Glacier Bay National Park

Do try to see Glacier Bay National Park--no way to describe it--size of glaciers, color of the ice, the surrounding rocky beaches, the rain forest setting, the history of the place, the mountains surrounding it like the setting for the jewel colored waters, well, you see why I recommend coming here for yourselves!

And if anyone ever asks me to settle down, I now have a tee shirt with John Muir's apt response--"The Mountains are Calling and I MUST Go"

The Golden Circle

The Golden Circle is the local name for our recent trip. With Leora joining us, we piled into the car and set off-west to Haines Junction and nose to nose with the Kluane National Park, which, along with the Wrangell-Elias and Glacier Bay National Parks are considered Heritage Sites, and with good reason. Everything here is on an almost cosmic scale--mountains are higher (Ray can tell you just how high) and lakes are wider and deeper and greener and as for the glaciers, well, no sculptor could come up with the shapes and shades and huge rivers of ice! Wonderful flight over the glaciers to Glacier Bay National Park. Smallest plane we've ever flown--four passenger and the expert pilot.

In Haines, Alaska, we are supper at the only Mexican food restaurant in town, owned by folks from Carmel, CA! Superb Food and gracious service--thanks to Mosey's Cantina and Thad Stewart. Note the delighted anticipation and the self-control being exercised by Ray and Leora as I took the photo.

After Glacier Bay--a blog in itself--we continued by small plane and then by Alaska Marine Highways Ferry on to Skagway, where we actually stayed at Sgt. Preston's Lodge--remember the stories of that good though fictitious Mountie and his loyal dog King? In Skagway, we rode the narrow-gauge steam train high into White Pass close to the famed Chilkoot Trail of the Klondikers. Then honeward bound back to Whitehorse.