The last week of our "adventure" was on the Cruise Ship- "Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas". I like cruises because you have someone clean up after you, and there is food available all the time. The thing I don't like is feeling like you are holding up your stateroom "cleaner" by not going out of your room by a certain time, or coming back to find them in there, cleaning.
We had a good cruise. Very calm seas, except one day where Stu stayed "low" until it got calmer. We met some nice people- we shared a dinner table with 3 other couples- Lyn and Bill; Nancy and Gary; Carla and Gene; and a single lady, Dorothy.

We hung around the last day or so with Carla and Gene. Very nice people.  here are some pictures of the people, and our ship.

Last days in an RV May 31st - June 1st

Thurs. was a take it easy, pack, and get ready day.

At noon we went on a 13 mile bike ride.  A block and 1/2 from our RV park, we tied onto a trail which connected to the Chester Creek Trail which took us all the way to the ocean.   We did not have to cross a single road.

Anchorage Parks has several major park corridors and, attached to the corridors, are many playgrounds, ball fields, schools, lakes, etc.   Some areas were packed with kids.   We wonder if it was the end of the year picnic for some schools.   Very nice ride.

Evening we contacted people we earlier had made contact with via Craigslist.   We sold both bikes and all the stuff from the RV. 

Today (June 1st)  we are doing laundry, cleaning up the RV for check in at 11am and taking the afternoon bus to Seward AK to board the cruise ship.  Don't know what kind of WiFi we will have, so this may or may not be the last contact before we get home.

Life is good !

Wed May 30th

In the morning, we decided to drive to Whittier to see if the weather was different on the other side of the mountain.   Slightly improved but not much.

4 miles up valley from the campground is the tunnel.   Interesting story.

WW2 the army need to get supplies to Alaska for defense while the ALCAN was being constructed.  They authorized construction of a railroad from Whittier to Anchorage and Fairbanks.   To get from Whittier, a train tunnel was dug through the mountain.  (Here in AK, the coastal mountain range is very rugged and often the mountain starts right from the sea)   Since it began as a military camp, even today 98% of the occupants live in just 2 big buildings.

After the war, people desired a way to drive to Whittier.   So what they do now is share the tunnel.   Once an hour, the tunnel opens for west bound traffic and on the half hour, east bound traffic.  But trains have priority so some delays are to be had.   The tunnel is just wide enough for a big tour bus, so our RV was no problem.   Interesting experience, driving on railroad tracks.

Then we drove back to Anchorage, spent some time downtown (just another big city) and found an RV park on our own, no help from GPS

Tues May 29th

Today's activity consisted of a bus ride.

In Denali National Park, no personal vehicles are allowed past the first 15 miles of road.  (there are a few exceptions)   You have to take a park bus.   Either a tour bus or a shuttle bus, we took the shuttle.    It's less expensive and it allows one to get on and off with any shuttle.  They run about every half hour.  You don't get a tour guide lecture, but our driver did much the same anyway.

We were given instructions on proper behavior when animals are sighted  (like whispers only,  keep everything inside the bus, etc.)  And off we went.  This early in the year, the road is not open all the way, but we still could go about 60 miles into the park.   Took us 7 hours.

With so many eyes, we saw a good number of animals.   Moose, Caribou, Grizzly, Dall Sheep, Porcupine, and various small animals.  Other world scenery.

Bus would not go into gear after a stop to watch Sheep.   Of course on a very narrow mountainous section.   So emergency triangles were set up to warn the next bus that we were around the corner.   Then the sheep got curious what this green box was and came over to check us out.   For about 15 minutes a couple of them wandered around the bus.   Good photo op !

Back to the RV and drive to Anchorage.   Our GPS has not proven itself to be super accurate.   It could not find a campground or RV park in Anchorage.  We headed south , looking for a place to stay.  We ended up in Portage valley, on the way to Whittier, AK.   WIND & RAIN.   All evening, all night and in the morning.  Pouring rain (we found a leak in the RV) and very gusting winds rocked the RV all night.