Seymour residents take Alaskan cruise

County Commissioner Bill Oakes and a group of Seymour residents headed north aboard the cruise ship Dawn Princess to escape the heat and enjoy the scenery of beautiful Alaska. Arriving in Anchorage by plane on June 9, a motor coach took them south to Seward, located at the base of Mount Marathon on Resurrection Bay.
In 1964 an earthquake and the resulting tidal waves destroyed approximately 90% of Seward. “We saw the Petrified Forest, killed and then preserved by this tidal wave,” Bill Oakes told The Herald.
From there they boarded the Dawn Princess. The ship cruised through the Prince William Sound and into College Fjords, the area made famous by the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989.
Next, they crossed the Gulf of Alaska and headed into Glacier Bay. The glacier ice appeared blue and a cracking sound is often heard before the ice “calves,” or breaks off in great chunks falling into the water. Bill said, “We were fascinated by the vastness and beauty of these glaciers.”
The area is a habitat for an abundance of wild life including whales, sea otter, brown and black bears, and 200 species of birds. Oakes continued, “The wildlife were too beautiful to describe- the awe of God’s creation certainly left a lasting impression on all of us!”
The group spent a day in historic Skagway. Gold miners hiked these rugged mountains on tiny trails until 1898, when the White Pass and Yukon Railroad was completed. Many of the Seymour visitors rode this train.
The next stop was the capital city of Juneau. Here many of the group visited the Mendershall Glacier. Others went on a whale watch or went shopping, before going on to Ketchikan.
The last day was spent cruising the Inside Passage headed for Vancouver, British Columbia.
“We had a ball! The cruise was wonderful, the food was wonderful, shopping was fun – we learned so much,” Oakes remarked about the trip.
Mike Shaver of Seymour with Diane Pyne of World Travel in Knoxville organized the trip.

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