We traveled on the Vista Dome Train and it was fabulous!  Extremely comfortable and a fabulous view as we made our way to Denali National Park for the Tundra Wilderness Tour on the Wilderness Express.

Vista Dome Train	We were so lucky to see Mount McKinley, it was hazy, but it was spectacular!	Mount McKinley	Mount McKinley
the power plant the still does not work!	we traveled along the Nenana River into Denali.	very steep	the river is a glacial river and grey in color from the glacial silt
very tall bridge for the highway vehicle traffic	see the Moose, on the Tundra	see the Moose, on the Tundra	the trees black and white pine, are small due to the perma-frost layer very near the top of the soil, so the roots cannot grow deep
they refer to the rives as braided, as they go into multiple water flows	Dall Sheep on the mountain ranges of Alaska. They are found in relatively dry country and frequent a special combination of open alpine ridges, meadows, and steep slopes with extremely rugged "escape terrain" in the immediate vicinity. They use the ridges, meadows, and steep slopes for feeding and resting.	this Grizzly Bear was only about five feet from the bus, and an extremely exciting sighting	Caribou along the river bottom
the Polychrome Mountains	Mama Grizzly and her cub	beautiful scenery in Denali National Park	beautiful scenery
beautiful scenery	beautiful scenery	Lynx	Mama Grizzly and her two cubs
beautiful scenery	Mount Donna	beautiful scenery	The Wilderness Express
Our Tour Guide, Dontae, is getting everyone organized for the day's activates in Denali, Alaska	Rafting on the Nenanan River with our guide Sarah, she helped scrape the frost off the raft as we left for our trip.  the water is grey due to the glacial silt.  Mom, Ted and Joey joined us on this adventure.	Rafting on the Nenanan River, these pictures were taken with a water-proof camera and frozen fingers, but it was a fabulous ride on this Class 4 River.	Rafting on the Nenanan River where the canyon walls were extremely steep
			Yeah ... it was Fun!

Back on the Vista Dome Train we are traveling from Denali, Alaska to Talkeetna, Alaska as we traveled through Denali National Park!

beautiful scenery	"The Moose Wave" as we pass another train!	beautiful scenery	inside the vista dome train

Anchorage was a beautiful city in a beautiful setting!  Sight-seeing, a trip to the Native American Cultural Center them off to Seward, Alaska to board The Radiance of the Seas!

  
Beautiful downtown Anchorage

Anchorage	Alaskan Olympians show their talents at ....	...Native American Cultural Center.	Dancers
Moose Fence to keep them off the highway.	on the way to Seward	Radiance of the Seas	Stellar Sea Lion
Junior the tug boat helps us free the anchor ropes	... off we go	on the Windjammer deck	the horizon slowly disappears.

We sailed from Seward Alaska down the coast to Hubbard Glacier! WOW!

Cold, grey and rainy with very choppy seas!	Hubbard Glacier	Hubbard Glacier	Bear Island
parts of the Glaciers that are floating out to sea	it is so juge	the shades of blue are real!	See the people plating in the glacier filled ocean water - this is an excursion they signed up tot do!
this is the jet boat they road to the glacier			look closely at the face of the glacier as it meets the ocean and you will see a wave created by the falling ice - called 'calving'
huge splash as more of the glacier calves	and again more calving	more floating glacier	this is a piece of the glacier the Eskimos brought on board to the heliport
the bead work is fabulous	the beauty	Splash!
			the scenery was unbelievable!
Formal dinner ... fun!	Margaret and Dario, our table mates, from Queens	Cheryl, our Waiter, what a beauty

Photo Safari in Juneau!  This was an excursion hosted by published / professional photographers.  We saw everything from glaciers, to whales and even bears.

Here are some of the professional photos the guides shared with us.

 

... and now here are some that we took!

grey and cloudy as we left Juneau	our Coast Guard protecting us	another cruise ship	now see them together
here we are at Auck Bay	this is the boat that we went out into the bay... the windows lift up for wonderful photos	whales blowing in the bay	more whales
			and more whales ... what a thrill ... we watched a group of three whales for a long time.  I was quite happy because we got several pictures of the whale's tail.  The locals tell us that's a big deal.
Stellar Sea Lions			The Alaska Ferry in the background of the picture runs from WA state to Alaska and you can bring all your worldly possessions with you on this boat.
	The Coast Guard ship at Auck Bay	Bob the Raven, injured his lower bill.  This caused the upper bill to grow long, thus impacting his ability to eat.  He now relies on the generosity of the people at the marina for his food.

The Photo Safari continues on land as we travel through some of the Alaskan Rain Forrest, which is the largest rain forest in the world.

Blue Herron	gorgeous ferns	notice the scrape marks onthe rock from the passing glacier	droplet of water at the centre of the flower called "forest diamond"
the trail goes on	the road ends at Mendenhall Glacier	the porcupine	wetlands and ice from the glacier
rainy fun in the rain forest	on the far right of this glacier is a new water flow that developed this year, indicates the glacier melt from under the ice

Skagway Alaska and scenic White Pass, with a summit of 2865 feet!

ships in the marina at Skagway	downtown Skagway	historic replica trains	cemetery along the way from the gold-rush days
Our dining staff entertained us all!		fabulous musicians to entertain us all!
open elevator area at the center of the ship ... gorgeous		evening shows every night, this was the stage curtain	Cruise Director
			gold metal gymnast

Next stop was Icy Strait Point!
Here the ship was tendered, since we could not put that big ship into their small harbor area.  Just another fun experience, to see this small town and go Halibut fishing.  It was rainy and cold.  Ted was lucky to catch a halibut! The halibut has both eyes on one side.  If you look closely at the pictures you can see the white side of the fish and the remnants of prehistoric times when eyes were on each side.

Back on the ship we were all ready for a good hot meal.
The sun tried to break through as we set sail for Ketchikan.

Ketchikan, where we went to Neets Bay to watch the bears at the Salmon hatchery!  WOW!  It was such an amazing experience to be so far from the main Alaskan cities and people.  We traveled aboard th high speed boat  up to Behm Canal to remote Neets Bay.  We were able to observe the black bears in their native stream and along the beaches.  Kurt said "That is the most peaceful place I have ever been".

black bear and sea gulls at Neets Bay	the bears  have a brownish color from the hatchery nets	look closely to see the Stellar Sea Lions in the water	the bear is steaking out his territory
water drips from the bear's mouth as he misses a fish	these bears are politely ignoring each other	watching and waiting	big splash as he catches the fish
yes and eagle	Blue Herron and Stellar Sea Lion	the bear jumps into the water and the sea gulls take flight	big power boat engines
fashion statement!	fishing boats in the bay	yes and eagle
"this sea gull is getting too close"	"now I must chase him away"	"all done eating now I will wash my hands"	potty break
the Stellar Sea Lions rest on the rocks			...if only they could talk

Upon leaving Ketchikan we cruised the Inside Passage to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

See all the Neets Bay pictures.