不好意思，敲中文太慢。 只好勉为其难的写英文。要不不知道猴年马月我才能发这个帖子。
Finally I visited Alaska, a place I longed to visit for many years. It is a long, tiring but really rewarding trip.
My itinerary: Vancouver (4 days)-Cruise (6 days 7 nights)-Alaska (8 days)
The first night at Vancouver we stayed at a hotel, and the remaining 3 nights at B&B. My experiences with B&B overall are not bad, except that I did a wrong booking and was charged for cancellation fee of $50 20 min after booking. I will try to get the money back.
Make sure to get some Canadian dollar beforehand, or get some at the airport. The taxi at Vancouver is not expensive, from airport to the hotel cost me only a little over 20 Canadian dollar. Taxi drivers at Vancouver and at Alaska do not accept credit cards. When I ask how much I should pay in USD. They say the same amount, which is not fair of course.
At Vancouver, we did a bike tour in Stanley Park (3.5 hours), really nice. If you do not want to spend the extra money for the tour, I recommend that you rent a bike and explore it yourself. It is really a nice place to spend time. We spent around 2 hours at Lynn Canyon park . The suspension bridge is not that impressive. Although the feeling to walk in the forest is great, I do not think that it worth the effort after such a long travel. Grouse maintain: spent 3 hours there. There was a long line to buy the lift ticket (not cheap). Not impressive either. You can see the whole city on the top, and a free Lumber Jack show. We planed to visit Capilano suspension bridge but run out of time. Then we took the ferry to Victoria Island. I reserved the ferry tickets in advance but it seems not necessary. On the website it says that arrival of 30 min prior to departure is required but I was allowed to get onto the ferry 5 min prior to the departure. The night lighting at Downtown Victoria was amazing. We spent around one hour in Buchart garden, which is really an amazing garden. Beacon Hill Park is a nice place to visit too. We also visited Craigdarroch Castle. It is pretty from outside but I do not like the inside. The castle itself is a sad story about a rich family.
If you really want to get the full value of the money you invested on the cruise, do bring the following: gloves, hats, light dawn jacket, waterproof windbreakers, good binoculars, good cameras (not just phone),. Reason: the best places to see the glacier in a nice weather is the top level in the front of the ship, where wind is strongest. Oh my god it is really cold there. You can see whales if you have a nice binocular. People standing by me was saying, “I cannot see anything” while I was enjoying watching whales playing in the water. Mosquito repellent might be a must too depending on the season.
Ketchikan: we went to creek street to see salmon (7/9), no luck. No need to bother it once the salmon season is over (by the end of July, usually only lasts 6 weeks). We went to Saxman Village. $5 for the entry ticket , not expensive but all you could see are totem posts and two houses (only open to the tourist group; if you go there alone, sorry, you cannot come in). We went to Bight State park. What you see are: totem posts, one house of the native American (this one you can get in), a short trail to the forest, a lake. You can take the bus (grey line) to both places. The bus fair is $2 for each trip, or $5 for the day pass. The bus stop is close to the cruise dock. Later on the bus a local resident recommends that the misty fjord is really good. I enquired about the price at a shopping mall nearby, which is $199. The tour on the cruise, $219, is not a bad deal then. There was a long waiting line at a restaurant in the shopping center (very close to the dock), a guy from another cruise told me that his friend told him that the food was good. He joined the line but I did not.
Juneau
Mendenhall Glacier is a place worth to visit. It forms a beautiful scene with Nugget Falls and the lake. However you cannot climb to the glacier. The cheapest way to go there is by public bus. The bus tour cost around $50 per person. The bus fair was $2 for one way ($1 for 6-18, free for <6). From the cruise dock to the bus transit center (BTC) (where you get on the bus) is about 5-10 min walking. Once you get off the bus, you need to walk around 15 min to reach the glacier. But soon after you get off the bus, you will see a pretty sign of Tongass National Forest (right side of the road). From that time you will be walking in one of two largest national forests in North America, the feeling is great. On the way back to the bus stop, we saw mom bear with her cubs. I felt like that I won lottery since the other couple who also saw the bear told me that they joined a tour at Ketchikan but did not see a bear.
Some people in the cruise joined the whale watching tour but were disappointed.
Skagway
I booked a car in advance, which cost me $159. The money is well spent though. The scenes on the roadside to Emerald lake is just wonderful. I kept stopping to take pictures. So many lakes with mountains as their guards. Emerald like is unique because all the different shades of green. The sand at the Carcross desert right after passing Carcross is so soft I would never be tired of walking on it. The guy at the car rental place also recommends Tagish which I went. It is similar scene or even worse. I would prefer to stay at one lake, just staring at the lakes and mountains. People on the cruise took the train tour to Yukon, and enjoyed their trip too.
Margerie Glacier at Glacier Bay is just the prettiest one I saw on the trip. Harvard glacier calving at College Fjord is amazing too.
Alaska (Whittier-Anchorage-Homer-Valdez-Denali-King Salmon)
Whittier is really a small town. The buildings/houses can be easily counted with hand. Nothing to see but if you want to join a day cruise it should be a good place to do it. Another place to join a day cruise is at Valdez. You can see more animals at day cruise but the glacier you see there cannot be compared to those you saw already. The scenes on the roadside from Whittier to Anchorage is similar to what we saw at Skagway. Very pretty.
We picked up RV at Anchorage. 32 ft long. It is very comfortable for 4 people to sleep in (three double beds and one single bed). I am glad that we decided on RV. I was scared to drive it at the beginning but soon get used to it. Parking might be challenge but I always took the easy spot to park. There is no need to reserve RV site in advance. You can park it on roadside, in front of the lake/ocean if you do not need to add water and discard the waste. When we need to park at RV site we just searched it the same day, gave them a call to make sure there is a spot, then just drove there. We only paid two nights (around $50 each). My friend from Beijing brought a lot of food, we only went to restaurants 4 times. It is very convenient to live on the RV, especially with young kids. The only disadvantage is that it is so big that I really do not want to drive it around. I usually just find a spot, park it then walk around. It is not a big issue since all towns in Alaska is pretty small, except Anchorage. The best way is to rent some bikes at Anchorage and hooked them behind the RV. I might do it next time I rent RV.
On our way to Homer I tried to book a fishing tour. No spot for the first company I called, and one spot for the second company I called. Since the tour departs really early, the kids did not want to go. The tour was not cheap also, and we are required to buy the license ($25 for one day). So we took the last spot, and my friend got up really early the next day, but came back bare-handed. The captain cancelled the trip after they arrived at the spot due to the wind. We did not driving around the town, just walked on the bit, enjoyed a nice meal and left. If you are not a fishing fan, I do not think it worth for a visit.
We then went to Matanuska Glacier for which I booked the walking tour. We arrived late. As usual I parked the RV at the road side next to the entry and walked down. People from the park were leaving and were surprised to see me walking. They told me politely, ‘People usually drive here’. I told them that was scared to drive the big RV on that road. The manager thought that I was funny. He offered me the ride to the center then back to my RV. When I asked what else to see there besides the glacier (since the tour starts at 11 the next day) he said nothing else. Then he offered me free camping in front of the glacier (which usually charge $25 per person). A really cool surprise. The tour was wonderful. I saw some people just climbed the glacier by themselves though. We were offered things to wrap around the shoes (similar to snow tires) so I do not know if it is dangerous to walk on without it.
From Matanuska Glacier to Valdez, we passed Thompson Pass. You have to stop there and walk on the trail. The kids just love the short walk on the short trails, with beautiful mountains all around you.
Valdez is a beautiful town, with Mountains, falls and oceans. We did a 6-hour Glacier and Wildlife Cruise. No need to bring food and water since snacks and water (tea/coffee) will be provided. Free shuttle is provided to the popular RV sites/hotels. We watched sea otters very close, and Dall’s porpose playing along the waves in front of the ship. Please refer to the videos I posted at Youtube. I do not like the stink sea lions, which I saw on the big cruise too. We peeked at the whales, as we did on the big cruise.
We spent the night at the roadside next to Solomon Gulch Fish Hatchery, where we saw Salmon migration, sea lions catching fishes (refer to video at youtube). The fishermen on the beach there were all busy. Sometime the fish was strong and big, and fight their way out of the hook. At Katmai National Park we were told that Salmon migration will be over by the end of July. I assume that is the same for Valdez too but not sure.
Next day we spent one day on the road to Denali National Park. The scenes on Denali highway is pretty, but cannot compare to the view in Skagway. Due to the rough road condition I sometime drove only 30 mile per hour, therefore spent 2 hours longer than the estimated time (7 hr). The night we were planning to spend on the parking lot to catch the tour bus the next morning, I called the park earlier and confirmed that it was OK. While preparing food, we saw a guy on the bike knocked down to the ground and arrested by two park rangers. It was not a pleasant scene to see. Later the park rangers came and asked if anybody saw anything, we denied (did not want to get involved in this kind of nasty thing). Then we were told that we were not allowed to stay there overnight. Fortunately we found a spot not far (obviously for RV) since the RV sites in the park were all sold out for that night.
The next day we spent 13 hours in the park. In my opinion, it does not worth it. I booked the tour by mistake (we stayed with the same bus all the time). Therefore we could not wonder too much in the park. All we saw were several moose, an eagle, a few bears. The mountains are very beautiful. No double for that. was still kind of disappointed since the posts by others (deepcreek and others) left me a deep impresion. I guess September should be a better time to visit Denali.
The night we drove 5 hours back to Anchorage. We added water and discarded the waste at the gas station next to the RV rental, returned RV the next morning, and arrived to the airport only half an hour before departure, scared that we would be denied to board. Luckily that did not happen. Best, we were able to store the luggage at the airport. Surprising, there is no security check for the plane to King Salmon! I regretted that I only brought one water bottle with me. Air taxi to Katmai National Park was cool. The bears at Brooks camp were just amazing. There was a long waiting line at the last watching platform close to noon. Luckily that I read the posts here by other people so that we went to the line ASAP, when the line was short. After the lunch break I went back again. The line was much shorter since most people left. The strong bears left too since they were fed up I guess. Mom bear and young bears were there, trying to catch some fish. On the way back to the beach we saw a bear from another direction of the Y-shape road. He showed no interest in human and quietly walked into the forest. Well, after such a salmon feast I do not think they will be interest in human. Still I was very scared at that time.
Air tickets from Anchorage to King Salmon were booked through Alaska airline. Carrier: Pen air. Round trip cost me around $500 per person.
Very good service by this Air taxi company （Branch River Air Service). $880 for a group (max 4 people) with weight limit:
In summary, it is a fantastic trip, though very tiring.
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