24 May 2026
Today will be another travel day, so I wanted to get some walking in before were sat on a train again.
Anchorage has one of the largest tidal ranges in the US- upwards of 30′, hence all the exposed banks as the tide is currently out:
I found a bakery and we stocked up on snacks:
They didn’t have coffee there, so I routed us to a coffee shop, where we ended up with this soda 🙂
Mystery flavor = blackberry! It was so good I went back for a second to enjoy on our train ride.
This train also had wide viewing windows, but seating was at tables, so another couple ended up across from us:
Fortunately, they were not chatty and we were seated facing forward (so I didn’t get carsick). Unfortunately, all the good views were on the other side of the train:
So I had to shoot through the window on the other side of the train:
and creatively crop around the heads of the people sitting there:
No moose, just some birds:
We drove through a mountain, through this 2.5 mile, one-lane, joint car/rail tunnel:
We had to sit and wait while oncoming traffic cleared; they flip the flow of traffic every half hour.
As we exited the tunnel, we got our first look at our ship!!!
Nieuw Amsterdam, our home for the next week!
Farewll, train!
(I liked his overly shiny parts)
Our boat was still loading bags:
But fortunately, ours were waiting in our room when we got there:
Bathroom:
And balcony!!!
We’re on a boat!!!
Each day, we’ll get a program like this:
It outlines the day’s activities, highlights unique things in the area, and lists what times all the dining areas are open:
We’ll go exploring more tomorrow, since it’s a full sailing day, but for now these helpful maps on each level will be enough:
Plus, these helpful mats on the floor, since it’s actually quite easy to get disoriented in the interior of the boat:
On our way to dinner:
We decided to check out the dining room:
This might be too fancy for us…
Three courses (plus some extra rolls that I totally stuffed into my pocket for later)- the food was good, but my lasagna was kinda disappointing. Plus, it was just a ton of food- I think we’ll check out the Lido Market (aka- the cafeteria) for our next meal.
Shortly after dinner, we pushed off:
We’re officially cruising!!!
Farewell, Whittier!
(those lines on the map are ferry routes- I think we’ll follow them for at least the beginning of our trip)
I was watching and waiting for the sun to set when this boat pulled up:
Floored it to keep up with us and someone jumped over to our ship!
Pilot maybe?
Even though we don’t have cell service, my hiker app can still pull a location, so that should come in handy.
Good night, Alaska!
Well, kinda… this is 1030pm:
Fortunately, we’ve got good blackout curtains, but it’s gonna be hard to sleep when I want to stay out and watch the world go by!