Because I’m me, the other thing I paid a great deal of attention to in Fairbanks was the trees. The boreal forest (Taiga) is beautiful.The trees are very different from what I’m used to here, mostly being black spruce, white spruce, and birch, and all of them tall with thin trunks.

These last two are probably my favorite pictures of the trip.

I wish I’d been more acclimated to the cold, because I could have spent quite awhile wandering along this creek / stream and finding others like it. But hopefully we’ll get to visit again and I’ll be more prepared for the cold.

As I live along a river, I tend to orient myself to water. I found myself unable to do this in Fairbanks, possibly because much of the water was frozen. Also, because I didn’t walk as much as I normally do, because I wasn’t really acclimated to the temperatures during our short visit.

But I did get to walk along the river, which was good.

SO! MANY! DUCKS!

If I’ve been quieter than normal recently, it’s because we were getting ready for our big trip–heading north to visit Tania in Alaska! HUZZAH!

My goals were simple: Spend time with Tania and see the aurora. Both goals were accomplished! Although all my pictures of the aurora were blurry and out of focus, I didn’t mind, since I actually got to see the aurora, and it was amazing.

If you’ve spent much time reading here, you know that we spend a lot of time driving WV roads. Which are pretty abysmal. So of course I was interested in the Fairbanks roads and how very different they were from WV roads. First, being covered in snow was normal. Second, the scenery was so different from what I’m used to, I kept starting at it in fascination.

The angle of the light also made things look even more gorgeous than they already were.

Here are some of the roads Tania drives regularly.

Even more exciting, I got to expand my skill set and drive Tania’s car for a bit!

This may seem a strange place to start with our trip, but in rural areas transportation is how communities survive (or not) so I can’t help but be fascinated.

In today’s mail:

Bravo Greatland Graphics, you just made my day!

My 2012 Denali Wildlife calendar.

Addendum the First: I emailed them, and they’re going to send me stickers to fix the numbers. Too bad I already messed it up by writing in the correct dates. :(

After Ketchikan we continued along the inside passage towards Vancouver, British Columbia.

Here is our last sunset in Alaska:

Luckily, on the last day of our cruise, there was still plenty to see. In addition to the wildlife here, we also saw dolphins and porpoises and sea otters.

The ship went through the Georiga Straight, which is–as you might be able to tell from this picture–a rather narrow and windy passage. These pictures were taken from the bow of the ship, looking at the passage we are about to go through.

Alas, our last night aboard the ship.

The last Alaska stop on the cruise was Ketchikan. Apparently Ketchikan is a good place for fishing, but what interested me was that it is a temperate rain forest. So of course the excursion we (yes, Michael had some say in the matter) chose was a hike in the rainforest.

Hike was used very loosely here. It was really a very casual stroll in the woods.

Living in a land lock state, one thing that was new (and thus fascinating) to me was the preponderance of float planes.

The idea that they best way to get from one city to another is by a plane that takes off and lands on the water was a completely bizarre concept to me. I’m not sure we have a body of water upon which you could land a float plane.

The rainforest hike was easy, but still very pretty. I would have liked to have taken more time in the woods, but, when you’re with a group, you’re stuck at their pace.

And there were a LOT of bald eagles.

And Kingfishers. I was very pleased that this picture turned out so well, since I couldn’t see the birds at all clearly, since they were so far away.

Part of the land on which this park was built, was an abandoned lumber mill. I found the equipment fascinating. (Not that we don’t have lumber mills in WV. It’s just I don’t get to walk through abandoned machinery very frequently.)

When we wandered around town, we not only got to see a fish ladder, we also got to see lots of moon jellies! I love watching jelly fish. I find them so relaxing.

As I said yesterday, Juneau was probably one of the most amazing days of our entire vacation. The second part of our excursion with Gastineau Guiding, was whale watching. We saw that most of the excursions guaranteed you would see a whale on your tour, or they would give you $100, which I thought was nice.

What I didn’t realize was that this meant we would see a LOT of whales.

It was, quite honestly, astonishing.

Before we even got on the boat we were seeing bald eagles.

I have to admit that bald eagles aren’t my favorite bird, but seeing them up close was impressive.

We saw Harbor Seals sunning themselves on rocks:

And we saw whales.

This baby whale kept launching himself into the air, again and again. It was so CUTE! (Yes, that’s right. Cute.)

We also saw bubble net feeding, which was extraordinary.

And of course, we saw them diving.

Juneau was far and away the best stop of the entire cruise, and has some of the best picture I took the entire trip, so I’m going to break Juneau up in to two days: Mendenhall Glacier and then Whale watching. The excursions were run by Gastineau Guiding, and I want to make a point to name them, because everyone involved with the tour was absolutely fabulous. I would recommend them in a heartbeat to anyone wanting to tour Mendenhall Glacier and go whale watching.

The entire day was amazing, and makes Juneau one of the places I definitely want to return to (the other, of course, being Denali National Park. Just for convenience.)

If you were not aware of the fact, Juneau is the capital of Alaska. It is also completely unreachable by car. You can only access it by boat or by plane. There have been various drive to move the capital, however, when I asked Tania about it, she said that since everything went online, it doesn’t matter where the capital is, as long as someone can email the representatives or watch sessions remotely. And i do believe she is right.

In case it isn’t clear immediately, we had amazingly, stunningly, beautiful weather in Juneau. So first up: Mendenhall Glacier.

No rain, clear skies, and perfect temperatures. (60s F)

I saw tons and tons of fascinating plants while hiking, including lots of moss and lichen.

And lots and lots of gorgeous flowers and trees.

All of which was fabulous, and very impressive, until we stepped into a tiny clearing at the edge of the lake and I had my breath taken away at the sight.

Our first port of call was Skagway, Alaska. Skagway was the starting point of the climb during the Yukon Gold Rush. Our tour guides told us that at its peak, Skagway had a handful of restaurants and 80+ bars and saloons.

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In recent years, the town rebuilt itself upon its historical past, as you can see above. One of the first places we stopped (after our excursion) was the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. Although it is a teeny museum, what impressed me in retrospect was actually seeing the equipment miners took with them, and pictures of the climb. Here is a link to the Chilkoot Trail Gallery. Go there and look at the pictures.

Then realize that the men who were making that climb were required to take 1000 pounds of supplies with them, which meant multiple trips up the “stairs.”

Our excursion in Skagway was a quick tour “Up the Yukon Pass”. Essentially it was a small bus that took us up above the treeline into Canada. Sadly, it was overcast and raining in the morning, so the view was not very good. Later in the day skies cleared, so I wish we’d have taken a later excursion. (Not an issue if you’re on your own and doing things at your own pace.)

This is probably the only picture that gives you any sense of the scale of the climb.

About the only thing you can tell from this picture is that we are above the tree line, and any trees are scrub that won’t get much higher.

Regardless, it was still a beautiful climb.

On of the things I particularly liked about the cruise was that they had a naturalist on board who spoke about the various sights we were passing, and even brought about park rangers when we went to Glacier Bay.

It was, not surprisingly, rainy and grey most of the day. Yet, despite the overcast and drizzling skies, it was an awe inspiring sight. We saw multiple glaciers, and the ship just sat–presenting one side and then the other–at the glacier, so we had a chance to just sit and enjoy the majesty.

Glacier Bay was where I saw my first whale (in the wild, that is).

That morning there was a whale that came quite close to the ship, which was a wonderful sight to those of us who were braving the cold and rain to stand at the bow.

The closer we got, the more icebergs we saw floating on the water.

The land that surrounds these bays was formed by the glaciers. I could not help but start at these formations wrought in the land by nothing more than ice and time.

Glacier ice is different from the ice in your refrigerator. The ice crystals form slowly under pressure and individual crystals can grow to be the size of a football. Air trapped between the snowflakes is also frozen into the ice at pressure. Ice near the bottom of the glacier is under tremendous pressure, which allows it to flow almost like a plastic over the bedrock beneath. Friction between the glacier and the bedrock produces meltwater which further lubricates the bedrock allowing the ice to slide.

These pictures have slightly different shadings to them–the first pictures I processed were from the jpgs I shot. Then I went and processed the pictures using the RAW data, which allowed me greater leeway in correcting the color and light of the image.

We spent time at Lamplugh Glacier and Margerie Glacier. When I take the time to adjust my picture times for Alaska time, I’ll even be able to tell you which glacier is which.

Yeah, I’ve finally started going through all the flower pr0n I took on vacation. Still haven’t looked at the pictures from Stanley Park Rose Garden, but I’ve gone though the flower pictures I took in Alaska.

Arctic Poppy Papaver nudicaule

Blue Poppy Meconopsis betonicifolia

Alpine Forget-Me-Not Myosotis alpestris

Still trying to figure out what this one is.

Primrose Primula

Of course there are more pictures! Just click through!

(finally got the handful of pictures I took/asked Michael to take using Michael’s camera )

We did noting particularly picturesque following the visit to Seward. We went to visit Jim, and went out for beers with Redrummy but then Tania headed back home because the next day our cruise started.

Although you fly into Anchorage, for the cruise you leave from Whittier. Whittier is an isolated, deep water port that was once a secret Naval base. How secret? First, the place is usually covered in fog. Second, until 2000, the only ground transportation was via train, through the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel.

So, did they build a new road into Whittier? Nope. They just modified the existing train tunnel so cars can also drive through it. And by also, I mean that the tunnel is one lane, so everyone–cards and trains–take turns waiting to get through the tunnel. The schedule is posted (and strictly adhered to) so you can time your arrival so you don’t have to wait too long, but still, you are driving through an unfinished train tunnel.

It was fascinating.

Whittier?

Well, despite the fact that the day was sunny when we left Anchorage, and even when we entered the tunnel, things were foggy and grey when we exited the tunnel.

The building in the background is an abandoned military complex.

So, at Whittier we boarded the cruise ship, had dinner, settled in, and the next day was really when the cruise portion of our vacation started.

The first full day at sea we were cruising Yakutat Bay.

One of the things I really liked about the cruise, was that there was a naturalist aboard, and when we went through these amazing areas, the naturalist spoke about what we were seeing. Additionally, at Glacier Bay National park, Park Rangers came aboard the ship, so the speakers broadcast not just the commentary of the naturalist, but also of rangers who work at the park, and were delighted to answer all questions about the glaciers and the park.

And I believe that I’ll pick up with Glacier Bay next Monday.