A very long day from Whittier, Alaska, to Vancouver
The expected storm hit overnight while we were docked at Whittier, and the morning of June 10, the 10th day of our trip, was truly ugly. The next two photos were shot at 06:05.
We weren’t looking forward to going out there, though the walk out in the wind and rain was less than 100 meters. Getting off got a bit confusing because the disembarkation folks changed the alphabet and put groups J and K before our group I.
At 08:17, though, we were walking up the ramp to the terminal, reasonably confident that our luggage would show up in downtown Anchorage.
We went to the motorcoach we were directed to, after confirming its destination.
Bye-bye, Whittier. Brrr!
It’s the second week of June. At sea level! Whittier has the worst weather in Alaska outside the Aleutian Islands.
Passing the Portage Pass Trail parking area.
The entrance to the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, at 2½ miles the longest highway tunnel in North America, and the first designed for -40° temperatures and 150 mph winds. The tunnel is only one lane, and trains share it as well, but it works quite well. Back when I started driving motorcoaches to Whittier in 1990 the tunnel was only for trains, and I drove my busses onto railroad flatcars to be taken through!
As I expected from previous visits, the weather improved dramatically just a few miles north. The drive along Turnagain Arm on the Seward Highway is beautiful.
Upon arriving at the Anchorage airport, we discovered that we had been sent to the wrong bus. …sigh… Luckily, the driver was going downtown to within a couple of blocks of the Egan Center where we needed to be, and would drop us and the others in the same situation off there.
Continuing on…
We dropped our carryons at the cruise line area at Egan, found the rest of the family, and decided to go the nearby Anchorage Market. I called one of two Anchorage friends I wanted to see, and she said she could meet me there in a few minutes 🙂
Stephanie and I go way back into motorcoach days, though I don’t remember how far exactly. We would often cross paths on the road, and have been Facebook friends now for many years. It was so nice to reconnect in person 🙂
We returned to ANC in plenty of time for our 4:15 flight to Seattle. Anchorage is a great place for aircraft fans, with lots of unusual planes passing through. The number of Boeing 747 freighters in particular is quite remarkable, and over the past 34 years I’ve shot hundreds of photos here.
This was probably the first Boeing 737 Max 9 I’d flown on. Nice bird 🙂
The family separated at ANC – we flew Alaska Airlines because we have a lot of Alaska Airlines points in the bank, two others were on this Air Canada, and two others flew on United.
Goodby, Anchorage. For about the 100th time (though mostly by bus) 🙂
Climbing out over the mud flats of Cook Inlet and the mouth of Turnagain Arm.
Ah, the luxury of travel 😀 Cathy had bought the extra “Picnic Pack” because it wasn’t clear when we might be able to eat again.
We climbed into the clouds, and I have no memory of what happened over the next few hours. We connected at Seattle for the short hop back to Vancouver, though, and just before 01:00 I was able to post the final photo, shot from our room at the Radisson Hotel Vancouver Airport, with the comment “Zero dark 57 – finally in our hotel room close to YVR.”
It had been an awful day, probably to save a $500 overnight in Anchorage, but we have vowed to not do that again. It works well when you’re 30 years old…
The next day would be easy – pick up a rental car and drive to Powell River, with two short BC Ferries cruises.
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