecting to see the enormous zip line with 5 or 6 people flying down the mountain all at once, as if in a race. It is one of the first things you see when you arrive. The starting point was so high in the mountain you could barely see there were people up there getting ready to fly. We were already scheduled for whale watching so a zip line ride was out of the question. Honestly, it was likely out of the question no matter what! 

I was immediately impressed by the modern technology of the gondolas at Icey Strait Point where there are two cruise ship piers. The Green Gondola takes you from one cruise ship pier to the other. We were docked at the pier without much there except the zip-line, so we immediately got on the Green Gondola to the other pier where there were stores, bars, restaurants, and the shore excursion hub. 

As we made our way to the hub where all the excursions were leaving from, we were amused by a group gathering to go search for bears. We learned there are more than 5,000 brown coastal bears on Chichagof Island (aka. Bear Island) so my next visit will absolutely include searching for bears. We learned the only difference between grizzly bears and Alaskan Brown bears is that grizzly bears have no access to coastal waters.

We had about 30 people on our whale watching boat. The boat was well equipped and provided for inside or outside viewing. It was almost an hour ride to the best whale watching area but we did see a whale or two along the way. We actually pulled in near shore to see a bear strolling along the shore. 

Whale watching was a hit as we saw a number of them, along with sea lions, sea otters, and eagles. 

The Train is Ready and Raring to Roll ......April 16th, 2018

This was truly an exciting day for everyone at our hotel because this morning, our group was boarding our motor coach for the 10 minute ride to the train at Vancouver Station. Little did we know there would be such a celebration awaiting us at the station because this was the first journey into the Canadian Rockies for 2018 (and the 29th anniversary for the Rocky Mountaineer) doing this.  The station had a bit of a look and feel of New Years Eve.

Having never done anything like this, we were not aware of the traditions that evolved over the years. The company had just about every employee on hand for this 2018 inaugural. The employees all lined the tracks with their umbrellas (a cool steady rain) to wave to all the passengers as we left the station. One sense you pick up on is simply how happy all of the employees at Rocky Mountaineer are. Our coach for day 1 was absolutely incredible. All the seats were on the upper deck of the coach and the downstairs was for dining only.

Each coach is rather self contained with restrooms, kitchen, chefs, bar, etc. We were hardly rolling down the rails and it was time for our group to go downstairs for breakfast. The dining room was set up as booths for 4 and the menus had plenty of choices. Eggs Benedict was a no brainer for me. After Breakfast we headed back up stairs where the scenery started changing from city to farmland to mountains and rivers. Every turn on the train has something new to reveal. We were headed to Kamloops today and would travel 285 miles to get there. While the train ride lasted 10 hours, it honestly felt like 2 or 3 hours. It seems like the food, snacks, drinks, etc. just keep coming. It was fun to go outside between the train cars for pictures, etc.

 

Vancouver, a City of Many Heights, Sunday April 15th, 2018

After a great night of sleeping in an extremely comfortable bed, we woke up to get ready for a day of city touring. We met most of our travel mates in the lobby before getting picked up by our motor coach at 8:45 AM. We had a very entertaining bus driver (named Bill) who first took us into Stanley Park where we stopped to visit the very artistic totem poles.

We toured the city including sites of the 1986 Worlds Fair. Expo 86, was a World's Fair held in Vancouver. The fair theme was "Transportation and Communication: World in Motion - World in Touch", was held on the north shore of False Creek. It still stands as the last World's Fair to be held in North America.

We also drove by some of the sites used for the 2010 Winter Olympics where approximately 2,600 athletes from 82 nations participated in 86 events. We saw where all the athletes lived and the bus driver told us it was an awesome site to see the flags of so many nations hanging out the windows of the Olympic village apartment buildings.

Before long we found ourselves at Canada Place, a multi-million dollar facility where cruise ships dock at the edge of town. We noticed all sorts of things to do (within walking distance) once a passenger exits the ship. Our group was all treated to the Fly Over Canada attraction. This attraction was a was an amazing experience where you feel like you are flying over the country from east to west. It is a bit of a 4D experience where you'll feel the water soaring over Niagara Falls, you smell the wheat of farm fields as you hover over combines harvesting the fields in central Canada. You may need to close your eyes in the Canadian Rockies as the cliffs you fly over can be overwhelming.

  After our visit we were taken to Granville Island where we had a great seafood lunch and browsed around the arts and crafts stores before heading out to the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park. Peg had stressed over this for a while knowing it was on the agenda. Bouncing and shaking the whole way, we made it across the bridge only to find there was a tree top adventure awaiting us on the other side. People basically go up a stairway along side a mountain to about 40 or 50 feet high and then you  take a series of small suspension bridges from tree to tree. The rope bridges swing and bounce and sway....all to Peg's dismay. Eventually Peg just raced to the front of the line and walked around or through anything that got in her way. She clearly was on a mission, and that was to get down. The Douglas Fir trees supporting the tree top adventure were anywhere from 200 to 250 feet tall!


















After we boarded the bus for a short ride back to the hotel, we had a chance to relax before the group cocktail party at the Sheraton Hotel a few blocks away. The Wall building where the Sheraton is located represents the tallest point in the city but is not the tallest building, it just happens to be at the top of the hill in the center of the city. We took some great sunset pictures at the Sheraton and met some of the Rocky Mountaineer management team before heading back home for an early night in anticipation of the train leaving the station in the morning.

Entering Canadian Airspace, Saturday April 14th 2018

We opted for a single suitcase each this trip, keeping in mind we would not be staying anywhere for more than 2 nights over the course of the next 8 days. It was an early morning off to the airport and a crowd-less check-in at the airport. It was also crowd-less at the gate. Looking at the monitor, Peg and I were on the list as 1. ANDWA and 2. ANDMA for a first class upgrade (that almost never happens). First class was a special treat given the flight to Vancouver would be over 4 hours long. When our names were called for the upgrade, we were not able to sit next to one another but we didn't care....a hot tasty breakfast was awaiting in row 3.

After landing in Vancouver we made our way to the customs area (did you ever notice how quickly people move after they exit an international flight, knowing they have to go thru customs, and head towards the customs lines)? As Peg would say, there is no dilly-dallying thru the concourse.

After scanning our passports and answering NO to everything at the automated kiosk, we got in line and basically enjoyed the fact there were only 40 or 50 people in front of us. By the time we passed through, our bags were waiting for us and an empty taxi line awaited us at the curb. The cab fare was about $32 CAD to downtown Vancouver and the Sutton Place Hotel where we would call home for 2 nights. After dumping our bags we had plenty of daylight left so we had an appetizer at our hotel bar and headed out to Robson Street (one block away).

Robson street is Vancouver's mecca for retail shopping. The locals claim that brick and mortar will never die on Robson Street. The second largest Victoria Secret store in the world can be found here. When you get near the entrance however, you'll find the retail space was actually the Vancouver Public Library at one time and the sign is still engraved into the storefront. You know you're not in a typical Victoria Secret store when you see the 100 square foot video monitor on the wall showing women walking the runway and modeling the latest fashions.

One more block over from Robson Street there was Gucci, Tiffany's, Louis Vuitton, etc. We made our way to a great chop house and seafood restaurant called Joe Fortes. We learned later Joe Fortes was not the actual owner of the restaurant.  Instead, he was a rather famous home town hero in Vancouver who became famous by helping other people (served as a lifeguard, saving lives and teaching people to swim at a local beach). The locals back then referred to him lovingly as "Old Black Joe" or "English Bay Joe". The stocky, dark-skinned man was a friend and teacher to the children, a guard for the bathers and a hero to people in distress. He has been officially credited with saving 29 lives, yet it is believed that the real number is considerably higher. In any case, Joe Fortes is my #1 recommendation for a great downtown dinner in Vancouver!

After dinner .....and some window shopping, we closed the curtains in our hotel room because it was still daylight outside,  and called it a night. Peg decided she wanted to live on Central Time the whole trip  so it was almost 10PM in our conversations despite what the alarm clock on the bedside table said (and we were exhausted from the day). If I ever referred to the real local time, I was quickly corrected.....

One Last Chance to See the Sights

It took until my last day of work at the bank on Friday to get all the numbers "spot on" as they say here. After we spent a little time to "tidy" things up, I returned from the operations center back to the main bank office to say so long to everyone...I then went out to dinner for what seemed like the first time! I went to a steak place called "RARE". When you order a filet here, you need to know how many grams you'd like it to be. I had a choice of 300 grams or 450 grams. I actually had no presence of mind to visualize what 450 grams looks like or how big that would really be but I just interpreted my choices to mean 8 ounces or 12 ounces (and was hoping it wasn't something like John Candy had to eat in the movie The Great Outdoors when it arrived).

So I am waiting for my dinner and wondering why it is taking long... and where my salad is? The menu said dinner comes with a side salad. I am waiting and waiting and then here comes my steak, potatoes, vegetables....and side dinner salad. Now I know it is a small thing but I thought all people like to have their dinner salad..... before dinner. It turns out in AUS if you want salad before dinner, you need to tell them you want your salad as an entree'!? I guess that means you get it on its' own plate before your actual dinner. I was informed by my waitress that salad before dinner is actually an american custom. In AUS, salad comes with your dinner. So now my dilema is, if I eat the salad first the steak will get cold. If I eat the steak first, my salad my wilt and get soggy.....seems I still have lots to learn.

I woke up Saturday morning wondering what to do besides starting to pack for the long haul home. The sun was shining, spring was in the air, people have been shedding their winter jackets for days now (although some still head up into the high country for snow skiing), people everywhere are preparing for Fathers Day Sunday Sept. 4th (a really big deal around here), and I..... just wanted to be outside. I got the idea to jump on a tram and go to the local zoo....because a) I found out that would be easy to do by tram and b) Simon and Garfunkel said "everything's always happening at the zoo".

After walking all around trying to figure out where to get a tram pass and the right tram line number to get on, I arrived at the Melbourne zoo. It was a beautiful day to be outside. I saw all the usual creatures, real live kangaroos, and koala bears too. I forgot that many young parents with children in strollers all flock to the zoo on such days so getting around myself was a bit hectic with strollers.... and skinny walkways.... everywhere. It was a nice pleasant time though.... and fun watching the elephants and giraff's feeding.

It was also fun to people watch and go about their everyday lives. I got to hear a mom yell and scream at her kids with the full accent and funny words....like "I am going to spank you flat as a lizard if you don't get over here"!?

After I had my fill... I headed on tram line #55 back to the city where I visited Swanston street (jambed packed with shoppers). On the way there, the tram operator announced the stop for the "hey" market. You know.... I have heard of a "straw" market....but never a "hey" market. Now I find myself wondering if there really is such a demand for "hey" or "straw"....and why do we need an entire market (or tram stop) for such? I will have to see what that's all about. In the shopping district, a silver painted guy caught my eye as he was playing the part of a "mime" riding the local trams....very entertaining.

I had walked my last step about 4PM and although it was just a 30 minute walk back to the hotel, I was walking all day....so I opted for a cab....I wasn't "going" very well....and was coming down with a sore throat / cold (probably caught from all the kids / germ bags at the zoo). I thought great, this will make the 24 hours of flying tomorrow a real joy!

With only hours left in Melbourne, I was determined to go out to dinner again....sore throat and all. This time to Donavans down in St. Kilda on the beach (recommened by my work friends). The first thing I did was get the whole dinner salad subject matter taken care of. Dinner was great but very expensive (in fact, everything here is very expensive). Only the cab fares seem reasonable. For the first time ever in my life, I had a steak that cost $80 AUD. That's about $88 USD. All I could think to myself is my Lord, how is this guy going to pay for his huge family of 8 people sitting right next to me? Are we going out to dinner or making a mortgage payment here......I think I am about ready to return home!

Saying Goodbye to New Friends

As I walked away from the bank today after saying good bye to my new friends, I stopped and took a picture of the building where I spent most of this week. It was an educational experience and a cultural experience too. It was sort of weird saying so long to the people here at the bank because we all knew that chances are, we will never see each other.... ever again. We will certainly talk with one another over the phone, but trips like this overseas just do not happen too often.

We all felt happy to associate a name....to a voice... to a face. To my new friend in operations Tony Todara, I wish you good luck with your new family member Tony. Enjoy your 5 weeks off of work getting "acquainted". I know the conversion has been a "bit of a prick" and left you feeling "necked after work", but your help and effort was greatly appreciated.

To Paul Jeffries, I wish you health and happiness. I enjoyed talking with you Paul and learning all about your work (and your world travels too) very much. To the rest of the team (Mark, Guarav, Jenny, Sammy, and Orianna), it was a pleasure to meet with you. Special thanks to Sahil for making all the local arrangements and most of all, thanks to everyone for so much cooperation in getting this upgrade done.

My acknowledgements would be remiss if I did not mention the one and only Peter Pappas. You are one of a kind Peter, it was great working with you "mate". You are a person filled with personality. I wish your "Footy" team the best of luck. I may even follow the AFL a bit.... even after I return to the US....I want to watch and see how they "crack-em".

You know.....I must say that travelling around the world and making new friends builds character. It shows you that people don't always see the world through the same lenses you are wearing. Meeting the nice people here at ANZed and working with them all week..... is something that will stick with me forever.

De-Cafenated.....

So after being here for several days, only today I find that the closest thing to normal American coffee with cream is not actually a "long black" at all, it is a "flat white". Yep, even the coffee machines around here have the word "flat white" on them. I was told early on that a long black is the way to go but after trying a flat white today, I am sticking to it. Neither of these choices is anything like Starbucks but "flat white" will do for the remainder of my journey. I did ask for half and half in one cafe' and they looked at me funny asking "half and half of what?". They honestly do not know what half and half is. They have "milk" and "skinny milk" and even some other forms of milk in between but don't even ask for cream (I did that once and they think cream means make your milk foamy by injecting steam into it). My god, I have never tried so hard to get a good god damn cup of coffee in my life.

It is not how you say it, it is what you are saying....

I think there is only place on earth where people are more keen to security measures in the financial services business arena than the US.....that's right, it is Australia. At the bank today, I learned that ANZ has security officers that walk around the buildings and departments just sort of watching and monitoring. One co-worker told me that when he walked away from his PC once without locking it first, an officer came over, sat down and sent an email to his boss! I couldn't quite understand what he said in the email but the boss wrote back......replied to the email and you can just imagine. They do this to teach a lesson to the people! We were working with some reports today and when we were done with this one pile, I simply grabbed the pages and threw them in the trash can next to my work area....the guy next to me about fell out of his chair diving for the can! He said that if a security officer walked by and saw that.....it could be his job! Now all this could have to do with the PAYMENTS area I was working in where employees are literally authorizing millions of dollars in cash movements (between other banks) every day. Anyway, I was very intrigued by all this....

At the end of the day, the guy I was working with (Tony) says he is absolutely "necked". Now I wanted to say listen dude, I am not really interested.....but he laughed and could NOT believe I have never heard that word! I told him I know what naked is, just not necked. Clearly, he was tired. After work I went into a store to do some shopping and when you do this, the clerks come up to you and say "How are you going?". Well, I just said I am not going anywhere but in the store?!? The funny thing is that I would get it if they said, "how are you doing?" or "how is it going?", but nooooooooo, they want to know "How Are You Going". The next time someone says that to me, I am going to say....... "By Walking", that is how I am going!