Sitka is a cute little town with a lot of Russian influence. The inlet to Sitka is surrounded with many little islands barely small enough for one or two houses. We choose to simple walk around Sitka and peer into the many artistic and tourist shops. Probably the prettiest buildings in town are the little Russian Orthodox Church and the retirement building for native Alaskans. There are also several shops with breath taking artists' work.

We biked to the Mendenhall Glacier today and were fortunate enough to only have a bit of rain. Beautiful views, impossible to describe without seeing it in person. No picture seems to do it justice.

Our luck on weather changed as we arrived in Seward. At first we were greeted with intermittent drizzle which turned to a steady cold downpour. We enjoyed walk around the town not inundated with cruise ship jewelry shops yet, just soaking in the local flavor. Seward planned a street fest but unfortunately due to the constant downpour it was not successful.

The following day we arrived at Kodiak Island, greeted with the same cold downpour which eventually incorporated a few icy flakes. Entering Kodiak is beautiful with jutting rocks and one or two tiny islands, but we quickly found there is little reason to go into the town unless you are looking for supplies. We also visited the small Kodiak Museum. Payless Foods seems to be high point of a very cold and damp trip. Kodiak is a large fishing port (3rd best in USA) and is also known for being a US Navel base in WWII.Unfortunately our itinerary does not include 4th of July Fireworks but the crew did put up decorations for both Canada Day (July 1) and Independence Day.

We haven't talked much about Princess Cruise lines on this cruise, mainly because after the first night we stayed out of the main dinning room and have eaten in the two specialty restaurants, one is a steak house, the other Italian. Each is opened two nights in a row and then we switch to the other. Princess has also taken to charging for the bus rides into town, $6 each person. Ice cream is only available during "tea time" and I understand they also charge for that. It is offered (free of charge) at dinner occasionally. Needless to say, it's not one of my favor cruise lines.

Today we arrived to a bright sunny day in Valdez. We've been blessed with great weather and calm seas. Valdez is famous of course for being the point where the Alaska pipeline brings in oil from Purdue Bay and the horrible oil tanker accident of the 1980's. The town of Valdez was literally destroyed in a 1964 earthquake which brought in a 30 foot tsunami, wiping out the town. It was rebuilt but still is very small with many RVs coming during the summer up the Richardson highway to view the beautiful mountains surrounding the town.

We went white water rafting on the Lowe River in the afternoon. It was sunny and warm and a perfect day for a ride down the river. While they warned us to dress warm, there was absolutely no need for that today. The tour company, Alaska River Rafting dressed us from head to toe in water proof suits and boots so we were actually rather warm and also managed to stay fairly dry. We couldn't take pictures on the raft so we provide one from Skagway White Pass, part of Bridal Vail Falls.

Today we arrived in Skagway, Alaska where approximately 800 people live. Most residents probably reside here to support tourism since the 20 block downtown area seems abundantly full of tourists' jewelry shops. With 3 ships in port the town felt packed but we are told other days of the week five to six ships are in port during the summer.

Skagway was settled in 1887 and soon after became the route through which goldrushers passed to the Klondike. Gold was discovered in 1896 in the Klondike river and Skagway soon bulged with over 20,000 people looking to get rich.

By Spring of 1898 The White Pass and Yukon Railroad began laying tracks from Skagway to Whitehorse to enable goldrushers an easier method of getting to the Yukon. By the time the rails were laid all the way in 1900, the gold rush was over. The railway finally closed in 1982 but was again reopened as a tourist attraction just 7 years later. One of the original engines, after being rebuilt, is still used today.

Two images from yesterday:

Unfortunately the Tahitian Princess has just installed a new wireless Internet system that doesn't work. Only one or two laptops on the ship have been able to connect so far. At first they thought it was an incompatibility with Windows Vista but now believe something is wrong with the router which won't release the IPs for use. But for now it means many of us are out of touch with the "real world".

We spent Saturday in Ketchikan, Alaska. We choose to rent a Hummer with another couple and therefore had the opportunity to see many different sites including Slide Mountain for a breath taking view of Ketchikan. We also visited Totem Pole Park, saw a small black bear and a small deer. Our guide provided a small picnic lunch of smoked Salmon, several Salmon pates and cheese and crackers. Leaving Ketchikan we saw several whale pods and a pod of dolphins. We were fortunate enough to visit Ketchikan on one of its few sunny days. Ketchikan receives about 162 inches of rain over 240 days each year. The fish hatcheries in Ketchikan catch Salmon as they return to spawn, fertilize the female's eggs and raise the Salmon until they are about 1 year old. Approximately 240 million Salmon are caught in Alaska each year.

Today we are cruising Glacier Bay National Park. The Park Rangers have boarded our ship and will be narrating through out the afternoon. The passengers have been delighted with our entrance to Glacier Bay, treated with numerous pods of whales, porpoise and one lone sea otter so far. Of course the snow topped mountains are also astounding.

Today we bring you the Capilano Suspension Bridge located in North Vancouver BC and certainly a must visit while in the area.

Many fewer posts, hopefully none about politics, for the next few weeks. We've headed out for Vancouver BC and Alaska. We are hoping we are busy enough that we hear little about USA Politics and politicians.

Plan on seeing a few great pictures.

Barack Hussein Obama is just arrogant enough, now that it's predicted by reversing his pledge to take public financing for his campaign he can outspend John McCain by over 5 to 1 and buy the election, to actually use a likeness of the seal of the President of the United States for his new campaign seal.

See The Weekly Standard for a side-by-side comparison of The Great Seal of the USA, The USA Presidential Seal, The USA Vice Presidential Seal and Obama's new Seal of Arrogance.

The Weekly Standard wonders if it's illegal based on 18 USC Sec. 713 which forbids the replication of these seals in connection with advertisement, promotion, etc. I would think at the very least it's some type of copyright infringement, but then Obama didn't have a problem plagiarizing other politicians speeches, so.......