In Which Miss Hoppington Zips Through Ketchikan

 Hulooo from Ketchikan!

We didn't stop very long in Ketchikan but long enough to have some adventures. Ketchikan is named after the creek that flows through the town. It is a Tlingit word but no one is really sure what it means. It could mean "Thundering Wings of an Eagle" which is a pretty sounding name. Or it could just mean "the river belonging to Kitschk."

The creek actually runs down what is called Creek Street. There are buildings built on either side of the creek and over the creek, on stilts because there is very little land to build on, especially on the east side of the river. It used to be a not very nice part of town but now it's all museums and art galleries and pretty shops. You can still see lots and lots of salmon in the river.

Creek Street

High up in the trees, ready to zip down!

My big adventure for the day was zip-lining!
I rode a bus and then a jeep up to the top of a mountain and then got to zip down on a series of cables. We were very high up in the trees, like 100 feet and would zip from platform to platform over a bear preserve. I really wanted to see a bear but they must have been sleeping or hunting somewhere else. Most of the people were scared, scared of being so high up but I wasn't. Ok, I was a little scared to jump off the platform but once I was zipping to the next one, I was having fun again!

Zipping off to the next adventure, hop, hop awaaaaaaaaaay!

Hedda

In Which Miss Hoppington Cruises a Fjord

Heading into the fjord.

 I sailed in a fjord today! Fjord is a word from Norway, a country on the other side of the world from where I was, and it means a long, narrow inlet of the sea between mountains. It is pronounced like fyord or fiord. We were sailing in the Tracy Arm Fjord, so called because when you look at a map, it looks like an arm! (you can see it here: http://tinyurl.com/j55wc8q) It's a fun word to say. Fjord, fjord, fjord!

At the end of the fjord was a big glacier called Sawyer Glacier. Fjords are made by glaciers like Sawyer and this fjord was very deep. The waters are a bright deep greenish blue, very pretty. Glacial silt gives the waters that color and helps protect harbor seals from orcas. The orcas use sonar to hear under the water but in the fjord, there is too much silt and it confuses them so they don't come up the fjord. When we got to the glacier, we saw lots of harbor seals relaxing on the the ice. In fact, some seals treat the glacier and the fjord like a nursery because they know it is safe to leave their pups while they go look for food.

We had lots of time to look at the glacier while the captain turned the boat around. He literally spun the boat around in place because there was so little room but did it very slowly so we could see everything and, in my case, not fall off the railing.

You can't see the glacier yet 'cause I'm standing in front of it.

It's so big! We're still about half a mile away.

See how blue!

The glacier was very blue, almost the color of glass cleaner! I was surprised at that but it was very beautiful. That color happens because there is so much ice and it's pressed together so hard that instead of the ice being white, it turns bright blue. So many pretty colors: the green water, the bright blue glacier and the dark green trees on the mountains around the fjord.

Heading back out of the fjord.

After we saw the glacier and spun around, we headed back out and on to our next adventure. There were large bits of drift ice from the glacier floating with us as we left the fjord. They look pretty small in the pictures but they were actually pretty big, especially to a little rabbit such as myself.

I think it's time for a nap and some sun on the upper deck. I am on a cruise after all!

See you next time!

Hedda

In Which Miss Hoppington Rides the Rails

The trail is still there, over a hundred years later!

All aboard, my friends!

After my fun but rather wet and cold kayak ride, I was quite happy to get on a warm train for the ride back to Skagway. We said good bye to Canada and headed down the White Pass trail via the White Pass Railway. The White Pass trail was one of two trails from Skagway to the Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush. The other was Chilkoot Pass, which was much steeper and harder. Not that White Pass was really any easier. Sadly, so many horses died, some called it Dead Horse trail.

Almost 100,000 people came to Alaska to find gold and a lot of them came through Skagway. So many people came that, even though it hasn't been used for a very long time, you can still see the old White Pass trail. It follows rushing streams and slowly trickles back to Skagway. I'm very glad I didn't have to walk and could ride the train instead.

Still a little damp but getting warmer.

We saw a lot of things on our way back. There was a very old train trestle bridge that we rode past; it used to be the tallest bridge in the world. The train used to go over it but it's not safe anymore.

We also rode past creeks and trees and mountains. And a caboose you can stay in. The Park Service owns it and rents it to hikers as a cabin. We stopped near it to pick up some hikers.

The White Pass railway used to be the most northern of railways. It is also the longest narrow gauge railway in North America, longer than the Cumbres & Toltec in New Mexico or the Durango & Silverton in Colorado. Miss L. said she got to ride the Durango & Silverton when she was younger.

But even with being the longest narrow gauge, before we knew it, we were pulling back into Skagway. It was so much fun riding the train. I know there are other trains I could ride. I'll have to track them down so I can tell you about them.

Crossing back over the pass in to Alaska.

Choo choo!

Hedda

In Which Miss Hoppington Gets Very Wet

Brrr, friends!
After my early morning adventure in Skagway, I boarded a bus and drove out of the country. Yes, up the Klondike Highway until we were in... Canada! We drove to Fraser, BC, which sits about 7 miles inside Canada and is the first place that the Klondike Highway and the White Pass Railway meet.

We got off at Fraser for our next adventure, kayaking. There's a lake across the tracks from the customs house at Fraser that was made by a glacier. Remember how I said glaciers made mountains by scraping and pressing down? Well, they made lakes sometimes, too, and the water from the remaining glaciers feed the lakes which makes the water very cold. Unfortunately, I got very wet; Miss L. kept splashing me by accident but I still had so much fun. I was also very glad when we were done. We had hot cider to warm up and snacks while we waited for the White Pass Railway to take us back to Skagway. I'll have to tell you about the train ride next.

You can't see me but I'm riding in the center of the kayak!

Slowly getting warmer,

Hedda

Oh, Dear!

Dearest friends,
It seems I could wait to tell you about my next adventure; it has been almost 10 months since I last wrote to you! But, never fear, even if I wasn't writing, I was storing up lots of wonderful adventures to tell you about.

The next adventure is coming right at you!

Hop, hop and away!

Hedda

In Which Miss Hoppington Makes Golden Memories

Hello friends!

No rough seas here!

Skagway, Gateway to the Klondike, the point at which so many journeys started. This was the furthest north I got.

Skagway is the nickname of Kanagu, a mythical woman who turned herself into stone and lives in the bay. It literally means "beautiful women" but also refers to the rough seas in the bay. We didn't have any rough seas the day we came in.

Downtown Skagway isn't very large, only about five blocks wide and twenty blocks long. We floated into town early in the morning. I watched as the dockhands tied the boat up and then slipped off the boat to explore the town a bit before venturing further into the wilds.

The downtown area has boardwalks everywhere. Some of the stores are really cheesy tourist traps but there were some hidden gems. Like the garden at the Historic Skagway Inn with Johnny-Jump-Ups and Cosmos and other wildflowers.


As the town woke up, I went back to the ship to board a bus to my next adventure, which I can't wait to tell you about...

At home amongst the Johnny-Jump-Ups

Next time!

Hedda

In Which Miss Hoppington Answers the Call of the Wild

Helloooooo! (that's me howling),

Juneau is an interesting city but I spent most of my time outside of downtown. You see, I got to ride on a helicopter. A helicopter that flew over a glacier. And then landed on the glacier. And then I got to ride a dog sled! How absolutely fantastic!

We flew to the Mendenhall Glacier, which is a large glacier that starts in the Juneau Icefield, the fifth largest icefield in the world. A glacier is very dense ice formed by snow from over hundreds of years. Glaciers can move and can even change the land around them by scraping on the sides and pressing down. A lot of the mountains in Alaska were made by glaciers.

Once on the glacier, we all got off the helicopters and then went to meet our dog teams. Each group had a dog musher (a person who commands the dogs). After meeting the dogs, we all got into the sleds for a ride. All the dogs who weren't pulling sleds had to stay behind. They were very unhappy about it and let us know by barking and howling and whining. Sled dogs love to pull sleds and run!

After a quick break, the dogs are ready to run again.

Away from the camp, it was very quiet. All we could hear was the sound of the wind, blowing across the glacier, and the shushing of the sled runners. We stopped once because the lead dog wouldn't follow directions; he wanted to haw (go left) when the musher wanted him to gee (go right). Then, we stopped about half-way through to take photographs and for people to switch places (some people wanted to stand on the foot boards). The sleds started up again, and much too soon, we were back at the dog camp. I would have loved to go on a much longer ride.

Then the helicopter came back and we had to fly back to Juneau and the boat. My adventure in Juneau came to an end much too soon. But there was more adventure waiting the next day!

I'll tell you about it next time.

Mush onward, my friends!

Hedda