Just hanging around in Juneau

Hello!! What an amazing week! We are really excited about becoming grandparents and can't wait to see Kallie and TJ! We have spent an incredible week with my brother, Don. We are staying at Mendenhall Campground and can see the glacier from there. We are not too far from downtown Juneau, which is a pretty cool place. It's not that big and it's only crowded when the cruise ships are in town (which is every day). We have done some hiking around Juneau and are looking forward to doing some more this week. We went out to Tracy Arm, which has a fjord and the South Sawyer Glacier. What an amazing place. The glacier was calving that day. It was just amazing to see and hear. We saw whales that day and harbor seals and icebergs. Don took us out to Pack Creek, where he works and we spent a fair amount of time watching the bears. The moms and the cubs were so entertaining. They gorge on the salmon that is coming back to spawn and then they play. These bears in the picture couldn't have been more than 25 feet away from us. We didn't bother them in the least. We also went out to the huge sitka spruce that you see. We actually got stranded out at Windfall Island, where Don's camp is. The weather changed so we had to wait until the next day to fly out. That's OK. We also got to see Patches. She's an old bear, about 26. She came to the creek to eat and must have stayed there for almost two hours. We are looking forward to a relaxing week here in Juneau and taking the ferry to Prince Rupert, British Columbia on Aug. 13th. Thinking of all of you and we'll be in touch soon. Take care, Pat & Al