Alaska, Day 9 (7/6) -- Juneau
Jul. 18th, 2005 11:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
carbonelI got up at 6:30 to exercise, and didn't have to wait for an elliptical this time. I guess 7:30 or 8:00 are prime times at the gym. After a workout, a shower, and breakfast, I met my family on the gangway around 9:00 for the helicopter ride. We took a bus from the ship to the site, where we were fitted with glacier boots that went over our shoes, and life jackets.
My mother had picked this particular company because they advertised that they were handicap-accessible. They had a nifty gadget that looked rather like those chairs for stairways in houses, but it was just the right height to get my brother from his wheelchair to the helicopter. I'm not sure it would have worked if he didn't have some mobility, but he was able to use his good right side to move himself over.
This was my first time on a helicopter, and the interesting thing is how natural it felt. I don't know what kind of surprise I'd expected, but it was mostly like being lifted up with a string above the cockpit. There were windows in front, to the sides, and above, so the view was pretty much unobstructed. It was a good day for the ride. The weather was cloudy on the mountains, so we took the river route to the glaciers. The pilot said that usually it was the other way around, with the river fogged in and the mountains clear. And when both are fogged in, they have to cancel flights.
The mountains were impressive, though they aren't all that high. Alaska is a land of microclimates, and Juneau gets enough rain (around 100 inches per year) to be considered a rain forest. The trees grow abundantly on the mountains, and are a thick green, where the slopes we saw yesterday in Skagway were much sparser.
It was about a 20-minute ride to the Norris Glacier. We also saw the Taku Glacier and the Dead End Glacier (plus one other whose name I don't recall, but we only landed on one. On the way we passed a high flat meadow where the pilot said we had a good chance of seeing bears. He and my mother saw something move, but I wasn't quick enough to catch it. Once we landed, we had 20 minutes to walk around on the glacier. Rick had to stay put, since there was no room for his wheelchair or the access ramp, but the pilot set the plane down in a place where he'd have a good view. The rest of us walked around. Even with the glacier boots, the footing was decidedly slippery, especially when I was trying to walk tangentially across a down-slanting surface.
The surface of the glacier looked rather like a flat pile of snow after it's absorbed a fair amount of city dirt, only magnified. The dirt was in clumps, and you could see clear sections about the size of a marble. The holes in the ice were about the same size. The section we landed on was mostly flat, but there were occasional holes in the ice (most but not all with visible bottoms) and gentle swells in the landscape. I walked over to where the other half of my family had landed (there were 10 of us divided between two helicopters) and saw a large depression in the glacier that looked as if it led to a good-sized crevasse. My youngest nephew wanted to go down there, of course, but the guide dissuaded him by pointing out that he didn't have any ropes along and would have to leave him if he fell in.
They had warned us to dress warmly for the glacier, and I'm glad I bundled up. I was wearing a turtleneck shirt, a sweatshirt, a light jacket, and a windbreaker -- and though it's high summer, that was just warm enough. I would have been glad of gloves if I'd had them, too.
The footing was particularly interesting on the way back, when the path I was on looked as if it would dump me into a hole if I slipped -- a hole from which I could hear rushing water. I made it safely back, and we boarded the helicopter for the return. We retraced our route, passing the area where we might see bears again. Still no luck, though I might have caught a glimpse of a deer.
After the helicopter ride, we went to the ship for a quick lunch, then back to Juneau. My parents and I had planned to ride the tram, but my father wasn't feeling well, so he went back to his stateroom to rest. The tram runs up Mount Roberts about 2,000 feet vertically and 3,000 feet diagonally. At the top, there was a great view of Juneau and the port area. There was a film at the main building about Tlingit culture. My mother said she'd seen it somewhere, but it was new to me.
We went to the nature center/gift shop and looked at the exhibits, then e along the nature trails -- or started to. We'd intended to go on the half-mile Alpine Loop trail, but after we stopped at the scenic lookout -- much the same view as from the tram, but unobstructed -- the trail took a steep upward turn, and my mother decided it was too much for her. She's broken each ankle (at different times) and is now decidedly wary of any activity that might endanger them; also, she was decidedly out of breath.
We took a quick stop at the Raptor Center to view the owl on display. It couldn't be returned to the wild because it had a displaced mandible that had been repaired surgically four times, only to go back to the wrong position each time -- so it had to be hand-fed.
After we took the tram down, my mother decided to go back to the ship, and I walked into a few shops. There was one with a carved wooden bear in front of it that said "Share a Kodiak moment." I went in, and they had some lovely Murano bead earrings and necklaces. My eye was drawn to one multicolored necklace, but unfortunately a trio of girls were just ahead of me, and one of them bought it. Their prices on amber were very reasonable, and I bought an amber pendant and matching earrings. They're a completely different style from the amber jewelry I already have. I'll have to get a silver chain for the pendant.
I went to afternoon trivia at four, and we had a terrible showing. The first four questions were about movies, and the second four were obscure sports questions. I mean really obscure, like who was an Olympic flyweight boxer called "the ghost with the hammer in his hand."
I missed the evening's entertainment because I stayed with my niece Eliza (age three-and-a-half) to give her parents a bit of a respite. I'm impressed by the advances in children's toy technology -- she had a coloring book that used waxlike finger "paints" that were clear in the box and on the finger, but turned the appropriate color when painted on the page. I also read her several books. She's at the age where she's happy to hear the same book several times, but she's also starting to read for herself.
At 10:30 I was told that my nephew Gabriel (age 15) would have a chance to play piano in one of the ship's lounges. He made quite a creditable showing, mostly with Beatles songs, plus a few classical standards and some others. He played for about 20 minutes, then the regular player took his piano back.
My mother had picked this particular company because they advertised that they were handicap-accessible. They had a nifty gadget that looked rather like those chairs for stairways in houses, but it was just the right height to get my brother from his wheelchair to the helicopter. I'm not sure it would have worked if he didn't have some mobility, but he was able to use his good right side to move himself over.
This was my first time on a helicopter, and the interesting thing is how natural it felt. I don't know what kind of surprise I'd expected, but it was mostly like being lifted up with a string above the cockpit. There were windows in front, to the sides, and above, so the view was pretty much unobstructed. It was a good day for the ride. The weather was cloudy on the mountains, so we took the river route to the glaciers. The pilot said that usually it was the other way around, with the river fogged in and the mountains clear. And when both are fogged in, they have to cancel flights.
The mountains were impressive, though they aren't all that high. Alaska is a land of microclimates, and Juneau gets enough rain (around 100 inches per year) to be considered a rain forest. The trees grow abundantly on the mountains, and are a thick green, where the slopes we saw yesterday in Skagway were much sparser.
It was about a 20-minute ride to the Norris Glacier. We also saw the Taku Glacier and the Dead End Glacier (plus one other whose name I don't recall, but we only landed on one. On the way we passed a high flat meadow where the pilot said we had a good chance of seeing bears. He and my mother saw something move, but I wasn't quick enough to catch it. Once we landed, we had 20 minutes to walk around on the glacier. Rick had to stay put, since there was no room for his wheelchair or the access ramp, but the pilot set the plane down in a place where he'd have a good view. The rest of us walked around. Even with the glacier boots, the footing was decidedly slippery, especially when I was trying to walk tangentially across a down-slanting surface.
The surface of the glacier looked rather like a flat pile of snow after it's absorbed a fair amount of city dirt, only magnified. The dirt was in clumps, and you could see clear sections about the size of a marble. The holes in the ice were about the same size. The section we landed on was mostly flat, but there were occasional holes in the ice (most but not all with visible bottoms) and gentle swells in the landscape. I walked over to where the other half of my family had landed (there were 10 of us divided between two helicopters) and saw a large depression in the glacier that looked as if it led to a good-sized crevasse. My youngest nephew wanted to go down there, of course, but the guide dissuaded him by pointing out that he didn't have any ropes along and would have to leave him if he fell in.
They had warned us to dress warmly for the glacier, and I'm glad I bundled up. I was wearing a turtleneck shirt, a sweatshirt, a light jacket, and a windbreaker -- and though it's high summer, that was just warm enough. I would have been glad of gloves if I'd had them, too.
The footing was particularly interesting on the way back, when the path I was on looked as if it would dump me into a hole if I slipped -- a hole from which I could hear rushing water. I made it safely back, and we boarded the helicopter for the return. We retraced our route, passing the area where we might see bears again. Still no luck, though I might have caught a glimpse of a deer.
After the helicopter ride, we went to the ship for a quick lunch, then back to Juneau. My parents and I had planned to ride the tram, but my father wasn't feeling well, so he went back to his stateroom to rest. The tram runs up Mount Roberts about 2,000 feet vertically and 3,000 feet diagonally. At the top, there was a great view of Juneau and the port area. There was a film at the main building about Tlingit culture. My mother said she'd seen it somewhere, but it was new to me.
We went to the nature center/gift shop and looked at the exhibits, then e along the nature trails -- or started to. We'd intended to go on the half-mile Alpine Loop trail, but after we stopped at the scenic lookout -- much the same view as from the tram, but unobstructed -- the trail took a steep upward turn, and my mother decided it was too much for her. She's broken each ankle (at different times) and is now decidedly wary of any activity that might endanger them; also, she was decidedly out of breath.
We took a quick stop at the Raptor Center to view the owl on display. It couldn't be returned to the wild because it had a displaced mandible that had been repaired surgically four times, only to go back to the wrong position each time -- so it had to be hand-fed.
After we took the tram down, my mother decided to go back to the ship, and I walked into a few shops. There was one with a carved wooden bear in front of it that said "Share a Kodiak moment." I went in, and they had some lovely Murano bead earrings and necklaces. My eye was drawn to one multicolored necklace, but unfortunately a trio of girls were just ahead of me, and one of them bought it. Their prices on amber were very reasonable, and I bought an amber pendant and matching earrings. They're a completely different style from the amber jewelry I already have. I'll have to get a silver chain for the pendant.
I went to afternoon trivia at four, and we had a terrible showing. The first four questions were about movies, and the second four were obscure sports questions. I mean really obscure, like who was an Olympic flyweight boxer called "the ghost with the hammer in his hand."
I missed the evening's entertainment because I stayed with my niece Eliza (age three-and-a-half) to give her parents a bit of a respite. I'm impressed by the advances in children's toy technology -- she had a coloring book that used waxlike finger "paints" that were clear in the box and on the finger, but turned the appropriate color when painted on the page. I also read her several books. She's at the age where she's happy to hear the same book several times, but she's also starting to read for herself.
At 10:30 I was told that my nephew Gabriel (age 15) would have a chance to play piano in one of the ship's lounges. He made quite a creditable showing, mostly with Beatles songs, plus a few classical standards and some others. He played for about 20 minutes, then the regular player took his piano back.
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Date: 2005-07-18 08:03 pm (UTC)MKK