Juneau

Rather than taking the short regular flight from Hoonah to Juneau, some of us opted to take a flightseeing trip. Our pilot looked rather young, but assured us he was experienced and knew what he was doing. He flew us high and low and close to the mountain walls. I had first seen glaciers when we left Seattle, but these were something else. The deep crevices and blue colors were extraordinary. The views where the glaciers came right down to the water were breathtaking. As an added bonus, we passed over a small group of mountain goats. The pilot made sure that we got our money's worth - when we landed all fuel gauges were reading empty!

The captain of the Sea Comber was an art collector and made arrangements for us to have a special showing at a Juneau art gallery. The proprietor actually closed his shop as he served us lunch and talked about Alaskan art. He told us that the impression that many people get of native art is based upon their seeing pieces that are old and faded, but that the artists wanted their work to be seen when it was fresh and colorful. For that reason, he named his gallery Objects of Bright Pride. He used masks to help tell us many interesting stories. His personality seemed to actually change with each mask he put on.

We spent a few hours in Juneau - I watched people, birds, and a river otter in a park - then we flew on to Anchorage, passing over spectacular snow-covered peaks. We stayed overnight in a bed and breakfast and then got up early for a bus ride to Denali National Park.

On to Denali

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