On our excursion yesterday we stopped at Juneau, the town with no roads leading to it. The icefields to the east deter roads, the coast line doesn't work either, so water or air are the ways to arrive. Going south from Skagway, the Chilkat mountains were to the west most of the way.
We spent a bit of time in town, ate lunch (Mexican, delicious) went to the 8th floor of the Alaska State Office Building (totem pole inside in the atrium, and art) with great views of the city.
This is from the State building looking out toward the water. Mountains with the glaciers are behind us, cruise ships to the left, one block from the main street.
Our next stop was Mendanhal glacier. Unfortunately, Menadanhal lake was between us and the ice. But it was beautiful. We did walk to the edge of the lake and around to a powerful waterfall that was pouring into the lake. A cold wind blew off the ice on to us.
This is how you get close to the glacier, if you don't ride one of the helicopters that land on the glacier. Unfortunately, the glacier is receeding rapidly, one of the consequences of the climate change.
One the way home on the water we watched a few whales again; one group of sea lions looked as if they were lying on the water for their rocks were submerged by the extra high tide (new moon caused the extreme fluxuation). And, we saw a cruise ship on it's way to the next destination.
Helen
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