We last (first for me) visited Alaska in the summer of 2008. It was my first trip and the Travelprof’s six trip- thus started the first discussion on “what to bring and wear on your trip to Alaska”. We try to travel light but I wanted mittens, hat, scarf, warm coat and he said” it’s July- it will be warm, sunny, and daylight 23 hrs- you don’t need all that stuff!” 
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Well- it was beautiful and warm on the first day in Vancouver. Vancouver and Seattle are the Northern routes jump off cities and Vancouver is beautiful. We visited Stanley Park (a must) and enjoyed the international feeling of this very tepid (weather wise year round) city for two days and nights. Then we boarded the Princess Ship
for the north bound route along the inside passage to Alaska- thank goodness I don’t always follow the advice of my husband. I was glad I had all that warm gear- it was the rainiest and coldest summer Alaska had in 20 years. But, as you can see from the photos- still amazing scenery to be had and the sun was out for out visit to the glaciers. We took a train up through White Horse Pass out of Skagway and went far into the Yukon for the day. There were the majestic mountains with snow, a dessert (go figure- must have had a spell of global warming 2mil years ago) large uninhabited blue green lakes, and we spotted eagles and a few black bears. 
The day at the Hubbard Glacier the sun came out for about two hours- the water and glacier and ice that falls off and floats is actually blue green from all the sediment and the way the light reflects of it ( you geo and physiology types can look up the scientific explanation- for me- it was just pretty cool colors). The glacier is also always moving and making large sounds. We were lucky enough to see a “shooter” – which is a large boulder of ice that shoots up from underneath the water ( the glaciers are 300 feet below the water level also ) and when that happened I understood why the ships stay a mile away- that could have done Titanic damage to the ship. In Juneau we went whale watching one day in small rubber crafts ( do take the 40’ below parkas they offer you- don’t tough it out like the Travelprof. did) and those guides know exactly where the pods are for great viewing. You feel as if you can reach out and touch the whales. They seem to perform for you- breaching up and diving under. We also walked next to the glacier and viewed it from the bay – very close and up personal. They only thing I wanted to do but could not because of the rain and fog was the helicopter ride where you land on the glacier and can see the crevasse ( break’s in the ice). One glacier we saw was actually growing while one glacier in the area was shrinking- jury still out on the global warming theory for me. All in all a great trip and I can’t wait to go back and get to Denali Park and try to see Mt. McKinley and more time in Anchorage.
