Post #2 Alaskan Vacation

Days 2 & 3 were sailing days towards the first port town of Ketchikan where we would dock for 6 hours and set sail at 2pm towards Juneau. We left late because four women that they paged for a half hour, get out of a car and are slightly hustling up the long walkway, that is until a few people on deck and the crew on land start to "encourage them to pick up the pace" to get on ship. The captain mentioned the group at his formal dinner and said he'd be meeting with them later.. heehee, miss the ship and you are so S.O.L.. I apologize for the indoor formal pictures, I deleted most of mine as the camera setting was or video taping last and so will need to get pictures from the other siblings that turned out..  These two I kept. The others were taken outdoors after dinner, I don't know where Kimm was that I didn't get an outdoor picture of her.

Mom and Dad with the Captian

As we sailed in the morning of Day 3 into Ketchikan these were a couple of pictures that I took.

In Ketchikan we went to a Lumberjack show that was good entertainment and the weather was excellent as they receive 13 FEET a year of rain and it had been raining for the last two weeks.. We hit it on a good day.

waiting for our bus trip to the Totem Bight Park

 Totem Poles tell a story.. you have to use your imagination if it were not for our bus driver being our guide through the Totem Bight Park. A History tour

 due to permafrost being state wide, there is very little soil under the plants anywhere, but this tree takes the extreme point of growing above the tundra mostly.

 These four ships tended to be in each port following or leading each other at different times.

1 in every 3 Alaskans has their pilots license and that is the way of transportation for the rest of them as well.

Kimm suntanning in the warm Ketchikan weather..

view of Ketchikan from our balcony on the ship while docked in port.

while standing on the aft deck overlooking the town, waiting for the last late people to arrive, I spotted this Eagle in a tree top on the side of the mountain.. with my 300 lens I zoomed this in, and when I enlarge it further on the computer it is a huge bird compared to the top of the tree he is perched on.. I was quite impressed to have seen him, (so was Greg) but he wasn't around at the time so I shared my binoculars with "steve" next to me who turns out was from Hermosa Beach CA.. He was appreciative that I showed him, who then showed his wife when she came up..

The inlet or Gulf of Alaska that leads between ports as we leave Ketchikan and head to Juneau.

They land and take off right beside the boat and so it is a great show for the passengers to watch.

alot of little islands like this along the outskirts of the mainland or the islands, an obstacle for ships to avoid.

this is the Bight Totem Park we were at in the morning from the ship as we pass by

Jack, Mom, Greg and Dad out observing the departure from port

Well, that is enough for today as my computer has slowed down and I'm done with it.. see ya tomorrow back here.