Conlon Travel Blog

When you think of Alaska most people think of snow. Not in Ketchikan (known as Alaska’s First City) where they hold records for the liquid snow called rain. They actually have a rain gauge near where the cruise ships dock. (click on the rain gauge photo for the full effect, Too tall to get it in this blog) Of course our visit to Ketchikan would not be complete if it was not raining.

This has to be considered the highlight of the Alaska cruise and we don’t even have a port of call. Cruising the Tracy Arm Fjord is an awesome adventure floating around ice bergs with rocky cliffs on both sides.

Our next port of call took us to the historic town of Skagway, Alaska.  Skagway receives about a million tourists annually, most of whom come off of the cruise ships. You can easily spend several hours walking the streets of Skagway visiting shops, museums and historic sites. No trip is complete without a ride on the White Pass Railway and an extended trip to the Yukon.

Our first port of call into Alaska is at Juneau. The largest city in the USA in terms of land size, Juneau has no roads in or out of the city. A cruise ship is one of two obvious ways to reach Juneau.