Alaskan Cruise--the Way to Go

We just got home from a cruise from Vancouver up the inland passage to Alaska and back. We took Charity, a granddaughter with us and had a fantastic trip. The cruise itself was great but the scenery left us in awe of God's handiwork. What a beautiful earth has been created for our enjoyment. I continue to marvel at the variety and beauty of nature.
Charity and I took about a six mile walk in Stanley Park in Vancouver. One area was filled with totem poles.
We took time to relax on our cabin's veranda and put our feet up. . .
And let the wind blow through our hair! (It was rather a shock though to leave 50-60 degree weather and then get off the airplane in Phoenix to 104 degrees.)
Green, blue, and white with splashes of colorful flowers all anchored with brown and black rocks--gorgeous.
We were very fortunate to see several humpback whales--huge but graceful. These giant creatures are fairly rare.
It was really exciting even for the tour guide and boat captain when we came upon a pod of orcas or killer whales. They are beautiful animals and put on quite a show for us.
After leaving Juneau, we sailed to Skagway where we boarded a helicopter for a ride up to a glacier.

What an experience to walk on a "living, moving" glacier, looking down into deep crevices of turquoise blue with water tumbling and roaring in the bottom while other pits appeared to almost be bottomless.

One of Charity's favorite excursions was to a dog mushers' camp. There were over 250 dogs each with their own little doghouse. The dogs were eager to run. When they saw us, they started barking, leaping in the air and straining at their harnesses ready to pull the land sleds on wheels. Not only is this entertainment for the tourists but the mushers use this as an opportunity to train the dogs in the summer months.

Charity would have loved to taken this cute little 7 week old pup home.

I think Fred even fell for these cute cuddley little guys.

We spent a day cruising in Glacier Bay National Park where the cruise ship got up as close as it could safely do so to three of the many glaciers in the park. The glaciers groaned, popped, creaked and thundered continuously. What a sight and what sounds!

Our final port of call was Ketchiken which is famous for the Saxman Native Village and its totem poles. It is also well-known for Creek Street which during gold rush days was a street of taverns and houses of ill-repute but is now a street of restaurants and shops. What is interesting is that due to a lack of flat land they build these buildings and the street right out over the creek on pilings. It really is very picturesque at this point in time.
A wonderful trip indeed!