Ketchikan

Another glacier on our way to Ketchikan.
You have to admit they are beautiful and amazing.

To see the mountains and how the clouds form around them is quite
beautiful.

Sometimes the glaciers appear above the clouds.

More of the projects from classes.
This is from Linda Hahn's class. Pretty colors.

Sample of one of Gloria Loungman's class.

Here is one of the student's work.

This is another of Gloria's classes.
They did look interesting.

More Stellar Sea Lions.

Again, a lot of them. Stinky critters.

As we are docking in Ketchian.

Today's adventure is all about the black bear.
Again, we would receive a partial refund if we did not see a bear.

Well, that did not take long.
We were given a lot of instructions about what to do if a bear did cross
our path.  We needed to all stay together.  There was only a dozen
of us on this tour.

So we got to see a lot of bears.
You did not have to look very far.
They seemed to be everywhere!

We walked along a boardwalk in the woods.  There was a stream
coming down from a mountain.  The bears were doing quite
well finding fish to eat.

Maybe a bear could hibernate in this tree base during the winter?

This bear was hiding up on the hill looking for berries.

Our guide wanted to know if any of us were interested in this
boat that was for sale??
She said she had others for sale if we were interested!

Another Mom and baby of this year.
The mom's really were busy teaching their young how to hunt
for food.  The fish were pretty plentiful here.

Mom was showing what the young cub needed to be doing.

The trees were hung with this strange looking moss.
It is so moist in this forest.

There was a fishery right there.
The bears did not need to go far for food.

There was also an area were the natives worked on totem poles.
What interesting stories.

There was a nesting pair of eagles on the grounds.

One was sitting not far away, while the other was at the nest.

Today, they had not had any young. 

Maybe next year.

This was a female that had been hurt when it was young.
It is part of the sanctuary, and cannot be released back to the wild.
It is missing part of one wing.

Here is her trainer. It is still a beautiful bird.

Here is another totem pole.

This was Sarah, our guide.
She had so much information.
There are guides all along the trail that
keep each
other updated about where the bears are.

Sarah was kind enough to show me where they have three Reindeer.
What beautiful creatures.

They antlers were growing in.
I got to touch them.  Soft, she said they are very sensitive
right now  They were friendly and came right up to me.

More totem poles. It would be interesting to know
more of the stories behind them.

Beautiful

Beautiful downtown Ketchikan.

As we were leaving port.
Again, another wonderful day.
Do you understand why I like to travel so much.
There are so many beautiful sights to see, and adventures to
be had.  It is so wonderful to see animals in their nature
habitat. I love it.

Mary