Continuing north from Vancouver...first stop is Ketchikan, AK. Raining, foggy, but we take a 'wildlife viewing' boat ride: we see a couple whales, some crows (lol!), a bald eagle, a deer, a couple of black bear, and what could be any tree lined lake boat ride in the northern latitudes in US/CDA.

The masses pour off the boat several times a day for any of the myriad of 'shore tours', most of which are inane, imo, and all very pricey.

Mildly underwhelmed, already. Our little cabin does have a balcony, which prevents cabin fever...I cannot imagine being in an inside/no view room.

Boat food is boat food, though it is good to hang with V's father & step-mother. We get lost on the boat a few times per day, as many of the 15+ levels do not 'connect' in horizontal fashion.

We steam up to Juneau, the capital, and it's another soaking day. We wander around downtown Juneau, which like every town in AK, is full of jewelry shops, t shirt joints, dirty bars and tchotchke joints. Juneau, by the bye, is the only US state capital that is accessible only by water or air.

About 30k people live there, most of the adults are employed by the state gov't, (what a surprise!), and the locals told me it rains, or snows, 250+ days a year. Can't wait to move there...

We steam out of Juneau and approach the famous town of Skagway, where at 4 AM, I am up and out on the deck taking a few pics of freakin Mtns, with the sun actually 'out', as it rises. Finally, some scenery!

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