Alaska and Canada - August 2006

The incongruity of mixing the history of the late 19th century with the tacky presence of the early 21st century always become evident on a cruise and provide a counter to the stunning scenery encountered on this trip.

The Canadian Rockies, Alaska, the Yukon - places that dreams are made of. This trip was all about establishing whether those dreams would come true in our official 30th anniversary trip.

The scenery was without doubt stunning, the experience was immense but from an historic perspective it seems to be more and more difficult to divorce oneself from the present and move back in time.

This holiday took in Calgary, Banff, Kamloops and Vancouver in Canada and Ketchikan, Juneau and Scagway in Alaska as we  played with two countries and numerous time zones - sailing up the inside passage to Alaska after a five day coach tour of the Canadian Rockies.

We hope that the photographic gallery at the bottom of this page somehow captures the beauty and fun of the trip.

Tuesday August 1st

Don't you  just hate these early starts? The problem with British traffic is you never quite know how long to allow for a journey of 144 miles. Traffic jams, road works, accidents and just about every other imaginable hold-up can turn even the most mundane journey into a nightmare. That's why we set off for Heathrow Airport at 5.20 a.m, allowing us a massive amount of time to account for all of the above. The car park that is the M25 came into play and slowed us up after a reasonable start. Nevertheless we were in the airport area within three hours and left the car at Purple Parking and took the shuttle bus to the airport - arriving about five hours ahead of our flight. I always argue that it's better to be sitting in the departure lounge with a newspaper and cup of coffee than sitting in a panic on the motorway!

When we did get going the flight to Calgary with Air Canada was pretty uneventful, although the plane was rather stuffy and the movie entertainment rather outdated.

As we moved our watches back seven hours, we  relived a good third of the same day and spent over 24 hours awake (apart from a quick doze on the plane). Jet lag is never as bad going out as coming back, however, as there is the excitement of visiting new places and the adrenalin that brings. So you just keep going.

Our first impressions of Calgary were one of a very modern and pleasant city as we  were driven by coach to our hotel which was just off Seventh Avenue. As usual for a one night stopover the hotel was unexceptional but functional and that really is all you can expect.

After checking in and having a shower and change we decided to go out for something to eat and close to the hotel was an Irish pub with a rooftop garden where the atmosphere was good and the food acceptable.

Wednesday August 2nd

Living out of suitcases will be a feature of the first five days of this holiday. Constantly packing and moving on.

We were up early this morning in order to make the most of our limited time in Calgary and an early morning walk proved just what an impressive and compact city it is.

There is a quality of life and richness from natural resources that seems to be evident everywhere. The city is clean and modern and oozes class. Apparently in the winter it is a difficult place due to the extreme cold. But the developers have built in a series of walkways 15 feet above ground level to ensure that local people and visitors stay warm even when it reaches sub zero. A lot of thought has gone into designing this town with plenty of parkland and open space on the edge.

There also seems to be an abundance of coffee shops, always a measure of security and wealth. Such was our interest that the leisurely breakfast and early morning stroll turned into a hectic march to ensure we were back at the hotel before the coach left.

We then had an hour tour of the city including the Calgary Stampede stadium which comes alive for a few days every July with rodeo events.

All too soon we had to leave Calgary (we could have done with another day at least) and head out for the spectacular beauty of Banff National Park and the exceedingly pretty town itself where we were to spend the next two nights.

The drive took us through soaring Rocky Mountain scenery - with plenty of photographic stops on the way. Some of my favourite images of the holiday came from this drive. Banff turned out to be a delightful town. We had feared a tourist trap, but this exquisite little town at the foot of the mountains is still unspoiled despite being overrun by tourists. Indeed there was a feeling of space about it. Our hotel was smack bang in the centre of town and we soon found a very interesting museum dedicated to the philanthropy of Peter and Catharine Whyte. The Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies has its own web site which is available by clicking here.

Peter and Catharine did so much to keep the area alive and the museum is a testimony to their life's work of collecting and promoting Banff and the surrounding area.

Banff is overlooked by the splendid Banff Springs Hotel and we hiked up through some splendid gardens and had a pint of beer in an English style pub overlooking the golf course. We watched a number of players tee off and soon realised this was serious golfing territory. A plate of Nachos left us feeling bloated, but we still managed to walk back along the river into town and eat at Melissa's a delightful restaurant just tucked off the back street but which was very popular. Then jet lag and travelling caught up with us!!!

Thursday August 3rd

As I was too tired to enjoy the evening meal, we returned to Melissa's for breakfast before getting onto the coach at 8 a.m to travel the Glacier Parkway which provided us with some more extraordinary scenery. We had half an hour at Lake Louise where the aquamarine water and splendid walking trails round the lake ensured that we just didn't have enough time there.

For those interested in botany and scenery, we got into conversation with an American man who gave us the address of a web site about the area he has put together with his wife. This can be accessed by clicking here.

To Be Continued

Photographic Gallery