Vancouver skyline
More Vancouver skyline
Pacific expanse ahead
The Conductor in Ketchikan, Alaska
Floatplanes in Ketchikan — about to wrestle into one and flightsee over the Misty Fjords
Start playing "Return to Innocence" (Enigma) now.
Our floatplane pilot and DJ
The Conductor gets a snap of the Misty Fjords.
Hangin' out
You have to watch what you do with your hands in Alaska.
I need a chair like this for the office. I think I could get more work done.
Quaint shopping in Ketchikan
These were the scariest bears I saw in Alaska.
More strolling in Ketchikan
Jane next to a big totem in Ketchikan
In Juneau - sitting in the helicopter co-pilot seat about to depart for Juneau ice fields, glaciers, and a dog sled camp
Start playing LOTR theme now. I think.
That's the glacier ahead - looks something like a stand-still rushing stream (rushing at a few inches per year).
More glacier
I gotta have more glacier
I gotta fever, and the only cure is more glacier
Good view of the back of the pilot's head
The dog sled camp is up ahead. You can't see it yet.
Can you see it now?
No, but can you see it now?
It's coming, it's coming!
See the blurry line? That's a dog sled camp of 78 dogs sitting on top of the glacier.
It was freakin cold during this dog sled experience (high winds, sleet). One of the other passengers said afterward she felt like she touched the "real" Alaska. I felt like I had touched an experience that did not need to be repeated.
Doggies! This is one of the lead dogs. They're supposed to be the smartest ones.
The musher told us the dogs were a bit overheated because it wasn't really cold enough for them to be running. Apparently 10-30 below zero is about ideal.
We had a lady musher. She dreams of completing the Iditarod someday. When we arrived, she had been camping on the glacier for 8 days without any visitors, due to storms and low visibility.
Doggie camp
Another view of dog camp
View of downtown Juneau
White Pass & Yukon Railroad train depot in Skagway (historic gold rush country)
Boarding the train -- to ride a railway that is one of the world's mechanical engineering marvels
The train dropped off a group of us for an 8-hour hike out and back to Laughlin glacier.
Bye-bye! (People still on the train took pictures of the group, suspecting we might never be seen again.)
On Laughlin Glacier Trail
View from trail
One of our guides was carrying about 75 pounds of gear on his back (for 8 hours)
We like to think we're tough hikers ... as long as someone else is carrying the 75-lb pack.
Glacier ahead
Entering a moulin in the glacier for a lunch break
Tough enough
View from the other side of the moulin
Our guides were fearless and encouraged us to launch deeper into the crevasse of the glacier
Our two guides (the one of the left asked us to call him "Whitey")
From the decks of the Celebrity Millenium, at sunset
Another great Alaskan landscape shot
Hubbard Glacier -- the boat's captain was gutsy enough to move the ship within a quarter mile of the glacier
Cozy seats in the lounge off Deck 11
Last stop: Anchorage
