Alaska #3

Wednesday we ported in Juneau where it was raining and raining and raining. We had hoped to take a float plane up and see Alaska from the skies and possibly fly over some of the glaciers, but because of the rain and fog we wouldn't have been able to see anything so we signed up for a whale watching adventure instead. It turned out to be a great day for whale watching because the naturalist told us that the whales like to play in the rain.

There are only a few humpback whales left in Juneau this time of year, and we were very privileged to see this guy and a mom and her baby.  You can see its hump in this picture.

When the whales dive deep they will flick their tails out of the water.  It was about 20 minutes before we saw him again and he spouted about 30 feet in front of the boat.  It scared me because Doug and I we standing on the bow (the front) of the boat in the rain waiting for him to surface.  It was really neat.  The captain of our boat and our naturalist who taught us about the whales were both return missionaries working up there for the season.  It was fun to be in such good hands. 

In Skagway we took the short train ride into Canada on the historic White Pass Train line.  The cars are all old time and occasionally the old steam engines pull the train, although now they have diesel engines that pull us over the original tracks made back when the Yukon gold rush was in full steam.  Skagway was the only sea port for the gold miners. 
The following pictures are of our ride up the pass to Canada.

Bobette and Jeremy, Doug, Lynne and Cliff waiting for the train to pull out.

Bobette, me and Jeremy walking to a less populated car. 

We were in a car near the back so we could see the rest of the train as it progressed up the beautiful mountain.  Alaska in September is beautiful with all of the color changes.  I couldn't get enough of it!

This is another train crossing an old bridge and entering into a tunnel above us.  We went through it a few minutes later.

At a short stop in Canada before we headed back down to Skagway.  This is our very nice conductor.  The narrator for our train ride was also a return missionary from Orem Utah. 

This is a beautiful picture of a bridge that is not in use anymore, but was the original track.  I love all of the colors!

Doug and I standing in front of the plaque and statue of the earliest prospectors
 looking toward the hills in hopes of gold. 

This is a snowplow they use to clear the track in the winter.  They said they used it last winter because
of the need to keep the track open to haul the ore down to the dock for the increasing mining now going on
in the Yukons.  It hadn't been used for years prior but it still worked!! 

Doug standing on one of the first steam engines now on a side track.  In WWII they had to bury
many of the engines to hide them from the Japanese.  This one they dug up to use as parts for another
engine they were trying to fix.  They left it on the side track.  Doug was fascinated and climbed all over it!! 

Seeing Alaska in the fall with all the changing leaves and colors was so enlightening.  Fall is one of my favorite times of the year and seeing the beautiful country of Canada and Alaska has made it even more so.  Both cities are a must see!!