Alaska rocks for Obama

This sign was near the entrance to the salmon hatchery where thousands of tourists go every day. Ha! We never saw any McCain/Palin signs anywhere in Alaska which makes me question just how popular is she?The salmon hatchery was very interesting as we learned how they gather salmon eggs, hatch them until they are about 6 inches long and then turn them loose after clipping a small dorsal fin near their tails. When fishing for salmon, it is okay to keep a hatchery salmon identified as such this way but one must throw back the wild salmon. The NY Times ran a picture of Sarah Palin, her daughter and their salmon catch spread before them. Three of the salmon were obviously wild. This woman does seem to do whatever she wants to whomever wherever. We saw lots of salmon in the fresh water creeks who were loosing skin and dying. Evidently the females lay eggs and then die and only the guys get to go back into the ocean. Another interesting bit of salmon trivia is that when leaving the ocean for the fresh water streams, they swim into a mix of brackish and fresh water where they rest for a while and physically adapt to the change growing different gills, etc. Then do the reverse when returning to the ocean. I was disappointed that we didn't see any whales but I did see a seal near Victoria, BC. We did see a brown bear on the road gathering berries when we toured on the Klondike Highway into the Yukon.
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Saturday October 11, 2008 - 12:15pm (CDT) Edit Delete Permanent Link 1 Comment
Leaving Tracy Arm for Juneau

It was amazing to me how this huge ship could turn around in this narrow channel but it was so fine as everyone got a view of the glacier and the ice flow.
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Saturday October 11, 2008 - 11:57am (CDT) Edit Delete Permanent Link 0 Comments
What a treat!

We arrived in Tracy Arm early in the morning to view the glacier and ordered a champagne breakfast served on our balcony. So all bundled up ( it was in the high 40s) we sipped and dined and thought we had died and gone to heaven. Then I remembered I'm not crazy about lox.
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Saturday October 11, 2008 - 11:36am (CDT) Edit Delete Permanent Link 0 Comments
The blue glacier

This was as close as we could get to the glacier up Tracy Arm as there was so much ice coming off of it. It is a lovely blue between these mountains and is melting at an alarming rate. Go soon as it may not be there in a few years thanks to global warming.
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Saturday October 11, 2008 - 11:29am (CDT) Edit Delete Permanent Link 1 Comment
Check out God's painting with light

Now here is a view!