Juneau (part 2)

Yeah, I'm writing this two weeks after the cruise. But there are still many great memories popping up as I settle back to my daily grind. Especially of Juneau, as this was the nicest town and the most picturesque of the trip. So a few more random thoughts to complete the picture, if you don't mind.

The Taku Lodge was a remarkable little collection of cabins, notable not in how it looked so much as where it was. There is absolutely no road access, all supplies (and people) are brought in only by floatplane or by barge. The story of how it came to be, and the owners that managed it over the past 84+ years or so is what makes the place so remarkable. Here is a link to a fairly thorough history: http://www.wingsairways.com/taku-lodge-history.html.

Long before we arrived in Juneau we were given warnings about black and grizzly bears. They have a set of rules all their own, and once you go venturing outside into Alaska on their territory you're under their rules, not yours. This couldn't have been made more punctual than the sign that greeted people to Taku Lodge.

One of the most memorable things about Juneau, and Taku Lodge, was the smell. The air was FRESH - I mean, unlike anywhere else I'd ever been. And it being the early spring season when we visited there was a smell there (probably a flower I never was able to identify) that remided me -strongly- of the smell of an apiary. That is, when I used to keep bees, there is a distinct sweet smell of bees and beehive when you first open the hive Or standing next to a hive when the weather was warm. That's what the air smelled like. It was a really pleasant memory that I'll never forget.

The floatplane was a DeHaviland Beaver, made back in the late 40's and early 50's as military marine transport and rescue(?) planes. They are extremely well suited to the Alaskan climate and terrain, and even with seven of us packed into the plane it had an impressive amount of power to take off of water. (I've owned a floatplane and I know what it takes to break contact from water and take off.) I was able to negotiate the co-pilot seat. Tracey got the very back seat of the plane, the only seat with views from both sides of the aircraft. We both had SLR cameras and got splendid shots of the glaciers, vistas and waterways. See my web album to view the best of these photos. The most remarkable was, as I'd mentioned earlier, that "glacier blue" colour in the ice which came out extremely well considering the plane was in motion and we had to shoot through the windows.

In case anyone reading this is curious... my camera rig for most of the Alaska trip was a Canon 30D with a 4gb card. The new lens I had just purchased for the trip was the 70-200mm f/4L lens which I chose because of its zoom power, "L" rating and because it was considerably lighter than its f/2.8L older brother. At over $1100 for the lens alone, it was barely affordable but the results are worth it. Lots of people on the cruise had Digital SLR's, probably an equal number of Canon and Nikon owners. I loaned my lenses to a few Canon owners who were using the (blah!) 18-55mm kit lens and they were all impressed. I'm telling you, if I were a Canon salesman I could probably earn my way on trips like this just selling lenses.