Bald Eagles and Blue Ice
Wednesday, July 5 |
| It is interesting to learn about Alaska's various micro climates. Seward, where we boarded the ship, was chosen as the starting point for Alaska's only railroad because it is a warm water port. It is also the start of the Iditarod Trail, which pre-dated the railroad as the main route from the coast into the interior. The current Iditarod race starts in Anchorage symbolically, then restarts just north of the city at Wasilla. This is neither the start of the real Iditarod Trail (Seward) nor the site of the famous dogsled run with the dyptheria vaccine which save the people of Nome. That historic journey started in Neana and included very little of the Iditarod trail itself. Oh, well, it's a good story anyway. |
| Yesterday was spent "at sea" as I told you, with a timely arrival at the Hubbard glacier. It is an impressive site, hundreds of feet high as it meets the sea, and six miles across. It is hard to get a true sense of scale watching it, however, but the sun came out (ever so briefly) while we were there and even in the light rain we were able to get good pictures. |
| Last night we joined with the cruise ambiance for the Captain's cocktail party, followed by the formal dinner -- only about 10% of the men were in tuxedos, even though you can rent them on board ship. The evening entertainment was a rather pathetic comedian with jokes, some of which were ten years old and included all kinds of passČ topics like jokes about gays and lesbians and jokes about the handicapped (as separate joke for the blind and the deaf). Needless to say we didn't stay until the end, but took in more of it than I cared to. |
| This morning we pulled into Juneau right on schedule. Did you know that this capital of America's largest state is not accessible by road or railroad, but only by ship or airplane? Rather amazing for the 21st century. Of course we arrived by ship. Once here we had our choice of excursions and went out to the Mendenhall glacier, which is only 1/4 the size of the Hubbard glacier, but we could get very close and again the sun came out just in time for photo opportunities. |
| This afternoon we went to the state museum which is well presented with high quality artifacts representing the different native cultures as well as the Russian and American settlements in the 19th century. I learned that the Russian eagerness for skins was not for the Russian market, but for the Chinese market. The Russians were eager to find goods to trade with China in exchange for tea, just as the British were when they invented the opium trade. As a reminder of how important tea was to the Russians, there was a beautiful samovar and tea set in the display. |
| We kept looking out the museum window to see if the weather was clearing up so that we could take a tram ride up 2,000 feet and look down on the city. Alas, we were socked in by rain and fog and headed out instead to look for some bald eagles we had seen earlier on the way to the glacier. Despite our pleas, the bus driver had been unwilling to stop for pictures, so I wanted to try again. We returned to the same spot, but the tide had come in and the eagles were nowhere to be seen. Now quite wet, and considerably worse for wear, we sought out a taxi. Luckily for us, a driver not only appeared out of the blue, but told us that two miles past our ship's berth was a stream where the first salmon were spawning. Yes, for sure (no snipe hunt) and he would take us there for the fare on the meter. Well, no, it wasn't cheap, but we saved by not taking the rainy tram ride, and saw literally hundreds of huge salmon trying to get up stream, over a fish ladder, through a culvert, and finally up a waterfall. I got great video of all but jumping the waterfall, and the bald eagles we had sought back by the bridge in town had all clearly relocated at streamside in anticipation of a good meal. Black bears, we were told, were likely just a short 100 yards up the stream, but out of our sight, and I was not eager to take them on, even though at this moment in time they are more focused on their salmon feast than on any of us bi-peds. |
| We successfully ended our day with a successful search for the inexpensive Internet connection and will head back to our hotel. |
| At $5.00 for fifty minutes I can afford to spell check this one! |
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| Our bald eagles, and theirs... | ||
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