One of the reasons for the big gap in posting around here this summer was because during the first half of August, we were off cruising the inside passage of the Alaskan panhandle. Although I’m not a fan of large cruise ships (and the time trapped “at sea”), the scenery was spectacular as advertised.

Below are a few of my favorite shots, and more are in this gallery. I have some 360° images still to be posted.

We sailed out of San Francisco and under the Golden Gate Bridge, but just barely since this is a huge ship.

Creek Street in Ketchikan. All of the small towns in which we docked had a Disney-esque tourist feel to them. This felt more genuinely historic than the others.

Most of the back half of the trip was spent under cold, gray skies. That still made for some interesting images, like these very low hanging clouds around the Mendenhall Glacier near Juneau.

One of many incredible views as the ship cruised up the Tracy Arm fjord. Huge mountains with long waterfalls, magical clouds, and, not seen in this shot, large chucks of ice in the water.

I just found it amusing that, while observing some absolutely spectacular natural beauty, passengers could still buy their expensive coffee from that cart in the lower right.