The next stop was Skagway, the highlight of the ports on the cruise. From Skagway we took a bus up to the Yukon Territory in Canada and boarded a train for the 53 mile trip back down to the city. It was an all-day trip and very enjoyable.

This is a view of one of two trains that go up and down the mountain. We are on the bus looking across a river.

This is the highway we used going up the mountain. This is an unusual bridge design. The cut in the rocks went down more than 100 feet.

This is the boarder between the US and Canada looking back into the US. The continental divide serves as the border, but it is so high in the mountains that the customs station is about 15 miles back down the mountain. Customs officers can't make it all the way up in the winter because of the depth of the snow.

Our first live bear! I was the only person on the bus to have the camera ready to shoot him. When we got to the next stop, the driver handed out my name and email address to everyone who wanted a photo. I sent about 10 out. This was a small black bear and as he/she went up the mountain on the run, we spotted the mother hiding in the bushes.

Bears are very quick and fleet of foot.

Alaska has 3,000,000 lakes. It is difficult to go more than 10 miles without seeing a large lake.

Leaving British Columbia and entering the Yukon. I looked for Sgt. Preston, but there was not enough snow for the huskies.

I was amazed at the different colors of the land everywhere we went. These hills were grey and black. We saw about every color one can imagine in the hills and mountains.

These lakes were carved by glaciers.