Day Seven - Cruise Day 6 -Juneau

We were amazed to discover that the Capitol of Alaska is a city that is landlocked-only accessible by boat or float plane! Today was a BIG day . . . We flew in a helicopter to the top of Taku glacier, the largest in Alaska and the only glacier that is advancing! We were mushers with a team of Siberian Huskies! Of course, Brady was in a a state of ecstasy as she is obsessed with the husky. It was tremendous fun. Our musher, Jessica, just graduated from college and is going on to be a vet. She has been competing since she was 5! And she has cousins inNew Canaan (the Jennings). We each got to drive the team and I was surprised by how quick the dogs are, how narrow the rails are that you stand on and how quietly Jessica speaks to the dogs! The dogs thrive in cold temperature and like it when it is 40 below! Some of the dogs were little booties to protect them. They eat kibble mixed with lost of salmon and when they train for the Iditarod they work out for about 100 miles a day. The mushers stay at this summer camp six days on and two days off, then back again. There is no running water and no electricity! These mushers are all veterans of the Iditarod and train all summer for it. Sadly, we we had to return home to the ship but it was a very fun day.

 

In the pictures of the glacier, you will see one that has bright blue ice--this is because the pilot said the glacier had just calved last week and that bright blue ice had not been exposed to the atmosphere for hundreds of years. Apparently when the glacier calves, it sounds like tremendous thunder. We just thought it looked really cool.

 

Our pilot Aaron.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jessica, our musher, shows Brady the ropes.

Bogus-thw wheel dog

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brady tried to convince me to bring a real husky home but we settled on a stuffed version instead. As we approached the ship we saw another bald eagle on top of the flag pole.