Ketchikan: I so enjoyed the lumberjack show. It's right in town.

Juneau, did the cable ride, with eyes closed. Kinda disappointing at the top. Think it was Juneau, we did the whale siting boat ride. Lots agreed it was a waste of money.

Sitka: I think it was there. Did an old goldmine camp tour, great show, panned for gold and BEFORE that had an outdoor grilled salmon dinner. Best coleslaw I ever put in my mouth, plus the salmon.

Don't see Talkeetna on you itinerary. They were having their Moose Poop Festival, when I went. Great shops.

DO NOT MISS THE OPPORTUNITY to buy moose poop swizzle sticks :o)

Jodi...I know you have already seen glaciers up close etc., but the trip to the Mendenhall glacier out of Juneau is a good one. You also get to see 'subburbs" of a large city in Alaska. Also note while you are there how precarious that city sits on those very steep mountains....just ready to slide into the water WHEN the next earthquake hits. Very scary. I had great conversayion with one of the female park rangers that i really would have liked to continue & would have invited her to visit me. You can walk out to the glacier, and they had brought a huge chunk of it so we could see and touch it.
Skagway is a shoppers paradise. Train or bus will take you along the trail of the miners that walked those many miles to the Yukon in search of gold.(White Pass-Yukon trail) It is a long train ride and we only went to Fraser, and the climb is quite an testament to the endurance of those hardy men and women. Interesting, only maybe spectacular. Unfortunately, the most beautiful port we saw was Valdez, and we heard that the last cruise ship was there when we were. Spectacular views of "alps" like peaks...possibly the stop that had the least smoke/fog/weather.
My very favorite stop was Palmer/Wasilla, inland from Anchorage...another testament to the hardiness and determination....and success of the American spirit. But our whole country is a testament to that.. Alaska is just more so.

Hope more info comes your way. Every museum/exhibit etc. that we saw in most cities was so very expertly done.

I did the Zip line in Ketchikan. The views were great.The people who rain the Zip line were very helpful and I never felt in any danger. My kids loved it. My husband loved it. I liked it.

In Skagway we rented a car from Avis and drove to Emerald Lake. This was great, we could stop where we want and it was cheap, too. The car rental for the day was less then $100.00 (I'm sure it's more now) and for 4 people that is great.

I have also heard great things about the railroad that you can catch there.

In Juneau my husband and son went on a small plane to catch salmon. This was in August and the salmon was running. My daughter and I had planned on taking a helicopter to a glacier but it was canceled due to clouds.

A lot of people like the Whale Watches from Juneau.

There is a website for cruises and they have an Alaska board. It's called www.cruisecritic.com

I really enjoyed the bus trip including salmon barbecue out of Skagway to the Yukon. We have a very informative and funny guy as the bus driver/ guide who would stop when there were good photo ops, for wildlife not normally seen and of course, the scheduled stops. It was very interesting to go up Dead Horse Pass and to hear the history of the gold miners during the gold rush. The tour guide even drove us to Emerald Lake, not usually a stop.
The barbecue place was also a museum type place owned by a man and his family. The man was an excellent taxidermist.
We needed our passports to go into the Yukon. We ended up in the tiny town of Carcross.
We also took the tour to the Mendenhall Glacier and salmon barbecue when we were in Juneau.
We did a lot of walking through towns without any guides, too and loved it.
Have a wonderful time and keep a journal to go along with your pictures.

Wow! There are some excellent suggestions here! Thank you! Keep adding if you remember anything else. We won't be leaving until Monday.

Jodi-

We always went on our own, but I do know every town was socked in the fog until noonish. Alaska is SO gorgeous!

When we were in Ketchikan I picked up some glacial silt soap at a little shop.
It was from The Alaska Soap Company. I got the one called Sitka Rose. Heavenly.
I still send away for it when I want to treat myself.

We went to Alaska in 2003 for our 25th anniversary. We LOVED it. We didn't do the cruse seine though. I do not like visiting big cities and we wanted to see Alaska. I'm also not so much into shopping. We stayed near Palmer in a B&B/cabins. Sadly we went in September so Denali had closed for the season. We would like to go back and see it sometime. We took a day cruise from Seward and saw whales and the like. One day we took a train trip from Anchorage to Seward. We just did a lot of driving around doing our own thing.

well, I can't add anything about the cruise,
but I'd love to see you for some of those 10 hours in
Seattle, But I'm going to be in Florida! lol
have a gREAT time!!!

Skagway--See if you can take the White Pass & Yukon Route railway trip. We took it clear to Carcross and continued to Dawson by bus, but there may be round trips you can do in a few hours. It's beautiful and very historical as well because it's the grueling climb the gold seekers had to take to the mining area.

Also out of Skagway--Haines Eagle Preserve Float Adventure. We saw quite a few eagles and a bear catching salmon in a stream--baby up the tree. Fabulous!

I think the Juneau cable ride is not worth doing. Nothing at the top but a sad eagle in a depressing cage and a lot of junk in the shops. The view is great, but you'll see lots of memorable views. DH loves the Red Dog Saloon in Juneau. He wrote his name on the ceiling. (Please don't ask how he got on the ceiling.) Kinda touristy. Mendenhall is worth seeing in Juneau.

Did you go to the Sheldon Jackson Museum in Sitka? It's pretty good. Lots of artifacts.

We also went to a place where raptors, especially eagles, are rescued--DH says it was out of Sitka. That was wonderful if you like animals, eagles especially.

We saw some Russian dancers in Sitka. I was not too interested, but I had to "eat crow" on that one because it was a very nice program and I enjoyed it.

As a hiker you might like the Rainforest Wildlife Sanctuary out of Ketchikan. We took a guided hike. Very interesting botanically; occasionally you can see the zipliners.

What cruise line, Jodi?

What are you going to do in Seattle?

Have a fabulous trip--I know you will! We'll look forward to more pictures of your travels.

It was a busy day at work trying to tie up everything before abandoning ship for two weeks so I couldn't write much earlier.

So now I'll address individual suggestions...

Glenda
I'm not sure we'll be doing the lumberjack show, I already feel like I've met them all through you and it's quite evident they have been spoken for. ;-)

No Talkeetna so I'm sad to say, no moose poop :-) Talkeetna is one of the checkpoints on the Iditarod so I'm sad we're not going there.

Nanny
You and others have suggested Mendenhall and White Pass et. al, so they are a definite consideration. The idea of seeing the suburbs really appeals to me too.

I agree, museums in AK are quite well done. Interesting, one of the most impressive museum-like exhibits I've seen was at the Alaska Native Medical Center.

Happyladi
I like the idea of renting a car in Skagway and taking that drive to Emerald Lake unless the train goes that way as well. I love trains.

I subscribed to cruisecritic.com about a month ago to learn more about different cruise lines. I've been so busy at work that I barely had time to read it. I'll go back there tonight and take a look.

And I'm all bummed out ... because of my busy schedule, I wasn't able to dedicate much time looking for my new frames/lenses until just this last week. I finally found frames I loved. After the eye exam at a place that doesn't honor VSP, it was determined even with short lenses, my script would not fit. I found another pair at another optometrist that does accept VSP. I go for another exam tomorrow morning and will see if they can fit my new choice. Why am I sad? Because of course I've sat on this project too long and now I will go on vacation with old glasses which no longer work for distances. Hmmm, maybe I'll pay for the $100+ exam for contact lenses and just wear my sexy new frames without any lenses at all, I hear it's all the rage in Asia. :-)

Carol
I sure wish DH and I liked salmon because people rave about the barbecues. I do love just wandering around places I visit. Sitka was my favorite stop last time because my travel friend booked a tour and I did not. I just wandered the shops, streets and neighborhoods. The glacial silt soap sound interesting. I'm a real sucker for unusual soaps.

Cherbo
Have not been to Denali yet, but one day.

Kat
Fortunately I have family in Seattle to ease the pain of not meeting you. :-)

Socks
We rented a Netflix documentary last night that talked about Haines so I jotted down the name.

While walking around Sitka, I found the Sheldon Jackson Museum but didn't go in. Can't remember if it was closed or I just decided not to go in. The school next door was all boarded up and made the area feel kind of ghost-town-like.

The Rainforest Wildlife Sanctuary sounds just up my alley!

The ship we're sailing is the Celebrity Mercury.

I was born in Seattle so family is meeting us down at Pike's Place. Where we're going from there, I'm not sure. We might drive down to Gig Harbor to see a friend of mine and my sister who probably won't be going to Pike's Place.

Jodi-

All packed and ready to go. Never been this ready, this early. Feels good. Ship leaves tomorrow at 5pm but we will get there around 2pm to check in early. Can't wait!

Jodi-

Jodi, DH never liked salmon, either, until he had some in Juneau.
Have a wonderful adventure, take lots of pictures and keep a journal.

Have a great trip!