On June 20th, 2009, we took our third cruise (1st on Princess) and it was a cruise tour.  The cruise itinerary was to depart from Vancouver, sail to Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay (scenic cruising), and College Fjord (scenic cruising).  Then we land in Whittier, take a catamaran across Prince William Sound to Valdez, then board a bus for Copper River Wilderness Lodge in Copper Valley, Alaska.  We spent two nights there, then took the Denali Highway to the Denali Wilderness Lodge (I use the term highway loosely here) for two nights.  Then we board the train to Fairbanks for two more nights where the sun set at 12:30am and rose at 3:30am.  We cruised on the Princess Cruise Lines ship, the Island Princess.

In Ketchikan, we visited the Saxman Native Village and saw totem poles and the natives.  In Juneau, we had a charter boat to take us fishing and whale watching.  Due to the lack of whale activity, we spent most of the day fishing (which seemed to be as productive as the whale watching).  We did get to feed the eagles though.  Then we spent some time in town.  In Skagway, we did the White Mountain Pass Railway and saw the gold miners path through White Mountain Pass.  After that, we went to a Musher's Camp and got a ride from a team of 16 sled dogs (awesome experience), then spent some time in town. 

For the land portion of the tour, we kept busy.  In Copper River, we did a rafting fishing excursion.  We got a 14 mile class-3 white water rafting trip with stops to fish for sockeye salmon.  We also saw some eagles on the way down river.  In Denali, we took an excursion deep into the Denali National Park, got to join the 30% club (30% of the people who go to the park get to see Mt. McKinley).  In Fairbanks, we got a river tour and got to visit a native village to learn about the local indians.  Plus we got to see tons of wilderness and wildlife all throughout the bus/train travels.