In Vancouver, you're never out of sight of towering peaks--or of the sea. It is a prosperous city adorned with flowers lining the streets and lush greenery like Stanley Park. Museums offer fine collections of the dramatic Northwest native arts. Vancouver's Chinatown is the second-largest in the world. The waterfront Gastown district recalls the city's colorful past as a premier Pacific port since the days of the Clipper ships.

The city of Wrangell is located at the most southeastern point of Alaska surrounded by the Eastern Passage, Sumner Strait, Zimovia Strait, and the Stikine Strait. The city has had an elaborate history since the beginning of its days. Wrangell is the only city in the U.S. to be governed by both Russians and British. The city has maintained its rough atmosphere from being a fur-trading point for the Russians and now the city acquires an old-fashioned look with saloons and salmon and shrimp processing plants.

When Alaska belonged to Russia, Sitka was the capital and center for its fur trading empire. Today, Sitka's Russian heritage and magnificent setting make it an enchanting destination. The city features a harbor studded with islands, a backdrop of mountains, and spectacular Mt. Edgecumbe, a volcano often compared to Japan's Mt. Fuji. Sitka displays its past in such attractions as St. Michael's Cathedral with its striking onion-shaped dome, the Russian Blockhouse, and world famous New Archangel Dancers. Visit the Historic Park, with a ruined Indian fort where Tlingit Indians battled Russian settlers in 1804.

Alaska's capital can't be reached by road. You fly or sail here to enjoy its greeting of dockside flags and flowers. It is surprisingly urban and cultured for being so remote. Visit the museum for insights into Inuit culture and crafts. Drive up to Mendenhall, the only glacier inside city limits! Or get an aerial view from a helicopter. Fish for silver salmon, or just enjoy some off the grill--then kick back at the Red Dog Saloon.

Seventy-five miles long and covering over 1,350 square miles in area, Hubbard Glacier is the largest tidewater glacier in North America. It is also one of the most impressive, a 500-foot wall of ice rising sheer and jagged from the ocean. You may hear the rumble and see the monumental splash as the glacier breaks off in great ice chunks, known as "calves."

Valdez is known as the "Switzerland of Alaska," a tribute to the splendid snow-capped mountains that surround this prosperous port. Once the gateway to the gold country, Valdez is now the southern terminus of the famous Alaskan Pipeline that carries "black gold" from the Arctic Ocean to an oil-thirsty world.

The city of Seward is located in southern coast Alaska in Kenai Peninsula Borough at the top of the Resurrection Bay. The city of Seward was founded back in 1902 as the end of the Alaska Rail Road which was built 1915-1923. The name of Seward was derived by Abraham Lincoln's secretary of state, who arbitrated the purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867. The city of Seward suffered from 90% of the waterfront industry due to an earthquake in 1964. Due to this earthquake, six feet of the shoreline dropped along with the harbor and fuel docks.

Huge department stores brim with shoppers, neon flashes from dusk to dawn, and the entire world pays heed to the slightest fluctuation on the Nikkei Index. From the Imperial Palace and Meiji Shrine to the fabled Ginza district, 20th-century Tokyo is an intriguing composite of East and West. Yuppies sporting Walkmen bow formally in greeting. Women in kimonos and Dior suits stroll side-by-side. Geishas play samisens while disc jockeys play the Top Forty. Japanese houses of wood and paper stand in the shadow of towering steel and mortar. Not far away, one of the world's most impressive sights soars 12,388 feet to its snow-clad peak: Mount Fuji, the majestic symbol of Japan.