Sitka

 

Our second port of call was Sitka, Alaska.  It was also our favorite.  Sitka is a town of about 20,000 and is situated in an absolutely gorgeous location.

 

Getting to Sitka involved leaving the ship and boarding one of those little boats to the left.  It's bigger than it looks.  I'm guessing that it is around 40' long and seats 50 - 60 people.  The trip to shore only takes about five minutes.

Our first stop in Sitka was the raptor center.  Raptors are birds of prey.  This facility cares for birds that have been injured and nurses them back to health, then releases them back into the wild.  There are a few birds that have suffered injuries severe enough that they cannot be released, and have become permanent residents.  The eagle above is one example.  They are just a magnificent animal.  Here's a little factoid.  Everything about an eagle revolves around food.  They do not fly for fun.  If an eagle is in the air, it is hunting.  If I lived in Sitka, I would definitely volunteer to work here.

Our next stop was the Sheet'ka Kwaan Naa Kahidi Performing Arts Center.  It's pronounced just like it's spelled...I think.  The structure is a replica of a tribal council house.  The dancers ranged in age from 4-40.  One thing I have noticed is the similarity of Indian art work.  The bold colors and graphics seem to be common to tribes from South America, to Mexico, to the Plains Indians and into Alaska.  I love these graphics.

Finally we made a stop at the Sitka National Forest to view a few totem poles.  We did not have nearly enough time to explore the walking trails.  We got back into town a little after noon and still have a couple of hours to look around town.  We found a  local restaurant and had the most amazing lunch.  My wife ordered fish and chips, which was fresh Halibut.  That fish was swimming in the bay earlier in the morning.  I had a BLT/Avocado with grilled Salmon!  There is NO comparison to the salmon at your local market.  This was just the best.  We boarded the ship around 2:30 p.m. and set sail for Ketchikan.  See you tomorrow.

Glacier Bay

We spent a full day in Glacier Bay on our anniversary cruise.   While there, we heard and saw several "ice slides".  I didn't capture any images of them because they happen very fast and unexpectedly.  Still, here are a few images of the glaciers.

It is hard to believe that one of these glaciers is 250 feet tall and nearly a mile wide. Then you realize that you are on a 10 story ship, over a mile from the glacier and it's still taller and wider than your cruise ship.

That's all from Glacier Bay.  Tomorrow we land in Sitka.  See you there.

North To Alaska

While you were working last week, my wife and I boarded the Holland America "Westerdam" for a once-in-a-lifetime cruise to Alaska.  We flew to Seattle on Friday, July 18th and spent the night.  Saturday morning we took a cab to Pier 91 and boarded our ship, along with 1800 other passengers and a crew of 800.  What is absolutely amazing is that this ship arrives home from a cruise around 4:30 a.m. that same morning.  They disembark 1800 passengers, refuel, reload supplies, embark 1800 new travelers and set sail again by 4:00 p.m. the same day!  The logistics is mind boggling.  The airlines could take a few notes.  We boarded around 11:30 a.m. and our luggage was delivered before 1:00 p.m.  Our first stop was Juneau.



 We spent our first day at sea and your first impression of Alaska is just how big it is.  The mountains are impressive, to say the least.  I've been in the Smokies, and we have traveled to the Grand Canyon, but there is just something unique about the Mountains of Alaska.

 

 

The first stop on our trip was Juneau.  Like several of our ports, Juneau is on an island, so if you're thinking of driving there, you will be disappointed somewhere along the way.  The only way into Juneau is by air or by sea.
We left the ship and took an excursion that promised we would see whales.  We were not disappointed.

 

Our first sighting was a school of Orcas.  Most of us grew up calling them "Killer Whales".  Actually, there has NEVER been a documented attack on a human by an Orca in the wild.  This is a full grown adult male.  He is around 35 feet long and weighs close to 30 tons.  Sighting these Orcas at this time of year is pretty rare.  Then the real fun began.

After a brief ride, we came upon a school of Humpback whales and they were "bubble net" feeding.  This is an extremely rare sight and a very complex maneuver.  Once the whales locate the bait fish, one of the whales circles the bait fish and exhales, creating a net of bubbles, which confuse and scare the bait fish.  The other whales gather at the bottom of the bubble net to prevent the food from escaping out of the bottom.  The herring  head for the surface and the whales follow from below, finally exploding onto the surface in a feeding frenzy.  The gulls are aware of this and are waiting for the fish to surface so they can feed on some of the bait fish as well.  We left the whale watching part of our excursion, returned to shore and took a short buss ride out to Mendenhall Glacier.

The Mendenhall Glacier is located about 12 miles outside of Juneau.  There is a waterfall and several hiking trails in the area as well.  While we did not see any, a bear encounter is a possibility on the trails.  All in all, this was one of the best excursions that we booked and our guide was just the best.  After the excursion, we headed back to the ship and ready ourselves for the next stops, Glacier Bay and Sitka.  See you tomorrow.

Skywatch Friday

North to Alaska

 

 An amateur photographer/hobbyist once asked a professional shooter what was the secret to making his photographs more interesting.  The seemingly abrupt answer was, "Put  yourself in front of more interesting subjects."  That may sound like a cop out, but there is great truth in those words.  While God can paint an amazing sky anywhere in the world, it is most beautiful when surrounded by amazing landscape.  I can photograph some beautiful sunrises and sunsets in my hometown, but they pale in comparrison to the landscape of Alaska.  My wife and I took a cruise to Alaska last week and I have to say, I can understand why someone would want to move there.  Southeast Alaska, which includes Juneau and Anchorage actually has a rather mild climate, not unlike Seattle.  In fact, Ketchekan is in a rain forest.  That's right, they get over 72 inches of rain per year.  While Juneau has the Mendenhall glacier and Glacier Bay is in the area, you have to go further north before that 72 inches of rainfall actually turn into ice and snow.  If you are thinking about a once-in-a-lifetime vacation, I would recommend an Alaska cruise.  You will wake up each morning to an amazing landscape.  For the children of the Lord, there will come a day when we will wake up in Glory!   Have a blessed week-end.

 



Inspiration Thursday

Have you ever felt that God didn't answer your prayer?  Have you ever prayed that God would heal someone you love, only to see them pass away?  In the past year, we have lost two friends to cancer.  Both were under the age of 55 and had loving families.  One will not walk his daughters down the aisle, nor see his grandchildren.  Neither will see their grand children grow up and graduate high school or college.  Both will not experience family vacations with those that they love the most.  Many, many people prayed for God to heal these two, but it seems that it was not in His will.
Each journey started with a diagnosis.  Upon hearing the news we immediately began to pray for a healing.  We prayed for the doctors to have the wisdom and the knowledge to bring the disease into remission.  After some time had passed and treatments were administered, both friends were given the news that the cancer had spread and that the prognosis was not good.  Our prayers moved to the next level.  We gathered with friends and prayed.  We petitioned the Lord for a miracle.  In both cases,the day came when we received the news that our friends had been moved to hospice and that the battle was nearly over.  Once again, our prayers changed tone and urgency.  We prayed that God would give them peace, comfort and courage for the journey ahead.  Finally, the news came that each had passed away.  In each case there was a sense that our prayers had not been answered.  After a few days of mourning over the most recent loss of a friend, I came to realize that perhaps my prayers had indeed been answered.  My desires had not been granted, but my prayer had been answered.  How is that possible, you might ask.  We prayed for a healing and the person is gone.  Where is the healing?  I would tell you that when God gathers one of His children and takes them home, they are HEALED!  They are healed internally, externally, and eternally!  They have gone to a place that Christ has prepared for them and the Bible tells me that that there is no more pain and no more tears for His children.  Those of us who are left behind, mourn the loss of our loved ones.  We experience the pain of separation because we are going to miss the relationship that we had with the one who is gone.  Still, we need to understand, God is in control and His perfect will has been accomplished.  A healing has taken place, just not the way that we expected.  In those times when we don't understand God's plan, we just have to trust His heart.

Wordless Wednesday

Say, "Cheese"

 

 



Ruby Tuesday Too

Red Salmon

If you noticed that I have changed my header photo you probably have already guessed that my wife and I took an Alaska cruise last week.  Our 40th wedding anniversary was in May and we decided to celebrate by taking our first cruise ever.  So prepare yourselves, this week you will probably be bombarded and bored with Alaska cruise photos.  I'll start small with it one photo.  This salmon design was stitched onto a large canvas bag in one of the souvenier stores we visited.  We didn't purchase the purse, but I found the design too irresistable, not to photograph.  Happy Ruby Tuesday all!