The video

With never before...  you know the rest.

YVR/DFW/ORD/ALB

For those that do not speak airport code that's Vancouver to Dallas to Chicago to Albany.

The award for most uncomfortable coach class seating on this trip goes to American Airlines.

Vancouver 2

Our home base in Vancouver is The Comfort Inn Downtown.  It appears to be an older building, perhaps for apartments, turned into a hotel.  The rehab went well.  The rooms are well done.  Early this morning Tom and Carol headed back to Albany.  Jan and I will do the same tomorrow morning.  Today we decided to visit the University of British Columbia Campus.  Tuition, room, board and fees for a year is about 24 grand for a BC resident.  It's slightly higher for Canadians who are not from the province.  For US residents who wish to attend it is 52 grand Canadian.  The web site did not say what it is for residents of other countries.

The primary purpose of our visit was to check out the Museum of Anthropology.  World famous for its collections, the museum is tucked onto one corner of this sprawling campus, which obviously supports a very large undergraduate student population of over 61 thousand.  Because the climate is conducive there are many beautiful gardens along the pathways to the academic buildings.

One large part of the MOA is the totem collection.  Canada and the various members of the First Nations (we call them Native Peoples or Native Americans.  They call them First Nation and sometimes First People) held lengthy discussions about what to do with these culturally significant representations of their history.  The tribal members decided that the totems could become the property of the Museum provided there were explanations of the significance.

You should be able to spot the attentive listener in the front row.

In addition to the historical artifacts on display, the museum also commissioned this artwork in the style of the pieces.

 Artifacts from peoples other than the First Nation are also on display.  In this area the Chrome touchscreen will give you more detail on any piece in the case or in the drawers.  You are free to open them.

 While the museum is open to the public and charges admission to non UBC students it is woven into teaching.  The racks in the picture contain new artifacts requiring analysis and / or interpretation.

The pieces are from all over the globe.

This unusual and highly engaging art changes based on what visitors in the space do.  As the calligraphy cascades down the wall people touch them and it changes what happens.  I am sure the engineering of the exhibition contains limits.  The possibilities are not endless, but they are plentiful.  I sat for about 15 minutes and while things were similar they were never identical.  Children loved it.

Time to organize our suitcases to fit into various airline required weight limits!  

Vancouver

Jan and I were once told that Victoria and Vancouver are made for newlyweds,  flower beds and nearly deads.   It doesn't get cold.  It only snows on rare occasions.   It's misty air produces lush vegetation .  The temperate climate makes it attractive to retirees.

The city maintains its post Olympic glow.  The paint still looks new in Gastown where a steam powered clock whistle chimes like Big Ben.

Our quartet rode a Hop On Hop Off bus.  You pay one fare and can get On and off as many times as you wish.  Most everyone calls it the Ho Ho bus.  That's what is written on the bus and the bus stop signs.  It got renamed to the hip hop bus by one visitor to the city.

For reasons that are unclear to even long time city residents there was a nude bike ride event.  Photo credit to Jan Conti.  No 300mm lens for the image.  Not sure of the purpose.  It never really gets hot here.  I am comfortable in a polo shirt and jeans.  I might find naked on a bike to be chilly.  But they got a sanctioned police escort to a beach area in Stanley Park.  Perhaps it is an annual event.  Mark you calendars.

Our cruise ends in the morning

1800 miles covered from Whittier to Vancouver by morning.  Our quartet saw plenty.  A wilderness full of beauty and a new variety of salmon called eye-sock according to one member of our party.  All cruise our needs were attended well.  The news director (?) onboard, a graduate of a prestigious music conservatory, is the most intelligent person to occupy that post on one of our journeys.  Jan and I are staying an extra two days in Vancouver.  Tom and Carol leave the day after tomorrow.   All will bid adieu to prepared meals, the kissable wait staff and room stewards in addition to bears, moose, eagles and, of course, the salmon. 

A Sea Day

Ketchikan was our last Alaska port.  Final stop on the cruise is Vacouver.  We will be there two days before heading home.

Ketchikan

It's no secret.  Ketchikan is known for its rain.  In fact they celebrate 300 plus inches annually.  Still, that rain creates a very subtle icing around the fjords.  We took our third trip with Michelle and Island Wings.  Our vacation partners experienced their very first low terrain flight into mountainous areas.

The place we landed today is different from the previous two flights.  Michelle explained that it depends on winds, tides, cloud cover and other factors.  It is so interesting to watch a pilot set a plane down on a lake.

The video is great but that will need to wait until I get some more bandwidth.  Thanks for a great hat trick, Michelle.

Jan and I also visited a state park just outside of the city where there is a Totem Pole display.  Totem Bight State Historical Park recovers and maintains various totems found in the region.

Information about the park can be found by clicking this sentence. <--------------

Juneau (Harv and Marv)

Whale watching in Juneau is a family tradition.  Enough of one that when we got to Auk Point to set out on our adventure we recognized our Captain as the same person who took us out the last visit.  With clearing skies through the morning the Mendenhall Glacier was easy to find.

There were two pods of Orcas wandering nearby taking their young out for a swim and feeding.  The young Orcas show the traditional markings except their spots aren't fully white yet.  They are yellow.

Orcas like to make themselves scarce.  Liz told us she sees them about every 10 days.  Shortly after that we visited an old friend whom we first met on our first whale watch.  Flame is back from Maui again this summer to feed in the waters around Juneau.  She didn't have a baby with her.

She uses a predictable pattern.  She takes several breaths on the surface, usually about 5, and after the 5th blow you get the big arch of the back and the fluke.  After that she is below for 5 or 6 minutes.  There aren't as many whales around Juneau this summer.  No one is sure why.  We did not see any bubble net feeding this trip.

These Stellar Seals are grateful for the placement of this buoy.  They enjoy spending most of the morning and afternoon on it.  Back in the harbor area an eagle family is raising two eaglets this summer.  Dad keeps watch in a nearby pine while mom is tending to the nest.

Tomorrow we reunite with a pilot who took us on two previous trips into the fjords around Ketchikan.

Skagway (more bears)

Skagway is an old starting point for the Yukon Gold Rush.  The city’s history is storied, ribald and sometimes humorous.  It is also the gateway to more spectacular scenery and wildlife.

When we left the city this morning fog enshrouded the mountain tops.  As we made our way across the mountain pass (3300 feet) the fog seemed fairly dense.  However, as our Corolla ventured closer to the Canadian border the fog began to burn off.  

We stopped in Carcross and Emerald Lake where the sunshine pushed the temperature to 70.  That’s “hot” for Alaska.  Yes, there are times when it moves into the 80’s but not very often.

During the return trip we managed to spot two Black Bears. They are brown in the pictures because they come in varieties of tan, beige and black. The first bear image is courtesy of Thomas Santacrose.  I put my camera in the trunk and although both wives professed a willingness to hop out of the car, open the trunk, retrieve the camera and the long lens, the husbands discouraged such bravery.  Plus we are in our sixties and the bears move faster than we do.

By the time we encountered the second bear my camera and long lens were sitting next to me.  We stopped and I took the pictures through the windshield.  It crossed directly in front of the car, checking both ways for traffic before venturing out onto the highway.  One member of our party thought the pictures would be clearer if the windows were opened which earned a unanimous, “close the window Carol” from everyone in the car.

Most of this tour is in Canada, which meant that upon our return we passed through U.S. Customs.  The questions were not unusual.  “Where did you go?” (Emerald Lake).  Did you buy anything.  That question is asked in case there is anything to declare.  Someone in our car, I’m not saying who, felt the need to tell the official that we ate lunch in Canada and also added that we enjoyed it.  Fortunately, no one was jailed.

Glacier Bay National Park

The Coral Princess entered Glacier Bay National Park at 7:30 AM Alaska time.  Plenty of fog shrouded the mountains.

This humpback whale didn’t seem to mind the 49 degree temperature.  

The fog slowly lifted as the morning developed and it got warmer.  The sun broke through.  That set the stage for some actual panoramas.  Not the kind your mobile phone makes.  Actual, real-life, 3D panoramas.  

When you are taking pictures sometimes you run across a marsh, pull your mobile phone out of your pocket and snap a picture of some cubs and a momma bear spending some quality time in the water. Other times you are shooting a majestic landscape when a gull decides to photo bomb your work, but it actually adds to the landscape.  

This stellar seal can’t get high enough out of the water to end up placed with the mountains.  Still, it was very cooperative.

The star of Glacier Bay National Park is Margerie Glacier.  1 mile across and 250 feet high above the water line.  A sky with some clouds in it brings out the blue in the glacial ice.

Salt water eats at the ice river and massive chunks drop into the water.  Typically the chunks are about the size of a house.  Periodically they are the size of a commercial building.

The sound of the ice wall separating from the rest of the glacier arrives about the time the chunks start touching the water.  It sounds a bit like lightning.  There is a distinctive crackling noise that reverberates through the canyons.

250 years ago the water we traveled on to get to Margerie was ice.  The entire canyon or fjord was a massive glacier.  Over time salt water and a warming environment started to disassemble that shocking site witnessed by John Muir.  What remains is no less impressive, but if you want to see them act soon.