07.20.08 - Juneau

First stop - the state capital! We were there a year before Alaska celebrated 50 years as a state, but they were gearing up for it already. We were there just before Gov Sarah Palin was announced as the Republican running mate; when we saw the capitol building and the governer's mansion, I'm not even sure they mentioned her name. I'm glad we were not there among large amounts of photographers and news outfits!

Boroff Way, notice, has a street sign. That generally means it is a local or state maintained road.

This is Boroff Way. It is, indeed, a maintained... way. The steps are cleared by local or state employees, just like the roads are. There are houses at the top of these steps... and there are more steps just like them, each with houses at the top. Never seen anything like that before!
The famous Red Dog Saloon
Inside the Red Dog Saloon... the main reason we made time for our very short trip into town!

one of several eagles on our whale watching tour

I think this is Herbert Glacier

humpback whale

and tail!

neat shot of an eagle

and two more

harbor seals

a pod of humpbacks

We didn't have good weather today. Again, it didn't really matter today... but I got soaked, and had a hard time keeping the camera dry. I made the mistake of going inside the boat to warm up, and my camera lens fogged up! It also had a difficult time focusing due to all the drab colors and constant movement. Bear with me... these aren't the best pictues, but it was a great experience!

So, these whales would travel together, and then dive together. After a few minutes, they would all burst out of the water at the same time, as if they were diving out of it, mouths wide open. This is called bubble net feeding, and apparently it isn't seen very often. We saw them feed in this way several times! When they dive, they blow bubbles to push all the fish to the top, and then they rush upward with their mouths open for an easy meal. Working together in this manner really pays off for them, and makes for a magnificent sight.

Then we went to...

It was also rainy there, so we didn't stay long. Luckily, we didn't miss much because of the weather. Plus, Mendenhall doesn't calve often, so we didn't need to stare at it for long!

Next, a float plane ride! That was a new experience... I love to fly, but taking off and landing on the water was very neat!

We flew over 5 glaciers... unreal.

our plane!

our ship from the plane!

My parents went on the Mt. Roberts Tramway... here's a shot of our ship from another bird's eye view!

"downtown" Juneau

a real gold-panner on our gold panning adventure

our guide, who has panned for gold for 10 years

He says that the real value of gold is the beauty of what's around you when you. When you pan for the money, you've lost the real meaning. We did pan for gold, and we did find a few flakes! Nothing more than a momento of a good time with friends and family... which has proven to be quite valuable. =)

Apollo 11 - 40 years!

Today is the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing! Alpine and I went to the US Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama a few years ago... if you are interested in this stuff at all, you should definitely go. And if you have a kid who might like to go to Space Camp - this is where the REAL Space Camp is located! It is real! I didn't know that until I was an adult... =( I SO wanted to be the kid that went to Space Camp and accidentally got launched into space in the shuttle... just like the movie. Alas, it wasn't meant to be.

If it interests you, there are several shows on the space program on the History Channel today - Modern Marvels, for example, is a good one. Tonight History will apparently air the newscast as it aired 40 years ago. You can also go to http://www.wechoosethemoon.org/ for a real-time computer recreation of the entire Apollo 11 mission. I believe they landed on the moon around 2p eastern, and actually stepped onto the lunar surface about 6 hours later. I may be a little off on that.

If you're like me, you probably get tired of hearing about this kind of stuff when the media gets ahold of it. It's like they can't let go until it's beaten to death... or unless something more newsworthy happens. This is pretty cool, though... to think that we can get humans from the ground into space in minutes, and usually return them safely, is amazing.

Enjoy the Apollo 11 covereage, for it will be over soon. And don't forget that we have a shuttle in space as we speak, and a record number of people in the space station. The shuttle program expires in about a year, and we've already begun the process of going back to the moon.

Hopefully it won't take another 40 years or a disaster for the media to take interest again.

07.19.08 - Hubbard Glacier and other ship photos

Our first full day on board the ship was spent "cruising," and also included a drive-by of Hubbard Glacier. My little cousins were next door, and we both had balcony rooms. I spent a couple of hours that day trying not to get a headache, and I awoke to tiny, excited voices... "Oh, look - it's a big piece!" "Ooh, ooh, another big piece!" "Look! Look! A big piece!!" There were, indeed, some big pieces of ice floating with us in the water! Imitating daddy......and imitating big brother. She must have wondered what the heck was so interesting, considering that she was looking through the wrong end! =)

As amazing as the picture is, it doesn't really do the real thing justice. That's basically the story of this entire trip! But the glacier really was that blue... Hubbard Glacier calving...
And here's the best video we got of the glacier calving:

This shows just how large the glacier is. Yes, it dwarfs another cruise ship that approached as we left the glacier. We apparently got very close to the glacier - about 1/4 mile away.

Just a couple of pictures at sea... though I guess we weren't technically at "sea"... we were crusing the Inside Passage.

07.17-18.08 - Seward

We took a bus down to Seward for the final days of our land tour, and to meet the cruise ship! We stopped at a museum in Anchorage, but didn't have much time to really look around. We ate lunch and mostly looked at the dog sled displays. The flowers in Alaska are really bright and beautiful... we were surprised, but with all the sunlight, we shouldn't have been!

The first glimpse of our ship!

And our ship for the Kenai Fjords Boat Tour that we would take before boarding the cruise ship!

We had, again, excellent weather when we needed it! It was rainy during the morning, but by the time we were out on the boat, blue skies emerged. We were very lucky! We were able to see lots of creatures again... starting with a mountain goat!

I believe this is Bear Glacier:

Our first whale sighting! A humpback!

A sea otter!

one of two eagles we saw that day

harbor seals

I may remember this incorrectly, but I think they told us that the black line was still evidence of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989.

fishing boats near the barrier islands

stellar sea lions

thick-billed murre thick-billed murre, horned puffins and mew gull

stellar sea lion yawning - or laughing? =)

orca!

and calf

We saw some dall's porpoises, too, which look similar to but smaller than the orcas - this is still an orca (we didn't get good pictures of the dall's porpoises)and some video of an orca

Aialik Glacier
seals sunning on the ice

glacier calving

tufted puffins

stellar sea lions

stellar sea lion at Alaska SeaLife Center

harbor seals - look atthe difference in size!