Mountain Ridge Above Juneau, AK

Much of this part of Alaska is a temperate rain forest.  When I saw this fern leaf, it just sort of epitomized the feeling of a rain forest of this type to me, and couldn’t resist taking this image.  It’s just such a soft image.



Other interesting sites can be seen by looking down, too! The sunlight playing on these low growing sprouts was quite beautiful, and added to the serenity of the moment.

Isn’t this fun?The way the light is playing thru this tree trunk makes it look like a forest goblin! I loved the color of the inside of the trunk when the light hits it, don’t you?

These trees are very cool, too.They seem to grow across the forest floor before they finally curve up toward the sky.I don’t know the reason for it, but this was a common site in this area of the forest.

Enjoy!

Riding the Tram in Juneau, AK

One of the first things we did in Juneau was to ride the tram up to the top of the mountain ridge that rises up behind the town.  This view was looking to the north from the tram.  The Gastineau Channel continues up north, but larger ships, like cruise ships, aren’t allowed to proceed any further than Juneau.  During low tide, the depth of the water in the channel north of Juneau won’t support the larger ships.

Here’s a view looking down from the top of the tram at a little sea plane landing close to our ship. It’s amazing how the fog lifted and the day was becoming very bright and sunny!

As we rode the tram down from the mountain ridge, I took this photo looking toward the south from Juneau.This is the way we entered the port.It’s just so amazing to me that there’s so much untouched nature surrounding these little communities!

Enjoy!

Morning in Juneau, AK

On Tuesday, we rolled into Juneau, the capital city of Alaska, and the 3^rd largest city in Alaska; with about 30,000 residents (Anchorage and Fairbanks are larger).  This is such a charming town/city!  Plenty of shops, and due to it being the capital, lots of government offices.  The morning fog has left the actual downtown area in this shot.

However, if you turn the other way, out on the Gastineau Channel (the waterway into Juneau), the scene was very different, as the misty morning fog was still hanging around there. I just loved this shot of the somewhat lonely looking pier. Of course, this wasn’t lonely for very long, and what you can’t see is the bridge right behind it that leads from Douglas Island, just across the channel to Juneau. It wasn’t visible until a couple of hours after this image was taken.

Oh, and technically this wasn’t taken in the early morning hours, but I just thought I’d share one of Jeff’s childhood homes.His family lived in Juneau for a few years when he was a kid, although he considers Kodiak his true childhood home.

Enjoy!