Alaska Scenic #2

View from a helicopter, icy waters in Tracy Arm, the 15,000 ft snow capped mtns (that's from sea level) at Glacier Bay.



I have to take a moment from downloading all of these Alaska pictures to write something. I don't want my words to spoil the scenery, but buying Alaska from Russia was perhaps the greatest investment of taxpayer dollars by the US, EVER. The scenery is nicer than anything I have seen, there is a ton of wildlife, the logging and fishing are sustainable.
To be short, we are here because my Aunt Helen wanted to take a family trip with my family and her children Ries and Will. As a family, we haven't been together somewhere that wasn't related to a wedding/funeral/holiday/graduation. So we arrived, spent some time on the inside passage on a boat that looked like a lifeboat for a big cruiseship, and we played. I learned to fly fish, which meant I became really good at untangling fishing line and catching pine cones. We did catch some Salmon, it is all over the place. I also got to do some Glacier trekking in Juneau. To give you a glimpse of Alaska, it is huge, it rains and it is cold. Think Seattle gets alot of rain at 40-50 inches a year. Go to Ketchikan, with 125-150 inches/year. That said, they only get 36 inches of snow and winter temperatures there average 35 degrees. It does get colder up north with alot of snow.
Flying and hiking over the glaciers really gives you a crash course in Geology. It's great to see nature at work up there. Enough words, more pics to come.