Watching the Glacier calving was a thrilling experience, the sound was like thunder and the crash into the ocean actually rocked our boat. Again we escaped rain and were able to see the stunning beautiful of the park with very little heavy clouds and fog, something that apparently is very rare. I put all the photos in and if you load them in sequence you will get the picture, kind of cool actually.

Another day with no rain…but threating! One of the highlights of this trip for me was going to be the White Pass train trip. And it was not disappointing as the climb to Fraser BC Canada from Skagway was very interesting.

It is difficult to imagine the hardships the prospectors endured trying to get to the gold fields in the Klondike. Thousands climbed the trail to the pass to get a chance to be a winner in the gold fields only to arrive there to discover that most of the land was already claimed, probably years before they planned their trip.   On top of that the Canadian government insisted that no one arrived without provisions for a whole year, roughly 2000 lbs. of supplies. So many ended up working for other miners or finding nefarious ways to cash in on the fever: swindlers, prostitutes, gamblers etc. all made more money than almost all of the prospectors. Very, very few hit the mother lode.

The pictures of the train trip and the bus trip back fills out the story.

Slowly creeping through the inlet towards Juneau gave us a chance to really absorbed the beauty of the North West Coast of Alaska. The water was completely flat almost like a mirror with the exception of the wake the boat made as it inched between the two rugged coastlines leaving a tapestry of asymmetrical ripples and, together with the light of the rising sun, made a very memorable experience.

First impressions: clean, very clean but of course very reliant on the cruising trade as the down town appeared to be almost completely devoted to the tourists off the ships. I guess next to fishing, some mining and logging, that is a critical element of the economy.

We wondered around, had lunch and an Alaska Beer, of course, then headed back to the ship. On the way we decided to take the Tram up to Mt. Roberts, which was a good decision as it gave us the opportunity to take a little hike and stretch our legs. Nice view from there and as a bonus we saw a couple of goats but I should mention the only reason we knew they were goats was because a fellow travel had a pair of binoculars.

Back to the ship and a nice evening before the sail to Skagway.

Beautiful day like I said before but it is disappointing that we went on the outside, the inside passage would have been much more interesting albeit slower.

As you can see it is sun bathing weather!

Well I must admit this is something we don’t usually like doing…cruising. It is designed for old people, oh, wait a minute maybe we are ??? can’t even say it out loud but it rhymes with mold.
So we are currently in the open ocean, beautiful and sunny on our back deck. Not much to see but when there is I will take a picture and post it.