By Bob Van Leer

  (VANCOUVER, B. C., Sunday, July 20, 1997) - Our cruise ship, Ryndam, Holland America Line, just left Vancouver enroute to Ketchikan, Alaska.

  After Betty and I retired and turned the operation of the Curry County Reporter over to daughter and son-in-law, Molly and Jim Walker, we thought it would be a good idea to get out of town for a few weeks.

  We had considered a number of times a trip to Alaska, but somehow never got around to doing it and this seemed to be the time. After this trip we will really be able to say we have seen America, for this is the last of the 50 states we haven't visited. Tuesday we will complete the list when we dock at Ketchikan.

By Bob Van Leer

  (AT SEA OFF BRITISH COLUMBIA, Monday, July 21, 1997) - Today was spent at sea cruising through the "inside passage" off British Columbia to southern Alaska.

  Our friendly naturalist on board said the "inside passage" was carved thousands of years before by glaciers during the Ice Age. The actual passage is threading through channels, often quite narrow, between islands and the mainland. Except for a few sections of open sea, the waters are all protected making for a smooth, swift passage.

By Bob Van Leer

  (KETCHIKAN, ALASKA, Tuesday, July 22, 1997) - Our cruise ship, MS. Ryndam, docked early this morning at Ketchikan, Alaska's southernmost city.

  Ketchikan is located on an island and can only be reached by air or water. This region is the natural home of float planes. There is lots of protected water, lots of isolated country and no roads.

  The town is more of a stringtown than Gold Beach. It is located on a very narrow bench along the shore and is a tangle of pilings, stairways and boardwalks, with houses and buildings creeping up the slopes. The area population is about 15,000 and we were told this doubles in the summer.

  Our ship is tied up to a dock and when we first looked out this morning our window was just at dock level. The other side of the dock is a main street with wall-to-wall tourist shops.

  On the west side of the ship is the busy "inside passage", called here the Alaska Marine Highway. There is a lot of boating action to watch on the passage. And while we were eating lunch a bald eagle dove right alongside of the ship to get a fish for his lunch. This try was not successful.

By Bob Van Leer

  (JUNEAU, ALASKA, Wednesday, July 23, 1997) - Our cruise ship, MS Ryndam, docked this morning in Juneau, Alaska's capital city. Three other cruise ships are in port, which appears to be one more than the port has dock space for.

  The Veendam, also owned by Holland American Lines, is anchored offshore and transferring its passengers to shore by boat.

  At only 30,000 population, Juneau is still the third largest city in Alaska and is the only U.S. capital that can't be reached by road. The Juneau area has 40 miles of roads, none of which lead to the outside.

(By Bob Van Leer

  SITKA, ALASKA, Thursday, July 24, 1997) - Our ship, MS Ryndam, anchored at 11:00 a.m. at Sitka, Alaska, at one time capital of Russian North America.

  Alexander Baranov, Russian territorial governor, built a fort in 1799 at a site six miles south of the present town and moved his base there from Kodiak Island.

  The Russians didn't get along too well with the local Tlingit Indians and the Indians drove off the Russians and burned the fort in 1802. However, Baranov returned in 1804 with a larger force and cannon and rebuilt his fort and the settlement became permanent. Russia had established posts as far south as northern California.

   Sitka remained the Russian capital until Alaska was sold to the United States in 1867 for $7.2 million in gold. Sitka continued as the U.S. capital of Alaska until 1912.

  Betty and I had scheduled a historical tour of Sitka, which was a good choice. Aerial tours were canceled because of rain. This is the wettest day yet on the cruise and every day has been cloudy or rainy.

By Bob Van Leer

  (HUBBARD GLACIER, ALASKA, Friday, July 25, 1997) - Today was for glacier viewing. Our ship, Ryndam, traveled up to the head of Disenchantment Bay to within a few hundred yards of the face of the 92-mile long Hubbard Glacier.

  Hubbard is built by snows of up to 50 feet annually in the Chugach Mountains with peaks of up to 14,000 feet.

  As we entered the bay we were in thick fog, however the visibility raised to about a thousand feet near the glacier giving us an opportunity for good visibility. There are several other glaciers near Hubbard, but not as large. We approached within two-tenths of a mile of the glacier. Chunks of ice float through the whole bay.

   Hubbard moves at speeds of up to 33 feet per day and was in the news in May, 1986, when it closed off Russell Fjord and created a huge freshwater lake trapping a number of marine mammals. The lake blew open in October of the same year and the ship's glacier expert said it took 26 hours to empty the lake.

By Bob Van Leer

  (VALDEZ, ALASKA, Saturday, July 26, 1997) - Finally today the sun came out. We are considerably west now of the rainy Alaska panhandle.

  We docked in Valdez this morning, the southern terminus of the 800-mile long Alyeska oil pipeline.

  Valdez is the northernmost ice-free port in Alaska, which accounts for its selection as the pipeline terminus. About a fourth of the domestic U.S. oil production goes through this 48 inch diameter pipe.

  The mountains around Valdez are treeless and rugged. They contain several glaciers that do not reach down to the sea.

By Bob Van Leer

  (ANCHORAGE, ALASKA, Sunday, July 27, 1997) - We arrived at Anchorage this morning after an early disembarkation from our cruise ship, Ryndam, at Seward, and a tour of the scenery from there to Anchorage.

  Cruise ships do not enter the shallow harbor at Anchorage, docking instead at Seward, 122 miles distant on the Kenai Peninsula. Kenai is barely connected to the mainland by a 12 mile isthmus at Whittier. Whittier is also a deep water ice-free port but is not reachable now by road. Cars and buses going to Whittier are loaded on railroad cars and taken through the two tunnels from the main Seward-Anchorage to Whittier. Our guide said there is a move to enlarge the tunnels to take vehicle traffic but is being resisted by some in Whittier who fear the resulting traffic jam on the one (1) mile of highway in Whittier.

BUILT BY ARMY
  Seward itself is located on Kenai at the head of Resurrection Bay. It was established as a supply base and ocean terminus for the railroad to the Yukon Valley. Whittier was developed by the U.S. Army in World War II as an alternate port in case of Japanese attack on Seward. Seward has a population of about 3000.

By Bob Van Leer

  (FAIRBANKS, ALASKA, Tuesday, July 29, 1997) - The Alaska Railroad runs through spectacular scenery in its 356 mile run from Anchorage to Fairbanks.

  We left Anchorage Monday for the first leg of the trip, 233 miles to Denali National Park, where we spent the night.

  Anchorage is not the start of the rail line. Mile zero is at Seward, an ice-free port, 114 miles south of Anchorage.

  Our train is called the McKinley Explorer. Its six dome cars were originally built for premium trains in the lower 48 when passengers still traveled by train. The cars have had million-dollar refurbishing, some at the old Tillamook blimp hangar on the Oregon coast. The cars were built for viewing and are perfect for this trip.

By Bob Van Leer

  (PRUDHOE BAY, ALASKA, Wednesday, July 30, 1997) - Production at the giant Prudhoe Bay oilfield is now declining, but production from eight smaller oil fields is making up the difference now on Alaska's North Slope.

  The Prudhoe Bay field is the largest oil field in North America and the 18th largest ever discovered worldwide.

  The 48-inch diameter Trans Alaska Pipeline was built to move the oil to market, the largest private construction project anywhere. Prudhoe Bay came on stream in 1977 and produced more than 1.5 million barrels of oil and gas liquid per day for more than a decade. Production started to decline in 1988 but was still producing 1.2 million barrels per day in 1995, the most recent figures we have.

By Bob Van Leer

  (COLDFOOT, ALASKA, Thursday, July 31, 1997) - The Dalton Highway, referred to around here as "the haul road", from Prudhoe Bay to Fairbanks is drivable, but you don't want to take your compact car.

  We left Prudhoe Bay this morning for the first leg of the trip to Fairbanks, 244 miles to Coldfoot.

  It was foggy as we left, apparently a normal state of affairs. As we left I noted a sign at our hotel, "Warning-bears sighted in the area, use caution when outside".

By Bob Van Leer

  (FAIRBANKS, ALASKA, Aug. 1, 1997) - The Dalton Highway from Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay is 414 miles of dust - and spectacular scenery.

  We finished our trip on the highway today starting at Coldfoot, about half-way between Prudhoe Bay and Fairbanks. South of Coldfoot we crossed the Arctic Circle at 66 degrees, 33 minutes. Our bus driver gave us a certificate attesting to the crossing.

  Just when you begin to think some things are fixed, we find the Arctic Circle moves a little because of a wobbling of the earth. Right now it is moving north by about 38 feet per year. It will, in the future, turn south and be back where it is now in about 10,000 years.