Michael and Dan Tour Alaska, Our 48th State
Daniel Emberley, August-September 2025
Yeah, they’ll tell you endlessly, Alaska is the 49th state to enter the Union. But we’re counting down our goal to visit all fifty states; we still have Hawaii and North Dakota (ahem) to go, so for us, this is our 48th. Wanting to make the most of the jet lag, we flew to Seattle, drove to Portland to see friends and family, back to Seattle, got on a cruise ship to Alaska, and returned for four days in Seattle. Saw all the animals (whales, orcas, otters, spawning salmon, bald eagles), activity (calving glaciers), and misbehaviour (we are so not ready to be regular cruise ship customers). Fantastic weather, astounding scenery, and a great time.
Details follow if you have free time on your hands.
Monday, August 18
Silver Line zipped us out to Dulles, where a Ben’s Chili Bowl provided decent dinner. Our flight was delayed, but Alaska Airlines made up most of the time. Great views chasing sunsets over the Rockies. Got into SeaTac, and to the Holiday Inn Express there to start recovering from jet lag.
Tuesday, August 19
Michael picked up a rental car at the terminal, and we headed south. We needed a Target for recommended supplies for the ship; tried the one in suburban Olympia. Don’t. Mediocre store, dead mall, lunch at an equally mediocre Thai Garden. Parked over by the State Capitol, where things got better. Washington State’s capital is on a gorgeous site at the bottom of Puget Sound; we suspect this was as far south as Victorian ships could sail. Lots of forested shores on lakes and peninsulas; the Capitol on the isthmus of one of these. Grounds designed by the Olmsted brothers, Capitol itself is five buildings with the tall domed one in the center, so from a distance they blend into one structure. Cool, and an efficient way to build in stages, as revenue permitted. Grand Beaux Arts, with Tiffany-designed lighting and hardware, and so much Ketchikan marble they exhausted that quarry. To our shock, we walked right into the building, no security check, just a nod to the guard. The usual Senate/House/court rooms using classicism to express power, but nothing worthy of an architecture book. The volunteer-run gift shop is worth a visit.
Continued on I-5, over the bridge from Vancouver into Portland. Checked into the Kimpton Vintage, conveniently just south of Burnside on the northern edge of downtown. This is a Holiday Inn-chain hotel, doing the usual Kimpton thing of funky luxury in an historic building. Kimpton has themed it around Oregon State wineries. Eh.
Our friend Catie Robbins met us in the lobby after work and took us to her condo in the Pearl District. If you are a regular reader of these reports, you’ve met Catie before, in Scotland, Spain, Yellowstone, Texas. Her place is amazing, beautiful wood floors and a deck in one of the best neighborhoods in Portland. She can easily walk to her office in the federal courthouse, passing Powell’s and lots of great retail and restaurants. Our niece Laura is partner in several local restaurants. She had made us reservations at Mediterranean Exploration Company, MEC, her take on what D.C. would think of as a Lebanese Taverna. But, it’s Portland, and Laura’s, so infinitely better quality and service. Hamachi crudo, grilled octopus, lots of veg dishes to share. And we have never seen such a sexy staff; Laura’s husband, Eddie, confirmed that yeah, that’s part of their brand.
Wednesday, August 20
We drove out to Cannon Beach with Laura, Eddie, and Catie. Catie met us at the Kimpton, Michael retrieved the car, and we crossed the Willamette to pick up our fellow travelers. Our rental was too small for five people for the hour-and-a-half drive, so went in two cars. But first, a stop at a Fred Meyers. This is the Portland version of a Kroger. Laura needed to pick up a prescription, but I used the opportunity to grab a pack of delicious chocolate cookies for diabetic emergencies. Got on US 26 and west through the Cascades to the Pacific. At our request, Laura had gotten us a table at Mo’s, a seafood classic above the beach that we’d eaten at on our first trip down the Oregon coast. It did not disappoint, great table with a view, chowder, fried fish, clams, and shrimp. Michael discovered that “sourdough” was Pacific-Northwest for “white bread”. Bought kites at a store in town and launched them at the beach, fulfilling a dream I’d long had. The wind is so good there, and the beach unobstructed and uncrowded, that it was a breeze (pun unintended, but staying) getting them airborne. We passed the kites on to families with kids who were excited to join the other flyers, then into town to shop art galleries. Got an éclair pie and iced teas to relax. Laura and Eddie had been married here, at Ecola State Park; we drove uphill into the Park, fantastic views of the beach and the standing rocks that make the Coast so picture-perfect. We were happy to see “the room where it happened”.
Up the Coast to Seaside, and the Lewis and Clark saltworks. This is a “rectangular hole in the ground” (thanks, Catie!), not even really a park, in a sweet suburban neighborhood off the beach. Preserved by National Park Service, it interprets a camp the explorers made here to boil salt water down to preserve food for the return trip. Back in Cannon, dinner at The Wayfarer, with another fantastic view of Haystack Rock and the beach. A Pendleton whiskey, chowder, shrimp Louie, and salmon on beans and kale. Don’t think there is any bad food in Oregon. Said goodbye to Laura and Eddie, who were off the next day on a research trip to NYC, drove back to Portland, dropped Catie at home, and collapsed at the Kimpton.
Thursday, August 21
Met Catie at Powell’s, for the mandatory visit while in Portland. Sadly, I have discovered (Eleanor, avert your eyes) that I am no longer interested in owning physical books. It’s fun shopping for them, but reading is easier on my phone or Kindle. Powell’s is one of the best stores in the country, but not a single volume tempted me to take one home. Lots of cool shopping in north downtown and the Pearl; I’d made a list of stores that Catie guided us to. Lunch at Tanako, a Japanese place selling those silly Instagrammable white-bread-with-strawberries-and-white-cheese sandwiches. Delicious chicken katsu sandwich, miso tomato soup, chicken curry plate, and a matcha yuzu cookie.
Walked north and east to Chinatown, and Lan Su Chinese Garden. The latter as lovely as ever, a city block housing a walled garden with several “rooms”, water elements, and tea houses. Chinatown, however, is an opportunity to raise the biggest issue in Portland: the addicts. When we were here in 2015, they were a problem, but manageable, only slightly worse than we saw with homelessness in other cities. Lots of things have contributed to making them a crisis: Covid, a culture that wants treatment over policing but funds neither well, other communities dumping problem residents here, even just a climate so lovely that once you arrive you never want to leave. Every bus stop and corner of downtown is a mini-encampment, and the addicts feel entitled, rather than tolerated. It’s ugly, and sad, and I’m not sure how the city can get out from under the problem. We once considered moving here, but now creatives and educated people are fleeing a situation that they cannot manage. We found ourselves choosing routes with fewer, and seemingly less-established, groups of threatening men. Checked out the Muji store, said goodbye to Catie, and returned to the hotel to chill.
Kari Minnick, the woman who taught us to make glass, lives in southern Oregon. She and her husband Al drove up from Medford; we met in the hotel’s bar, cashed in our “resort fee” over drinks, then walked to another of Laura’s restaurants, Dolly Olive. An Italian cuisine my grandmother would not recognize: tomatoes with pesto, Caesar watermelon salad, agnolotti, trout, eggplant, shrimp, finished with a pannacotta with berry jam and corn cookies, and chocolate cannoli. Delicious. Google “Sesame Collective” for her full roster of restaurants, they’re all worth checking out. Was brilliant catching up with long-term friends.
Friday, August 22
A final meal with Kari and Al at the hotel’s restaurant, Il Solito, which was pretty good: eggs benedict and fruit. We checked out, said goodbye, then Michael and I drove back to Seattle. A little more than halfway up I-5 is Joint Base Lewis McChord, a major military complex. With Manic Meatballs, a restaurant I’d seen on the way down and wanted to try. Friendly, served by one of the owners, fast food with a Swedish meatballs theme. Not fancy, but fun and yummy.
Last time we were in Seattle, they were building all kinds of new transportation. In consequence their sculpture garden had been turned into a terminal for the light-rail-in-progress. That space has been returned to the Seattle Art Museum, which re-opened it as a new, brilliantly-landscaped space. It’s divided by a freight rail right-of-way, so, similar to what we saw this winter in Houston, they bridged that with a landscaped meadow/walk. The result gives plenty of space for sculptures to sit, uncrowded, in their own settings. About half were massive pieces the Museum had collected over the decades, Calders, Serras, deSuveros and such, the other half work commissioned for the new garden. Lots of pieces in motion, and great areas to commune with the work; fantastic views of the Space Needle and mountains.
We checked into the Kimpton Palladian downtown. We chose this because it allowed us to easily return the car and get to the ferry terminal the next day. Dropped our bags, drove to SeaTac, lost the car, and caught the TransSound Link train north to Westlake Center, a couple blocks from the Palladian. The subway is great, although they skimped on funding by running it at grade about half the distance to the airport, which is going to cause them issues as neighborhoods develop around stations. Walked west to Belltown, for Malaysian restaurant Kedai Makan. Rice with anchovy/shrimp/egg, noodle soup with tofu and shrimp, some great hot-sweet-sharp pickled cucumbers. Took a walk back through downtown, stopping by the Pike Place Target/CVS for a final pre-cruise run. Finally found a disposable raincoat (which I ended up never needing).
Saturday, August 23
Breakfast at Café Miss, a Turkish bakery: cheese pie and a tea, pretty good. Walked around Pike Place Market, but the Saturday morning crowds too much for us. This has gone from being a real urban marketplace to a tourist attraction; you can see the slide from farmer and fisherman vendors to folks selling prepared foods and items to be shipped. A shame. We went back to the Palladian, grabbing a taxi to Pier 91. This is not the cruise ship pier near Belltown, but much further north and west, not easily accessible except by car. There were massive lines to board the two cruise ships there; ours, the Eurodam, held 2000 guests, and Holland’s are some of the smaller ones on the Alaska circuit. Fortunately, the Customs and cruise ship staff have this down to a well-honed system. Unfortunately, most passengers seemed to have a “boarding pass”, and we did not. We got into the queue, checked our bags, went through passport security, and as we approached the line to physically board the ship, were flagged by staff and sent to a woman who was able to look up our booking and issue paper passes. Not sure what the slip up was, but it happens frequently enough that this is not unusual, and the only people stressed about our situation were us. We found our state room on the 5th deck, key cards in a pocket next to the door; dropped our carry-ons and went for lunch on the Lido deck.
This is the best point to describe our vessel. It really is, if not a floating city, at least a floating luxury hotel; like if a Vegas casino went to sea. Starting from the bottom of the ship, above levels of support and engines that we would never see, the decks went:
1, Main Deck: where we boarded, and where we would usually exit and re-enter the ship, depending on the port we were in. A lobby, then mainly state rooms, with the first of the three-level main theater in the fore. Decks were connected by three banks of stairs and elevators, fore, mid, and aft. The midship elevators were the most fancy; the port and starboard pairs were glass, with great views of the ocean or current port.
2, Lower Promenade: the primary entertaining spaces. Casino, art gallery (horrible art), lower level of the dining room. Main floor of the main theater. Also four different bar/lounge rooms, most with live entertainment at different times. No actual place to promenade, despite the name.
3, Promenade: The deck, like in a Fred Astaire movie, with an exterior walk all around the ship. I think seven circuits made a mile, but we never got into the power walking. In the interior, top levels of the dining room and main stage, also the shopping mall (like a duty-free shop), library, conference rooms, and photo gallery (gangs of ship photographers regularly took pictures, attempting to sell them to us later).
4-8, decks of state rooms
9, Lido: the main buffet floor; if you were awake there was food available. Also the spa and fitness center, three pools, pizza place, burger place, two bars. Lido was where we generally got breakfast and lunch. About 1/3 open to the sky, remainder inside, including two of the pools.
10, Panorama: another deck where you could promenade, also the rooms for kids, pinball arcade, “extra” luxury state rooms.
11, Observation Deck: two separate spaces, in different towers of the ship. Forward was a basketball court and Asian fusion restaurant and bar. Aft was the Crow’s Nest, a fancy glassed-in bar with amazing views, and the most “extra” state rooms.
Rejoining our heroes, we had gone to the Lido for lunch. Thousands of feet of buffet, a few stations repeating, interrupted by cross-corridors where you could get water/coffee/tea. There were also waitstaff circulating, who could get you alcohol or soda, and refresh your beverage. Surrounding all that were three tiers of seating. A massive space that we had trouble finding each other in, until we figured out a trick. In addition to all the food that was included in the price of the cruise (Lido, the bars, the formal Dining Room), there were also specialty restaurants that one pays extra for. One of these, Canaletto, was an Italian pasta place screened off from the Lido buffet at night. At breakfast and lunch it was open to all, but many folks never figured this out, and was where we found each other most often. We got a roast beef sandwich, sushi, a massive salad, and diabetic and regular desserts. I had feared the food would be bland, but it turned out to be excellent in all the venues. It could have used more pepper, and corn was oddly hard to find in any form, but everything was delicious. After lunch we started exploring the ship. Made a run into the library (cruise tip: best books are all taken the first day), then up and around most of the decks. The ship was massive, and fun. There is no longer a muster drill, but instead you watch a safety video on the tv in your state room and check in at the place on the Promenade deck where your lifeboat is stored. Completed, that unlocked service on our room tv, and allowed us to login to the ship’s WiFi.
Went back to our cabin to rest, finding our checked luggage had been delivered. The cabin was compact but generous, about half the size of one of our condos. Lots of storage, space under the bed to stow empty luggage, small desk/bar, convertible sofa, generous private porch and queen bed. Bathroom as big as we live with. We watched Seattle drift by through our floor-to-ceiling windows from the bed, and met our fantastic stewards, Ya Ya and Gigih, who would refresh our room three times a day. We saw them often, and never had to figure out how to summon them, as when we needed them, they were there. At worst we would leave a note asking for ice or a spare towel, and next time we got back to the state room it would be there. After seeing my syringes in the trash they made sure I had a container for “sharps”, unrequested and useful. These guys were as close to butlers as I’m ever likely to have, and they were amazing.
We tried out dinner in the Dining Room. One can still request formal seating at a set table, but we had chosen the more popular “freestyle dining”. Which meant the Dining Room acted like a restaurant. We would show up at the desk, ask for a table for two, and get seated. Sometimes at a window, usually not, but always with a good view, and never crowded against other tables. The waitstaff, again, were superb, as was the food on the menu. Lots of seafood, portions on the smaller side, but one was encouraged to order multiple appetizers/entrees/sides/desserts, as you wanted. Occasionally there were upcharges for steak or lobster, and all drinks on the ship came at an extra cost. Wines, however, cost less per glass than we are used to paying in D.C., and were usually wonderful vintages from Washington State or British Columbia vineyards. For our first dinner we got crab cocktail, French onion soup, rock fish on risotto, a curried chickpea cutlet, and lemon cake. We walked the first and ninth decks, which we’d missed earlier, and I saw Michael off at the spa for the first of several massages. In the main theater I saw a live preview show of the song and dance extravaganzas we could expect during the week.
Sunday, August 24
It’s 1,400 miles, direct, from Seattle to Juneau, our first port. The ship would cover that in about 48 hours. As a comparison, the Alaska State Ferry system takes three days. The speed of the cruise ship, in addition to the comfort, were big reasons why we were doing this trip by Holland America instead of the public ferries.
So today was a sea day. Breakfast at the Lido buffet, a lecture on wildlife spotting. Now informed that no, those were not just whitecaps, recognized whales while streaming the Washington Post on our veranda. Lunch at Dive In, the burger place at the covered Lido pool, who did a mean bratwurst. Checked out the coast of Haida Gwai (massive island off coast of British Columbia) from the Crow’s Nest. Alaska Trivia game in one of the lounges. Royal Dutch High Tea, eh, the usual British tea sandwiches and sweeter sweets. Dinner in the Dining Room: salmon, shrimp cocktail, arugula salad, lamb chops, crème caramel, strawberries Romanoff. Walked the decks, stopping for a Tom Petty cover guitarist in one of the bars. Relaxing, not a word I usually use on our trips.
Monday, August 25
Woke to a gorgeous sunrise over Alaskan islands. Saw whales in Stephen’s Passage, and a talk on Glacier Bay on the Main Stage. Michael stayed for the lecture by a Tlingit guide who spoke about native culture, Dan went back to the cabin to watch cliffside waterfalls go by. Lunch on the Lido deck, and read as we docked in Juneau.
But first, a note on the ports. In a way, they’re all the same: Tents for people who booked shore excursions, where a bus would take you to see bears, or a zipline, or to helicopter over a glacier. A street of South Asian-owned jewelry stores, t-shirt shops, and at least one environmental/tribal/artists co-op that sold better t-shirts, pottery, and local art. A couple of coffee shops, but no real restaurants, as they have learned we’re all going to eat the lunch we already paid for on the ship. I suspect ports on other cruise runs are similar, switching in volcanoes or a sugar plantation or swimming with dolphins for the bears. Fun rather than trashy, and always, a real settlement/town just a block or two inland. Dismbarked in Juneau, where our first stop was for Diet Coke and chocolate, stat!
Uphill (it’s always uphill from the ship, duh, it’s in the water at sea level) to the Alaskan State Capitol. This was built as a federal territorial office building in the 1920’s, and in 1959 they just flipped it into the capitol. Cool Art Deco details, but one of the less impressive state capitols we’ve toured. Like in Olympia, very little security, they seemed happy to see tourists come in. Learned about Elizabeth Peratrovich, a Tlingit state rep who became a local patriot defending Alaskan rights (search “Elizabeth Peratrovich quotes”, she’s amazing).
Google found us a cool set of stairs through a forest down to the Alaska State Archives and Museum. A well-done state museum on their industries (oil, lumber, fishing, tourism), geography (tip of the Aleutians to Ketchikan is like San Diego to Savannah, with Anchorage around St. Louis), and people (tribes, Russians, Americans). Michael took us to the Sealaska Visitors Center, a museum with a similar brief, but from the perspective of the tribes, and with much better shopping. A native interpreter made their exhibits, and displays we’d seen before, meaningful. Good reproduction of a clan house doubling as their auditorium. Best of all, a woman creating a Chilkat weaving, who seemed pleased to be able to talk textiles with me (no, it’s not really weaving, it’s twining, but who would know that who doesn’t work with fiber?) Checked out the Goldbelt Tram, which would take us up the steep hill where the ship was docked to a viewing station above, but at $60 each, decided to pass. It was too much for a now cloudy day, so the view would be minimal, and our feet hurt. We were worried that the time in Juneau would be too short, but it turned out to be just enough to see the city beyond the port shops.
Took a break, walked the Promenade deck to see Juneau from the ship, dinner in the Dining Room (Alaskan cod with spinach, bbq salmon bowl, crab cake, Caesar salad, Gold Rush soup, chocolate whiskey cake). Saw lesbian comic Kristen Key on the Main Stage, she was hilarious, and that was just the set she made safe for cruise ship passengers.
Tuesday, August 26
Glacier Bay is a National Park that almost no one sees on the ground. There is a lodge that you can hike or sail to, and many people fly over it. Most, though, come by cruise ship. A Park Service Ranger, representative of the Tlingit tribe, and the staff of the Park conservation group came aboard, and turned the ship into a kind of Park tour bus. Conservation staff of Alaska Geographic turn the Crow’s Nest into a gift shop, and the Ranger and tribal rep announce over the public address system where we are, what we are seeing, and why it’s important. When they’re not on the PA they make themselves available for questions, and give presentations in the main theater. It’s a great way to make the Park available to thousands, and have very few of us damaging what we are seeing.
Which was? Two hundred years ago, what is now Glacier Bay was land, a valley between steep, forested mountains. By 1800, Grand Pacific Glacier had begun scouring out the valley. By 1850 the local Tlingit were forced to shift to what is now Icy Strait down the Bay. After turning the valley into a bay, Grand Pacific retreated. Other glaciers met the Bay, coming down other valleys, creating today’s complex environment. You can see the plant succession in various inlets; in some a glacier is still visible with gravel debris before it. In others mosses and shrubs have begun forming soil, and others are starting to be re-covered in the mature Tongass forest that wraps most of southeast Alaska. With that has come wildlife: bears, but mainly water-based, orcas, whales, otters, and seabirds like gulls and eagles. Being there was like living in a David Attenborough documentary, but cold.
We checked out the shop, turned our room tv to the channel to listen to commentary, and watched the landscape go by. The ship sailed due north into the Park, with Margerie Glacier, showing pristinely blue ice before us, Grand Pacific to our east, covered in gravel debris so you’d barely know it was ice, all capped by Mount Fayerweather just across the border in Canada. The ship pulled up to Margerie with the port side facing, gave that side a half-hour to view, and turned around to give starboard its own half-hour. We spent the morning switching between cabin views, different decks, and grabbing hot tea on the Lido deck. People make a big deal out of grabbing the absolute best spots on deck and camping there all day, but we found our photos were just fine, and experience better, trying different venues. Plus, did I mention it was cold up there? Lots of new stuff to see. Rock flour is a fine grinding of stone, almost sand, that the glacier generates. Part of Margerie calved off while we were watching, announcing itself with the snap-crackle-pop that is a trademark of glacial melt. Lots of berger-bits, not quite icebergs, surrounded the ship and gave places for gulls and otters to play. In between forested faces, steep waterfalls that marked the ends of glaciers tumbled over cliffs.
As we sailed out of the Bay, the Tlingit representative did a presentation on the history of his people and the Bay, seagull eggs, totem poles and symbols of tribes and houses. He was hilarious, knowing how to keep us with him while conveying a human side to the Park that we could not have known otherwise. This visit alone justified the whole trip.
Still in the Bay, we had dinner reservations at Tamarind. We wanted to try one of the theme restaurants, and see if they were worth the extra charge. Tamarind, on the top of the ship, was their Asian-fusion option, and gave us a great view as we docked at Icy Strait Point. Good, but we suspect same kitchen as the Dining Room.
We had low expectations of Icy Strait. This had been a salmon cannery, on the outskirts of Hoona, the town the Tlingit created when they left Glacier Bay. The cannery closed and the tribe invested in themselves, turning it into a dining/shopping/entertainment destination for cruise ships. It’s pretty brilliant. We crossed catwalks from the ship to a plaza where we could have boarded a bus for hiking, or whale watching, or a salmon bake. Or a massive ropes course overhead in the trees. Or the world’s longest zipline. Instead, we shopped in the former cannery, checked out the old town cemetery, and took an aerial tram to the head of a series of nature hikes. These were great, an opportunity to walk through the rainforest we’d sailed past the previous days. From the trail we got to see orcas, bald eagles, and otters, all tops on the wildlife list, without having to pay a fee or spend time on a bus. Fun.
Wednesday, August 27
The Eurodam docked in Sitka at a terminal that required a bus to get into town, but these were frequent, the drive pretty, and the driver gave great background on what we were seeing and logistics of getting back. Sitka had been Russia’s capital in America, so is one of the few cruise ports that face the Pacific directly, instead of the Inside Passage. America kept it as capital for several decades after we purchased Alaska, during the Civil War, until we realized Juneau was an easier place to dock ships from Seattle. So, it’s one of the few places in Alaska with significant European history.
The bus dropped us at the port downtown; we walked along the waterfront, watching orcas sport in the harbor, to the fish ladder at the Sitka Sound Science Center. We were there for peak salmon run; it was amazing to watch the salmon swimming upstream to spawn. Lots of unsuccessful dead salmon below, which meant flocks of birds swooping in for a feast. Cool. Continued east to Sitka National Historic Park, which commemorates a battle between Tlingit and colonizing Russians (Tlingit won the battle but lost the war). Brilliant visitors center, where a native totem pole carver politely answered my request to explain how to read a pole (top to bottom? Bottom to top?) “neither”, that poles are more like movie posters, or an oil painting of Jesus’s walk to Calvary. You have to know the story in advance to recognize what the pole is saying, they are more house signs than narratives. We followed the totem pole trail to the Indian River, where an even bigger salmon spawning was underway.
Just outside the NHP is the Sheldon Jackson Museum. Jackson was an American who collected native treasures, founded the adjacent college to integrate natives into our society, and this museum to continue bridging the cultures. An odd octagonal building with central lantern houses the collection well, it reminded me of my childhood Peabody Museum at Harvard, but less dusty. Stuff from lots of tribes who probably competed, and had as much in common with each other as the English, Italians, and Poles, but here we were. Some of the best Tlingit, Athabascan, and other arts we’ve seen; I especially like the boxes, made from a single plank beveled/undercut to turn the wood into a cube. The college has closed, but the Arts-and-Crafts campus now houses social and cultural service organizations of greater Sitka.
Further west into town on Lincoln Street is the Russian Bishop’s House. If a cruise passenger sees any history, this is usually it. It’s a rare and fascinating example of Russian Colonial architecture in America. Originally built for the local head of the Orthodox Church, it became an orphanage, and as one of the biggest buildings in the colony, was in general use for whenever the community needed a large enclosed space. Park Service has furnished the top floors, but we’ve seen Victorian recreations all over Logan Circle, and didn’t want to give up the time to wait for the next tour. Instead we checked out the ground floor exhibits and architecture, which tell the fascinating story of Russian settlement (otter furs to sell to China, lumber to California) and sale to U.S. when the furs ran out. The Orthodox Church continued making converts amongst Natives, who had better rights as Russian settlers in America than they did as Presbyterian natives. Plus, Orthodox churches are more impressive than Protestant meeting houses.
Time for lunch; as described above, not a lot of restaurants, more food shacks with no place to eat. We wanted a table and chairs; ended up a couple blocks inland, behind the fire station, at the Sitka Burger and Crab Shack. The crab was crazy expensive, like, $40 sandwiches, but we were able to get a tasty chicken sandwich, gyro, clam chowder and drinks for just $60. Lots of good artisan and cooperative shops downtown. The Cathedral of St. Michael is an interesting wooden Orthodox church, part St. Basil’s in the Kremlin, part Massachusetts meeting house. The church burned down in 1966, but the interior furnishings were saved, and the rebuilt structure another window into Russian Colonial style. Lots of regressive Byzantine art, but in an oddly bright and light space.
Caught the bus back to the ship, where the Dining Room was serving “Dutch Dinner”: ham cordon bleu, a rice stuffed pepper. Saw magician James Cielen on the Main Stage. He is amazing, catch his act if you can. He shows you how he does some illusions, only so he can mystify you on how he does the next. He was a big deal in Vegas for several years, and we suspect he was on the cruise mainly as a family trip with his son, who was in the audience. Or maybe just for the omelet station?
Thursday, August 28
We woke in Ketchikan. This is the southernmost port in Alaska, so every cruise stops here before or after the run up British Columbia. I expected it to be more tawdry than it is. The theme is the lumber industry, which boomed after the San Francisco earthquake. There’s a Lumberjack Show of people throwing axes and racing on logs, like “Hee Haw” with beards, but at $45/head, we skipped it in favor of seeing the town. Which is pretty cool. The city fathers tried a “clean up” in 1903, banning brothels in town. The sex workers moved east, defined by a creek with a steep slope behind. The madams built houses on stilts above the creek, connected by a boardwalk. Creek Street is now full of giftshops, on the National Register of Historic Places, with decent historic interpretation crediting the madams as businesswomen who made a tough situation work, and not as criminals. As you stroll the boardwalk, you’re about fifteen feet in the air along the forest, and you can hear if not see a flock of bald eagles. Some of the best shopping of the trip. We recommend Niblick’s, who lured us in with the gay catnip of Russell Wright china and shirtless Alaskan men calendars. The salmon run was over here, further south than Sitka, but eagles were feasting on the leftovers.
We stopped for tea and a brownie, then into the U.S. Forest Service Center. This is one of those tourism centers the government runs with spaces for a variety of agencies, but Forest Service predominates, with a great display on the Tongass and how the forest works. It was one of the best exhibits on the land, natives, European settlement, and industries we saw, well worth the $5 admission.
Back on the ship to chill, as we’d done all this and it was still just 10:30 a.m. Got lunch on the Lido deck, read in the Library. Michael booked a massage, Dan went to a fun demo on folding bath towel animals. The Dining Room was hosting Gala Night, which meant all the other passengers dressed as well as we already had been, with collared shirts and sun dresses. Shrimp cocktail, escargot, beef Oscar, sea bass. This gave management a chance for us to thank the staff who had been cooking for and serving us all week; they deserved the applause they got. We took a walk around the Promenade deck, saw the musical show on the Main Stage, and a pianist in one of the bars. “Chocolate Surprise” at 9PM turned out to be staff offering us small portions of a variety of Dutch chocolates on one of the decks, sweet.
Friday, August 29
Breakfast on the Lido, Promenade deck in the fog. Went to the City on the Sea lecture, about how the ship functions. Interesting. Sampled a cake buffet on the Lido. Went to the pool on deck for wildlife sighting with the nature guide. Kristen Key and James Cielen did a recap show, where each performed half a set.
Technically this was a port day, as the ship docked in Victoria that evening, but we didn’t bother getting off the ship. Michael was justifiably worried about hassles trying to reboard from U.S. Customs, since he is a naturalized citizen. We’ve been to Victoria before, and it took a couple days to see well, not the three hours we were allotted. And finally, where the ship docked was nowhere near the Empress Hotel, anchor of the downtown harbor, so would have required buses to just go grab a drink. Eh, we took pictures of the “Welcome to Canada” sign from an upper deck and chilled. Packed and got our bags into the hall by 10 p.m. for Ya Ya and Gigih to wrestle downstairs.
Saturday, August 30
We did not rush off the ship in Seattle, but got a final breakfast on the Lido deck. There had been a crowd earlier, but we had a leisurely disembarking, Customs with no issues and our bags waiting for us in the terminal. We took the next in a line of cabs to the Staybridge Suites on South Lake Union.
This is the oddest Holiday Inn/IHG hotel we have ever stayed in. We think it was an experiment by corporate: what if we built a Staybridge (extended stay, lower tier, kitchens) and an Even (attempting to be hip, young, and cool) in the same building? Put the even number rooms on one side, the odd on the other. Above two lobbies, with separate entrances, one for each chain, with their own breakfast set ups? But shared elevators. It might have worked, except they quickly discovered they did not want to pay for two desk staffs. And they added a “1” to the front of the Staybridge rooms, so you were looking for the 14th floor in a six-story building. And they preserved the separate breakfasts, so the Even guests condescend to the Staybridge guests (really). Oh, and let’s build it as cheaply as possible, and under-staff the remaining check-in desk? All of that. We arrived way too early to check in, but after we found the lobby that had staff, were able to drop our bags off. Later when we did check in, we got a room whose AC did not work, and they had to upgrade us to a one-bedroom suite. Where the kitchen was designed so it was impossible to turn on the faucet without conking your head on the range hood. Can’t make this stuff up. The place so poorly built that it will probably be scraped and a new structure replace it within the decade.
On the plus side, we were in South Lake Union. In the middle of the Amazon campus. In an earlier Seattle, the area south of Lake Union housed lumber mills, and much of the land here is built on sawdust fill. Some of the older warehouses and apartment blocks survive, but over twenty years Jeff Bezos has bought a block here, a building there, and created a campus out of what had been a neighborhood. We liked it, lots of signature sculptures and decent coffee places, with non-Amazon schools and apartments surviving. The Spheres, the company’s signature greenhouses, were just around the corner from us. I’d chosen this location for the trolley, but in the end, Seattle’s bus service is so good, we ended up only taking buses and the occasional taxi, not the other varied transport modes they’ve installed.
We didn’t have Orca cards yet, the Seattle equivalent of a Charlie Card or D.C. SmartCard, but the walk down Westlake downtown was all downhill. A massive change in feel from Portland: some homeless, but they never felt like a threat, or the dominant force on the streets. Not sure if Amazon/Oracle/Google are financing the police, or how they’re working it, but Seattle has clearly won the competition to be the capital of the Pacific Northwest. The city felt young, dynamic, and rich.
The Seattle Art Museum is still using the Robert Venturi building, with the giant “hammering man” sculpture by Jonathan Borofksy out front, but not that entrance. It acts more like the lower floors of the skyscraper above it than a standalone museum, but functions better than expected. Their European collection is second rate and meager, although their Porcelain Room installation excellent. Decent collections of Pacific Northwest and Asian art, and good collections of Modern and Contemporary. It’s definitely the product of a few family collections cobbled together; you wonder how much they had been banking on getting Microsoft founder Paul Allen’s collection, which was instead auctioned off to fund his foundation for health care. The temporary show was Ai Wei Wei, a story we’d seen before at a retrospective at the Hirshhorn, but well done.
We shopped, got lunch at a pho place, and walked down the Arthur Erickson Harbor Steps to Post Alley. Uphill through the gum walls (tourists encouraged to wad their gum on the walls of the alley, then Instagram themselves, really, it’s disgusting) to Pike Place. Again, too crowded and unpleasant. Found a good bookstore and kitchenware, but retreated uphill to 1st and 2nd Avenues and some Japanese stores we’d seen there last week. Walked into the Symphony light rail station to buy Orca cards, getting enough fare so we wouldn’t have to figure out how to refresh them without creating an account that we would promptly abandon. Took the 70 bus back to the Staybridge. The 70 ended up being our most convenient route to almost everywhere, from University of Washington in the north to Chinatown south of downtown, running every ten minutes even on weekends. We thought we were going to crash at the hotel, but ….
The Gates Foundation Discovery Center was only going to be open until 5 p.m., and today was the last day it would open while we were there. They had a big display on toilets and sewage. We had to go. It was only a twenty-minute walk west uphill, to Seattle Center (Space Needle) and Gates. Clearly an effort to whitewash the excessive licensing fees they are still charging us for Windows and the Microsoft Suite, but well done. What we think of as Western municipal sewer systems, massive infrastructural investment to protect community health, apparently grew out of London in the 1850’s. It works well in the West, in big cities, but is way over-scaled and costly for most communities on the planet. And probably even for most parts of Europe and the U.S. that don’t require municipal government. And so, societies live without proper toilets, and curtail their lives in consequence. Is the choice really between open cesspits and American Standard porcelain? The exhibit demonstrated a variety of options that are working in different societies. Our favorite part was at the entrance, where they had installed a new toilet, fresh out of the box. With a water bubbler on the rim. And encouraged you to drink out of it. Our psychological block was too great, it really brought home how much of a mental and social issue sewage is, not just an engineering one.
We walked into the park of Seattle Center, around the Space Needle, to Chihuly Gardens. Dale Chihuly’s Pilchuck Glass School is not far, and the city has allowed Chihuly to create a private indoor/outdoor museum of his work. Which charges $43/person, no discounts for any of our variety of museum memberships. I turned to Michael and asked “Do we really want to pay $86 for glass we didn’t even make ourselves?”, and as we started to walk away, the clerk gave us each Senior admission. A discount? We couldn’t turn that down. It’s a really good installation, all of the Chihuly glass you’ve ever seen, chandeliers, ceilings, floats, swords, baskets. The conservatory/party/rental space with orange vessels hung overhead, framing a view of the Space Needle, is extraordinary, as are the exterior garden installations. I liked using it as a photo opportunity, editing down the pieces to get cool images of the color, plants, and buildings. Glad we ponied up for this.
Walked back by way of Mayuri, an Indian grocery store with attached buffet. Massively overordered at their computer terminals, but our hotel room had a kitchen, so we were all set for leftovers. Biryani, tandoori chicken, veg cutlets, garlic naan, with an all-you-can-top relish and raita bar.
Sunday, August 31
QFC is a local grocery store that is the Seattle variation of Kroger. Healthy walk up and back, now stocked with groceries for the kitchen. Caught the 70 bus north to University of Washington, and their Henry Art Gallery. The Henry is one of America’s great art museums. A James Turrell skyspace totally blocks the Art Deco entrance to the original building. The current show, “Spirit Houses”, had contemporary artists looking at how Asian cultures envision “home”. It was unexpectedly good, Michael especially liked it. A basement show, of Kameelah Janan Rasheed, was crap: she thinks everything her hand touches is meaningful, and editing is racism. No, dear, editing is how we make art. It is a blessing, not censure. We got burgers and Korean at a strip adjacent to campus; the Husky burger was excellent.
Also at the University is the Burke Museum, of anthropology, archaeology, and science. An entirely new building since I visited two decades back, integrating collection storage and preservation, curation, and exhibits in open spaces, so the public gets to see the science and how it is discovered. A great exhibit on trash, from Victorian house pits through community dumps to contemporary landfill talking about what we discard, what happens to it, and why. Great science, and display of same.
The hills of Seattle defeating us, we took a cab down to the Frye. This museum was created by a couple who collected heavy Academic German canvases, originally shown in their home, but now in Modern architecture from the 1990’s. Honestly, the Biedermeier paintings come off poorly. The Board broke the will, and allowed contemporary art to be shown with the Germans, which makes it a collection worth revisiting. A show of Jamie Wyeth paintings was much more rewarding than the Hugh Hayden show in adjacent galleries; I need to make a note to skip the latter when it comes to the DeCordova. Since we were already on the crest of First Hill, we walked over to St. James, the Catholic cathedral, with good Deco glass and an okay Byzantine interior. Walked downhill to 3rd Avenue and caught the 70 bus north to the Staybridge. Got dinner at Mendocino Farms, one of our favorite Rice Village Houston restaurants. Turns out it is a chain out of California (obvious, but who knew?), also with locations around Seattle and Texas. Delicious as always, corn-chili soup, a peach-hot honey-prosciutto sandwich, chopped Chinese salad. Walked back via Denny Park, the oldest park in the city, between downtown and Lake Union. It’s been badly cut up for recreation and dog runs, but the homeless encampment is down to one tent.
Monday, September 1
We caught the 70 south to Chinatown/The International District. There is an assortment of Asian cultures here, but they’re sorted pretty much into Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Filipino blocks, behind the main train station. We saw lots of closed stores here, but on 10:30 on Labor Day, that was not a surprise. Some of the best buildings are owned by family associations. Unlike most Chinatowns in America, this one seems pretty vital, with Asians living and shopping here. We found the Japanese grocery store, Uwajimaya, and discovered the koi-shaped drinking glasses we’d liked at the Art Museum for $8 less. A Hong Kong-cuisine restaurant for lunch; broccoli, noodle soup, and a dish that screamed the British-Chinese mish-mash of the old country: spaghetti under white sauce with ham and chicken, VegAll, and a hot dog. Lots more homeless folks than we saw up on the tech campuses in Lake Union. The 70 got us back to the hotel for a nap. We didn’t figure it out until we got back to D.C., but we were in the early stages of Covid at this point, and Seattle‘s slopes were exhausting us.
We took a Lyft to Volunteer Park and the Asian Art Museum. This was the original Art Deco building for SAM, before the 80’s building went up downtown. They have a good Asian collection, displayed here by theme rather than culture of origin. Great porcelain galleries.
Leaving the Park we saw a bunny rabbit by the fountain; more unexpected wildlife. From the Park it’s an easy descent, along Prospect Street, Boylston Avenue, and Belmont Street (hmm, someone had come from Boston) over I-5 to Mercer Street and the hotel. Great views of downtown from the overpass, and we liked seeing one of the fancier Victorian residential neighborhoods. We had Indian-Chinese-Japanese leftovers for dinner (Michael had gotten seaweed salad and pickles at Uwajimaya). Took a quick after-dinner walk around a corner of South Lake Union we still hadn’t seen, to Cascade Playground and community garden, and back through the Amazon campus.
Tuesday, September 2
Packed, checked out, left our bags. Walked a block north to Lake Union proper, and the Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI). This is in a former Naval Reserve Arsenal, wicked maritime Art Deco. I had come on our first visit, when it was an open warehouse looking for a purpose, with a temporary show of French fashion dolls. It has become a real museum, anchored by the Jeff Bezos Center for Innovation (less hagiographic than the similar show at Smithsonian American History), dedicated to the companies that made Seattle, and the history of the city. Latter includes a brilliant raised map of the region, showing the landform changes the city has undertaken: straightened rivers, slopes removed, and lakes merged and created. We got as far as the 1920’s in the permanent exhibit, then broke for lunch. Duke’s is about a twenty-minute walk along the Lake, fantastic view, sourdough bread, calamari with tartar and hot honey, salmon salad, chowder, fried cod. The chowder here is sui generis, cream based, but neither New England nor Oregon coast, full of minced vegetables giving it body. Returned to MOHAI to take us forward from the Depression. There were good temporary shows on Nelson Mandela and Rick Weiland, the latter the third partner in Microsoft, who chose to leave the company as a millionaire to pursue life as a gay man in the 1990s.
Back to the hotel, got our bags, and a cab, and checked into the Holiday Inn Express SeaTac, where we began this trip. Our flight the next morning was at 9 a.m., and we didn’t want to risk rush hour traffic. Not a lot out this way, but the hotel shuttle bus driver dropped us at Bob’s Burgers and Teriyaki. Massive rice bowls topped with wonderful teriyaki sauce coated proteins. Everything else this way was corporate chains; this was worth the stop. And an easy walk back to the hotel when we were done.
Wednesday, September 3
SeaTac to Alaska Air to Dulles to a taxi to Boston House. An uneventful end to two weeks of Pacific Northwest excitement! We never felt fully rooted to a place (for a week we were literally at sea), but enjoyed all the settlements we visited. The weather was fantastic throughout, rarely even fog to obscure the stunning views. We didn’t get in as much Columbia River and Willamette wine as we would have liked, but the food was mainly outstanding.
In summary
Would we take a cruise again? Sure, if it connected places we already wanted to go see. Just for the sake of the luxury? Nah, we can do that at any of the resorts we’ve never chosen to go to. We loved the professionalism of the staff, and our state room with the verandah, and the quality and availability of the food. The Eurodam is an older ship, and we’d worried that might be a problem, but Holland America has maintained it well. Lots of our fellow passengers were crass, selfish, and rude, but many were friendly and pleasant.
Would we recommend an Alaskan cruise? For sure. We loved learning about the native cultures in the ports, museums, and lectures. The culture of the Pacific Northwest pre-Europeans was one of the most advanced in the world, a diverse, complex society, something we’ve done our best to suppress. The geography, scenery, and wildlife are unmatched.
Our favorite thing about Portland was getting to see our friends and family there, and the food. Not sure there’s enough there, though, for us to live full time, or even over a winter. Maybe when they re-open their art museum, currently being renovated.
Lots of great things about Seattle: the views over the city and the Sound, the museums, the tree-covered mountains, excellent Asian and seafood. There is something in the late summer light and air of Puget Sound that is just amazing. The transit is great, but it has to be, because the way they slapped a grid over mountain coves is ridiculous, and leads to those annoying hill climbs. Downtown is dirty, and could use a power-wash. The current moment has lots of annoying entitled rich kids running around, but that will pass. It was cool how they have mentally annexed Alaska and Hawaii as adjacent states, like how in Boston we think nothing of living in New Hampshire or Rhode Island, but at an oceanic scale.
The otters are calling – go!
