Abnormally Clear Days in Southeast Alaska

After getting off of the Chilkoot Trail and back into Skagway (above), we met up with my old roomate, Carrie, and her fiancee Paul. They flew up from Juneau to meet up with us for the day and to see Skagway! :-) It was nice being able to catch up as our communications had been sporadic in the last year. We camped back out in Dyea that night, explored the historical Dyea townsite, and then they flew back to Juneau the next afternoon.
After finding out how cheap ferry tickets were from Skagway to Juneau and back, Celine and I decided to make an impromptu trip to Juneau! Why not?! It was CRYSTAL CLEAR out everywhere in Alaska, and southeast Alaska rarely has nice weather. We had nothing to lose!

Here are a couple of pictures from the ferry.

When we got to Juneau, we headed straight for the trail! Paul and Carrie picked us up at the terminal and we went out to Mendenhall Glacier to meet their friend Pete. We had a glorious evening hiking out to the glacier. We were planning on doing some ice climbing but the sun wanted to start going down before we would be able to set anything up. Oh well.. a reason to go back!Above, Paul seems to be enjoying himself...
Here is Celine, Pete, Paul and I near the Mendenhall.
A field of blue ice laid ahead of us.

When we got to it, the glacier was melting at a substantial rate.. in fact, it was raining underneath the glacier in the ice caves!
Our journey to Juneau was short but sweet. Got to finally see Juneau, the only state capital not on the road system, and spent time with Carrie and Paul. Win-win situation.

An early morning photo with Carrie on our way to the ferry terminal.

On the way back to Skagway, I found my friend Brittany, from Fairbanks, on the ferry and got to catch up with her! What a small world this big state is. Well, I don't think it's just this state after all of my run-ins this summer with old friends and acquaintances, but I sure love to run into friends in random places!
Skagway on a clear day. I'm not sure I want to go back because I'll just be disappointed that the weather blows next time. It was a fun week. Now it's time to start the 'real world' or so they tell me.. and to readjust to a semi-new life!