Back in Washington state this morning from our Alaska adventure.  A piece of me is sad the trip is over and the other half wanted to kiss the ground of the lower 48 states!

Since we were without wi-fi for the duration of the trip up there, I'll try to bring you up
to date on our adventures.  

I have always wanted to see Alaska and this trip was just the tip of the iceberg as far as exploration is concerned.  If we return to Alaska, we've decided it would be best to fly to Anchorage or Fairbanks in the north, rent a car and drive modern to see the sights - we can cover more ground that way and see a greater variety of scenery. I believe we have seen what we need to see in southern AK.

If you will bear with me, I'll just take you on a photo journey up the inland passage from WA state to Ketchikan and Juneau and return.  If you ever have the opportunity to take a boat to Alaska, I would definitely recommend going by ferry instead of cruise line.  The ferry is much, much cheaper, has much fewer people and the accomodations are fine and the food is good.  The cruise lines offer shows and the rooms are maybe more spacious but the difference in price doesn't warrant taking the cruise line in my opinion.  The engine problems we encountered with the ferry, according to crew and many passengers that use the ferry system with regularity, were extremely rare, some having never experienced any problems in many years of regular travel.

We left from Bellingham, WA on the ferry along the Inland Passage which goes along the west coast of British Columbia and between islands on the west side of the water passage.  As we made the decision to go to Alaska on the spur of the moment, no staterooms were available and we camped out up on the top deck in what the ferry called the "Solarium".  We called it "Woodstock".

  

The Solarium was taken over by campers, some tent camping and some sleeping on the deck lounges and chairs.  Tent city went up quickly with corners tied to the railings or secured with duck tape to the floor.  There were heaters under the roof so it stayed comfortable when it was windy or rainy, which it was for most of the time we were on board.

Another view of "Woodstock".  Many of our fellow campers were young hikers and some were "old hippies".  I'm not sure that we fit either description but you could say that all of us up there were "adventurous" and "adaptable".

Joe and I found a long corner, in fact the last spot in the Solarium, and made it "home".  We spent many hours up there talking, laughing and reading and napping. It's been years since we've had no schedule and no expectations and could just nap at will.

One of many small villages along the edge of the inland passage.  The villages were small and so different from the villages in PA.  Travel was primarily by boat and villages were few and far between.  I like water but I also like being able to go to town in about 10 minutes and find anything I need and travel in the heated or air-conditioned comfort of my Subaru.  I am spontaneous and adventurous but like my creature comforts, too.  We were seeing these villages in summer, just think about them having to go places in winter!  Not me!

The further north we traveled, the more rugged the coastline became with trees right down to the waterline.  I kept my eyes peeled for bear, but no bears.

One of several lighthouses along the inland passage.  This one was in such a beautiful setting.  There were several along the inland passage which varied in width quite a bit.  In some areas, we were close to shore on each side with markers to show the route among the rocks.

Numerous waterfalls were seen along the passage.  This is definitely wild country.

Our first stop was Ketchikan, Alaska in the chillly rain.  It claims to be the Salmon Capital of the World.  Yes, no?  Their claim to fame.  There were several cruise ships in port and downtown was F-U-L-L of tourists just off the cruise ships.  Downtown was definitely geared toward the tourist trade - curio shops, high-end jewelry shops with designer label watches, big diamonds and other gemstones, furs from sable to mink to exotic and art galleries with high-end artwork.  We entered one art gallery and a man tried his best to get us to buy a sculpture that was in the $40,000 range.  What a joke.  I like art but I like to make my own selection and never in the price range he was pushing, and I mean pushing!

Totem pole in park in Ketchikan.  The totems were really interesting.  As an anthropology student, I studied Alaskan art and to really see a totem pole was a thrill.

  
Use your imagination here.  There is an eagle on the left flying toward the top of the tree where there is another eagle already resting.  This was taken along the inland passage in the rain.  We saw many eagles, porpoises, orcas (black and white) killer whales like you see at Sea World, humpback whales and salmon throughout the ferry trip up and back.  Since the weather was not very cooperative, pictures were few.

This cute little boat is called a Seine boat.  It drops a net over board and uses the small boat at the back to drag the net in a circle to make a net trap for fish.  The net is then hoisted with the crane into the boat.  The haul is taken to a 'tender' that buys the catch so that the boat can go back out and fish some more.  This gives the fisherman more time on the water since they don't have to go all the way back into shore each time to sell their fish.  They catch halibut, several varieties of salmon, rockfish and others.  Fishing is B-I-G business in Alaska.

After three days on the ferry, we arrived in Juneau, the capital of Alaska.  Juneau is unique in that you can only get into or out of town by boat or airplane.  It is larger in area than Rhode Island and Delaware.  There are no roads out of the Juneau area that connect to other areas of Alaska because of the rugged terrain.  Downtown is at sea level but quickly rises to about 4,000 ft and from the Juneau Icefields atop the mountains flow about 30 glaciers, the largest of which is Mendenhall Glacier.  

Area at base of Mendenhall Glacier, wetlands and Mendenhall Lake in the background.  This is prime salmon spawning area but that is later in the summer. That was fine with me since salmon spawning brings the bears in numbers to the area. The day we visited the glacier we were watchful for bears on the trails, but encountered none.

Mendenhall Glacier and Mendenall Lake ( in the fog and drizzle).  

Glacial rock at Mendenhall Glacier.  Note how smooth the rock has been ground down by glacial action over eons.

This rock shows the scoring or marks left by rocks and debris dragged across it as the glacier receded.  It's amazing the power of nature.

Downtown Juneau was busy with tourists - 3 to 7 big cruise ships dock each day with thousands of tourists from many countries.  There were many of the same types of shops as in Ketchikan but more variety and if you walked away from the cruise ship docking areas, there were some really nice shops and galleries with reasonable prices.  Many of the areas of Juneau retain the original buildings from the Gold Rush days so there is a sense of continuity and history there.  The first Europeans to see the area were there in the 1790's and in the 1880's a native showed a mining engineer where there were gold nuggets as big as peas or beans.  That started more exploration and gold was soon found across the channel on Douglas Island where a very productive hard rock mining operation and stamp mill was set up.

Downtown Juneau with mountains rising right from base of town.

Take a look at the steps leading up the mountain just off the main drag in Juneau. The people of Juneau - in the gold rush days and today - were and are hardy people!


I'll take a break for a while and write more later.  Much more to tell and many more photos to post.