Alaska Cruise

Why is it that ugly guys get such hot wives??

Nice pics. I lived in Juneau 15 years and missed it every day since I left in'86. The economy went south and so did I. I had every intention of returning but never got it worked out. We used to joke about the "Boat People" invading our city especially on Fridays when there would be several cruise ships in town. We also joked about getting the downtown part of town back to ourselves when the tour season ended. It was a special place with all kinds of special people but everything has changed so much. I watched Juneau transition from the working class that went there during the pipeline boom to the Gortex and Granola Sierra Club types saving everything from us mongrel hoardes. I knew lots of real old timers there who worked in the old AJ Mine when it was up and running until the gold prices fell so bad it didn't pay any more.

We had a PA12 on floats and I could tell you fishing stories and you'd have to call me a liar but the stories are true. I feel like the luckiest guy in the world that I lived there and got to do some things that some folks dream about doing their entire lives and I got to do them on the weekends. I also had (still have) a 16' Lund skiff that I ran all over the Inside Passage and fished and hunted out of. I carried a lot of deer back from Admiralty and Baranoff Island to Juneau in the Fall. I got to hunt caribou, deer and mountain goats up there along with grouse and ptarmigan and waterfowl. I've been fortunate to have lived in and seen a lot of this world but I still think Southeast Alaska is the most beautiful place on earth. Just MHO, tho.

I'm glad you and your family got a taste of it and would recommend a visit to anybody.
 
No question pk, like I said, you have to prepare for Alaska (interpret: $$$ for gear) but if you do, there's so much to do it boggles the mind!

When my Folks were in Wrangell I drove from Fairbanks to Haines and took the ferry down to see them. We ran a jet boat up the Stikine, chipped a cooler ful of glacier ice, caught 20 inch Cutts and Dollies until our arms hurt. Bears all over Wrangell Island. Goats across the back channel. Trout, Salmon, deer, etc, etc, etc. Unbelievable!
 
did you see the no. lights on the trip?? gma fudge wants to see the lights and be on a warm beach with warm clear water before she goes!! i will make sure she does what she wants because she has put up with me for all these years!! when you get a good one you make sure they are happy!! nice fam. and glad you had a good time. the fudges
 
Grandpa,

Didn't see the lights this time. Spent alot of time inside at night, lots to do on those boats.

What you have to do is, buy good clothing and footwear, then head to Fairbanks in February or thereabouts when they have the ice sculpture competition.

It's pretty awesome. The best ice carvers on earth all converge on that competition. You'll be standing there looking at it and you won't believe it. They do stuff that's not possible with ice... but there it is, right in front of you! (Go at night when they put the colored lights on the sculptures.)

Then you can head out of town into the White Mountains to the East. There's a pass about 20 min away that's nice and high, and all dark. The Aurora lights from there are mindblowing. I've got pics on slides with the lights and the Hale Bopp Comet in the same frame. Not the same as in person though, the lights swirl and ripple and flicker and dance overhead... you can't get that on film. Stay and watch them for at least 1/2 hour, they change and move alot. DEFINATELY something everybody should see once.

Expect 40 below averages, but it's not bad if you layer with quality clothing. It's worth the trip.

I can recommend the Fairbanks Princess Hotel, I used to work there as a Maintenance Engineer.

As to the warm beach and clear water, I can recommend Cozumel Mexico. Also in February, maybe March. Hey, combine the trip, that'd be something! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
 
Sorry it's taken so long to get back here.

Grandpa.......You seldom see the Northern Lights in the summer months. The earliest I've ever seen them is in September but under not so good circumstances. I was hunting deer with a couple of friends when they ran the boat on the rocks north of Juneau. We had to be rescued and spent the night on the beach. That time of the year the lights were just on the horizon.

Best time to see the lights is the coldest nights in the winter when the sky is clear which in Southeast Alaska isn't very often. It's quite a sight. I used to stand on the front porch when we lived on the airport flats and watch the lights over the Mendenhall glacier.

Funny story..... One morning we were having coffee at the Baranof Hotel and an older couple came in to have breakfast with another older couple. Tourists all. One lady said, "You should've come with us out to the glacier last night. The Northern Lights were on." The other lady said, "Really? What time do they turn them on?"
 
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