Dusty

Hi All,

Yes, I’m Back from Alaska. Just a little synopsis of where I went for those interested.

I traveled from Toronto to Vancouver by plane and boarded the ship, Celebrity line " Mercury " We sailed from Vancouver and our first stop was Juneau the capital of Alaska. There are approximately30, 000 people who live in Juneau but when three cruise ships all come in at the same time you can imagine how the town swells. Juneau is four hours earlier than eastern Daylight time.. IN the summer there are approximately 16 to 18 hours of daylight.

Gold was what Juneau was all about in the 1882 to 1900’s. The last gold mine was shut down in 1944.

Now the town consists of shops for tourists and they remain in the original way that they were years ago with wooden sidewalks and the old saloons with the swinging doors and it took me back to when we used to watch the cowboy movies and I almost saw the cowboy rushing through with his guns cocked ready for action..

Next we sailed to Skagway an even smaller place , population 800. There we took a trip on the White Pass and Yukon Railway that has been restored to when it was during the gold rush days. The railroad was Skagway’s economic mainstay for more than 80 yrs.
This was a very scenic ride from sea level up to the summit of white pass an elevation of 2865 feet.. It was also for me a journey through time…. Back to the time of old rail cars built of wood and in between the cars were platforms where you could stand and look out at the deep gorges,. sheer cliffs, and majestic mountains. It was truly a nostalgic journey.

From there we sailed the inside passage to the highlight of the trip..to the Hubbard Glacier.. This is the longest, actively calving tidewater glacier in North America, 16,000 years old, 76 Miles long, 6 mile wide ice cliff face, 450 feet above sea level, 380 feet below sea level. Words cannot describe the grandeur as I try to recount the scene. Awesome is the only word that comes to mind as we stood on deck watching the ice crash before us with a thundering sound. The colours on the ice were also a reflection of the water so one could see various shades of blue tipping the ice.Magnificent, with the mountains towering above and the massive ice below. You have to see it to believe it.

We then sailed for there to Ketchikan, again a small former gold rush town. It is approximately a half-mile wide and seven miles long., with a population of 13,000 people. Some of the roads are still the original wooden roads. In this area there are five different species of salmon that spawn here each year. It is called the salmon capital of the world. I found it to be culturally rich with an abundance of totem poles and native arts and crafts. I went on a walking tour and found a river where the salmon spawn and there was an abundance of salmon in the river. Beside the river were old wooden stilted houses converted to tourist shops with a lot of the native art. There was even an old brothel from the gold rush days and an old saloon set up and left the way it was back then.

After Ketchikan we sailed back to Vancouver where I was delighted to sit on deck and just watch all the mountains, little island in the sea and bask under the warm sunshine.

That’s just a little bit of what I experienced. Hope you enjoyed it .

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Trials prove a Christian

Love confirms a Christian

But death crowns a Christian

Dusty

__________________

Trials prove a Christian

Love confirms a Christian

But death crowns a Christian

Sheba

WOW! Dusty, that was awesome! Makes me want to cruise Alaska too! Welcome back and I'm glad you had a wonderful trip. The photos were awesome as well. I must get to Alaska. Maybe as a graduation gift to myself, I'll take a cruise there. You must give me the 411 on your travel agent, etc. God bless and thanks for the photos.

Sheba

AmericanAngel

I went last year on an Alaskin cuise. Ain't it the best?!

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When we agree, together we can!

Michael

Welcome Home, glad you enjoyed your trip.

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Life Is Short....Eternity Is Forever!
Laudate Jesu Christus!

Housesitter

Dusty,
Welcome back.
If your computer screen has a green tinge don't worry.
It just a reflection of my face turning green with envy.
Glad you had such a lovely trip.

PS
Yes I know as a Christian we should not envy so no need for anyone to pm me I was only joking

__________________
Ray
Enjoy a rent free holiday with
Christian House Sitters
www.christian-housesitters.com

Dusty

Hey, everyone ..... Thanks for the great welcome home. It is so wonderful to know that I have such wonderful Christian friends here. God bless you all. I love you all and wish I could meet you all.

And Ray don't worry as we know you were just joking. American Angel , isn't it so true that , that is a place that is so hard to describe to anyone who has not been there. God's wonderful country is certainly magnified tenfold in Alaska and I never dreamed it would be so picturesque. We also had nice warm weather and as a matter of fact it is colder here om Toronto than it was there.

Sheba...... Nice to see you here on this forum. So glad you enjoyed my photos. I took over 200. I just couldn't stop snapping. Hope you have settled into Bible College.

__________________

Trials prove a Christian

Love confirms a Christian

But death crowns a Christian

violet

Dusty

Violet ..... Did you see the one I put on Brother Larry's thread for his 29th anniversary ? That one was taken at the Hubbard Glacier but unfortunately the mountains above the glacier were covered by fog or low clouds and as we were leaving the fog lifted and I took a picture of the mountains but the glacier was too far away. Awesome.

And yes ,Violet , I had fun in those old western towns. I guess that's where they made all the cowboy movies. I could just visualize the cowboys running out of the old saloon in all their gear, with their guns ready for a fight in the street. The old Wells Fargo Bank was still there. In the one town where there was a brothel ( I didn't go inside) there was a lady dressed in the old charleston costume standing in the doorway.

__________________

Trials prove a Christian

Love confirms a Christian

But death crowns a Christian

violet