ALASKA - KETCHIKAN - JULY 2

We arrived in Ketchikan on July 2 - the last of our port days.  Ketchikan is a city of about 13,000 people.  There were five cruise ships in port that day and the population just about doubled.  There are about 1.5 million visitors a year and that's primarily in the summer months.  In Ketchikan, it rains almost every day....they average about fifteen feet of rain annually.  We had a beautiful day when we were there....no rain!  My excursion in Ketchikan was the Lumberjack Show and Crabfest (separate from the show) which was early afternoon.

We took a stroll around the downtown area of Ketchikan in the morning where there are numerous souvenir and jewellery stores - perhaps more than Juneau.  There is an area called Creek Street where the businesses are built above the creek.  That area was also once known for its ill repute (red light district).  Ketchikan is home to the world's largest collection of Totem Poles with over eighty.  These are my memories of Ketchikan.

This is the creek above which the stores and restaurants/pubs are built.

The other end of the creek with some of the buildings in view.

This is a replica of the oldest Totem Pole in Ketchikan.  It was erected in honour of Chief Johnson.

In the lumberjack show, there were two teams competing against each other - USA and Canada (at least that's what they said).  This competition was an individual event to see who could axe their way through the log the fastest.  The 'Canadians' won this one.

This was also an individual event - axe throwing.  The USA won this one.

This was an axe 'whittling' competition which I believe the Americans won.

This was a team event and I don't remember who won.

This involved skipping across the logs in the water and I think the 'Canadians' won this.

This was the 'log-rolling while trying to kick water at your opponent' event.  The USA won this one.

This was climbing the pole event which the USA won.

Team multi-faceted event and I don't remember who won this.  The individual and team events ended up being tied overall and the tie-breaker was won by the USA.

The lumberjacks have a calendar and this is Mr. January.

The crabfest was unexciting for me as I don't have the patience for shelling crab.  These were Dungeness crabs and while the others enjoyed it, I was indifferent.

And so ends another trip during which I did something that wasn't even on my bucket list - the helicopter ride and landing on the glacier.  Needless to say, this is one of the highlights of my trip; the other was seeing Denali mountain.  The scenery was beautiful and will add to the memories.  I hope I've been able to convey some of the beauty to you.

ALASKA - JUNEAU - JULY 1

We docked in Juneau on July 1 and were booked for a morning excursion to the rainforest , Mendenhall Glacier and whale watching which is really all we had time to do.  Juneau's population is approximately 32,000 - much larger than Skagway.  The pictures from the excursion are self-explanatory.

This lichen grows abundantly on rocks and on the ground in the rainforest.

This is the Cottonwood tree.  The little tufts of cotton get blown around and reseed in the forest.

The Hemlock plant.

The Lupen plant.  The leaves are water repellent so the water droplets collect in the centre of the leaves.  When the sun shines on them, they look like diamonds.

Our guide went into the very cold water to retrieve a chunk of ice from one of the ice floes.

Here, he's bringing it out.

Posing with it.

And this is what it looks like close up.  The picture really doesn't do it justice.  It is very jagged, yet when you touch it, it's quite smooth.

Mendenhall Glacier in the background.

A close up of Mendenhall Glacier.

Nugget Falls across from the Glacier.

The whale watching portion of this excursion was somewhat disappointing as we only saw three humpback whales.  Of those three, only one breached and she (I'm taking liberties with the gender) did so when we weren't expecting it so no one caught it on camera.

Bald Eagle hanging out at the pier where we were waiting to board our boat.

Taking a big gulp of air as she cruised along.

Humping her back as she prepares to dive.

And "thar she goes"!

Sunset later in the evening as we sailed to Ketchikan.

SKAGWAY - JUNE 30

We arrived in Skagway the morning of June 30 and took a walk into town.  Skagway is a small town of about one thousand and the streets and buildings are immaculately kept.  I saw a park ranger walking along and he saw some debris on the street which he promptly picked up.

One of the main streets in Skagway.

This building looked like it was made of 'log sticks'.

Not sure what the year represents but I don't think it was the year the building was built.

The second main street in Skagway.

In the afternoon, we took a helicopter tour to land on top of Meade Glacier. It was a very windy day which caused me a bit of angst.  These are the pictures from that excursion.

All decked out in our glacier gear - life jackets and special boots over our shoes.

This is the helicopter we took.  It's just returning from a previous excursion.  There were five of us plus the pilot in the helicopter.  We were seated to maximize weight distribution and my friend and I were squished (and I mean squished) into the front seat.

Glacier, silt runoff and what could be termed a 'silt lake' taken from inside the helicopter.  The helicopter in front of us was the first of four to take off.  We were the second group.

A view of the bay from inside the helicopter.

We were surprised by the many rocks and silt on one half of the glacier.  It reminded us of the moon.  Picture left and right sides; one side is basically rocks, moss and silt and the other is the more pristine glacier.

The water flowing from the glacier is very pure and is safe to drink.  The pilot and this young lad were the only ones to drink the water this way, which the pilot said is THE way to drink the water.  The rest of us used our hands to scoop the water up.

Moss is the only thing growing on the glacier.

The more pristine half of the glacier is in the immediate background.  We couldn't walk on it because it is very jagged.

These very deep, large crevices caused by glacier melt are interspersed on the surface.  Our pilot basically told us that if we fell in, we weren't coming out so we had to be extremely careful where we stepped.  Happy to report that we all made it back safely!

The two halves of the glacier with the mountains on the pristine side.

This was an awesome excursion, despite the fact that the return trip left me a tad green.

ALASKA - AT SEA JUNE 28 AND 29

We were at sea for two days during which time we saw three glaciers and some very amazing scenery.  The following pictures describe the scenes and glaciers.

As we cruised, we saw a beautiful coastline.

As we got closer, the coastline became clearer.

That coastline became the Hubbard Glacier.  The slope of the glacier reminds me of a ski hill.

This is the Holland America ship, the Zandam leaving while we were waiting.

Ice floes from the Hubbard Glacier.

Closer look of a large ice floe.

Closer look of a large, silty ice floe.

We left Hubbard Glacier and sailed to Glacier Bay the second day where we saw two glaciers.

Margerie Glacier in Glacier Bay.

Lamplugh Glacier in Glacier Bay.  Our ship was much further out than the smaller ship in this picture.

This picture gives some perspective as to how high the glacier is.

The silty section of Lamplugh Glacier.

As we left Glacier Bay, this jutting rock reminded me of a turtle.