Perkinson Family Alaska Holiday

Tuesday 25 June

We disembarked at Juneau at 8.45am to be met by Ruth-Ann and Jim Bowman, a couple we met in a campground just out of Talkeetna when we were cycling, who were holidaying from Juneau.  Abby their daughter came to NZ and stayed with us for awhile and then Jim and Ruth-Ann came to NZ in 2017 to visit.  They drove us around showing us the Governor’s house and the houses where Ruth-Ann grew up and then went back to their home and enjoyed some home baked cinnamon rolls and coffee.  We then headed to Mendenhall Glacier which had noticeably receded since we were here last.  We went for a walk to the head of it and to the waterfall, joined by hundreds of tourists.  We visited St Therese’s Shrine which was gorgeous and then called in and chose 3 Dungeness Crabs and some yummy milkshakes (snickers, cookie dough, banana, and choc mint) and headed back home for lunch – fresh crabs and a beautiful spread of food and enjoyed sitting out the back with Nano and Emma, their two dogs and Abby who was around for lunch.  Jim who makes amazing pottery, also got us to select a coffee mug each and we also bought a bowl off him.  We then went for an afternoon walk to Perseverance Trail – the oldest road in Alaska with gorgeous views and waterfalls.  It was awesome to walk the roads that held so much history.   We headed back into town to visit the Alaska Fudge Company to get Danika’s favourite fudge that Abby bought to NZ and that Ruth-Ann and Jim brought out too.  We had a brief look in the shops and saw the display of Jim’s pottery which is just gorgeous.  We headed back home to a gorgeous meal of halibut and salads and brownie and ice cream and enjoyed sitting out on the deck savouring the time we had left with our long-time friends.  They dropped us at the ship and we had an early night.

 

Monday 24 June

Today is another beautiful day (rare for Ketchikan) and we had a beautiful breakfast and then headed to downtown Ketchikan.  It was great to visit places we visited on our honeymoon.   However, it’s not our kinda place, with the pride of the town being the number of Brothels it had in the height of the Goldrush.  Many of the shops only exist to cater for the thousands of tourists on the cruise ships and shut up for the winter, leaving the hardy locals to brave the winter.   Feels kinda strange to be one of those tourists but the tourist shops really didn’t appeal.   We walked Creek Street and around the town and then walked to the ‘real’ end of Ketchikan to go and get our AT&T sim cards for the trip.  The locals are lovely and we headed back on to our ship.  Again we had a lovely dinner, and the staff are lovely.  Josh enjoyed hanging out at the teen centre in the evening.

Sunday 23 June

The day started at different times for all of us, some in the morning, others in the afternoon 😊  We enjoyed breakfast out on the balcony and watched Mama Mia 2 on the deck chairs wrapped in our duvets, while Josh hung out in the teen area and did 11 laps on the running track and some time on the treadmill.  We had a nice lazy day sleeping and watching movies, including watching “The Love Boat”.   The dress code for dinner was formal, so we dressed up and took some photos on the deck. Josh went back to the teen lounge where they did a scavenger hunt and had lots of games. We had an early night ready for our first port the next day.

Saturday 22 June

This morning we did a Vegemite/Marmite taste testing and nothing comes close to the real NZ Marmite!  We spent the morning at the Outlet Malls, said our goodbyes to Ben and Tom and then Jane dropped us at Canada Place to begin our cruise.  Our time with the Pickles was awesome and we have so appreciated their generous hospitality again.   We farewelled Jane, got our Medallion’s and boarded the ship where we made our way to our rooms.  We went out on the deck and watched as our ship, The Royal Princess went under the Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver, that we had driven over several times.  The Love Boat jingle sounded, and our cruise had started.   We watched as we sailed out of Vancouver, and then made our way to the dining room to have our dinner!   The Salmon was good, but not as good as Tom’s Salmon.  We finished our night by watching a movie on the deck and then in the spa.

 

Friday 21 June

Had a leisurely morning while Jane got a bit of work done, then went off the Grouse mountain, and the ‘Grouse Grind’. 2 options to get to the top, Gondola @ $50, or walk. It’ll be easy she said, walk in the park she said … actually she didn’t say that … ‘3km nearly vertical climb’ says the advertising. And it wasn’t wrong! Started steep, and got steeper!! Ben did it in an hour, Tayla 1 hour 20, Jane 1 hour 21. Chris did a good job in keeping me company and we made after 2 and a quarter hours.

Temperature steadily dropped as we ascended, total height climbed 2800 ft. No views to write about on the way up, but at the top of the climb, there was a chairlift to actual top of the mountain (it is a ski field in the winter) and from there the views were spectacular. 270⁰ views from upper harbour right around to north Vancouver. Also at the top there was an enclosure with 2 rescue grizzlies where depending on where the bears were, you were able to get incredibly close, got some amazing photos.

Capilano suspension bridge was on everyone’s ‘must do’ list. Not sure why, the views must have been impressive at $55 each, decided to pass on it, especially with the awesome experience at the top of Grouse mountain.

Got back to Tom and Jane’s for a welcome sit down, a glass of wine, and some yummy chicken cooked by the master chef Tom himself.

Thursday 20th June
In the morning we bussed from the Pickles house to Granville Island, which is an area in downtown Vancouver which is in fact, not an island. Granville Island consists of tourist shops, galleries and the Public Market. We continued to walk around the waterfront around False Creek until we got to the World of Science. Here, we decided to leave the boys to entertain themselves while the girls, along with our tour guide, Ben, continued the walk around the city. From here, we walked to Gas Town to see the not so exciting Steam Clock, and laughed as we watched the disappointment on our fellow tourist’s faces. We continued walking out to Canada Place past the Olympic Cauldron at Jack Poole Plaza where we enjoyed our lunch in the beautiful Canada sun. We caught the Seabus to North Vancouver and back where we met up with boys and walked over Granville Bridge around and along the waterfront of Sunset Beach to English Bay Beach to our sea view spot for dinner at the Cactus Club Café, a tick off the bucket list! Here we ran into two friends from Mangawhai. What are the odds! The weather has been stunning and today, we walked a total of 19kms in and around Vancouver.

Tayla 20.06.19, Vancouver, British Columbia

 

 

Loving every minute of being in Vancouver!

Today consisted of feeling like a tourist and pointing out while getting way too excited whenever we saw a squirrel or a raccoon, walking around Stanley Park for the day and eating ice cream up at the Lions Gate Bridge lookout. We then headed to Jericho beach for dinner – where we continued to get way too excited about squirrels…

Anyways enough of that, here are some highlights!

– Danika, 19.06.19, Vancouver, British Columbia

     

 

 

 

Tuesday 18 June

We arrived in Vancouver before the time we had even left Auckland, on the same day (cause of the time difference)! We arrived around 3pm. Ben and Jane Pickles were at the airport waiting for us, picked us up and we loaded ourselves and our gear into a minivan they had hired to fit us all in. We unpacked a little and then went for a walk around the Endowment Lands which is a forest and Queen Elizabeth Park near the Pickles’ house. Tom cooked us a lovely dinner; salmon with 3 lovely salads! Relaxing evening and an early night.

23 years ago, Ross and Chris cycled for a year for our honeymoon and our favourite place was Alaska.   We have dreamed ever since of taking our kids there and we can hardly believe that it’s happening!  We get to meet up with awesome people we met while cycling and others. We can’t wait to hang out with everyone and create memories of a lifetime!

Ephesians 3 v 20 – God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!

– Perkinson Family (at the airport!)