Friday, August 3, 2012

Alaska, Days 4-5

Here is the second part of our Alaska story. Click to enlarge pictures.

The Radiance of the Seas. Not a
bad ship. Rooms were clean. Only
had a few complaints. It was NOT
non smoking, the balconies were
pretty stinky some days. There was
constant piped in music on deck
and in all of the restaurants which
drove me nuts. And lastly, the
prices were insane - I had an
allergy attack
 and had to pay $15
for Dristan in the gift shop. But on
the plus side, the food was good,
and all the staff was super nice.  

This was a slug at Icy Straits, our
second port. He was really neat.

Shirl and totem pole.

Me with the totem pole


This was a towel frog that was in
our room that night.

We went to Mendenhall Glacier the
next day. These were some barn
swallows that were hanging out.

When David and I had
been hiking Ward Lake,
he was telling me about
these crazy birds
that dive into fast
moving streams. I told
him that I didn't believe
him as I didn't see any.
Then I saw this poster
in the rest room of the
Mendenhall glacier
visitor center, so I took
a picture for him. Funny
thing is,  he found a book
on IDing dippers in the
gift shop and bought it
for me! We think alike.

Me, Lynn and Shirl in
front of the glacier.

Me and David at the
 glacier.

David, looking particularly
picturesque at the glacier.

A stranger took this picture for us.
People were super nice about that.

We also visited
Mendenhall Gardens.
This was a planter
made from the roots
of an upside down tree.
Wicked neat.

This was a distance shot from
the top of the gardens.

Lynn, Shirl, David, me,  and Georgie.

The gardens had this heart shaped
flower thingy so we took this
picture just to be obnoxious.

This was a lifer for me - a
varied thrush.

After the Mendenhall
tour, we took a whale
watching cruise. This
is Georgie waiting for
the boat.

Lynn waiting for the
whale watching boat.

Me waiting for the
whale watching boat.

This was insane. Apparently, for
a few weeks of the year,  whales
do this thing called bubble
feeding. We got to see 14 humpback
whales doing it. It was quite spectacular!

A whale tail tale.

This was a glacier we
could see from the
whale watching
cruise but I don't
recall the name.

This was a life gull but I don't
remember what kind. Maybe
Mew or Glaucous wing?

More whales.

The whales spouted off before they
surfaced, so we could tell where to
shoot. Very obliging of them
to give us warning!

So, Shirley decided we
should do a tram
ride. Basically 1/2 mile
vertically up a
mountain. It was nice
once at the top, but I
did NOT enjoy the trip
up at all. 

The ship from the top of the tram.

The evil, scary tram in
question.

Once off of the tram, the
top off Mt. Roberts was
great, lots of neat hiking
trails. I climbed
almost to the top to
see this cross that a guy
decided to put up there.
It was so high up,  I
didn't think anyone
would believe I made it
so I took a picture.

Another picture at the
top of Mt. Roberts.

I think this was a junco maybe?
Update: According to Cindy,
this is in fact, a junco.

We went looking for  bears but didn't find any. We took the first picture on the bear hunt. I look
drunk, but I was not. We took the second picture while very bored at sea. I might have been
drunk for this one... Shirley and Lynn totally were. They are good at corrupting their
innocent baby sister.

1 comment:

  1. Sorry to hear about the gall bladder but glad surgery went well.
    There isn't a boring picture in the lot. You're in Alaska! Me, a sister and our mother took an Alaskan trip (first cruise for me)many years ago. We figured why not start with the very best scenery in the world. Loved every minute of it and your pictures look like you and your family did too.

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