In Sarah Palin's backyard

Hi there gang- as we write this we truly are in Gov. Palin's backyard. And you CANNOT see Russia from here. Actually at this point all we can see are the 4 walls of the local library that sits behind her house. To add to the blog, we are using the free internet from every library on the Alaskan coast. Seriously, today has been a spectacular day. We disembarked in Juneau this morning early and headed to the Glacier Gardens. The flowers here compare to none we have ever seen. Alaska is a temperate rainforest which has the perfect climate and temperatures for growing flowers. The 20 hours of sunlight a day provide more than enough light to create beautiful full blooms.

After the gardens, we took a bus to the Mendenhall Glacier. It was phenomenal!! We hiked up the mountain to get the best view possible and then walked back down to the beach where we got a closer look at icebergs that had calved earlier this week. I don't know why Beth wouldn't just cross this tiny stream to get a chunk of glacier ice, but no- way too cold I guess. We did put our hands into it though and yep- it's cold!

Now we sit n Sarah's yard sending our thoughts to you. We also added a few of our 400 pictures to www.learninginalaska.shutterfly.com today. Please check them out and post a few comments.