Review & Comments on Holland America Lines CruiseTour #5A - Vancouver to Anchorage via Juneau, Tracy Arm, Skagway, Whitehorse, Dawson City, Tok, Fairbanks and Anchorage - July 6-19, 2011

Our pre-cruise activity included flying into Vancouver 10 days in advance of our cruise departure date, where we rented a vehicle from Hertz to take a self guided tour east and west of Seattle. Our eastern tour took us on the 'Cascades Loop' from Ferndale, WA to Lake Pateros, WA with stops at the North Cascades Visitor Center, Rainy and Washington Passes, a drive down Cut Throat Creek Road and a Stop at Winthrop for ice cream! The next day's drive took us from Lake Pateros to mid-town Seattle with stops in Chelan (State Route 97A is a real treat), Cashmere and Leavenworth (the entire town center is modeled on a Bavarian village). This is a great drive through the Cascade mountains and it turned out to be a primer for Alaska's mountain ranges!

Next we were off to explore the western side of Washington. We toured Olympic national park including Hurricane Ridge and the Hon Rain Forest. For the latter we stayed in Forks, WA where we highly recommend The Forks Motel for their friendly staff and clean rooms. We explored Ruby Beach near LaPush and then south along US 101. Watch out for the big logs on the beach and rapidly rising tides! Read more