The Alaskan Wilderness

I recently came back from a 10-day cruise-land tour in Alaska.  My is it beautiful up there!  Cold too!  I never thought I would be glad to be back in warm Kansas! :)  It made for some beautiful photography.  I took so many photos but will only include my favorites from the trip along with some narratives about our location.

First, let me say that God was so good to give us good weather during most of the trip; unusually good weather.  I didn't know this but it is usually cloudy and rain most of the time in Alaska.  I took this photo from my seat on this train.  We took a train ride from Fairbanks down to Anchorage where we would board our ship in Seward.  This is my favorite photo from the trip.  The pretty pink flowers are called fireweed.  Alaska was so beautiful with these wildflowers.

College Fjord was our first destination.  This photo was looking away from the glacier at College Fjord. The ice in the water had broken off from the glacier.

This is the another view of a glacier.  It is running down around the middle in this photo.

I went on a photo safari and got to see some whales.  I was so looking forward to seeing bears but didn't get the opportunity during my trip.

Here's another glacier.  We probably saw over a dozen glaciers during the trip.

At one glacier, someone from the cruise ship tossed the seagulls a piece of toast so they started flying around the ship looking for more treats.  This one was very demanding of a treat!

I liked the fact that I got a seagull flying in the background of this glacier photo.

There were whales swimming around when I saw this double rainbow.  I made the decision to get the rainbow instead of the whales since I figured I would see more whales.

The eagle photo was taken in Misty Fjords.  We took an excursion out of Ketchikan, Alaska. Ketckikan is the 4th wettest place in the earth; and so it was a very rainy day.  If you'll notice, the eagle looks wet.

I was happy to get a closeup of this eagle at another location.  As we walked back the trail we saw a porcupine in a tree sleeping.  It was too dark to try to get a pic of him.

Here are those beautiful fireweeds again; this time as a foreground to another glacier.

Here's another whale shot.  I am always striving to get that perfect whale shot.

These seals were sleeping when we pulled up.  Then one lifted his head and looked our way.  Aren't they cute?

I hope you enjoyed a peek at the Alaskan wilderness.  When I get more time, I plan to add some more photos in the form of a link to some slideshows, so stay tuned... :)