Alaska Cruise

We have been at sea on the Celebrity cruise ship Mercury. We left Seattle on Friday, Aug 25 and stopped at Juneau on Sunday – greeted by cold rain. Juneau is the State Capital of Alaska, yet there are no roads to Juneau - you have to arrive by plane or boat! Despite the inclement weather, we were able to get a good visit with the Mendenhall Glacier and the Visitor Center and a fascinating look at a Salmon Hatchery – this time of year, salmon are returning to spawn and the hatchery was full of fish swimming upstream.

A photo of Carole and the glacier:
























Our second port was Skagway, very pretty in an almost unbelievable setting. The mountains and the water and the appearance of the town were wonderful. The shops had lots of personality as many were owned by locals. The locals said the problem in the winter is not the cold, not the snow, but the absence of sunlight. They do not X-county ski until March since it is so dark. The town is so small you can walk the breadth of it, although shuttles are available. Here is one of my favorite photos.



















We entered the Hubbard Galcier at 6:30 am - cold but no wind and clear skies - spectacular. Thjis is the only glacier that is expanding and yoiu cna hear and see the ice falling into the bvay (calving). this was probably the eco-highlight of the trip.

A phot0:





















Thursday we visited Ketchikan and took a local tour. This city is livable although they can get up to 200 inches of rainfall per year. However, it did not rain today.

I could put up pix of totems, etc, but I thought a picture of the oldest bar in town would do. This is the SourDough Bar - the oldest ongoing bar in Ketchican - no tourists in the place - the wall are decorated with pictures of shipwrecks!

Here is the the picture:




We pounded a few drinks with the locals and marveled at the photos on the wall.

This rustic bar with locals is right on the dock - stop by and introduce yourself...









Finally, transit thru the mysterious inner passage where every vista is spectacular and the Orca whales are everywhere.

To see more slides: click here

Stay tuned.