According to Barbara, she and John were a bit jet-lagged when they finally landed in Sitka, their point of entry into Alaska. "We had been on an airplane for ten hours, so we did a lot of walking. We got into the city's Russian heritage a bit, which was fascinating--it felt like we were somewhere entirely different from the U.S. And we just had a marvelous time hiking around and talking to a lot of interesting people. We've always found that you learn a lot more talking to locals than you do talking with tour guides."

After two nights, the couple flew to Juneau and rented a small car for touring the area during their short stay. A highlight was driving about 12 miles outside of Juneau to view magnificent Mendenhall Glacier. Back in the city, they stumbled onto an impressive organ recital in one of Juneau's government office buildings. "All the pipes were behind glass," Barbara explains. "I played the organ for some years, and I'd never seen anything like that."

Next stop--Anchorage, where the couple met up with Nancy, Ray, and Michael at the Millenium Anchorage Hotel. "Katia couldn't have picked a better place for us," says Barbara. "The hotel sits right on the banks of Lake Spenard, which is a busy floatplane base, and we sat on the patio at lunch so Michael could watch the planes taking off and landing. He was thrilled!"

Riding the Rails

For the next leg of their journey, Barbara et al. boarded an Alaska Railroad train, the Denali Star, for the trip to Denali National Park and the McKinley Chalet Resort, located just outside the park grounds. "This was another wonderful place, with slightly rustic cabin-style buildings hidden among the trees. We went to a special dinner presentation here called the Alaska Cabin Night Dinner Theater. They had music and dancing, and sort of loosely told the story of the Gold Rush. The cast really played to Michael, and he felt like the center of attention."

The next day, the family took a full-day tour--13 hours--through Denali National Park. As their coach bus wound its way through the park, they spotted moose, grizzly, and elk in their natural surroundings, as well as copious numbers of their favorite little creature, the white-footed rabbit. Barbara says binoculars are a must for bringing distant wildlife up close. "I also think the half-day tour, which lasts about six hours, is better for those with young kids," she adds. "It was a long day."

The family pushed northward to Fairbanks the following day, once again traveling via the Denali Star. As much as she enjoyed the train--with its domed observation car and outdoor viewing deck--Barbara was a bit dismayed by the number of people on board who were with organized tours. "We're all very independent travelers in my family," Barbara notes, "and there were way too many people with tours for our taste."

Fairbanks proved to be a fun, frontier-style adventure highlighted by a river-boat trip and visit to a dog-sledding summer camp. Even better, while wandering around the city, the family serendipitously discovered the Fairbanks Ice Museum (www.icemuseum.com), where life-sized ice sculptures of wildlife--bear, moose, birds--and scenic woodland vignettes were displayed in special chilled, glass showcases and lit for maximum glistening beauty. "It was very, very different and fascinating--like nothing I've ever seen," says Barbara.

The next day, the family's excitement mounted as everyone boarded the flight for Barrow, a true frontier town well above the Arctic Circle, and the northernmost city in the U.S. It also is home to the indigenous Inupiat Eskimo people. From the air, they looked down on a vast expanse of frozen tundra and ice floating everywhere in the water below. "It was an amazing sight," says Barbara. "No grass, no greenery, just bare ground. They live on top of permafrost here, and there are no paved roads, just dirt. As we drove to the hotel, we passed one house where someone apparently was determined to grow something. They had gotten a bucket of soil and planted one single flower."

Most people who visit Barrow fly in for the day and right out again, but Barbara had Katia arrange an overnight stay at Top of the World Hotel. "I'd say the hotel was not in tip-top shape, but it was appropriate to the area," says Barbara. "We thoroughly enjoyed our stay. Everywhere we went, people were very open and willing to talk at length, like we lived just down the street. We ate dinner in this small restaurant that served Mexican food, called Pepe's North of the Border, and I have to tell you, it was some of the best food I've ever had anywhere!"

In this Land of the Midnight Sun, Barbara found herself waking up at 2:30 a.m., partly from excitement and partly from the sun streaming in through the curtains. When morning finally did arrive, all five family members set off on a tour with a private guide arranged through the hotel. "The tour guide was terrific--he took us everywhere," notes Barbara.

This city of 4,400 people--60 percent of whom are Inupiat Eskimo--has a fascinating cultural history which Barbara and her family experienced first-hand. One of their stops was at a combination restaurant and fabric shop, where Barbara was amused to find dozens of Hawaiian-print fabrics. While there, they were treated to a presentation of the ceremonies and traditions of the 4,000-year-old Inupiat culture. These indigenous people originally named their settlement "Utqiagvik," translated "Place where we hunt snowy owls." Today, the Inupiat still practice subsistence whaling much as their ancestors did.

In addition to visiting a "typical" grocery store--if any grocery store above the Arctic Circle can be considered typical--and some of the area's government buildings, their guide drove them to the very end of Barrow's northernmost dirt road, which dead-ends directly at the edge of the Arctic Ocean. Here, the entire family posed for photos while framed by the huge jawbones of a whale. Some brave souls have been known to strip down to bathing suits and take a dip in these frigid waters so they can become honorary members of Barrow's Polar Bear Club. But Barbara, John, Nancy, Ray, and Michael chose to stay fully and warmly dressed, and to simply savor their long-awaited moment at the "Top of the World."

HL

For the full story on the Lehmann's Inside Passage cruise, including their on-board likes and dislikes, visit www.Hideaways.com/alaskajourney.

Tale of a Travel Agent

Hideaways' Travel Consultants are known for their diligence and "can-do" spirit when it comes to helping plan your most memorable vacations. In her own words, here's how Barbara's personal consultant, Katia Lillis, stepped in and got the job done--fast!

"When Barbara called me, she knew exactly where she wanted to go and in what order. But what she wanted was quite complicated, and she didn't know how to put it all together herself. That's when she turned to Hideaways. I had never pieced together a complex Alaska trip like this before, so it took a lot of work and research to make all the pieces fit--and we did it all really fast, in just three days! Plus, they booked the trip May 4th and left June 14th, so that was fast, too.

We planned the entire trip around the family's overnight stay in Barrow. Planes do not fly to Barrow on a regular schedule, and there's not always room for tourists when they do fly because of limited seating--working government personnel are given priority--and because the same planes also are configured to fly up freight. But we got it done! And I really enjoyed the challenge of arranging all the details of getting them to Barrow.

Because of the way the economy was at the time, I think pricing was quite good. Alaska can be very expensive, and they wanted to go with good hotels and things like top-of-the-line GoldStar Service when they took the Alaska Railroad, so they could have the advantage of the domed observation car and the private outdoor viewing deck. More than anything, I think Barbara wanted to create memories for her grandson on this trip, to give him the opportunity to see Alaska's awesome natural beauty and share his amazement at what he saw. And she also wanted to dip her toes in the Arctic Ocean when they visited the "Top of the World." This was her dream--I couldn't let her down!"

Alaska by Water

Cruising the Inside Passage of Alaska during the traditional May through September cruise season has skyrocketed in popularity over the past few years. While a number of mainstream cruise lines ply these waters, you'll find much more personalized service, on-board enrichment programs, and more intimate sailings with our highly recommended lines. These include:

Silversea Cruises^THC - Luxurious small ships, on-board lectures, gourmet dining, all-inclusive sailings that include premium alcoholic beverages and most shore excursions, 6- to 11-night itineraries;

Holland America Line - Premium cruising, pioneered the Alaska CruiseTour concept with overland tours, great choice for multi-generational cruising, 6- to 13-night itineraries;

Celebrity Cruises^THC - Premium cruising, bigger ships, one of the more affordable options, great choice for multi-generational cruising, 7- to 13-night itineraries;

Regent Seven Seas Cruises - Luxurious cruising on mid-size to large ships, all-inclusive sailings that include premium alcoholic beverages and unlimited shore excursions, 7-night itineraries. Read Bill Giles' report on his family's Alaskan cruise aboard the Seven Seas Mariner at www.Hideaways.com/familycruise.

November 2009