Alaska Day 3- Skagway

 Day three our ship was in port in Skagway, which is an old gold rush town.  It was the town of Skagway that all the men who were looking for gold left from to head north up the White Pass for gold.  It was a cute little old western town.  Michael and I walked around the town that morning and then had lunch before we headed out for our Glacier Excursion.
 

The town of Skagway with a cruise ship in port to the left.

 The train that goes up the White Pass Trail pulling through town.  That is one of the popular excursions in Skagway but we chose to do a canoe trip to the Davidson Glacier.

 All the stores on the main street.  

 Michael on the boat that took us 60 miles from Skagway and to the Davidson Glacier.  As you can see we were in short sleeves with the temperatures in the 80's the first part of the week.

 There were tons of waterfalls everywhere because of the snow melt and glacier melt at the top of the mountains.

 A hanging glacier.

 Sea Lions that we stopped to watch for a while.  They were sunbathing;)

 They are loud creatures!  They honk and bark like crazy.

 Our first glimpse of the Davidson Glacier we were going to get to hike and canoe too.

 The scenery was STUNNING!

 I loved being able to see how blue the ice really is below the surface because of how compact it is.  

 A picture of one of the other canoes that were with us to give you an idea of what we were in.  There were ten people per canoe and the guide.  Our guide happened to know Tiffany's brother because he had just graduated from Auburn.  Small world.  

 On the way back from Davidson Glacier a storm started forming behind us.  The colors of the clouds and the water were so pretty.  

 The Radiance of the Seas from our excursion boat. 

 Michael and I at the front of the canoe.  So remember how I told you the temperature was in the eighties on our way to the glacier.  Well, when we got to the rainforest to start hiking towards the glacier the guides make everyone but on a fleece lined coat and take your shoes off and get these big tall boots to put on.  We were thinking we were going to be be burning up in all that.  Boy were we wrong;)  The warmer the temperature is, the more glacial wind is created off the glacier.  It was SUPER DUPER windy that afternoon with the temperatures so warm.  It was incredible really.  And we were supposed to canoe up to the glacier but with all that wind we would have been going in reverse so they actually had to motor us up to it.  The wind also created white cap waves on the lake so with Michael and I in the front of the canoe we got wet and that water was COLD!!!!  32 degrees COLD!!  It was really cool to be able to get that close to a glacier and see all the ground rock it creates as it moves forward.

The front tip of our canoe pointing towards the glacier.

Alaska Day 2-Juneau

 Oh Juneau, you were my favorite day!  We were in port early and we had an excursion that left that morning and took us to see the Mendenhall Glacier, to whale watch, and to hike through a rainforest.  It was incredible!!!  We went whale watching first and boy did we see them.  We even got to see something that not many people get to see and that is the humpback whales working together as a team to "Bubble Net Feed".  AWESOME!!!!  There were about five or six in these groups and they each have a job to do and they blow lots and lots of bubbles around a school of herring fish to trap them.  Then all the whales dive down really deep and shoot up out of the water with tons of fish and water in their mouths.  They only do this for several weeks out of the year and the rest of the time they are pretty solitary.  It was INCREDIBLE to watch over and over again.  They kept doing it and there were two or three groups of whales doing it where we were.  It was my favorite thing we did on the cruise and as a want to be marine biologist growing up, I was in heaven=)

 Bubble Net Feeding.  They would jump about half way out of the water and then land on their sides.  You never quite knew where to watch for them after the previous jump.  They would be under for the longest time and then just spring out of the water.  

 The first of many eagles we saw.  They are beautiful birds.  

 It was so surreal to look up and see whales and all the beautiful mountains behind them.  

 After whale watching our guide took us on a hike through the rainforest and to the Mendenhall Glacier.

 I loved the bear crossing sign and I was really, really hoping we would see a bear but no such luck=(

 The trees and everything in the rainforest was so green and lush.  The varying colors of green were amazing.

 The Mendenhall Glacier

 The glacier on the left and on the right a huge waterfall of glacier melt.  

 Posing in front of the glacier.

 An iceberg just floating in the lake.  

 The town of Juneau.  Did you know that Juneau is landlocked by glaciers?  There are no roads out of town.  The only way into town is by boat, plane, or birth;)

 Michael and I had a late lunch at the Famous Red Dog Saloon.  We had a wonderful fish sandwich.

 That night after dinner and the late show we walked out onto one of the balconies and saw this sunset and remember it was probably around 11pm or later.  It was beautiful and then when we rounded the corner to head back, the full moon was behind us.  Incredible!