Skagway

Thursday, July 18th landed us in Skagway, Alaska for the day.  This tiny borough has less than one thousand residents and the only way in and out is by boat.  It is located about 90 miles northwest of Juneau.  The Klondike gold rush put this place on the map and with prospectors flooding in around 1898, the population of about 8,00 was the largest in Alaska.  Now Skagway is a small sleepy town surrounded by some of the most beautiful scenery on this itinerary.  I have to admit that I was disappointed when the first thing we saw when departing from the ship were mountain walls defaced with painted advertisements.  But after that, I was truly in awe of the natural beauty of the area.

The architecture was almost as charming as it's surroundings.

I especially love the "Arctic Brotherhood Hall" with a facade fashioned in 1899 completely out of 8,800 pieces of driftwood.

  

A river rafting experience was the perfect activity for this area.  Unfortunately, because the rafts only had room for ten people, Jim and Shauna ended up with another group.  The float was enjoyable, and we only wished that it had lasted a lot longer than it did.  It was nice to nibble on some delicious smoked salmon and crackers when we disembarked.  The salmon was so good that we bought some from the original shop in town to take home to all our kids.  Michael, however, was sent some salmon jerky instead!  Do you see the face profile outlined by the peaks of the mountain in the bottom photo?

On the drive back to town we were delighted to see a family of bald eagles soaring very near our van and then perching themselves on logs in the valley.

We also stopped at a scenic overlook where the incredible view of the mountains and lake was truly stunning.

I felt a little melancholy as we pulled away from Skagway.  We were leaving Alaska and I wasn't sure I wanted to go.

Friday would be a day at sea and Saturday evening in Canada would be our last stop.

  

Tracy Arm Fjord and Juneau

We were advised to awake very early on Wednesday morning and go to the upper deck where we would see the most scenic views of Alaska while passing through Tracy Arm Fjord.  It was very cold, and a little disappointing because we think the best part of the passage was blocked by a big iceberg, causing us to turn around prematurely.  But we did capture some of the spectacular beauty of the Alaskan wilderness.

 

We spent the afternoon visiting the small capital city of Alaska, Juneau.  A whale watching excursion was the first order of business.  We were fortunate to find a cluster of about five whales which made for some pretty exciting moments that were hard to capture on film.  Unfortunately, there were several other boats surrounding the main attraction, and for some reason, our captain refused to work his way into a good viewing position.  You can see a bit of the wildlife experience we enjoyed below:  (For some reason the video quality is really poor, but I added it because it captures the best of our whale watching excursion.)

After returning from whale watching, we took a short hike to Mendenhall Glacier and Nugget Falls.  The glacier is about 12 miles long and is located about 12 miles outside of Juneau.  Once again, we were afforded another wonderful day due to some unusually warm weather.

 

 

On our way back to the ship we were told that no visit to Juneau would be complete without a drink at the historic Red Dog Saloon.  It is the oldest man-made attraction in Juneau.  In our case, just a snapshot or two did the trick!