Suspension bridge at Vancouver

Clicked some leaves against the sunlight in this rainforest.

The suspension bridge at Capilano is in this rainforest and it is one of the tourist attractions of Vancouver.

The video gives you an idea about the height of the bridge from the river bed. If you are prone to motion sickness or have fear of heights, then be warned that it can sway quite a bit with a crowd on the bridge.

The bridge was originally made of hemp ropes and cedar planks.
Some of the tools used in those days to put up the bridge.

There are more smaller bridges connecting the treetops.

There is a Cliffwalk which is the latest addition around the place.

Noticed a tree while walking on the cliff walk. The angle that it has taken while growing.

Nature has its own way to find the sunlight especially in a rainforest where trees are dense.

I spotted a solitary owl on one of the tall trees and took some snaps. It being noon, the lighting was not favourable and it cast some sinister shadows on the owl's face.

It was our first experience traveling by Alaska Airlines to Vancouver and found the airline pretty good.

Talking of Vancouver port, it is considered to be one of the most beautiful ports in the world. Some of the old and the new co-exist on Burrard St. at Downtown.

Saw some trolley buses on the way from the airport. I remember this was in use in the late 60s in Bombay (now Mumbai)

Not far from Burrard St is the "Canada Place" conamed as "Komagata Maru Place" in honour of an incident when the Komagata Maru steamship (also known as Guru Nanak Jahaz) brought 376 Punjabis (337 Sikhs, 27 Muslims 12 Hindus) to Vancouver, most of whom were denied entry, detained for two months with lack of medical aid, food or water and then forced to return to India where many were killed by British authorities.

There are other pictures about the history of the place, displayed along the harbour, like how they cleared the big trees:

Saw some seaplanes (used for sightseeing) landing at the same location.

White Pass and Yukon Route

All these pictures won't do justice to what you actually see while travelling by the train.

The train takes you through picturesque snow capped mountains as you go higher.

The story of the Klondike Gold Rush is embedded in the ride.
The Seattle Post said "Gold Gold Gold." The newspaper reported that "sixty eight rich men on the steamer Portland arrived in Seattle with stacks of Yellow metal"
The news spread like wildfire in the middle of the depression and the country went gold crazy.

Imagine the difficulty they faced about 100 years ago when trying to cross the Chilkoot trail.

Or the conditions in which they built this bridge.

With temperatures as low as -40 and the wind speed as high as 80 miles per hour, with precious few hours of daylight available, and hanging on this bridge by rope, they had to rotate every 45 minutes in and out of warmth to stay alive.
This bridge is part of the reason why the White Pass was designated as an international historic civil engineering landmark.
It is an honour that the White Pass shares with other engineering marvels like the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel tower and the Panama Canal.
The conductors look sharp in their smart uniform.

The tour guides kept updating us on the important points as we passed them like the black cross.
In August 1898 a blasting accident buried two railroad workers under a 500 ton granite stone. The black cross marks their resting place.

While on the train, you can see other meter gauge trains running on similar routes far away (seeing them in the video gives a better effect of motion)

The bridge which you see in the picture below was in use till 1969 and was considered the tallest cantilever bridge in the world at that time.

We had four stops while on the cruise. Had written about Endicott Arm in the previous blog

Endicott Arm (Alaska)

Managed to get a picture of a whale near Endicott Arm (in Alaska) and that too just the tail and the back.

This could be a Grey whale or Minke whale. Minke whales are seen in Alaskan waters throughout the year but mostly from May to September. These smaller whales are known for their curious and playful behavior, often approaching boats to investigate.
Endicott Arm is a stunning 30 mile long fjord in Alaska

Being close to the glaciers is an exhilarating experience. You can see chunks of them in different shapes floating away from the main glacier.

It is an additional bonus to see Seals and sea lions sunbathing and having a free ride on these chunks of ice.

I was lucky to get three of them in one frame.

The waterline in the one below has changed, probably because one side of the chunk melted more causing the Cg to shift. You can see part of the captain's bridge (port side)

The water flowing on the glacier looks clear and good enough to be tasted.

Glaciers can erode and carve rocks giving the mountains a different look. Here is a close up of one.

All these pictures were clicked from the deck of the ship.
View of the snow capped mountains with a part of the captain's bridge (starboard side)

Here is another glacier (Mendenhall glacier) about 12 miles from Juneau downtown. This is situated about 50 miles northwest of Endicott Arm.

Juneau is the capital of Alaska. More on Juneau in the next blog.