Day 7 (part 1)

Juneau

We did so much this day that I'm going to break it into two or three posts.   We docked in Juneau at 7AM.  Ron was first off the ship at 8:30 for his tour to Mendenhall Glacier and ride up Mt. Roberts Tramway.  Hard as it is to believe, he passed on joining me for . . .

A seaplane ride over five glaciers!  Wha-hoo!

I was assigned to the yellow plane with just 5 other passengers.  The other planes had eight or even 10, but when the girl was assigning planes, you could see she saved the bigger people for last.  What does that tell me that I was in that group?

Even with only the six of us and the pilot, it seemed that we were never going to get airborne.  Hey!  That's like a bonus boat ride!

Then we were up and over the mountains.

Although we were told the names of all five glaciers, I only remember two.  This is one I forgot.

But I remember Taku Glacier, which we flew over for quite awhile.  At 36 miles long and 4845 feet thick, it's recognized as the thickest glacier known in the world.  (This is according to Wikipedia since I didn't remember anything the guide said.)  It covers an area of  386 square miles.

As you can see, glaciers are full of crevices, not smooth like I had always imagined them.

Then we were over the Juneau Icefield, an unbelievable 1500 square miles in size.  Here's the view out my window.

And out the other side.

Hey!  Aren't we getting a little close to the peaks?

Here's another one whose name is unknown to me.

But this one I know is Mendenhall Glacier.  Ron is at that visitors center in the upper left corner of the picture.  Oh, I think I see him waving.

Mendenhall has a lot of that nice blue color.

One more look back up the glacier.

From the sky, you can see that most of the residential area of Juneau clearly lies in the valley that was carved by Mendenhall Glacier.  They better hope there's not another ice age.

I don't know if you can see it, but the airport runway is near the bottom of the previous picture.  Right next to it is a man-made water runway for all the seaplanes.

Lastly, we passed downtown Juneau before landing.

This rivals the train ride for my favorite thing.

Day 6

Icy Strait Point

The ship anchored in Icy Strait and we were on one of the first tenders to shore.  We're in among the islands now so it's smooth sailing, but Ron was very happy to be on solid ground anyway.

In the 1910s, the Hoonah Packing Company produced 49,000 cases, or more than two million one-pound cans of salmon per year.  There was an impressive display and even some old machinery showing the process.

Ron and I took a peaceful walk through the woods, commenting on the rain-forest look of the area.

I always like the ferns.

We noticed the larger trees seem to all be growing out of older stumps.

The original stump on this one totally decomposed leaving a strange-looking root system.

Following the path down to the beach we could soon see why the trees grew this way.  It appears that the land is just solid rock with just a tiny layer of soil on top.

Looking out towards the water, we had a good view of the ship.  Isn't she a beauty?

(And there's the tender pulling alongside.)

We were thrilled to realized all the birds flying around were eagles.

This guy was nice enough to pose for all the tourists.

Thinking the nature aspect wasn't enough for the modern tourists, they have installed a zip line.  It's a mile long and takes 90 seconds to descend.  At the bottom, the rider hits these springs to stop with quite a jolt. There are actually six parallel lines and we waited for the first group to make their run.

Nope, not for us.  We're happy with the short run we did with the WINs in Michigan several years ago. Here's the picture of me from then.

Or for our complete adventure, click here.

Happy 4th!

In honor of Independence Day, I thought I'd dip into my archives from 2007 for some pictures of the monuments in Washington, DC.

To remind us of the great men who shaped our country . . .

The Lincoln Memorial from the base of the Washington Monument.

The Washington Monument from Lincoln's viewpoint (before the earthquake damage.)

And the Jefferson Memorial honoring the author of the Declaration of Independence.

Lest we forget all this country has been through, I'll include a couple of the war monuments.

World War II

And the gripping Korean War monument.

It wouldn't be right to celebrate our freedom without thanking all the service men and women who keep us free.  I am endlessly grateful to them and their families who sacrifice so much.

Day 5

At Sea

But first a few words on our embarkation.  It was wet, windy, and generally unpleasant.  After seeing the whitecaps in the harbor, Ron knew he would be in for a bad night.  Smart man that he is, he hit up the medical facility for some of their super-duper seasickness pills.  He slept through a very rocky night.  A few times, the ship dropped so abruptly and with such a crash that I wondered just how much punishment it could take before it broke apart.  One time, I swear I levitated off the bed.  But at least Ron had a good night's sleep.

But my biggest surprise happened when I got up in the morning.  I was seasick!  I honestly thought that would never happen to me.  I've been on deep sea fishing tours where half the passengers were green and I loved the bobbing around like a cork.  (Sometimes a 'whee' was heard coming from my direction.)  Maybe I'm just getting old.  At least this experience gave me a greater empathy for Ron's motion sickness.

Here is the map for the 7-day cruise portion of our trip.

As you can see, with the exception of the side trip to Hubbard Glacier, all the first night and day we were traveling in open water.  I think the bad rocking ended by mid-day, but we wouldn't know since we mostly slept.  I guess it's not just the drugs that knock you out, but the sickness itself.  (I didn't take anything for two reasons.  First, I was told you have to take it before you get sick and, second, I react so badly to medicines that I was afraid it would make me worse.) (Oh, and BTW, even our room steward said he was sick.)

Luckily I woke up and was feeling okay by the time we started up the inlet to Hubbard Glacier.  Just like this little girl, I put on every piece of clothing I had and ventured out on deck.

Oh, goody, first ice.

Some looked like ice sculptures.

One more . . .

And suddenly, the captain announced that we were there and he would be turning the ship around.

What ?!?

Well, to say I was disappointed would be an understatement.

Luckily, when I arrived back at the room, Ron was up and feeling better.  I showed him my lovely picture of Hubbard Glacier which he said he was so sorry to have missed.  We managed to actually eat something and when we returned, we found this interesting towel creature.  Cute, but I just can't figure out what it's supposed to be.  Any ideas?

Thus ended day 5.  I think you can appreciate that it was the worst day of an otherwise wonderful trip.

Day 4

Denali to Whittier 

On the schedule for the day was a bus ride from our temporary home outside Denali NP to Whittier to board the ship.  Up until this point, we had been having halfway decent weather - a little rain, but sometimes sun.  This was the day that would change.

As you can see from my first picture out the bus window, it was already heavy overcast at the start of the ride.

The two Michaels kept us entertained along the way with stories, jokes, and even some Garrison Keillor.  And, once again, we made a few stops, including one at Fred Meyer.  I think they mostly look for stops with large bathrooms.  Nobody wants to use the one on the bus.

This was an interesting place - good snacks and this unique bar.

As you know, I was still a bit disappointed by the lack of animal sightings, but that changed when we stopped at an animal rescue place.  The bus drove through with everybody gawking out the windows.

At the far end of the drive, Michael gave us the choice to ride back or walk.  Are you kidding me?!?  That's what raincoats are for.  Ron and I were the first off the bus, totally disregarding the rain and freezing wind.  How does that compare to seeing all the animals we missed up close and personal?  I think only two others got off.

This Brown Bear looked much larger when I was standing on the other side of the fence.  (Don't worry, it's electrified, or so I was assured.  Somehow I think if he really wanted out, he could escape.)

I learned the difference between Grizzlies and Brown Bear from this sign.

The Black Bears were farther away and across a dry moat.

We also were thrilled to see the Musk Oxen.

Although they really have a face only a mother could love.

Even the babies are not really cute.  (Didn't my point-and-shoot camera do a fine job focusing on the fence?)

But the cutest, cutest animal by far was the baby moose!  He was no bigger than a medium-sized dog.

The elk are always magnificent.

I did feel sorry for the Red Fox who looked miserable in his small area.

Re-boarding the bus, I was pretty cold, but very happy.

We continued on our scenic trip along the Turnagain Arm.  We were assured that it is one of the most beautiful drives in Alaska.

We still had one more experience before reaching Whittier.  The only land access into town is through the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, known by the locals as the Whittier tunnel or Portage tunnel.  It is 13,300 feet of scary through Maynard Mountain.  It's only one lane and shares the right-of-way with the train! Twice an hour, they open it to vehicles - on the hour for one direction and on the half hour for the other direction. The train just goes through anytime.  Of course we all know the joke about the light at the end of the tunnel being a train.