Alaska: Part I

Wasn't quite the "complete" escape, but it'll have to do.

So I recently took the family on a week-long cruise to Alaska.  We had booked with Princess Cruises (through Costco) and it was a group vacation that we took along with a number of my college friends from my days at UCLA.  All-in-all, twenty of us made the trip.

From a photography standpoint, I struggled to decide what gear to bring with me.  I've never been to Alaska (I don't travel much actually), so part of me felt like this was a trip of a lifetime.  But this vacation wasn't just about me, as we'd be traveling with a 19-month old child and of course my wife, who is the queen of over-packing.  As much as I wanted to lug all my lenses and both camera bodies, I knew I really wouldn't have time to plan my shots, unless I was intent on ruining my wife's vacation.  So I settled with bringing the following, which amounted to whatever weight I was willing to haul in a backpack and not let things get in the way:

Canon 7D-gripped
Canon EF-S 17-55/2.8 IS
Canon EF 24/1.4L ii
Canon EF 50/1.2L
Canon EF 100-400L
Tokina 11-16/2.8
Canon 580 EXii

Having checked the weather forecast prior to our departure, showing that it would be raining 6 out of the 7 days, I packed everything into a Lowepro AW300 backpack, which I bought specifically for this trip as it is weather-resistant.  But the weather god was kind to us during the trip and it never really "rained" aside from the two full days of open water travel on the boat so I never got to test the weather-resistant capabilities of the bag (and I aint complaining about that).

Fog in Seattle:  at least it's not raining.

We flew into Seattle the night before the cruise departed since we didn't want to risk having issues with the airline or our flight/luggage.  We called up a town car service (Lincoln town car even) and our driver said we had the most bags he'd ever seen for just 3 people.  Did I tell you that my wife is the ultimate over-packer?

As we pulled into downtown Seattle just before sunset.  Apparently there was a video game convention happening that particular weekend so we saw some interesting folks in odd costumes.  We stayed at the Mediterranean Inn for the night, located cat-a-corner from a Dick's Burger joint and across the street from a Safeway supermarket.  We didn't get a chance to eat at Dick's, which our driver claimed was similar to In-n-Out's here in California, because there's not a whole lot for Alexander to eat there.

I had hoped to get some photos of the city before sunset but between checking in, unpacking, grabbing a bite and putting the kid to sleep pretty much killed what available light was left.  The vista Saturday afternoon was much better than what I ended up capturing Sunday morning (seen in the photo above).  But que sera sera.

I also didn't get a chance to take a photo of our boat at the pier in Seattle before our departure.  Again, it was a choice I made to not fidget with my gear as we try to find porters for our 4 large check-in luggage, on top of the pack-n-play, car seat, carry-on, and other accessories.  As much as I would've liked this to be a photographic journey, compromises and sacrifices had to be made.

Room with a balcony with a view.

If you're traveling with young children, I highly recommend getting yourself a mini-suite w/ balcony if you're going to go cruising.  The rooms are tiny to begin with but having the extra living-room and balcony essentially double (if not triple) the real-estate available for the little one(s) to roam around and burn off some energy.  The price difference between "Oceanview + balcony" and "Mini-suite + Balcony" is negligible.  The brunt of the blood money is paid when getting a balcony.

Although my overall impressions of the cruise itself wasn't all that great, one thing I am pleased with our boat was that the balcony had glass railings instead of just open bars like some of the other ships we saw.  I think this gave little Alexander the chance to really enjoy the scenery without giving him an opportunity to chuck things overboard or slip between the bars.  After all, he is our most precious cargo.

Allow me to elaborate further upon the statement I made in the previous paragraph about my impressions of the cruise.  I am a land duck.  By which I mean I don't do well on the ocean and have struggled in the air as well.  Motion sickness comes easily to me and when it hits, it's quite unpleasant.  I was told/advised by a few that the boat's so big, that you would hardly feel anything.  But of course I was skeptical about that statement and rightfully so.  How silly we humans are to think we could build anything large enough to tame the swells of an enormous Pacific Ocean.  The only thing that can tame the ups and downs of the ocean swells would be called an "island," and we humans haven't built a island that moved, yet.  So while yes, there was less movement than to say skirting on the ocean surface in a kayak, it still wasn't a ride in the park, especially the days where the ship was in open water and not protected by the inside passage.

Aside from my own genetic deficiencies, I found the customer service on the cruise to be mediocre at best.  Perhaps it's because we were at the tail-end of the Alaskan cruise season and that the crew was ready to pack up and go elsewhere.  This being my first cruise, having not known otherwise, I even found the service to be shoddy.  A few veterans with other cruises under the belts also commented on how the crew/staff just didn't seem as accommodating and the service lacking so it wasn't just me being critical.  The food wasn't as splendid as hyped up by some, and the food servers in the restaurants were slow.  You would think it's common knowledge that toddlers don't have the longest attention spans in the world, yet whenever we dined at the restaurants (regardless of "formal nights" or not), on average, the appetizer portion ran about 60-90 minutes before entrees were finally brought out.  I found myself spending more time walking my son than sitting down to enjoy our dinner.

But that's enough of the crew and the lack-luster service.  That's only part of the vacation and thankfully (thanks to my wife), we booked a few excursions off the boat that really made this vacation a memorable one, and not a disaster on the water.

Leaving Seattle

So on with more stories and more photos!  Here we are shortly after leaving Seattle, with Mt. Rainier in the background (or at least I think it's Mt. Rainier).  Regrettably, I didn't get a better shot of the mountain as Saturday afternoon was much clearer and would have made the landmark prettier to photograph.  At this part of the journey, we were headed on our first full-day open water journey to Ketchikan, Alaska.

(Somewhere during the 36+ hour journey, we hit open water, I got very dizzy, I recovered in time for a formal dinner, yadda yadda.)

Reflections: Ketchikan, AK @ 8am in the morning.

Surveyor: lil Alexander looking for the best way to attack the tourist town.

Disembarkation: posing with the boat.

The Boardwalk: except its a boardwalk w/o shops.

So we arrived in Ketchikan, Alaska at ~6am Tuesday morning.  True to Weather.com forecast, we were met with scattered clouds but no rain.  The irony (or what would have been had it rained throughout the rest of our cruise) is that Ketchikan is supposedly the wettest part of our journey.  It averages 137inches of rain per year!  Read all about Ketchikan on Wiki.

We hadn't booked any excursions here in Ketchikan because we figured it could get soggy and we thought the timing would conflict with Alexander's nap time.  So instead, we just walked into town and did the usual tourist sight-seeing-around-town routine.

We had heard about Creek Street so we set out to find and conquer it.  As we headed into town, I soon noticed that our ship's berthing area seemed the farthest from town.  Granted it was still just a 10-15minute hike at most, but Holland America had a better spot.  (And just FYI, yes, Holland America ALWAYS has the better spot, closer to town, although their ship appeared older in construction.  But perhaps their service would have been better than what we got on Princess. :P)

Just in case you're not quite sure where you were.

I wonder if this has anything to do with the low female population in the state.

This was as close I got to a bald eagle.

Bears on a shelf!

Hole-in-the-wall Salmon Market

Did someone lose a totem?

Creek Street!  We found it!

We're told the water level can get MUCH higher in Spring and early Summer.

Creek Street, somewhat cute... someone.

Halibut(T)Hole, as a friend of mine pointed it out and asked me to take a photo of the sign.

Never quite made it far enough down Creek Street to see the whore house.

Sunburst.

Damn you Holland America.

When the sun came out in Ketchikan.

So this will conclude Part I of my Alaskan journey.  Next stop should include Tracy Arm Fjord and possibly Juneau.

I'll be posting my impressions of the rest of the camera equipment I took along with me.

REVIEW:
♠ Lowepro AW300 Backpack
Pros:  Dimensions were just right to be accepted as a "Carry On" for the plane.  Construction is good and there is plenty of room internally for camera bodies and lenses.  There seems to be enough room to fit all my lenses and both camera bodies (gripped).  Although it's not a light backpack, there is plenty of cushion and support to make it comfortable to wear.  The adjustable shoulder strap did come in handy, which allowed the waist padding/cushion to slide lower so one could enlist the help of one's hips to dissipate the load.

Cons:  It's heavier than expected even when empty.  Although the shoulder strap was adjustable, I'm ~5'11" (180cm) on a good day, and I had to extend the strap adjustment to the maximum position already.  So unless you're shorter, or have a disproportionate short torso, the shoulder adjustment feature might not come in as handy, unless you loosen the shoulder straps and let it hang a bit down your shoulders.  The space allocated for a laptop isn't all that big.  It works, but it works better if you have a thin laptop and keep the screen size @ or below 15".

Recommendation:  Yes.  This is a good backpack for pretty much any type of travel, even if it's a little heavy empty.