Checking out the glaciers...

On the day that we stopped off at Juneau, we had to be back on the ship by 12.30 as the captain would be taking us for a cruise up close to a glacier by mid afternoon. The itinerary stated that we would visit the Tracy Arm Fiord and the Sawyer Glaciers, but a storm warning for that area, saw the captain change the plan to Dawes Glacier at the end of Endicott Fiord.
I've written a little about this wonderful afternoon in my Overview blog post, so this post will feature more of the photos that we took that afternoon.
The ship just seem to glide quietly along and DH and I were just taking it easy; me crocheting, with him watching TV. Then I looked up from my crocheting and noticed ice floating in the water. We were sailing in the fiord.

These ice floes just kept on coming so then we took up vantage points on the balcony and got the cameras and binoculars out ready. Even though most people were on their balconies, chattering excitedly, it was still so quiet and peaceful in the fiord.
The steep walls of the fiord were so interesting to look at as well...there were lots of waterfalls...

Trees clinging to the slopes...

The misty rain 'produced' a number of rainbows as we sailed along...

After a while I noticed that the ice floes were getting larger...and some were quite oddly shaped :-) And some had patches of blue.

Our ship wasn't the only one in the fiord that afternoon...

And then I noticed that many of the ice floes were decidedly blue in colour, not just patchy...

We soon saw smaller glaciers...they were 'perched' up high and had streams flowing from them...

As the ship sailed on, we could see a much larger glacier in the distance...

As we neared this larger glacier (Dawes), the captain started to turn the ship; 360 degree turns so that everyone of the ship was able to get a good view...to say we were awestruck would not be too over the top! And the blue colour! That explained the blue ice floes.

 I believe the ship got within 1/2 mile of the glacier...we could see all the fissures/crevasses in the ice.

 And just a few favourite photos to finish off this post.

Friday Night with Friends...

First Friday night of the month is FNwF in Blogland and after missing the August one, I was determined to join in this month!

I continued to work on my hexie flowers for an Instagram swap that I signed up for. The plan had been that I would work on the project while we travelled so that when we arrived home, I would have them all ready to post. Didn't happen did it? I needed better light and my magnifier was definitely needed, neither of which I had with me, so progress was extremely slow. 

I had glued a number of hexies to the papers whilst on holiday so have been doing a few stitching sessions this last week. Last night during FNwF saw the most progress...but still a lot to do. The flowers in the foreground were a request for 'mix it up'; others wanted the 'petals' cut from the same fabric and the other pair were 'eye spy' with 'mix it up' petals. 

The flowers ( we have to make 2 for each person in our group of 17 people) have to be sent to the members of the group by September 30, but I had received some before we left on our trip on July 22 and there were another 7 lots waiting for me when I got home last week. They are all so beautiful; the fabrics used are so pretty.

First photo is the hexie flowers I received in July...

And the ones which arrived while we were away. It was like Christmas opening all the envelopes! :-)

We had to list the colours/ themes etc that we wanted. No surprises...I asked for blues, teals and purples :-)

Oh well, instead of writing about stitching these, I'd best get on and stitch some more! 

Juneau

The day after our stop at Ketchikan, we stopped for the morning at Juneau.

 It was windy and raining but we pushed on regardless; getting a shuttle bus into the town centre.

 Ours was not the only cruise ship in port...just like the day before, we 'shared' the town with lots of other cruisers.

 Dh hates heights and had no intention of riding the Mt Roberts Tramway but insisted that the 3 of us girls did.

 He even 'shouted us' the tickets!

 The rain hampered our view a bit and near the top, the car blew around in the wind...we were so glad DH had not come up with us!

 Nearly at the top now...

 I was pleasantly surprised by how nice the buildings/facilities were at the top of the aerial tramway. But I was very surprised to see 'bears' up there...

 Hadn't they read the sign? lol! Obviously these bears had not ridden in the aerial tramway.

 There were shops, cafes, a theatrette and a wildlife education (Nature Centre)  centre in this complex on Mt Roberts. We watched a very informative movie, browsed through the souvenir shops and  bought a few things.
There was a lot of indigenous art works for sale and there was even a totem pole carver working area although the young man wasn't carving until just as we were rushing off to catch the next tram down.

 The main part of the totem being carved was covered during our visit

I loved this letter from a little girl; Emily obviously had pocketed some of the coloured rocks which are for sale and possibly her parents got her to write the apology and return the rocks. So refreshing to see a child being guided to do the right thing. The owners of the shop were obviously impressed also and had laminated the beautifully written letter.

Then we braved the wind and rain outside to visit a section of the Nature Centre that was close to the main building.

That's the Alaskan state flag flying there...
Our destination was the Raptor centre.We didn't have proper wet weather gear on so we waited until this first lot of people moved out of the way so we could go up on the walkway and not be standing in the rain.

That didn't take long and soon we were admiring the lovely Lady Baltimore, a bald eagle who was rescued after being shot in the head. She survived her injuries but is blind in one eye so does not have depth perception. This means she cannot hunt and is a permanent resident at the centre.

You can read more about her here.
Then it was time that we headed back down to meet up with DH who had been left to shop to his heart's content at ground level. :-)

 Fabric????

 That had to be checked out didn't it?

DH had asked me to help him find some fabric for DsD1, who is the only one of our girls who is a patchworker. In this lovely store it was easy to find something for her. This bundle is a line of fabrics which represent the colours of Alaska, especially the Northern Lights.

But I also bought fabrics for me! 

And another fabric for my fruit and veggie fabrics collection!

It was very misty and we were fascinated by the waterfalls we could see on the hills behind the town.

 A local suggested that a good view of those hills and waterfalls could be seen from the the top floor of the library building, so DH set off to check that out...

 It was a good view but the misty rain and low cloud does mask a lot of the view...

 Soon it was time to head back to the ship as this had only been a short stay in port. Our ship would sail just after 12.30pm.

A bit misty and bleak...

 On the way out of Juneau we saw this house clinging to the side of a hill...

 And also this huge house in a clearing, complete with a very tall waterfall behind it.

So we said goodbye to another Alaskan town.