Glaciers, Glaciers & More of God's Beautiful Handiwork

 Juneau, Alaska's capitol, is another small city which can only be accessed by boat or plane.  You can't get there via roadways.  I didn't take any pictures of the city as there was nothing too impressive--a few government buildings.  Our tour guide showed us several areas around the town which took a few minutes and then we drove for about 20 minutes to a national park and the Mendenhall glacier.  This was an area with a visitor's center, several hiking trails for various viewpoints of the glacier and a stream teaming with red salmon and waterfalls into a lake.  The whole area was gorgeous.  It was cloudy as it usually is.  However, a few minutes before we were scheduled to leave, the sun peaked through and shone directly on the glacier highlighting it's rugged beauty.

 We could see a lot of red salmon in this stream but didn't have the skills to take a good photo so just take our word for it.  We saw red salmon.

 We had to be back on the ship by 1 p.m. that day as the captain had plans to take us down a fjord to see another glacier.  Due to a large amount of ice flow in Tracey's Arm, a very popular fjord, he chose to take us down Endicott's Arm.  We weren't aware of the switch at the time.  We just knew we had limited daylight to make it down the arm and then do a couple of three sixty turns to see the glacier at the end and then get back out of the arm before sunset.  It was a chilly, but gorgeous afternoon and Steve and I spent the entire time on the ship's deck enjoying the amazing scenery.  We couldn't understand why so many passengers didn't venture out as it was spectacular.  It was definitely one of our favorite parts of the trip.  All the way down the arm, we had mountains, glaciers and waterfalls all around us.  We also had occasional calves of floating ice.

 Here is Steve with Dawes glacier directly behind him with the typical blue ice and dirt trails that looked like vehicle tracks.

 We loved our afternoon with the glaciers and beauty of the mountains that surround them.

Alaska-First Stop Ketchikan

Steve and I flew out early, I mean early, leaving home Sept. 5 about 4:30, on a flight to Seattle.  Here is a photo from my plane window as the sun was coming up over the clouds.  Below are a few pictures as we approached Seattle.

By about 10:30 we were boarding the Norwegian Jewel cruise ship for our trip to Alaska.  Here Steve pauses on the gangway.

We love to be out on the deck as the ship sails away from port and again as it approaches a new port.  We say goodbye to Seattle in the background.  We sailed the rest of the day and all night.

This is definitely a town kept alive by cruise ships and the visitors they bring.  Most of the shops close down after the end of September.  We did meet a local Mormon in a shop and she says there is a small branch which meets north of the town.  It rains almost every day in Ketchikan.  We were pretty prepared with our slickers.

Early the next morning, this is our approach to Ketchikan.  Once again I have trouble getting the photos in the order I want.  Ketchikan is a small town with access only by boat or air.  There are very few miles of roads just up the coastline--about 20-30 miles total.

This was a salmon ladder on a stream that ran right through the town.  There were not any salmon there at the time.

This was a nearby totem park.  It was very interesting to hear how the poles tell a story and see the workshop were local artists actually make them.  It is one of the ultimate love gifts--cost is about $3,000 per foot.

This pond is next to a salmon hatchery near Ketchikan.  Salmon from the hatchery return to the hatchery.

Steve was able to get this picture of two bald eagles in the top of a pine tree.  We saw quite a few eagles on our trip.

We didn't purchase too many souvenirs on our trip but we did buy Steve an Alaskan stocking cap and a fleece vest so he could layer more if necessary.  It was pretty cool during most of our trip with daytime temperatures mostly in the 50's.