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.