Alaska
Location Description
365 photos
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Having arrived in Anchorage, standing on the balcony of...
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View from the balcony towards Cook's Inlet. This is...
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On the train leaving Anchorage, Judy and Alan look ready...
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Judy seemed to feel that we had "bronzed" up in AZ. I...
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Two more adventurers ready to brave the North Country.
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Passing through by train on our way to Denali. Our...
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First of many poor bridge pictures, though it has a...
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Based on the train guide, this is the point at which you...
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A long reaching waterfall from snow melt
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Top of Aunt Judy, and a clear stream fed by snow melt. ...
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Pretty stream scene. The train was very comfortable...
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In the Dining car on the train, having lunch.
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Another dining car scene. Folks look like they are...
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Glacier fed stream; notice the murkiness of the water...
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Just some pretty mountains. Perhaps McKinley is behind these?
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Panorama mountain, 5800 feet, seen as we approach Denali...
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Bridge over Riley Creek ... which is both glacially fed...
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This was the train car we were on. Great for touring.
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People at Denali station were waiting to board the...
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Took this from the bus taking us to our hotel as the...
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Again, from a spot at which McKinley would be visible,...
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Another "mcKinley" shot ... this is where Aunt Judy...
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Aunt Judy getting "her" picture of MtMcKinley.
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.... which looked something like this.
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Our trusty vehicle that we had rented for our...
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Judy commandeered the wheel.
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Along the road side on our Jeep adventure. Lupine was...
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Pretty contrast with the lupine, don't know its name.
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The 'back side' of Panorama Mountain with the Nenana...
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Our accommodations at McKinley Chalet in Denali Station....
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Our moose in Denali, as seen from the bus window.
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And there she is again.
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And another 'picture' of Mt McKinley ... the brightest...
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Our tour bus of Denali. Judy said she had never ridden...
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We were all pretty bundled up. It was around 50.
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But happy to be on the trip.
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What is called a "braided river", fed by glaciers. The...
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If you look really closely, there is a ptarmigan sitting...
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Now he's in the middle of the picture. Still tiny.
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A bridge for Catherine, across the braided river. ...
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A bridge for Catherine, across the braided river. ...
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Finally you can see what I meant by 'braided". Coursing...
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This side of the bridge, the valley is V-shaped, caused...
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Just a pretty picture in Denali, which is so empty and...
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The Park and Preserve is 6 million acres, larger than...
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Our best view of McKinley from a relief display at the...
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Judy and I had a 'debate' over white spruce vs black...
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... while the black spruce generally grow over...
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Lesson in black spruce grown. Taiga is a Russian word,...
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Closed we came to seeing a Dall sheep. The visitor's...
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Alaska Rose.
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Taken at the train station in Denali as we await our...
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Three of our intrepid travelers.
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In case you get lost.
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This was the engine for the "McKinley Explorer" train...
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Our McKinley chalet accommodations were in one of those...
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A bridge over the Nenana as we are leaving Denali Park.
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A bridge over the Nenana as we are leaving Denali Park.
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And another view. ... I'm guessing the swerve in the...
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One of many elaborate beaver dams that we saw along the way.
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This was the final link on the Alaska RR route to...
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Arrival in Fairbanks ... guess what, cloudy again It's...
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The next morning, at the wharf. We came by bus to a...
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This is similar to ours, though we have three enclosed...
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We saw hundreds of small planes in Alaska. This one was...
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Parked
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Along the river bank was a husky training camp. The...
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The trainers are putting 10 or 12 dogs into harness.
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... which is easier said then done. They 'train' with a...
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They're hooked up and ready to go.
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Mush, now you doggies.
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Not really a typical house along the river, though there...
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Some caribou grazing along the river. No, wait, see the...
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A few more. We really did not see much wild life. A...
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A spot along the river where clear water (on the right)...
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A close up of the same.
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Some interesting patterning.A
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A "fish camp". The native peoples of Alaska were...
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More reindeer. A lot of "velvet" on their horns which...
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Cutie
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Ahhh.
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Mom got in the way.
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That is not dad ... but I'm only sure because he had no...
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Part of the native Alaskan display
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This gal is a native Alaskan, lives near Barrow on the...
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It was raining off and on and she explained the shorts...
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A friend joined her to describe a robe made from animal...
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Lots of pelts on display.
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There was a huskie training camp near by. These dogs...
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The average trained huskie will run 40,000 miles in its life.
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This gal liked to stand on her dog house. They all have...
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Just taking it easy. They come in all colors of brown /...
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Queen of the kennel.
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And yet again. She was the only one who "posed"
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Bull Moose ...
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Another denizen we spotted along the river bank.
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There's our boat. Despite the weather, this was really...
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There she is again.
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I don't think he's going to get that in the garage.
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Back where we started off.
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From the river boat, we went to a miners' camp and were...
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Exploring the mining camp.
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Another set of explorers .. it was chilly.
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Though apparently, the sun does shine in Fairbanks
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Another pretty arrangement
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And the last
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This is a dredge. The buckets go down in the stream,...
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They bring it inside this building where all sorts of...
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The dredge itself has the ability to "walk" by pivoting...
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This dredge "walked" (if I remember right) seven miles...
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Glad not to be a miner on this dredge.
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A different type of gold mine, underground, complete...
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And then he came out to explain how they get gold out of...
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Typical miner's cabin.
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They did explain how he used this equipment to 'sluice'...
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This is the train we're on, having gone through the...
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This lady, who ran the ElDorado Gold Mine, was a hoot. ...
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She was explaining to us how you mine gold ... she's...
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She operated the back hoe and sent a bunch of rock down...
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Watching the stuff come down the sluice.
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Couple of her helpers. Tthe gal kneeling just finished...
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Now she'll show us how to move the pan to cause the...
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That's what her helpers found.
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So, of course we all get our little bags of ore and sit...
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This is hard work
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Has Dad found something? I see gold in my pan!
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Back on the train. We each have a little cannister with...
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Judy and Alan look pleased with the day's find.
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That's the spot to come get your gold.
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From the mining camp to today's fuel. This is the...
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The line runs from Prudhoe Bay (450 miles to the north)...
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Here it is above ground. The technology allows it to...
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Rather impressive, though the signs of rust are scary.
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Another close-up
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And another
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Off into the distance
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An object called a "PIG" as described in the next slide.
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Who knew.
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Recording our visit.
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An amazing engineering feat.
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Some of the facts. It's currently running at 1/3...
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Our dinner before the "midnight sun' raft trip that we...
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The river site for our "midnight sun" float.
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The raft .... We assume there were at least two of them...
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There is a moose in the water, honest.
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Finally, McKinley! As seen on our flight from Fairbanks...
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Getting closer, seeing some of the seven peaks that...
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Pretty impressive range; which we could have seen it...
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There it is
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Thre it is without an airplane wing
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Fading away as we fly south
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Good bye Mt McKinley
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Hello Chugach Mountains, outside of Anchorage as we...
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Traveling by motorcoach. Supposedly one of the most...
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It is scenic, no doubt of that. It is a tidal body of...
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The tide here runs about 18 ft and is known to have a...
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Pretty spectacular mountain range all around
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More of same
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And still more. This is all in the Chugach State Forest...
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Another bridge over ? Creek. The richest creek in...
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More bridge
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The trip into the gold fields was rugged to say the least.
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This is looking back towards Turnagain Arm, away from...
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It took pretty determined people to decide there was...
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Ah ... Seward and our next mode of transportation.
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The MS Ryndam awaits our arrival. It is 8 pm, and we...
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Looking back at the mainland as the Ryndam puts out to...
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And again
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Meg enjoying the same view.
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And apparently happy about it.
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The next morning at 6 am we are in College Fjord .......
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This was still in College Fjord, with some glacier in...
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First of the towel critters that Holland America puts on...
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Land Ho .... actually Judy was taking our picture when I...
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So now we have the picture
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What's left of the whale sighting
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Happy Days
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Time to soak up a few rays ... if they could find me.
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Coming into Glacier Bay
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We'll see close ups of the Glacier
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Just a chunk of ice
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Getting close to the Glacier, which is a waterfront glacier
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Closer still .. but no calving while we were there
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Can see the "flow" of the river as that is what a...
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Close up from our stateroom
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The blood color comes from the density of the ice, with...
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Good bye Glacier Bay
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Just to prove I was there.
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Coming into our first port of Haines / Ketchikan Alaska....
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It's another HAL vessel, the Oosterdam. We'll pass her...
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And tonight a lobster?
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The port of Haines Alaska. These are study folks who go...
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A few of the other ships in port.
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Interior of the Red Onion Saloon on Main street in...
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A second shot in the Red Onion
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Down town Skagway, filled with tourists and tourist busses
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This narrow guage rail line is what we'll take up to...
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And now we are off on the train.
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There will be lots of bridges, and lots of scenery on this trip.
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A few of the platform on the back of our car. We were...
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Not sure how deep that ravine is, but there's a bridge...
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Just happen to like this shot.
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and this one
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A waterfall coursing down a mountain across from where...
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Another view of the waterfall
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And yet again
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Some idea of the terrain we are going through
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A lot of people out of the platforms getting pictures.
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Hard to imagine how people looked at these mountains and...
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View from the stateroom window as we cruise near Juneau
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One of the night time critters ... A turkey is my guess
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From verandah in the Juneau harbor ... watching a plane land
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... and taxi around
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... and go right by the boat. The number of planes /...
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Having left the Mother Ship and taken a tour bus, we...
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Our first sighting. According to the naturalist on...
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Some harbor seals that enjoy hauling out on a buoy.
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Slightly better look at them. I'm ready for that zoom...
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And one of the reasons we are buying a new camera ......
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We went a considerable distance to an area where our...
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To the right of the other boat, you can see a "blow"...
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A lot of 'blowing' going on.
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... and more
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... and finally, a whale. Breaching, which is the...
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... and perhaps two other whales, and some more 'blowing'.
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The tail of the humpback is called a fluke and sometimes...
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Certainly a lot of activity out there. Our naturalist...
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But there certainly was a lot of activity and we were...
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A whale off to the left, and one in the middle
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Some more something.
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And two whales visible
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and maybe the end of a fluke flap.
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The naturalist felt we were watching "bubble netting"...
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Seemed to get a lot of pictures of blows, but not that...
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... sort of a whale, or a fluke there in the middle distance.
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The captain repositioned the boat after a period of no...
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But this is where the whales had moved too. Fairly...
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More puffing to let you know they are there
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... and then one surfaces
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That may be the same one.
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You can see a little more of the 'hump' here.
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Couple guys frolicking around
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I think I see three.
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Definitely three in this one. Whales are normally...
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I think I'm catching the end splash from a breach. ...
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Pretty quiet. Lots of pictures like this that I have deleted.
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... and then some more action
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We were probably in and around this group of whales for...
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They almost look as if they were up on shore.
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If I told you there was a bear on shore, would you believe me?
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Nope ... just whales near by.
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Down to one, I think
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Ah ... my best picture of a breach, after the fact.
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Ditto on this one.
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And this was the third. They came all in a row...
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Just a few more puffing through their blow holesan
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and I believe a fluke
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.. and a few more splashes
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and couple more break the surface. I told Judy that we...
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I think there are four in this picture
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... and this looks like another breach follow up
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The route we talk ... the captain literally went off...
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Our crew (though not the captain) who were very friendly...
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All together (still no captain). The naturalist is the...
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Ah, a bald eagle in flight.
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We went from whale watching to visit this ice field.
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... which had been calving earlier in the week, but not today.
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The red growths, which look like pine cones, are...
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Some more lupine, which was plentiful through out Alaska.
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The ice bergs are in Mendelsohn Lake which is fed by the glacier.
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And here is the glacier, moving forward 2' a day on it's...
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Back on the Ryndam, some views of Juneau. It backs up...
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Thta's a little bit of the main street.
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A better view of main street ... the mountain starts...
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A little bit more
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And looking north along the same street
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The view across the inlet from Juneau
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This was the outdoor pool and deck, literally 20' from...
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The Mt Roberts Tramway leaves from 'downtown' Juneau and...
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This fellow caught my eye, parasailing over Mt Roberts
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... seemed to be getting higher
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and then started to go out the channel
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... fairly high in the clouds (about dead center of picture)
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... and last seen heading out to sea. Though we didn't...
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Downtown Junean, with the governor's mansion: center of...
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Juneau waterfront
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A very sad looking lobster. His eyes fell off and I...
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Example of failing camera
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Rather dramatic, no?
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Is this boat sinking???
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Actually the moss on this bank was a very brilliant...
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A bald eagle sitting in a tree as we leave Ketchikan...
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The eagle again. C'mon zoom lens, I'm ready for you.
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New Eddystone Rock, in the Behm Canal on the way to...
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Behm Canal is not a canal. It seems to be an...
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Turning into Rudyerd Bay which was a spectacular spot.
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This is fjord country!
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Wish it had been sunnier, but you get what you get.
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Truly spectacular scenery
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Any sharp peak is referred to as a "nunatak", an...
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Nunataks in the background
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Waterfalls into the fjord.
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This is known as a "cirque" - a bowl shaped depression...
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Just gorgeous scenery
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Zoomed in on a cirque sort of around the corner
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Not a flying saucer; reflection of on-boat light
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Another cirque
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Can't find the depth of Rudyerd Bay on-line, but you...
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Ditto
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And another cirque
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Check out this photo; called a Maritime El...
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The bay keeps going around corners, revealing more and...
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The area gets 160" of rain a year. We left Ketchikan to...
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Does make for pretty waterfalls.
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Pretty stuff for folks from AZ
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Went out on the top deck and got what I think is the...
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This is neat; interesting to consider the scale.
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Since, it's just about the bottom 20' of the entire run.
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Slightly different angle
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Enough already
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Some of the folks on the boat were disembarking to fly...
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This is Rudyerd Bay International Airport
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... and their flight is coming in.
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One man operations ... pulls up, hops out, ties up.
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And another cirque, I believe at the top NE corner of Rudyerd Bay
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Heading back ... a nunatak in the distance.
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Vertical shot of some of the cliffs as we came in close....
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Astonishing how stuff will grow on rock faces (with...
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I thought this place was interesting
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Some harbor seals, I'm pretty sure
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Last chance to miss the zoom lens
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Indian pictographs on the rock face. This is the sun...
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Backed off a little bit
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And further back ... there are red "dots" off to the...
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The Oosterdam, which we have seen a lot of, was also in...
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Walking back to our pier. That's a map of Ketchikan. ...
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Pretty little welcome area for the cruise ships.
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Not sure what this town would do without them.
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Sitting in the Crow's Nest (the 12th deck bar on the...
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Dad enjoying a Manhattan before our final formal dinner on board.
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Looking down at Ketchikan enjoying some rare sunshine.
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And a puppy dog on our bed
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Saturday is a "day at sea" as we make our way from...
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Cocktail Lounge on one of the decks
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Seating area; is a piano bar at night
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Coffee bar adjacent to the library on deck 8
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The casino ... faces blurred to protect the innocent
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And another bar
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and the seating area around it
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The front desk where you could collect your bills. You...
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Shopping area on Deck 7. We managed to avoid it completely
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More shopping
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The deck outside our cabins
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This was about the nicest weather we had on board
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A few people taking the sun in Ketchikan Harbor
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A few up to the Lido deck
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One of the contented passengers
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The mists are coming in and people are going to dinner.P
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Probably even this one.
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Good bye Ketchikan
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Good bye swimming pool
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The clouds are rolling in.
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And the camera is dissolving.