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| Finally getting on board... just a few more minutes! |
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| Here it is... let's get the party started! |
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| Leaving the port... |
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| It is never too early for a dunk in the pool. |
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| The view of the water from the boat. Maybe someone who knows something about this area can tell me about the steam that seems to be coming out of the water. From far away I thought it was a boat, but as we got closer, it looks like steam or maybe the loch ness monster breathing... anyone? |
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| Best buds getting ready for a soccer kick-off. |
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| First port stop, Ketchikan. |
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| The town was built along the waterfront, and there are lots of historic areas that were quite nice. There are parts of the walking tour that are not so great, but it was still interesting to see. |
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| Our boat, along with others in the harbor. |
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| It is really hard to get a good picture of any wildlife in the water, as you can maybe tell from this shot of a seal. After this I pretty much gave up on taking pictures of water animals, although on this trip we did see sea lions, lots of different whales, seals, and eagles. |
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| Second stop, Juneau. One of my favorite places on this trip. Juneau is the capital of Alaska, but you can only reach it by boat or plane. There are no roads connecting Juneau with the rest of Alaska. |
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| In Juneau, we took a walking tour, and then a bus tour to Mendenhall Glacier. This view is of the harbor, from the other side. |
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| We started where it says, You Are Here, and walked that purple path, which is called Nugget Falls path. It is the closest you can get to this glacier without going on it by helicopter. |
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| The glacier looks blue because the ice is packed so tightly that it acts like a prism, absorbing all of the other colors, but reflecting the blue light. |
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| Nugget falls are to the right, and the glacier is on the left. The water is ice melt, and about 34 degrees Fahrenheit. |
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| This is the glacier from the visitor center. |
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| The views from everywhere are amazing. |
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| Next stop, Skagway, which was one of the original entrance points for prospectors trying to get into the Yukon during the gold-rush. |
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| In Skagway, we walked part of the Chilkoot trail, and then rafted down the river. |
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| Bear claw marks on the tree. This is from a brown bear. |
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| And from a black bear. |
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| The water is beautiful, but wicked cold, 34 degrees. Our guide said that if you fall into water this cold, it is about 15 minutes before you become unconscious from hypothermia. No thanks. |
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| Testing the water, with boots on. You can feel the cold seeping right through them. |
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| The kids and our guide. |
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| After the float, we got dropped off at the far end of Skagway so that we would only have to walk one way to see the town. Here is the historical museum. It is totally worth the admission price of $2 for adults and $1 for kids. There was a video with history of the area, tons of stuff on display, and a great book shop. |
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| Look at those mountains! |
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| Cool view, right? We couldn't go to see the Hubbard Glacier because the ice and fog, so we will have to go back to see that one. |
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| Now we are in Glacier Bay National Park. These glaciers are so massive it is hard to do it justice with a picture. |
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| Time to get off the boat, in Seward. From here, we took the Alaskan Railway to Anchorage. |
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| We were in Anchorage for the 4th of July. Unfortunately, because the sun sets at about 11PM, we did not get to see any fireworks. |
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| We did go to Humpy's, though, from Man VS Food. While we didn't take the food challenge, we did eat reindeer burgers and crab cakes. |
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| Wicked good! |
