Alaskan Cruise: Skagway

Our second stop on our cruise was Skagway. It's an old gold mining town with lots of history! We had the whole day in port so we spent the morning wandering around the town and the afternoon on the White Pass Train. When we first planned our trip we didn't plan any excursions for our day in Skagway, but after some thought we decided to book one after all. I'm very glad we did! Skagway is a very small town with the main street being about 2 blocks long. If we had stayed in town all day we would have quickly run out of things to do. I highly recommend, if you're ever in Skagway, take a trip on the White Pass Train! You won't regret it!


The great part about booking our trip on the train from our cruise, was that the train pulled up right to our boat! It was a little bit of a walk from town but it was nice to know where we were suppose to be. If we had known ahead of time that the train pulled onto the dock, we would have booked the train in the morning so we would not have had to make the walk. Also, I highly recommend sitting on the left side of the train as the view on the way up is much better!
The White Pass Train takes you on a 3 hour trip through the hills behind Skagway, pass the routes the old miners used to take, and into Yukon Territory (aka Canada!). The views were stunning. It was also really cool to be able to see the actual paths that the miners heading into the Yukon took. 

Two workers who worked on the railroad were killed by the rock below. Their bodies were never rescued, and when you see the size of the rock you understand why! (It pretty much took up the whole frame of the picture!)


Up next: The highlight of the trip... Glacier Bay! 

Alaskan Cruise: Juno

We spent the next two days at sea. It was nice and relaxing, but we were all itching to see land. As soon as there was the tiniest bit of land in site, half the boat was outside taking pictures. It was amazing to see the untouched natural beauty of Alaska, as well as the little houses dotting the coast line. 

We finally docked in Juno a few hours later then expected. Our boat was the farthest from town, and we knew we just had to catch a bus to see the biggest attraction in town, the Mendenhall Glacier! 
We had a great bus driver. Typically they just drive you straight to the glacier and let you off, but once ours found out that this was our first stop in Alaska he stopped by a stream to let us view the salmon running! I am so grateful that he did that for us because those ended up being the only salmon that were running on our entire trip!

As soon as we got off the bus at the Mendenhall Glacier, we heard a rumor that a bear had been sighted on one of the pathways near the river. We walked down to check it out but didn't see anything. On our way back to the visitor center one of the Rangers pointed out the bear sleeping in the tree! It was so adorable, and I'm glad it was asleep!

And yes, they really are that blue in person. If I understood it correctly, the ice is blue because it's never come into contact with the air. As soon as it gets air bubbles in it, they turn white, like we're used to! 

Up next: Skagway and the White Pass Train!