Glaciers, Bears and Whales

Over the last three days we've been to Glacier Bay and Skagway and today we're at Icy Strait Point. I shared this story last year but I'm sitting here again chuckling that the US paid Russia a whopping $7.2 million for this place. I've never done the math but have been told that it works out to around 2 cents per acre. Not a bad deal!  Although at the time I understand there was a lot of criticism that Sec. of State Seward had way overpaid for "nothing but frozen wasteland".  I guess he got the last laugh and there is even a city named for him up here.
There are numerous glaciers in Glacier Bay, hence the name. But the star attraction is the Margerie Glacier which is over 20 miles long, close to a mile wide and over 300 feet tall.  It's quite a site to see and even more impressive when it is calving and tons of ice are falling into the water.   It makes sounds like cannons going off that echo through the mountains long after the ice has fallen.
The attached youtube may give you some idea of what it's like to be up close to the action.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7OaRzo3lHU
After Glacier Bay we were off to Skagway where we had a nice long day in port.  We arrived before 8:00 AM and weren't scheduled to leave until 9:00 PM.  Skagway is a nice little Alaskan town with just over 1,000 permanent residents.  We had been there several times previously and really enjoy roaming around on the wooden sidewalks of downtown.  However, we took advantage of the long day and rented a car to explore a little further out of town.  In just a few miles we crossed over the US/Canadian border into British Columbia and shortly thereafter had left the Providence of British Columbia for the Yukon Territory.  The drive was over a snowy pass and past lakes that were still covered with ice.  Around every bend it seemed as if there was something amazing to see.  As impressive as the scenery was along the drive the highlight was seeing two bears.  In both cases they were just off the road feeding on berries and grasses.  Making it more fun was the fact we pretty much had them to ourselves.  The roads weren't crowded so we were able to just sit and enjoy them until they decided to ramble back into the woods.  We put about 230 miles on the rental car in one day.  It was 230 miles of magic. 
Today we are in Icy Strait Point and today is "Whale Day"!  As I am writing this there is a pod of 6 or so huge humpback whales out in the bay sometimes no more than 100 yards offshore.  They cruise along for a bit on the surface so close you can hear them blowing air through their blow hole.  We've even seen them "Bubble Feeding" several times.  This is where they do a deep dive and shoot straight up to the surface with their mouths open taking in all the unsuspecting small herring and other fish they can take in.  It looks very similar to some of the cruise passengers on the ship passing by the buffet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_net_feeding
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJvfjiCTvq4
Internet is a little slow up here and my pictures of the glaciers, bears and whales are not downloading.  I do have them and will get them up as soon as possible.  In the meantime here are a few more pictures from Tracy Arm Fjord.