Chugg out of Skagway and cruise north, toward the famous College Fjord, (named as it is a 'fjord', and its several glaciers are named after big time colleges, eg Harvard, Yale, et al), and then the famous Glacier Bay.

Besides the glacier walk, this is what most tourists come to see on an Alaska cruise: mtn lined bays with glaciers. The problem is, it comes on day 6 of a 7 day cruise, the weather could be crummy, (ours was blindingly sunny), this 1,000 ft boat can get only so close in and is under a time slot allotment, and all 4,000 passengers pack the rails, as we are all on board...

Good stuff to see, though it pales a bit if one has been to the Antarctic peninsula, as we have. The very sunny, hazy day with its point of solarity making for very contrasty/some back lit pic shooting conditions, was a test of exposures, polarizing filter, etc. And, my fookin Canon 40D was glitching for most of these 2 weeks in Alaska, and after, so I was often stuck on an ISO or white bal setting that was not what I needed for the 'next shot'.

Some typical postcard shots attached...more in the next posts, coming right up, if my upload 'speed' hangs on.

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More pics of College Fjord/Glacier Bay...
When my 40D was constantly glitching this day, it stuck on flash balance, and Iso 400, as I had just been shooting some fill flash pics of my in-laws; I got the freakin cam woikin again, but it was stuck on those settings. Thus, some of there shots were blown out and color weird...even my novice fiddling in Lightroom barely brought them back to 'normal'.

NEway, we chugged out of Glacier Bay, in early eve, sun still very high in the sky, and steamed north over night, at 20+ knots, to the very unusual town of Whitter, AK just 'down the road' from Anchorage. This is the port where most AK cruises start or end. They were kicking our fannies off that next morning at 8:00 AM.

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Get kicked off the boat in Whittier, AK...less than ~300 people and almost all of them live in the condo in the background shot. Unusual to say the least...

We climb on the Alaska Railroad train: 10 1/2 hour ride from Whittier to Denali National Park area. The Cruise lines, regardless of brand, try to tie in some land based stuff, either before or after the cruise: they bus or train you to 'Denali', where one stays in their company built motels/lodges. And, they try to manage one's itinerary to move you every fookin day.

Thus, one spends hours on a freakin bus every day, going from lodge to lodge...and, we got the usual 'tour' of Denali National Park: in a freakin bus for half a day, riding maybe 30-40 miles, seeing trees and trees and inane stuff.

No dis to Denali, and I am sure there are fans of the place, but we were in 13 National Parks, 6 State Parks and several 'local' parks on our trip; Denali is enormous in size, but the usual tourist gets a bus ride up 14 miles of road, and turns around and comes back. WTF?! Certain vehicles, (awd/4wd), can get permitted to go another dozen miles on the gravel road...that's it.

We had gotten lucky and were able to see Denali, The Mountain, from the interminable train ride; alas, when in the park on a bus stop to 'see stuff', Denali the Mtn, was not to be seen in the near constant clouds that cover its
20,000+ height, and enormous 'base'...much bigger footprint than Everest and a couple other Himalayan peaks combined. Our bus driver/tour guide has been doing her job for 9 summers and had never seen Denali/Mt McKinley.

NEway, more bus rides down 2 lane roads, through corridors of trees, and we finally end up Anchorage. Stay a night, fly ~4 hrs south back to Vancouver, spend a night, float plane over to Victoria, spend a night, float plane back to Vancouver, find the Vette which has been parked in a garage for 2 weeks, load it up, and roll out of beautiful Vancouver, BC heading for the Canadian Rockies.

The Alaskan cruise, in hind sight, was one of those things we always wanted to do, and since V's Rents insisted, we went. I would do the cruise differently, if there was a next time, but I was underwhelmed by the cruise, and Alaska in general, with a couple of exceptions...

Onward toward beautiful Banff, Alberta, & the Canadian Rockies, eh!
Thanks for looking and the long read...
BR, mD

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Couple random pics of Van/Victoria...the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel has a BMW for a courtesy car; it was offered, but we were walking to Gastown area, and drinking copiously, .

Float plane, pricey but fast trip over to Victoria: the seats are made for kids and my knees were poking the pilot in the butt. Fortunately, there is no cabin door. Lovely ride at ~2500 ft altitude.

We have been gone a month+, at this point, with a month to go.
More pics coming, soon.
BR, mD&V

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The continental West is so intriguing and looks to have some nice scenery; I've been to Yellowstone in a tour bus but everything's always nicer when driving oneself. Too bad I live on the opposite side of the country.......

Not bored, mD, not bored at all. You write well, so write well-written writing No Cliff's Notes unless they're notes on cliffs that you wrote on cliffs using Cliff's Notes.

South out of Tetons, & Jackson Hole, back into a corner of Utah, 'the geologic history trail', and back into Colorado for our 2nd time this trip. We rolled south to Montrose, CO and cooped for a delightful 3 nights in a motel, as opposed to the near daily 'moving' from joint to joint. Montrose is a fine little town and close to the remarkable, but seldom visited Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. And, Montrose is a ~30 min drive to Ouray, and the famous Rt 550 from Ouray to Durango. Thus, we shacked up and enjoyed both for a couple days.

The Black Canyon Nat Park is a mini-Grand Canyon that allows for right to the edge hiking, pic shooting, and has a few dozen cars per day as opposed to the literal hundred thousand a day to the GC south rim. Different geology and not quite as 'big' or expansive, but same process, and beautiful in its own way; though, like the GC, it is very difficult to 'capture' the large scale.

As for the Ouray to Durango road, Route 550, I have driven it 5 times on m'cycle trips, but it was a hoot and less nerve wracking in the Vette with 4 wheels. V drove most of the way, each way, and while it was 'crowded' with July 4th weekend tourists, it was as fine a road as I remembered. We are closing in on 'leaving' the Mtn States at this point, and bracing for the long easterly run across the 'fly over' states, heading for Fam & friends in MI, YYZ, NY and NJ...

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Ouray, CO to Durango, CO via Rt 550...had lunchola in Silverton: one paved road, mostly dirt roads, tiny town with a large group of ex-trust fund losers, waiting for the next free lift ticket, .

V learned to hammer the Vette through the gears, and trust its cornering prowess by this point of the trip.

Rt 550 goes from ~6,000 ft to over 10,500 several times on the run, with several acute switchbacks...the Vette never even breathed hard. What a car, esp for a 9 1/2 yr old C5 model. I did see that 248 deg F oil temp a few times in the traffic clogged, slow climbs with very high ambient temps.

The Scoot was a custom we saw in the Montrose motel parking lot; there were dozens parked there over the 4th Weekend, but this custom was unusual with its Right Side Drive off the S&S motor, and custom trans....

Out of Montrose & SW Colorado, and heading east and north toward Denver, and then, the Plains.
Thanks for reading & looking...
mD & V

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Thx again for continued photography and details of the trip! Lots of awesome stuff out there to see for sure.

__________________
Previously owned: '03 4.6iS Dinan Supercharged