After our Dyea townsite hike, we took a short drive back up the road to visit the slide cemetery, final resting place for many of the individuals who died in the April 3, 1898 avalanche on the Chilkoot Trail. The exact count of victims is not known, nor is the number of people actually buried in this cemetery, as some were removed for reburial at home. 
This is the last remaining store front in Dyea; everything else was either removed for reuse in other towns, or has been reclaimed by the forest. It's amazing to think that 10,000 people lived in this area for a short time, then nearly all left to chase their fortunes elsewhere.
Joe is standing next to one of the pilings of the old Dyea Wharf, the means by which stampeders got their gear to shore.
Half of all bald eagles in the world live in Alaska -- here's one of them, waiting for something to come along.
Once we left the ferry, we got water and headed for the Dyea Campground (we knew from experience that Dyea Campground has no water supply, short of the river, and I didn't want to be pumping water through a filter this early in the trip). The campground was nearly empty, so it was very quiet. The only noise we heard was the sound of sled dogs barking at the tourists that were being bused in from Skagway during the day.
We did a little geocaching throughout the morning and early afternoon, then it was time to get in line to board the ferry. We took the M/V Matanuksa from Juneau to Skagway. Having a cabin onboard greatly improved our quality of life; it provided napping opportunities, as well as a base of operations during the nearly eight hour trip.
It's lunchtime.
I watched two park rangers wrestle this piece of glacial ice out of the water and up the bank. It's a single ice crystal and very old.
The Mendenhall Glacier is a short distance from downtown Juneau; it's an impressive sight to see, even with low clouds.
Here's our nice shiny, clean Chevrolet Trailblazer, all packed up and ready to hit the road!
We each got about eight hours of sleep last night, awakening just past 0600. The motel was very quiet (as long as you don't flush the toilet).
On our brief driving tour of old Juneau last night, I was struck by the intense focus on the cruise ship trade. The shops that cater to cruise ship tourists lined the streets, eager to part the tourists from their cash. The density and size of the shops was amazing.
Good news: The National Rental Car people have our Honda Element all ready to go!
Lorraine upgraded us to first class, all the way from Washington's National Airport to the Juneau International Airport; that made a huge difference in the quality of the journey to Juneau. We had a great time on the three legs of the journey: Washington to Chicago, Chicago to Seattle, and Seattle to Juneau.
Withdrawal can be such an unpleasant thing to witness. Sarah, Joe, and I were, however, ready for the intervention.
Being a Saturday morning, the lounge was pretty quiet. It was a great opportunity to have a little snack before the flight and to relax after the get packed, get loaded, get to the airport drill that begins every big trip.
Hank drove us from our house to Washington's National Airport in the Toyota 4Runner, which saved a tremendous hassle in transportation or vehicle storage. Thanks, Hank!
Lorraine and I came across this place in 2002, and we just had to stop by in February 2006 to see how things were going. By our quick inspection, it didn't appear that much had changed.
It's tough to take a picture of a cat, face on...you get a lot of retroreflection. She's a pretty cat anyway, though, don't you think?
We brought Cinder home on Saturday, 3 December 2005, and in about five short weeks, she's gone from being wild to being a very playful and energetic, inquisitive, and lovable cat. She's still not ready to be handled, but she's getting much closer every day. Opie, our other cat, is great "bait", drawing Cinder over to interact. I expect that within a few weeks, Cinder will be coming over to be handled a little bit.
