Juneau

We docked at Juneau about 9:00 this morning. Breakfast was delivered to our room about 7:45. We disembarked at 9:30 for our excursion to the Mendenhall gardens and glacier tour. We are one of five cruise ships currently at port, increasing the population by 50%. We are also the tallest structures in town. Juneau is only accessible by sea or air, a dubious distinction for a state capital. It probably also has the ugliest state capital in the most beautiful setting.

We had breakfast delivered to our suite, which I could get used to. We had booked an excursion for today: Mendenhall Gardens and Glacier. It left the pier at 9:45. We toured the Gardens for about 90 minutes. The guides were very good. The Gardens were apparently the work of one man who desired to clean up the area after a mud-slide in the early '80's . They were unusual as well as beautiful. The top of the mountain afforded a nice view of Juneau, but it was loud as it was directly over the airport. This it had in common with the port. A popular way to see the ice field is by air, so there is a constant sound of either sea-planes or helicopters taking off and landing.

There are eagles everywhere, so the eagle sighting tour would have been a real waste. . We returned through part of the Tongass national park. The concept of a temperate rain forest is interesting. This is the second largest rain forest in the world after the Amazon. Snow and rainforest doesn't seem to go together, but this one runs from South of Ketchikan to North of Skagway. The variety of flowers is amazing.

The Mendenhall Glacier was no less intriguing. The National Park Service has a visitor center and it is very informative. We didn't have too much time there. We were on the geriatric tour, so most people didn't explore much. Lois and I were the last ones back on the bus.

It started to sprinkle as we returned to the dock at about 2:00. We hit a couple of stores, but they were just a carbon copy of those in Ketchikan. It seems that if you want to invest in jewelry, this is a good place to come, since it is duty free. However, if you don't it is just a tourist trap. But all of the store people are friendly and there is not hard sell.

We grabed a burger in the snack bar for a late lunch then grabbed a nap. Afgter our nap we went to the crows nest, the bar top deck forward. Great view of the town, comfy chairs and snack brought to your table. We tried the Alaskan Amber Ale, which was very good.

We are opting for a late, late dinner tonight because we want to se the Filipino show which starts at 11:00 pm. The staff here doesn't seem to get to rest, even though they say they do. You often see the same people both at lunch and dinner. The restarant host did say he did go into Ketchikan to send e-mail.

The featured chef for tonight is Charlie Trotter. I started with the Captain's Antipasto Plate and Lois with the Glacier Bay Seafood Cake. I followed this will a Chilled Apricot Soup with a meringue "snow egg". Lois thad the salad. For the entrée Lois had the Crispy Sweet and Sour Shrimp and I had the Veal Chop. Lois had the Schokolade Tasche for dessert and I just had the cheese plate. All was good as usual.

As luck would have it we were seated next to the beasty child and her ignore "if looks could kill stares of fellow passengers" parents. After the first several screams and pounding on the table and hitting the plates with her plates, we asked to move. There was a barrier of empty tables surrounding her. The offending parents and their child from hell have the suite several doors down. We no longer look for our room number, we just listen for the screaming.

de

 

Posted with Blogsy