Saturday, August 18, 2007

Juneau, Alaska









On Monday, August 6, 2007 we pulling into the town of Juneau which is the capitol of Alaska. Shirley and I took a whale watching trip, while the guys went fishing. It seems there were more whales than fish in the water! All together we probably saw a dozen whales which came up numerous times. We even saw a calf breech up into the water, but if you have ever been frustrated from trying to photograph kids or dogs, let me tell you that is nothing compared to trying to get a good shot of a whale. So for what it is worth here is hump back whale surfacing up from the water. We also saw harbour seals, several bald eagles and a glacier off in the distance. Later when we walked back to our ship, Shirley and I had the good fortune to run into Libby Riddles and two of her dogs. Libby was the first woman to win the Iditarod which she did in 1985. Later that night I went to hear her talk about her experiences. She is an amazing woman having moved to Alaska on her own at the age of 16 to homestead in a small town north of Nome.
An interesting story was told to us by our bus driver. There is a MacDonald's in Juneau...just one of them. The day it opened they sold 18,000 burgers, so many that they had to close the next day since there was no food left. On that first day, the town of Skagway which has a population of about 800 people, sent their emergency helicopter over to Juneau and had it filled with MacDonald's food. Seems the townspeople were willing to go a couple of hours without their only emergency transportation off the island, but they weren't going to go another day without experiencing MacDonald's!

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