Turnagain Arm

Today we continued our training, with the second part of a public speaking class with the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. That went well. We all had to give a two-minute talk on a topic of our choosing. I chose to talk about how Anchorage was settled and the Alaska Railroad, since this place started out as a railroad town. That went well. That was our last training session, but in the afternoon, we had the opportunity to go on some tours of Anchorage. This was to give us an idea of what the passengers expect when they take either Holland America's Highlights tour or Princess's Anchorage Explorer tour. We will be giving those in the next few days.

Yesterday, we had a familiarization trip to Portage and back. Originally, this trip was supposed to take us to Whittier, but in April there was a rather massive rock slide near the north end of the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, and the road to Whittier has been closed since. The only access to Whittier is by rail, or by boat. Rail is the most practical. Originally, the road was supposed to reopen after the weekend, but it has been nearly a month now since the slide, and it is still closed. The slide was much worse than everyone realized. Due to the slide, our trip was unable to go to Whittier. Instead, we went as far as Portage. There we saw Portage Glacier Lake and the Begich, Boggs Visitors' Center. The ship M/V Ptarmigan sails on that lake, and many or our trips down Turnagain Arm will include a stop there. As drivers, we are allowed to sail on the Ptarmigan for free, since Holland America is the owner and operator. It sails across the lake to the Portage Glacier. The lake was still frozen yesterday though, so the boat was not out, and the glacier was not visible from the road.

On the way to and from Portage we made some other stops. We first stopped at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, in Portage. They have a lot of animals there that, for whatever reason, have been rescued and are unable to return to living in the wild. They take care of them there, and allow people to visit and see the animals. There were a lot of moose, bears, and caribou there. It was interesting, though it will not be a regular stop for the tours. There are a few that stop there, but not many.

On the way back towards Anchorage, we stopped at the Alyeska Resort, which is also near Portage. That was our fifteen minute lunch break. I ate on the bus though. They have a tram there which goes up one of the mountains. It is not yet open for the season. Many of the Princess guests will be spending some time at Alyeska, and when we bring them there, we can ride the tram with them for free. We also get to eat there for half price, and we get all the hot drinks we want for free. There are some perks to being a driver! It was a very nice place, up in the Chugach Mountains, but it was rather expensive! Even at half price, I cannot see myself eathing very much there. They definately charge tourist prices. It was very nice though.

Tomorrow we have another exciting familiarization trip. We will be taking the train from the Anchorage station to the Denali Princess Lodge, near Mount McKinley. Our meals are all included, and there is a dinner show at the lodge. We will be staying the night at the lodge, and returning via motor coach on Wednesday. On the return trip, we will also be stopping at the McKinley Princess Lodge, to see where that is. I am excited for this trip! All our meals will be included on Wednesday as well, and we will be back in the middle of the afternoon.

Here is a link to the pictures I took yesterday, on our trip to Portage and back. There are quite a lot, so I am not going to post the pictures on this site. Enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2259461&id=17812966&l=2b12dd1c13