Prisoner of Hopes

Author: Roxanna Mechem

  • Ketchikan: Travel Goals Alaska

    Ketchikan: Travel Goals Alaska

    We find ourselves in Ketchikan, Alaska with time to kill. We walk Creek Street and the harbor. But there is still a lot of port time ahead. Cruise ships give you random amounts of time that are simultaneously too short to head too far afield and too long for port side exploration. However, in Ketchikan,…

  • Creek Street: Travel Goals Alaska

    Creek Street: Travel Goals Alaska

    Our cruise ship, the Westerdam, docked in Ketchikan, Alaska on a warm July morning. We decide to head up the hill to Creek Street and the salmon run while most of the other passengers head to town. It is peaceful at the upper end of the street. I can almost imagine that I am alone…

  • Experiencing Juneau: Travel Goals

    Experiencing Juneau: Travel Goals

    Alaska’s state capital is remote. While people can drive cars in the Juneau area, the road system only extends about 45 miles. There is no connection to a larger highway system. To get here you must either fly or come by boat. It is hard to end up here by accident. While definitely not a…

  • Gold Rush Echoes: Travel Goals Alaska

    Gold Rush Echoes: Travel Goals Alaska

    Just outside of Skagway, Alaska is a trail that runs past the historic cemetery. There is a giant gold nugget statue and plenty of 100 year old graves. Lawman Frank Reid rests under a giant obelisk. Local scoundrel, Jeff “soapy” Smith lies nearby under a much humbler headstone. It is rather strange that men that…

  • A Day In Glacier Bay: Travel Goals Alaska

    A Day In Glacier Bay: Travel Goals Alaska

    Glacier Bay National Park is unlike any other I have visited. We will be in the vast park all day and we will never step foot on land. Instead, a park ranger takes a shuttle to our ship and will narrate as we cruise by the many glaciers and mountains that make up the park.…

  • Return to Skagway: Travel Goals Alaska

    Return to Skagway: Travel Goals Alaska

    It is strange to return to a town twice on the same vacation, but we are sailing back the way we came. We disembarked the Zaandam in Skagway for our adventure in the Yukon Territory and stayed a few days. Now as passengers of the Westerdam on the return trip, we have about six hours…

  • Holland Homecoming: Travel Goals Alaska/Canada

    Holland Homecoming: Travel Goals Alaska/Canada

    It may be the strangest way to get to a cruise ship ever. I am glad someone else arranged the transport, because we have to head to Whittier Alaska, a city where all the residents live under one roof. And the only way you can enter town is by boat or through a timed tunnel.…

  • Anchorage, One Night Only: Travel Goals Alaska

    Anchorage, One Night Only: Travel Goals Alaska

    I haven’t been to Anchorage in a while. This time I arrive after a long day on a train. We are staying downtown for just one night. Tomorrow we will be picked up and taken to Whittier to join a cruise. Right now I am tired and hungry and I’m in no mood for exploration.…

  • Backcountry By Rail: Travel Goals Alaska

    Backcountry By Rail: Travel Goals Alaska

    I love rail travel. So I am looking forward to an all day adventure as we travel from Denali Station to Anchorage on the McKinley Explorer. It is a glass domed excursion train. The top level is full of comfy seats and a full service bar. The 360 degree views have us hopeful for wildlife…

  • Denali Disappointed: Travel Goals Alaska

    Denali Disappointed: Travel Goals Alaska

    Denali is not my favorite national park. It isn’t even in my top ten. That is probably not the best way to lead a blog post about Denali, but it is the truth. Denali protects six million acres of pristine sub-arctic wilderness. And it is wild. Unfortunately, in all that space, there is only one…