Today is Tuesday so it must be Skagway. It is interested to finally be here since I have been tracking Skagway weather for weeks. Today the weather is warm, sunny and dry. Not like Alaska at all but we are not complaining. Kaye and I took a fabulous ride on a narrow-gage railroad up the White Pass into Canada and back again. I took well over 200 pictures. Unbelievable and indescribable! I have probably used more superlatives over the three days than I have in years. Everyone says Alaska is fantastic and they were right.
Yesterday while in Juneau there was quite a bit of smoke which hampered our long distance view. It was due to a forest fire in Canada. It reminded us of when the mountain would be on fire when we lived in the valley at Cedar Creek in East Tennessee. We decided not to take the tram up the mountain because of the smoke. Visibility was probably only about a mile. While in Juneau we took a bus up to the Tongass Rain Forest, the second largest in the world. (The Amazon is the largest.) It was beautiful and lush. They get about 100 inches of rain a year. We were happy to be there on a day without rain. From there we went to the Mendenhall Glacier. It is huge and amazing. (More superlatives) A mother bear and cubs were observed by some on the trail but, luckily, not us. After shopping in downtown Juneau, we got back to the ship too late for our reserved dining time so we went to another dining room. It turned out to be quite an experience involving soup with eyeballs, a man in a hazmat suit and yellow caution tape. More about this meal later since it will take an entire blog. After watching a very funny comedian, we fell into bed exhausted. When we woke up this morning, there was Skagway. A tiny, little town of about 800 people nestled at the foot of the mountains and surrounded by this cold, light green sea.
Yesterday while in Juneau there was quite a bit of smoke which hampered our long distance view. It was due to a forest fire in Canada. It reminded us of when the mountain would be on fire when we lived in the valley at Cedar Creek in East Tennessee. We decided not to take the tram up the mountain because of the smoke. Visibility was probably only about a mile. While in Juneau we took a bus up to the Tongass Rain Forest, the second largest in the world. (The Amazon is the largest.) It was beautiful and lush. They get about 100 inches of rain a year. We were happy to be there on a day without rain. From there we went to the Mendenhall Glacier. It is huge and amazing. (More superlatives) A mother bear and cubs were observed by some on the trail but, luckily, not us. After shopping in downtown Juneau, we got back to the ship too late for our reserved dining time so we went to another dining room. It turned out to be quite an experience involving soup with eyeballs, a man in a hazmat suit and yellow caution tape. More about this meal later since it will take an entire blog. After watching a very funny comedian, we fell into bed exhausted. When we woke up this morning, there was Skagway. A tiny, little town of about 800 people nestled at the foot of the mountains and surrounded by this cold, light green sea.
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