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FRIDAY NIGHTERS
IN ALASKA

Sunday - Taku Glacier
by floatplane

Click on a photo for an enlargement


have always wanted to fly in a floatplane. All those years of piloting our own little Cessna and I'd never done that. Well, Wynne and I got another checkmark on our bucket lists and so did the rest in our party. It was a fantastic experience flying from beside our cruise ship to Taku Glacier where we landed on a lake and had a late lunch prepared by some of the natives of the area. The pilot was friendly and even posed with us for a photo.

Well be going down this ramp to board the yellow and white float plane

The planes that go to Taku Glacier

Taking off - we're in the yellow and white plane

That's us

Almost airborne

Up, Up, Get Up!

Yessssssss! We're on our way
Getting the camera ready

See all the happy faces - what fun!

Taking in the view

Mickie's smile says it all.

Our pilot was a seasoned local - but he says he didn't hang around for the winters.

This was a 12 seater - counting the pilot

Wynne would say later - "My knuckles never got white one time."
A view of Alaska from the air. Scenic where glacier meets green
More alaska
We flew the river
The glacier looks like it is flowing downhill - it is actually doing that but in very slow motion - takes a few centuries, actually. This is our first look at what a glacier looks like.
They call it calving.
A closer look at calving. More calving A very large glacier - stretches for miles
Here we are getting closer to Taku Getting closer Won't be long now and we'll be at Taku Glacier Lodge
Alaska Terrain Viewing the cutting effect of the glaciers over the many centuries This glacier looks like a river at first glance.
A view of Taku Glacier and the lake that we'll be landing on. Coming in for a landing - low over the grassy terrain now.. Others who have arrived before us from Juneau
A view from the Taku Lodge grounds - Taku Glacier is before us in the center of the photo. All the planes - boats and planes are the only way to get here and sometimes boats can't make it because of the ice. Our flying party and the pilot - he's the guy with the white beard.
  The best photo in the bunch taken by Kathy  
 
Next - Taku Glacier and The Lodge