Going to Alaska - Part Two

Ketchikan

We took a guided tour of Ketchikan and the lady told a touching story about this local landmark:

She told us how, when the Tatsuda family was shipped off to the internment camps for Japanese citizens in 1942 following the outbreak of WWII, local people kept their store open for them, ran it at a profit, and when the Tatsudas came home after the War, all the profits were returned to the family.  Great story.  Warm fuzzies.  Only ... it's not true.

http://www.sitnews.us/Kiffer/Tatsuda/051916_tatsuda.html

North toward Juneau

Part of our coach tour of Juneau took us to Glacier Gardens in the Tongass National Rainforest:

This is what results when a heavy equipment operator has too much time on his hands -- he stuck a tree back into the ground upside-down and discovered that they could make interesting Flower Towers.  To me they just seem weird.

But not as weird as one of our fellow passengers, an old curmudgeon who, when our young guide girl mentioned that the Tongass forest was being expanded, hollered, "Whatta you need all them trees for?  Cut 'em down!  Use 'em."

??!!

Later we visited the majestic Mendenhall Glacier:

Nugget Falls

See the tiny red canoe?

Fuzzy Telephoto

After Juneau we stopped in Skagway.  Free WIFI in their library.

LOL

And then on to Glacier Bay National Park the next day.  There are one thousand named glaciers there, all receding at a frightening pace.

The Captain allowed sightseers out on the bow

Trees lend a sense of scale against this massive glacier

Some extend many miles back into the mountains

Saw one Grizzly Bear way over on shore

The day after Glacier Bay we disembarked in Seward AK and traveled up to  the tourist village that Holland America/Princess Line built at the entrance to Denali National Park, the highlight of the entire 6,000 mile trip.

Click on to Part Three