Skagway and Juneau

We have had a busy three days here in the panhandle of Alaska. Wednesday we went to a show about Soapy Smith, a con man from Skagway who was shot in a gun fight with the marshall. Then we walked over to the train depot and got on the White Pass and Yukon Railroad train bound for White Summit. The whole trip took about three hours and the scenery was amazing. We could see all the ocean liners in port on the way up. The train goes up the mountain hugging the side and at times it looks like there is nothing holding us up there. It was fun though. After the ride we all walked over to the Skagway Fish Co. and had halibut for dinner. It was terrific.

Thursday we got up at o-dark thirty to catch a ferry to Juneau. It took three hours to get over there from here. On the way we were lucky enough to see bald eagles on trees over looking the fjord about every quarter of a mile or so. They were probably looking for fish (their favorite food.) We also saw six humpback whales feeding. They didn't put on the show like before, but it was great to see them doing whale things. We also saw Stellar sea lions basking in the sun. But the best thing was we were right in the middle of a pod of Orcas. I didn't get any pictures because they were too fast. We followed them for a while, and one of them was right near our ferry. It was pretty cool.

In Juneau we had a bus tour of the small city. I cracks me up that it is the only state capitol that you can't get to from a road. Any way we were dropped off in town, and we ate lunch in the Red Dog Saloon. It was noisy and there was sawdust on the floor, but the food was pretty good. We walked around the five or so blocks of gift shops and then got on the bus to be taken out to Mendenhall Glacier. The visitor center is up a steep hill but the view is fantastic. Some people went for a hike down a trail to see bears eating fish. They saw a bird. Bummer!

We got back on the bus and she took us back to the ferry for the trip back to Skagway. We didn't see many animals except eagles and a group of porposes splashing in the water. We did see a liner go back out the fjord, and it's wake made our little boat ride like a bucking bronco. We didn't get back until 8:30 . The poor dog was glad to see us after 14 hours. Holly was walked twice while we were gone, but she was lonely anyway.

Today was a free day. The staff made us breakfast of omelets and toast, and then our travel meeting. We did laundry and played around in town for a while. Well we have to get going now. See you all soon.

Prince William Sound

We spent the day ( 10 hours) on Prince William Sound yesterday. It was wonderful. The weather was the best. It was sunny and warm as long as we weren't going into the wind. The best part was the glaciers we saw. We saw the Columbia Glacier first. We couldn't get very close to this one because it calfs huge iceburgs as big as our boat. We got about ten miles from Columbia, and the ice field we had to travel through was very icy and you could hear the pieces of ice hitting the hull. Capt. Amanda went very slow so no damage. The next glacier is called Meare. And we could get about a quarter of a mile from it. This one only has little pieces coming off of it. But the noise is like listening to thunder. And the ice made a huge sound as it hits the water. It was the neatest thing I've ever seem.

The glaciers were not all we saw. We saw a mother whale and her calf, tons of birds ,and lots of piles of Stellar Sea Lions on beaches,rocks, and on big pieces of ice. The whales we saw in the sound were feeding on krill and they breached high in the air. It was amazing to see how big they are. And of course we got no pictures of all of this because I can't take it fast enough. One of the whales laid on his back and flapped his big front flippers just to make a big noise, maybe. The cutest thing we saw were rafts of sea otters. There are loads of them up here. The are much bigger than the otters in Monterey. We had a good time, and got very tired.

Today we took a bus tour of the history of Valdez this morning. It was very interesting to learn that the earthquake that hit in 1964 made it neccessary to move the whole town up the hill to solid land. One of our group's mother was born up here in 1912 or so. So he couldn't find any place that she would have known. It is all gone or moved. This whole town as it is, is only 45 years old. Wild

The rest of the day was to do laundry and stuff. We had a potluck and of course we both ate to much. We leave for Tok in the morning. The on to Distruction Bay, YT and then on to Skagway. So it's early to bed because we have 270 miles to go tomorrow. Bye for now.

Homer

We haven't done much of anything here except try to get over this cold. and most of the pictures we took are in the group blog. We didn't go anywhere yesterday, and today we went out to lunch and to Safeway for milk, etc. We leave for Palmer in the morning, and we don't know what kind of WiFi we'll get so don't know when we'll blog again. We only have 15 or 16 days left of our tour. Time has just whizzed by. The weather here has been cool and drizzly, but today the sun has finally come through. I think I like it here in the summer. It looks like a lot of other people( boaters) like it here as well.

Anchorage and Seward

We went from Denali to Anchorage; it seems to be the largest town we've been in since we left the lower 48. We got a bus tour of the city and went to the Wildberry Theater to watch a film about Alaska and then we had dinner. After dinner we walked around and we saw an eagle that can't be in the wild anymore because his half of his right wing is missing. He was beautiful and very proud looking. I'd hate to be a small animal with those talons coming at me. We also saw some reindeer. Both sexes get antlers in the spring. the anlers are in velvet until they stop growing. I touched them and they feel just like the fur on the animal. They are warm because they are supplied with blood while they grow.

The next day we went to the Native Cultural Center. We saw some dancing and storytelling, some totem carving, and a few of the native dwellings. A lot of the houses were built underground or built up with bones and rocks and covered with dirt. They seem to be very cozy. The clothing that they wear in winter is made from fur and skins of the animals they hunt for food. The native people used everything from the animals. There was no waste. Bones became tools or building materials, innerds became rope or waterproof clothing, and the hides became clothing and or blankets. Of course the meat was eaten or dried for storage. I was impressed by the culture.

The next day we drove to Seward. It is on the Kenai penninsula. It really is pretty here. Wednesday we got up early and went to the aquarium for a behind-the-scenes tour. Our guide was a student from Missouri. He was very interesting to listen to. The place is nothing compared to Monterey, but nice nonetheless. At eleven we all got on the bus to be taken down to the dock to board The Star of the Northwast. We were going on a tour of the bay here. Wow!Did we get our moneys worth. We were weren't out of port for more that an hour ( in which we were feed very well) when we came upon a humpback whale. He spy-hopped a lot, rolled over on his back and slapped the water with his flippers, breached and slammed the water, and did some vocalizations. It was amazing. The captain told us that he had only seem one other whale this season and it just left the bay. We really had a show. The whale hung around for twenty minutes or so. It was great even though I only got a picture of his tail when he dived. We also saw a group of basking Steller Sea Lions, and we saw tons of sea birds nesting along the the rocks that lined the bay. We saw puffins, kittiwicks, common murres and a tern looking bird. We also saw a sea otter floating out there just resting. We saw at least four bald eagles as well. We saw iceburgs coming from Bear Glacier. It was an action packed five hour boat trip. We had a forest ranger on board too, and she gave us a running commentary on what we were seeing. This place is almost as beautiful as the Denali park.

We leave for Homer tomorrow morning. It's drizzly today, but we've been lucky so far as far as sightseeing goes. It's always a beautiful day for the sights. That's all for now.

Love, Mom AND dAD

Denali National Park

We went to Denali National Park today. It was great. We'd heard that it is really rare to see the mountain because of the cloud cover. Well today was as clear as a bell. We could see both peaks of Mt. McKinley. It's over 20,000 ft. tall. The highest peak in North America. I got a picture of a moose; in fact we got pictures of two moose in two different places. We saw five grizzles. Two were a mated pair, and the other three were a mother and her three year old cubs. We saw a wolf but it was too far away to get a picture. We also saw a male moose with a hugh rack. He was up on a hill, so no picture. This was the best tour. The bus was late picking us up due to miscommunication. We were on and off the bus for about 14 hours. We stopped at the end of the road ( 92 miles) where a lodge is located. We had a lovely lunch and we could walk around before our trip back down the road. We got home about 8:00 this evening. The big joke here is we'll get back to our rig before the sun goes down. It never really sets until August. I hope you all get a chance to see this beautiful place.

That's all for tonight. Love, Mom and Dad

Fairbanks

I'm on your dad's computer because my modem sucks, and I can't get on line. Anyway the pictures are on my computer. So there will be none this time. But it's not too bad because you have seen most of what we've seen on the group blog. We have been very busy here in Fairbanks. For two days we lived on a tour bus. We saw the late Ididarod champ, Susan Butcher's dog kennels and watched her husband do a training run with a team of Huskys. They were pulling a quad with the man and his ten year old daughter on board. Boy could they run, and they appear to love the whole process. I'll not bore you with any more because you've heard it before.
Love to all, Mom and Dad