USA and Canada – Day 26 – Bow Valley Parkway; Banff; Two Jake Lake; Lake Minnewanka

Woke to a smattering of snow on the grounds outside of our hotel room. So, so beautiful and very excited to see some snow up close and personal! Had not expected that! Went out of our room to take some photos – very cold!!

We had breakfast in the hotel this morning and had a window seat looking out over the little bit of snow on the ground. If you sit long enough anywhere where there are trees, you are bound to see a squirrel. They are way too fast to take any photos, but very cute little animals.

INSERT PICS OF SNOWY POST HOTEL

This morning we drive the Bow Valley Parkway which is an alternative route to Highway 1 to Banff. As we drove out of Lake Louise, there were people directing traffic at both of the main intersections. We wondered why this was necessary, as Lake Louise is only a small village. We found out why later in the day!

The plan was to drive the Parkway and stop and do the Johnston Canyon Walk. This is supposed to be spectacular. It’s a bit like the Capilano cliff walk with walkways above the water but attached to the side of the cliff. We reached the main car park which was full, drove on to the next car park (some distance away) which had 5 spaces left. Decided to go back and give the main car park a go. Huge car park, but was jam packed with people all trying to get a park. Gave up and drove back to car park 2 – now full as well. Decided we would give it a miss and come back if we had time.

We continued towards Banff. Where Lake Louise had only a scattering of snow, Banff had about 12cm of snow overnight. From about 20km out, the snow was everywhere! It was just the loveliest sight! Snow on the ground and a lot of snow sitting on the branches of the cedar trees which made it feel like it was Christmas! The Cedar trees look just like the most perfect Christmas tree you could every imagine! The snow somehow added some softness and quietness to the drive making it feel so, so peaceful!

INSERT PICS OF SNOW ON CEDARS

As we continued towards Banff, we got a warning light saying that one of our tyres had low pressure. After the flat tyre episode in Fairbanks, we decided to just go straight to Banff and pump the tyre up and get some petrol.

Missed the highway turn-off and had to find a way to do a U turn and double back! Banff was crazy! Like Glenelg on New Year’s Eve with everyone trying to get a car park and absolutely not enough parking to go around.

Banff has 3 petrol stations, but one was shut down for renovations. The other 2 are tiny. First one had pumps that weren’t working and then we got stuck behind someone whose credit card was stuck in the auto pump pay slot, so they were going to be there for a while.

We decided to find another servo. Next one was on a really busy corner and there were no controls over how people entered and parked next to the pumps. We managed to get in and Chris filled up while I went to enquire about where the tyre compressor was and go to the loo.

Problem – tyre compressor has no gauge and you have to insert dimes to make the compressor work. Decided to try the original servo and couldn’t even get in there. Went back to the first servo. Our car does show what the pressures are on the dash board, although it takes a while to respond, so we decided to use that. Managed to pump up tyres, but they all ended up with different pressures!

All very stressful, as we had to do a 52 point turn to get out of there and I was still not totally confident about driving on the wrong side of the road. Decided to get some lunch – found an IGA and as we were paying, realized that I had left my credit cards in the toilet in Servo No. 2!! Absolute panic! So lucky that someone had handed them in! Had to do another 52 point turn to get back out and we decided at that point that we were getting out of Banff and probably not going to go back!

We decided we would go out to Lake Minnewanka and see Two Jack Lake on the way. Two Jack Lake was recommended by one of the Aussies working in Whistler and it didn’t disappoint! Such a beautiful lake and the surrounds were covered in snow. Made for some great photos!

INSERT PICS OF TWO JACK LAKE

We continued on to Lake Minnewanka which is a much larger lake than Two Jack and offers some Lake cruises. It struck me that you could never call a lake in Australia “Minnewanka”! We couldn’t get all the way down to the where the cruises leave from as the last part of the lake road was closed. We stopped half way down and took some pics. It was later in the afternoon by now and getting cold. You could see a fog or mist rising from the lake which made it all look very cold, but quite beautiful!

INSERT PICS OF LAKE MINNEWANKA

Back to Lake Louise and we decided to try out Bill Peyto’s restaurant at the backpackers for dinner. Had a good meal and not too pricey!

USA and Canada – Day 25 – Kamloops to Lake Louise

Woke up to very, very gray skies, rain and fog! Could barely see to the end of the car park. Had breakfast at the hotel and got going early. Thought this would be a much longer day than yesterday as there was more distance to cover. Google maps says 438km which should take 4hr 50mins. There is also a time zone change. Alberta is 1 hour ahead of British Columbia. Was worried that we would need to drive into the night.

As it turned out it rained the whole day, which meant we didn’t stop except for comfort breaks and food. Also we were now on National Highway 1 – the Trans Canada Highway. It’s a big, busy road with frequent overtaking lanes, so a much easier, although less scenic drive.

First stop was Revelstoke. We could see a McDonalds from the highway so decided just to pull in there for a snack, coffee and toilet break. McDonalds here serve Bagels, so decided to have one. Delicious!

Weather looked like this the whole day! Low cloud and rain!

As we moved further along we came to a section of roadworks. This would easily have run, on and off, for a good third of the trip. First lot of repairs were to the Snow Shelters. These are kind of like a big shed built over the road to allow snow to slide down the mountain, over the snow shelter roof and down a cliff. There were a lot of these in a small area.

When we finally got through the worst part of the roadworks, everything started to become more scenic. During some parts of the drive we could see massive mountains peeking through the clouds, but this was intermittent.

Around the town of Field, we began to see a few more mountains and we were now only about 30kms from Lake Louise.

We arrived at our hotel in one piece. I now feel like I’ve got the basic driving thing down pat, but still feel pretty shaky about parking!

The hotel seems to want to copy a Swiss style chalet or lodge. Lots of staff who are very attentive but it lacks some basic facilities in the rooms, like a fridge and a way to make a hot drink! Hopefully other things will make up for this.

USA and Canada – Day 24 – Whistler to Kamloops

Big day of driving today. Google Maps says 299km which will take 3hr 55 min. In reality, this ended up taking more like 7 hours!

We started off on Highway 99. This is a relatively minor highway with not a lot of traffic. More like a country road rather than a highway and incredibly scenic. So many beautiful places along the way. It was mostly hilly but there were quite a few places along the way to pull off the road and take photos. Something that was missing were facilities! We had to do a couple of “behind the bushes” stops!

Highlights along the way: Beautiful trees and mountains….always the mountains are the thing that make you catch your breath and marvel at how massive and imposing they are!

….Amazingly beautiful lakes that seem to pop out of nowhere. You round a bend and there they are in all their beauty!

…..an incredible log jam where a creek runs into a lake!

…….and a little bit of wildlife!

Stopped in Lillooet for lunch. This seemed to be some sort of transport hub with quite large rail yards and road repair facilities…and not much else. Quite a desolate looking place. Despite that lunch was surprisingly good and so was the coffee.

Lillooet is 128km from Whistler, so we still had around 170km to go, so not even halfway! Not too far after Lillooet, we joined onto Highway 97. This was a much, much larger highway and a lot more traffic. The countryside changed quite dramatically as well. We moved from beautiful mountains, lakes, lush valleys and tall trees everywhere to quite a barren landscape. I would probably liken it to the landscape around Callington, but more mountainous.

Apparently, the weather in this region is quite different to the rest of the Rockies. It is in a rain shadow, so not so wet and a lot warmer. On a larger highway, with less twists and turns, we made much better time and there wasn’t no much nice stuff to stop and take a photo of either!

As we drove through towards Kamloops, we began to see more and more primary produce crops….even some grape vines! Also saw a massively long, long train.

Arrived in Kamloops about 4.00pm. Not a very attractive place. It’s role is probably more of an industrial and regional hub. Checked out the local Costco. Got petrol and found that my card worked without a hitch. Also checked out the inside of the store. Hardly any different. Ended up buying Costco pizza and a couple of drinks for dinner….cheap as! Pizza was good.

USA and Canada – Day 23 – Vancouver to Whistler by car

Up early to pack, check out and get into the CBD to pick up our car by 9.30a.m. We have a car booked through Avis. Their processes are agonisingly slow. I was 4th in line and waited so, so long to be served and then the hiring process was so, so long and then we had for the car to be washed! Aaargh!!!

We have a reasonably new Chevrolet Impala 6cyl sedan. Very nice car! Feeling quite tense about driving through Vancouver city but the Canadian streets somehow feel more familiar than the US streets did. Had one small mishap on the way…..misjudged the curb and ran over it at speed! Thankfully no damage that we see except for a section of the rim being blackened. Have to keep reminding myself to go wide on curves to the right!

Made it out of the city in one piece. We had to drive over the Lion’s Gate Bridge which is beautiful and along the Sea to Sky Highway to Whistler. Only took about an hour and a half to get there with no further mishaps. Gave us plenty of time to go into Whistler and have a look around.

Stayed at Nita Lake Lodge and got valet parking for the car so I wouldn’t have to go through the trauma of negotiating a basement car park! The Lodge is about a 10min drive from Whistler just off the main highways and is built on the edge of Nita Lake and is close to the Creekside Gondola for skiing. Unfortunately, all the gondolas had shut down for the summer. Disappointed!! Really wanted to do the Peak to Peak Gondola!

The hotel offers a free shuttle service to Whistler. Whistler is just a beautiful place. The buildings are all lovely, lots of beautiful flowers around, and of course the mountains just dominate the scenery! Day was perfect as well. Sunny and no wind!

Took a stroll around the Pedestrian Village and had a nice lunch there as well.

Had a cup of coffee at the end of our walk and then caught the shuttle back to the Lodge. There are a number of walks that begin from the back door of our lodge, so we took one of the shorter walks. This was just beautiful to stroll along the side of the lake and be surrounded by beautiful forest.

Nita Lake Lodge from across the other side of the lake

The view from the back door of the Lodge

Beautiful forest path

Went hunting for a bottle or 2 of water when we got back and ended up having to walk to the servo at the end of the road. Not your everyday servo!

Lake Placid gas station

Had dinner at the Lodge. A very tasty flatbread with shredded beef and some southern style fried chicken which was very delicious!

Tomorrow we drive to Kamloops.

USA and Canada – Day 22 – Capilano Bridge

Decided to go out to the Capilano Suspension Bridge today. It’s only about 10 minutes out of the city and they offer free shuttles that pick up from a variety of hotels or you can go to Canada Place. One of the hotels was near us, on the marina, so we walked there to get the pick up.

Perfect day for the trip. No wind and sun is shining!

Marina near the Westin hotel

A lot of buses were already lined up at the park and there were a lot of people trying to get in. We had pre-purchased tickets so got the express line. Seemed like a lot to see at the park.

First up we lined up to go across the suspension bridge. The queue was incredibly long to do this and the bridge was crammed with people going over and coming back. There was a guy whose sole job it was to use a calm voice and remind people not to try to sway the bridge and not to jam up the line by taking too many photos on the bridge!

We finally got on….wasn’t too worried about the bridge breaking, but was worried that I’d fall over and was a bit tentative in taking any pics from the bridge, in case I dropped my camera or phone over the side! Did manage to take this little video of Chris’ back. It doesn’t accurately portray how much movement was in the bridge, but you can clearly see how many people are on it!

Across the other side there are the tree-top walks. There is a huge number of walkways that are connected to platforms built high up in the trees. These are just fantastic as you get an amazing bird’s eye view of the forest canopy and what’s below. Totally safe for kids as well.

Next we went back across the bridge (not so many people going back!) and went to the cliff walk. This is a series of connected walkways which are secured to the side of the cliff with suspension cables. Again, very safe for kids and quite an experience walking out from the cliff and being able to gaze down from close to the canopy and see the creek and waterfall below.

Lastly we checked out the Story (totem) poles on our way out. This was the most impressive lot we have seen.

Caught the shuttle back to the Westin and walked back to our Apartment and started getting things sorts out for the drive to Whistler tomorrow.

Went to one of the restaurants downstairs for dinner called Nook. Had a great pizza and salad and good wine. No garlic bread on the menu! Wondering if this is not a “thing’ in Canada!

USA and Canada – Day 21 – Gastown Foodie Tour

Nice to make our own breakfast again after eating in the ship’s food buffet area for the last week. Did some washing….nice to be able to do that again too!

Went for a walk up Robson Street to see what was around. Amazing amount of cafes and restaurants in that area. Good place to stay! Had a black squirrel run out in front of me. They are so fast! Dashed under a car….ran across the road….ran up a tree….leaped across to the roof of a building and disappeared. Nowhere near fast enough with my camera!

Bought some spring rolls and chicken satays for lunch and took them back to the apartment. Over lunch we figured out how to catch a bus to Gastown to meet up with the Foodie Tour Guide! Looked easy. Checked with Reception that you didn’t need to pre-purchase a ticket. They advised we get off a few stops earlier at Seymour Street as the original stop has lots of homeless and drug addicts in that area.

Caught the bus ok….quite easy really! Got off at the correct stop and walked through Gastown. This was lovely to stroll through this area. It is Vancouver’s version of the “old town”. These northern west coast cities seem to all have a history that runs like this……settled as a tent city…..plenty of wood around, let’s use it for everything……several years later the wooden buildings catch fire and everything burns down……replaced with brick buildings (often from ship’s ballast), which are still standing.

INSERT PICS OF BUILDINGS

Found Gassy Jack Statue really easily. Gassy Jack built the first hotel in Vancouver. He promised payment in whisky and the hotel was built in a day!

INSERT PIC OF GASSY JACK

Met up with a Tour Guide, Miguel….originally from Bolivia! He let us know we would be going to 4 different restaurants with drink pairings at each place. There was another Aussie couple on the tour from Verdun up in the hills, so we had a nice chat.

First stop was Nicli Antica Pizzeria. Apparently this is the No. 1 Pizza Restaurant in Canada. It has won all sorts of awards for the consistent quality of their pizzas and for the produce that they use to make their pizzas. Had a Margherita Pizza and a Pesto based pizza. Both delicious and the wines were good as well.

INSERT PIC OF RESTAURANT AND PIZZAS

Next stop was Tuc Craft Kitchen. Here we has small lardons of pork belly that were incredibly soft and succulent. These were served with a soft boiled egg wrapped in prosciutto and dipped in batter and deep fried, so there was a beautiful, light, crisp crust around the egg. These were served with parsnip fries and a dipping sauce. Forgot to take pics of the food!

INSERT PICS OF TUC

Next stop was a Sandwich shop. Didn’t think this was going to be anything special and it turned out to be my fave! The restaurant was called Meat & Bread. They do 4 types of sandwiches and they have long lines waiting to get sandwiches and are often sold out early.

We had a porcetta sandwich which had finely diced pieces of crackling mixed in. The filling was so delicious and the bread was crunch on the outside and soft in the middle. This was served with a mustard dipping sauce. Total winner! Can understand why there are people lining up to get these! This was served with a local craft beer….not a fan!

INSERT PICS OF MEAT & BREAD

Last stop was Wildebeest, where we had a Creme Brûlée which was enhanced with local honey and had some kind of syrupy gel on top as well. Excellent Creme Brûlée. One of the best I’ve had for a long time. This was served with a sourish type cocktail reminiscent of a Manhattan.

Excellent afternoon! Really enjoyed the tour. Caught a cab back to the apartment and didn’t need much else to eat for the rest of the night.

Decided to go to the Capilano Suspension Bridge tomorrow and sorted out some tickets online.

USA and Canada – Day 20 – Disembarkation and City Tour of Vancouver

Up early to get breakfast and then sort ourselves out for disembarkation. Never having done this before, we weren’t sure what to expect. Our disembarkation time was 8.20a.m. And we were allotted into Group Gray 1.

Everyone was asked not to congregate around the gangway, but to wait until your group was called and then proceed to exit the ship. We decided to go down somewhere near the gangway when the group before ours was called.

We didn’t have to wait long. Our group was called and we were off the ship very, very quickly. Made our way down the gangway into Canada Place and picked up our bags. That was it!!! We just walked out. No customs or immigration to go through. No-one wanted to see our passports….which means no stamp!

After waiting in massive lines to board domestic USA planes, this was a breeze. We had 45 to kill until our tour arrived to pick us up. Raining outside, so nothing to do but stand around and lean on our suitcases until the bus comes.

Landsea Tours picked us up at 9.30….stowed our bags away in the bus…and proceeded to start the tour. Great service by this company as they will drop us off at our hotel at the end of the tour.

First stop….the Lookout….360deg very high up a building view of Vancouver.

Lovely old church stuck in amongst all the high rise

Canada Place – can just see our ship moored on the other side

Next, the totem poles at Stanley Park. These were much more impressive than the ones in Ketchikan. There were plaques explaining what each of the poles represented which was great!

The pole, 2nd from right, relates to the description in the plaque

Next….Prospect Point at Stanley Park. There is a great view of Lion’s Gate Bridge from here, all surrounded by the beautiful old trees in the park.  Apparently, the Lion’s Gate Bridge is exactly the same design as the Golden Gate Bridge, but it’s green instead of orange.

Next stop….English Bay.  The beach has very brown sand…almost looks like dirt, but there are lots of logs lined up on the beach.  These are used as back rests!  There was also an interesting set of sculptures here.  13 laughing Chinese figures in various poses.  Each figure is twice as tall as the average person.  They are in defiance of the death in Tianamen Square and they were initially a temporary installation, which ended up becoming permanent.

Onto Granville Island for a lunch stop at the Public Market.  Been dying to get here, but we only stayed for about 45mins!  Had a really good slice of pizza here and bought a local apple which was delicious.  So much lovely food here and quite a few crafts as well.  The weather had improved, so we were able to sit outside to eat lunch.

We also drove through Yaletown and Gastown, but didn’t stop.  Good tour!  We were dropped at our hotel about 3.30pm.  Got ourselves sorted out and went and got some supplies from the local supermarket, which is just across the road.

Looking forward to our foodie tour tomorrow.

USA and Canada – Day 19 – Day at Sea sailing through the Inside Passage

Relaxed start to the day. Throat is really bad and also feel like I’ve added a full on head cold. Decided to see the ship’s doctor just to make sure there’s nothing bacterial.

This turned out to be quite a process! First step…fill out a massive form, then wait…… Secondly…..sit through a small examination with the nurse, answer lots of questions (some the same as on the form), then wait……Thirdly, see the doctor. Answer many more questions, some of which were on the form and were asked by nurse. Answer many more questions. Try to get on the same page with what my symptoms were and what her interpretations were. This was not easy. In the end she gave me some cough medicine and some “just in case” antibiotics. Very thankful to get out of there!

This whole episode cost $237. Another Australian on board had told us that they had needed to see a doctor and get some anti-biopics somewhere in Alaska and the doctor’s visit had been $250 and the prescription cost $260, so my visit was cheap in comparison.

Next……visit to the ship’s Beauty Salon. Lots of things happening here including teeth whitening…don’t think so! My allotted hairdresser was a very tight young Indian man, who obviously felt that he was world’s best hairdresser and felt it was his right to dispense all kinds of unwanted advice about how often I washed my hair, what products I used, how I styled it…..and, by the way, would I like to have my teeth whitened.

At the end of the haircut, he had styled my hair into a style that I hated and then tried to sell me a whole range of product, which they would happily ship to Australia. Took a while to take “no” for an answer and then handed me the bill, with a 12% service charge already included, and asked for an additional tip on top of that! Needless to say he got nothing more than what I had to pay! Went back to my cabin, wet my hair down and restyled it! The haircut itself was good, but little else!

Rest of the day was spent sorting out our luggage, making sure all the correct tags were attached and having a nice lunch and final dinner!

USA and Canada – Day 18 – Ketchikan

Docked in Ketchikan about 11.00 am so we had a leisurely morning. I’d started to get a sore throat a couple of days ago and it’s getting worse each day! Very annoying!

Ketchikan is a really charming town! Looks like it’s dropped in out of a set of a gold rush/Wild West movie. Most of the buildings are wooden and they are in that stereotypical style that you see in the movies.

Our tour today was to the Saxman Village and woodcarving totem poles display. Our guide gave some interesting information about the local Tlingit people. There are about 400 remaining in the area and only 40 can still speak their indigenous language fluently.

I found the Tlingit an odd mix of cultures. They looked more Eskimo than Native American Indians with a touch of Korean about them. They also had these hats that they were wearing that are woven out of birch bark, but look remarkably like a small Chinese Coolie hat. It makes sense that at some point these people would have moved to the north of Asia and then crossed over to Alaska, so perhaps not surprising that there are similarities.

We started off with an interesting film about the Saxman Village and then walked through a forested area to the community hall. The forest walk was just beautiful! Very dense, mossy areas with some very old trees. Once is thought to be in excess of 400 years old! They pointed out a cabbage plant, which if ingested has the same effect as eating roof insulation!!

The large leaved plant is the Cabbage plant – don’t eat!

This tree is believed to be in excess of 400 years old!!

Beautiful birch grove at the beginning of the forest path

We had some local village singing and dance performances in the community hall. I think this would have been great if there were a few more Tlingit to pad out the numbers, but they were a bit thin on the ground and this definitely impacted on their ability to make a strong cultural statement!

I managed to make it on stage for the finale!

Following the song and dance performance, we gathered in the area where all the story poles were. Apparently it is incorrect to call them Totem poles. They tell the story of the events that occur in one family, or significant events in a village. They are quite spectacular and very beautiful.

Story pole with community long room in the background

Then it was time to go the wood carving shed. Was really looking forward to this and these poles are just massive and was very interested to learn about the process. When we got there we were informed that the wood-carver was out to lunch and we got, instead, a narration about the process with no practical input!

There was a huge portion of a pole being worked on, so this clearly would have been very interesting. There were so many people in the shed it was also difficult to hear what was being said and impossible to take any photos until it was over!

We had the obligatory visit to the souvenir store and then back to Ketchikan. We got dropped in the downtown area, as my throat was worsening and I wanted to see if I could find a Betadine gargle or something similar. No such luck….closest Drug Store was across the other side of town.

Instead we had a wander through this area on our way back to the ship. We had some lovely Alaskan Fish & Chips along the wharf area. Beautiful fresh cod! Not a fish that I ever thought I would like!

Really liked Ketchikan despite the disappointing tour to the Saxman Village. It has a real charm about it. It is built right on the water and the houses just cling to the sides of the mountain! It reminds me a lot of what Lyttleton in New Zealand looked like before the earthquake.

Great display of merchandise!

Cannabis is apparently legal in Alaska!

Getting to the house at the top would test your fitness!

Our ship moored at Ketchikan

Tomorrow we have a day at sea. Be nice to have a “do nothing much” day!

USA and Canada – Day 17

Woke up to the ship already docked in Juneau. Weather looking quite overcast and a bit of drizzly rain falling.

We have a big tour today which includes Whalewatching, Lunch at Orca Point Lodge, and the Mendenhall Glacier.

Juneau looks lovely! Probably the prettiest Alaskan town we have been too. It is the capital of Alaska, but only has 35,000 people…and there are no roads going in or out. If you want to get to Juneau, then you either fly in or travel in by ferry.

Whale fluke statues all along the wharf…beautiful!

We got into a large catamaran, along with a lot of other people (2 bus loads in fact) and headed out into the inlet. This was not quite what we had expected. We thought we would be on a smaller boat with only a few people. Other thing was that there was no outside area for standing so all photos had to be taken through a glass window. On the plus side, the tour group had supplied some binoculars to use during the cruise. They also guarantee that if there are no whales spotted, your tour fee will be refunded.

They went out to an area where the sea is quite shallow, making it easier for the whales and seals to catch fish. We were quite a long way from land, but there were patches of the ocean that were covered in sea birds floating on the water. Possibly small schools of fish in that spot! As we started to see the whales, they were making a bee-line for where the birds were and as they got closer, the birds all took flight!

There would have been 5-6 whales in that area, maybe more, but so, so incredibly difficult to get a good shot! There were 3 boats in the area and all remained a respectful distance from the whales….which equates to a long way! Guess no-one wants their boat overturned by a whale swimming underneath!

Can still see the water hanging in the air from the whale’s spout

So happy that I managed to get one tail shot!

There were also a lot of seals in the area. You could see them swimming along near the boat. We came across a beacon in the water where 3 seals had managed to squeeze themselves on the platform and there was a Bald Eagle sitting on top! Apparently the bald eagles are quite elusive and hard to see, so we were lucky.

After not nearly enough time watching whales, we sailed to Orca Point Lodge. On our way in to the Lodge, the same island had a number of houses on it. Loved this one that needed a gigantic ladder to get to the front door!…and had strategically placed solar panels! No power grid out there perhaps!

The name, Orca Point Lodge, inspires hope that we might see an Orca pod, but unfortunately not! Had a nice lunch of Salmon, Alaskan King Crab and a brownie.

After lunch we all boarded the boat again and went back to port. The scenery in the sound is just beautiful. Shame it was such an overcast day!

Once back in port, we all hopped back on the initial bus which took us to the Mendenhall Glacier. Again, this was not quite what we expected. We thought we would see the Glacier from the boat, not from the land. After being in Glacier Bay two days previously and getting up so close and personal to the Glaciers, it was a bit of a disappointment to view the Mendenhall from a distance.

There was quite a spectacular looking waterfall right next to the Glacier, but it was quite a long walk to get there and we weren’t sure if we would make it back to the bus in time.

We walked out to a vantage point to take these photos of the glacier. Biggest surprise on the way back! There were a few Rangers around and they had isolated part of the path coming back. There was a Black Bear with her cubs feeding in the bushes got off the path. We had arrived just a fraction too late to see one of the cubs crossing over the path! Apparently this bear has been living in that area for 14 years now and has raised 7 litters of cubs, so is not very perturbed about human presence.

Tomorrow we are dock in Ketchikan, but not until about 11.00a.m., so good day for a sleep-in!