Here we are later in the week enjoying a train journey through spectacular scenery after docking in Skagway
We were lucky in the weather ... dry and bright for most of the time. But we were reminded in Ketchikan that the winters require huge snow blowers to be fitted to the front of locomotives.
The artwork of the local Tlingit (pronounced Klinkit) tribe is focussed on making totem poles. These examples were in front of the Ketchikan museum devoted to saving and preserving original poles found in surrounding villages. The poles commemorate dead leaders, celebrate feasts and important events.
We spent a day in Juneau off the ship. This is the imposing Mendenhall glacier. The blue colouring of the face is caused by the ice and snow being so compacted that it absorbs all the colours of the spectrum except blue. The face of the Mendonhall glacier was one and a half miles wide until the hot summer of 2004 melted a mile of it! But, despite global warming, it is unlikely to disappear soon as it stretches back many miles into a huge ice field.
It was difficult to capture on film the 20 or so humpback whales we saw on a boat trip which included an excellent salmon bake. Here you can just see a mother and calf fishing for krill and other food. The sound of the water shooting out of the blow holes echoed around the bay - apparently the water can jet out at over 100 miles per hour!
Further north in Glacier Bay, giant glaciers showed the strata lines of many years of snowfall.
This glacier, in College Fjord (still further north) is fed from two sides. The ship made its way slowly through great ice floes caused by the numerous glaciers feeding into the fjord.
This glacier had what looked like a river running through it! We could not understand how the water rushing out of its base had not frozen.
On board, we were treated to excellent food, a wide variety of entertainment and many forms of artwork. We watched ice sculptures being created - here is one of the most elaborate.
... and another one surrounded by carved fruit
In our stateroom (cabin) we were greeted every night by strange creatures on our bed. All the Indonesian stewards are expert towel folders!
After landing in Port Seward, the train that took us to Anchorage passed through wonderful scenery. Here was one of the beautiful lakes...
... and, of course, more glaciers!
We flew back to Vancouver via Seattle and arrived late at night. So we rounded off our week with a ride into town in a limousine.
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