Juneau, Alaska ...and a giveaway (part 2 of ?)

 This was what we woke up to when we arrived in Alaska...It was beautiful!  
 This is not trick photography, that blue line going up the side of the mountain was what we saw.  Have no idea what caused it???
 One seriously long waterfall...
 Our first view of Juneau. You can't drive to Juneau.  The only way to get there is by plane, ferry, or ship.There are only about 100 miles of roads in and around Juneau.
 My first wildlife sighting....Harbor Seals.
 My first humpback whale!  See the puff of water in the air behind him?  That's another whale.
 Getting a picture of a whale tale was a challenge.  You only see the tail when they are going to dive deeply.
 A calf kept breaching over and over again.  It was spectacular.
 Three puffs!  How cool is that?
 Sorry this is blurry, but I had to tell you about it.The whales are bubble net feeding.One whale dives deeply and blows bubbles around a school of fish.The fish can't get out of the bubble net.Then all the whales in the pod open their mouths and shoot up to the surface.Notice the birds...we could predict where it was going to happen because the birds started swarming before the whales came up to feed. 


 Two whale tales!
 Mendenhall Glacier...
 You could walk down a little trail to get a closer look. They gave warnings about not walking by yourself, but...I was on my own.  Surly there were enough people around for me to not run into a bear.
 Yes, those icebergs are blue.  It has something to do with the organisms in the water.

 The path down to the better view was lovely!
 The forget-me-not is the state flower.I had them in my bouquet when I got married.
 All was going well, so I decided to walk down to a deserted beach.
 I wanted to check out the lump of ice on the beach.Yes, I was alone...and no one was around.
 It was pretty cool to see and touch the ice.
 I got an awesome shot of the glacier. I was enjoying my solitude.  I could see people in the distance, but I loved the silence.  I felt like I was part of nature.  The bus was about to leave so I hurried up the trail...
 One of the ladies in our group was standing at the top of the stairs (waves to Diana).  She looked a little pale.  She asked me if I saw it.  I had no idea what she was talking about.  She said the bear cub that walked in front of you.  I thought she was pulling my leg until she showed me the photo.  She said the bear cub (which means there was a mama somewhere close) crossed the path about ten seconds before I came around the bushes.  YIKES! And yes....I was on my own...

 Juneau had lots of shops...

Many were full of jewelry...
Which reminds me...Did you leave a comment on this post to get an entry in my gold flake earrings from Alaska?
Have I convinced you that you need to visit Alaska yet?  My next post will be about Glacier Bay...