We arrived in Juneau. We got off the ship and purchased some bus tickets to the Mendenhall Glacier. The sky was overcast and it rained all day. Once at the glacier, we went to the visitor center with some great displays of glacier life and history. There was a lake at the bottom of the glacier and a big waterfall on the side. We were able to hike to the waterfall and get a little closer to the glacier, but it was a 3 mile hike around the mountain to get to the actual ice, and we didn’t hike that far.
On the drive back, we saw lots of bald eagles waiting for the salmon run. The eagles were bigger than what I thought and they were so full of thick feathers, it almost looked like fur. They appear next to the inlet about a day or two before the salmon appear, so the locals know that the salmon will arrive shortly when the eagles show up to wait.
We had lunch on the ship and then walked to a local coffee shop, the Silverbow, for a coffee and wifi. Then we went up the Mt. Roberts Tramway, which is a tram that hangs on a cable and seems to go directly up because it is such a steep climb. At the top, there is a visitor and nature center and some trails. We did a hike through the rainforest with lots of lush greenery. There was also a short movie about the Tlingit natives. After riding down the 1,850 feet, we were going to do some shopping, but Tim saw a friend getting on the tram so he quickly ran through the entrance since the tickets were for a day pass. He did another ride up and down while I hit some shops. The goods are all touristy type, so we didn’t find much to buy that we couldn’t get in Fresno.
We hit the high seas again this night, but fortunately it wasn’t as bad. Next stop: Sitka…
No comments:
Post a Comment