Picture Update: 154/1700

Again, here's a lot of photos. That "154/1700" is the number of photos in this post v. how many I had to go through to pick out that 154. At one time. Not the total number of pictures we've taken to date. Just from the last SD card download...crazy! The pictures up are through Thursday, June 30, 2011. I'll get captions on later. We're headed up to the Arctic Circle, in hopes of catching the Midnight Sun, today. Wooooohooooo!

Pretty eagle

On the ferry, on the way to Haines, AK from Juneau, AK.

Lighthouse.

A glacier. I can't remember the name of it.

Fishing boat with it's net out. I dunno if there's really any salmon to catch out there right then tho.

Dall's porpoise. 

Isn't this a great picture?

And this one? They could be postcards. Go Dad.

Our last ferry boat. 

The harbor of Haines.

Totem pole. This one is newer. The paint is still quite vivid.

Before Haines existed, I think, it was Fort William H. Seward, named for the guy who took such a gamble to get the US this awesome wilderness.

That bear is wooden.

Hahahaha! Love this place!

Who knew Dr. Scholl's has been around so long?

Window full of glass hammers.

There were a few of these sculpture things showing how various hammers were used.

Hahahaha! 

Hahahaha! (Oh, "tatto" is actually spelled "tattoo"...but that's okay.)

These guys were so cute.

I don't want to scrape my boot on you! You're too cute!

A bike with wheel spokes made out of hammers!

Two-sized eye "attack owl". It was too scared to attack. Adorable little thing though. This is the beginning of the Bald Eagle Foundation photos.

Mooooooose. They obviously have more than eagles here. Most things here are dead.

Not everything was dead. This peregrine falcon was alive, but he was blind.

Awwww....! The baby got hid by a car. :( Very little outside damage, but massive hemorrhaging under the fur. Very sad. 

Baleen is very hair-like. I did not know that. Now I do, and so do you.

I believe this is Rainbow Glacier. It was across the fjord from Haines.

Another glacier across the fjord.

Fishwheel. It catches fish all on its own. There were no fish in these waters then however. Sad for us.

Oh, Canada!

It was just miles of this. And no one else. Pretty, but lonely.

Sing some song about open roads here.

Deeper into Canada! Well...maybe not deeper. But definitely north-er!

So much wilderness!

Bear! Live bear! Black bear -- no hump on the shoulder.

Some falls off the highway in the Yukon.

Bear again! Black bear.

I believe these were two black bears, even though they look brown. No humps. A baby that is darker is to the left. 

That was the baby brown bear.

Oh look! More wilderness!

This is what a lot of their rivers look like, running all crazy, wherever they want.

The most photographed object in Haines Junction. No wonder...I mean that thing is crazy!

No idea...

This was in Canada. Apparently an USA-n lives there, or someone who really likes the US. The sign reads "Long Live the USA".

Grizzly bear! Aka the brown bear. It stood up once and was very tall. Thankfully it did not charge. They don't stand on their hind legs in aggression though, just to smell and see better.

This sign probably means "bumps in the road", but we have decided it means "mountains in the road". It gets really cold up here in the winter, and there is permafrost right under the road basically, so what happens is that the ground does these "frost heaves" things, and well...if the ground underneath the road goes up, the road goes with it; if the ground goes down, the road goes with it. Not smooth sailing for vehicle traffic. More like 25 mph travel.

Gangly moose!

Forecast sign at Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. (We're back in the USA now.)

Worthington Glacier. I remember the name of this one. Even though I was half asleep when we got there.

Gull up close and personal.

Gulls chasing eagle.

Really great eagle picture. Good job Dad.

Gull still chasing eagle.

There's a reason why Ben Franklin did not win on his choice of Turkey for National Bird...Bald Eagles are just awesome.

Bridal Veils Falls on the way to Valdez, AK.

The end of the pipeline!

Incoming!!

Another really great picture.

Miniature fish wheel. In the Valdez Museum.

Winter wear.

Old coffee grinder!

I just like license plates.

Hahahaha.

Roads follow those same routes.

The miniature "We Didn't Think It Was Possible" statue commemorating the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline. The original, full-size statue is at the Valdez Station, but after 9/11 no visitors can go there anymore.

You should click this picture and try to zoom in to read the plaque thing... :P

Keystone Hotel. People who came to help clean up after the Exxon-Valdez spill stayed here. We did too.

Dog or man in that driver's seat?

Sea otters!

Rolling on his belly.

The Three Musketeers.

Big oil tanker.

Do you see the face in the rock?

Midway Rock. You don't want to run into that.

Into Prince William Sound we go.

Coast Guard and the Northwestern.

FISH!

The Northwestern is in that show "Deadliest Catch".

Dall's Porpoises playing in our bow wake!

Sleepy sea lions.

Uh...What's that white stuff? ICE. And you're floating towards it? YUP.

Most of it was about that big. No worries.

Aww...a heart...how adorable.

Some of it was that big. Some worries.

Sailboating in ice? Hmm....

Then it started getting thicker...

All this ice came off the Columbia Glacier. It's back in the back of this photo. It is a tidewater glacier which means the ice is touching the water. Some ice falls off from more of the top, so it's whiter and not dirty. Other pops out from underneath where there has been more pressure and it may have been along the dirt. If it's under more pressure, it is more blue. If it was close to the ground, it comes out looking more like cookies-n-cream ice cream, like this photo.

Most of these icebergs don't last more than 24 hours.

You can't get closer than 3 miles from the glacier. That's because there's so much ice flow.

Seemingly cloudy water. Glacier minerals give it the weird color.

Igloo or ice berg?

Piece of ice flow ice.

Attached to the captain's coffee cup. I want a flag on my coffee cup...

Bye, bye ice!

Whales!

A momma and a baby.

Another whale who will fluke.

Oh yeah!

Puffins!! They are some silly birds!

Hahahaha!

Lazy, sunning sea lions.

Not quite sure what he's doing...

There's a boat to the left of that big rock that is just off center. They had a dog with them. They are not supposed to be there. They were scaring the sea lions.

Fun land. This is near Bligh Reef, where the Exxon-Valdez ran aground. You can see why it is a pretty dangerous place.

Each tanker that goes up and back from Valdez has to have someone on board who really knows the area well. They stay here.

Captain Amanda. She did an excellent job.

These are up through the day before yesterday. I'll try to put up pics of yesterday and today when I post words about today.