Alaska Cruise
12-19 June 2004

Here we are on the deck of the Norwegian Spirit on our first day at sea.

Here is a great view of the passage at dusk.

We are standing in front of two burial totems in Ketchikan. The totems represent the Raven and Eagle -- both

very important symbols in the first-nation mythology.

Here we are in front of another totem pole.

Long houses were the social center of native life.

We visited a salmon hatchery. This is a salmon ladder to aid the fish coming home to spawn.

All of south-eastern Alaska is in a temperate rain forest -- 150+ inches of rain per year is not

unusual. Here is a wonderful garden. Note the upside-down trees with the flowers planted in the

roots. They were fantastic.

We're just enjoying the views. Alaska is the most visually spectacular place we've ever seen.

Here we are at Mendenhall Glacier. It is the most accessable glacier in Alaska. It is a very short distance

from Juneau -- an easy drive. In fact, it is within the city limits of Juneau.

Mendenhall Glacier in all its splendor.

After we left Juneau, we cruised to Sawyer Glacier. The ice was sky blue.

A highlight of our stop in Skagway was the White Pass and Yukon Rail Road. Here, Helen

is with the conductor.

We were right behind the locomotive. The mountains were breathtaking in their beauty.

Just outside of Skagway, there is a recreated prospecting village. Skagway was the begining of the land route from the lower 48 to the gold fields in the Klondike. The gold fields were 500 miles farther north.

Tourists are given the chance to pan for gold. What we found to be funny was that since there isn't any gold in the Skagway area, the pans were salted with gold dust from the Klondike so that they could find real gold! I caught them doing this while the show was going on.

The only Canadian stop was Prince Rupert in British Columbia. It wasn't much of a tourist stop.

We did get the obligatory photo with a mountie!!