Klondike Kapers

So here we are in the land of glaciers, mountains, bears and eagles.
That's our ship- the Radiance of the Seas, docked at Juneau. Juneau- like Skagway looks like a movie set and it is hard to believe that there is something behind the shop fronts. Moira and I decided we didn't want to avail ourselves of the cruise ship inflated tour prices, so we went down on the docks and picked out our own tour. It was on this very funky old white bus-probably an old city bus from the 50's, and the tour guide was entertaining enough.

One of the places we went was to the Mendenhal Glacier- and it might be hard to tell, but mostly the ice is blue. There is some chemical/physical reason why, but I wasn't paying that close attention.

Juneau was our first stop on the Alaska cruise. We got to Juneau after one day of cruising up into the inside passage [look it up on a map-the Inside Passage is just one teensy bit of the state of Alaska]. We also got to watch the salmon running upstream to spawn -which was amazing. They swim all the way from the ocean back to the stream where they were "born" to lay and fertilise eggs and then they die. The smell is pretty strong and amazing. The guide told us that they spawn within a couple of inches of their own beginning. How many of us can claim that, I ask you?

While we were at the glacier, we also saw a little bear, but he/she scampered away before the lens click of the camera, so you will just have to believe me. I was hoping that we would see more wildlife than we did, but they all must have been down at the streams waiting for the salmon to do their thing and then pounce on them.

One of our cruising days we went out to Hubbard Glacier, and the ship hovered by the glacier so we could all have a look. It was pouring with rain that day, so you can hardly tell the difference between the sky, the glacier and the sea, but it was pretty spectacular.....all blue and white ice and very cold. A native person from the area came onto the ship and told us about his culture and language group, which was interesting. You can just see the blue of the glacier in this photo. When we were "hovering" the glacier did this thing called calfing, which means a little avalanche happens and part of the glacier breaks away and falls into the ocean. The noise is deafening and a little scarey.

Like the other ship I was on, I pretty much ate myself silly. There was lots of pretty good food and it was so tempting to just dive in...so I did. Some of the entertainment was pretty good...there was a magic show that was fun and a comedian that made me laugh. Our cabin attendant was really funny, and he folded towels in the shapes of animals and left them on our beds etc. This is the one he left for us on the last night.



Now I am back on dry land- floating down the west coast of the US. Had a lovely visit with the Hoglunds, who I met on the Trans-Siberian tour in Seattle [well, Kent Washington to be precise]. Then spent 4 hours waiting for the Amtrak train to take me to Oregon [they are rumoured to be going broke-I wonder why?].

More later from the land of the free......
Genie