Travel Musings by Jan

Juneau was our next port of call. This city of about 33,000 people is the capital of the State of Alaska. It was named after Joe Juneau, one of the men who discovered gold in the nearby Gold Creek in 1880. It became the capital of the territory in 1906, when the District of Alaska was moved from Sitka to Juneau. It remained the capital after statehood. In 1970, Juneau merged with the city of Douglas and the surrounding borough to become a unified municipality with an area larger than both Rhode Island and Delaware. Though Juneau sits on the Alaska mainland, it is inaccessible except by boat or plane due to the very rugged terrain it sits in. It is located in the Gastineau Channel between Mount Juneau and Mount Roberts. Some of the spots in the city that tourists frequent are the State Capitol building, the Alaska State Museum, the Last Chance Mining Museum, and the Red Dog Saloon. We had considered riding on the Mount Roberts Tramway, an aerial tram that rises up to ...

After two days of cruising at sea, we began on June 7th visiting several of Alaska's ports. Our first port of call was Haines. This pretty little town of about 2,500 people, with its art galleries, microbreweries, and hiking trails, would have been fun to explore in detail. Two notable spots tourists often visit here include the Hammer Museum and the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve. The Hammer Museum displays more than 1,200 hammers of various sizes used for a myriad of purposes, all set in their historical context from more than 800 years ago to today. Visit http://www.hammermuseum.org/  for more information. The eagle preserve is located in the Chilkat and Klehini river valleys and serves as habitat to around 40 to 80 bald eagles year round, but this locale features the Fall Congregations from October through February, when more than 3,000 of this species of eagles gather. During October and November, the eagles are drawn there especially to...

Our cruise leg of the trip began on the evening of June 4th; we continued cruising at sea on the days of June 5th and 6th. Our views were truly breathtaking. Prior to this trip, my husband and I had no experience with cruising. We were a little bit apprehensive about seasickness, so we brought Dramamine with us and used it as a preventative. We went to sleep while sailing and we awoke sailing without any trouble, so we were relieved. We spent part of the first full day on ship exploring our new surroundings. Even though the MS Zaandam is a mid-size ship with a capacity of 1,432 passengers, it still seemed fairly grand to us. Before we left our stateroom, we studied the map of the interior and then consulted the maps on the walls near the elevators. Even with the maps, we found it a bit difficult at first to navigate the ship. Amenities on this ship included spa and swimming facilities, a movie theater, a casino, a library, a Starbucks coffee bar, several alcohol bars, an...