Traveling Alaska by Train

Saturday, May 21, 2016

We were up very early this morning – if fact, I was dressed and over at the café in the main lodge by 5:30 am to get two breakfast burritos for Ken and I since we would then be on the Princess Gold Star Coach (first car after the engine) 

for 9 hours today heading from Denali to Whittier where we would board the Coral Princess for our seven day cruise.  The tracks come right up beside the ship.

Our group leader has no idea why we were lucky enough to travel in this special private coach

but we loved it!!!  The seats are roomier, it is a bit higher than the rest of them, we have our own special guide to answer all our questions and point out special points of interest, the conductor spends a good deal of time with us and we have our own bar person to provide any drinks we desire.  The diner below us even has cloth table covers and a fresh flower in a vase. 

The views out the domed cover over the car were fantastic.

Again our weather was not the best, but we still could see a fair amount.  Unfortunately the camera just didn’t pick up as much of the beauty as our eyes did. It didn’t seem to be able to pick up the greens and snow on the mountains or colors in the water.  So our pictures will just have to give us a bit of a reminder of what our eyes enjoyed.

The trip itself was nine hours long but certainly didn’t seem that way because of all we were hearing and seeing and the ability to move about.  Our car even had its own outside covered deck

so we could go out and get even closer to the gorgeous scenery through this area though at time the spitting rain made picture taking a bit tough as water got on the lens.  We traveled a variety of bridges

over very deep cuts in the land filled with fast moving rapids,

loads of trees and often had snow covered mountains on both sides of us.  We could see a few tree hidden cabins

but otherwise very little other signs of anything but wildlife, trees, flowers, fields, lakes, streams, snow and mountains.

At one point we did see a moose out in a field but at the sound of the train he took off leaving the tracks behind.

While enjoying lunch in the dining area 

one of our group of eight spotted a mama bear with two cubs in a pool of water that flew by so quickly none of the others of us were able to react quickly enough to see them before the trees we sped by hid them.

Near the end of our trip we passed through Wasilla where we picked up a worker from Princess Cruises.  She came into our car bringing a machine to read our passports, collect the little forms you have to fill out before getting on a cruise, and leave our room key cards and ship maps behind so they could be passed out to us as we got off the train and walked over to the ship.  That meant all we had to do was pass through security and the X ray machines and walk up the ramp and go directly to our rooms.  No lines, not counters and checking in.  WOW! 

One other thing we observed in this area was homes with airplanes in their yards

Shortly thereafter we were in Anchorage where we could see the hotel where we stayed along with the view we had from our window though now we were much much closer to the Cook Inlet and also to the piled high containers at the Anchorage port where almost all of the goods for Alaska come in to be distributed.

That then was the beginning of the beautiful Turnigan Arm scenic drive that takes you along the water with views of the mountain range across the water.  The tide was out so huge amounts of silt were exposed and lots of birds could be seen looking for food.  Again the fog and grey made it hard to photograph but the eyes could see its awesome beauty.

Just before we arrived in Whittier we passed through two different long tunnels.  Cars were lined up waiting for their turn to pass through (trains get first dibs in this single lane tunnel).  

 As we came out of the second tunnel we could see our ship, Coral Princess, at dock.  Our train travel was done!!

In a very short time we were on the ship and into our room on the Starboard side near the back of the ship. From our balcony we could look back at the tracks where we had just gotten off.  Now we were ready for our 7 day, 1,718 mile journey down the Inside Passage to Vancouver.

Donna had beaten us to the room and already had our names posted on the door on a nicely designed name plaque.

Since we missed our assigned dinner hour, we were given tickets for an 8:30 dinner hour in the dining room that we just chucked since we don’t like to eat so late.  Instead, we went up to the Horizon Café and enjoyed a buffet dinner there before returning to our room to unpack.  We did take some time to walk around a bit on the main floors 5-8 around the atrium area so as to see where all of the shops, library, card room etc. were placed and while there got our room cards punched so we can carry them around on a lanyard around our necks.  They are not only a key to the room but charge card for anything purchased on the ship.

The views from our balcony as we began to cruise out of the port were gorgeous.

I was whipped so returned to our room while Ken chose to go to the opening show in the theater to get a taste of some of the shows and activities that will be held this week and meet the main staff. Once he returned we were off to lala land.