JUNEAU

SUNDAY, June 23 - Mighty Beings

We pulled into Juneau right on time, docking at 9:00. There were some clouds around, especially around the surrounding mountains. 

We were excited for our whale watching excursion booked independently with Harv and Marv's. I had asked for the early tour, but the earliest I could get was 11:30. It ended up working out great. 

Since we were up early (of course), we decided to walk around a bit before meeting our H&M contact back at our dock at 11:20. I had a BOGO coupon from the Toursaver book for the Mount Roberts Tramway, which is normally $31 per person. Once you have a ticket, it is good for as many trips as you would like that day, so we went up with the plan to go back up later in the afternoon if the weather completely cleared.

Even in the morning, the view was beautiful, and the circle nature trail at the top is gorgeous as well. It felt a little longer than the stated half mile, and there was still a small part that was covered with icy snow. But it's worth the effort, with great views.

Rhapsody of the Seas arriving:

View of the tour guide booths on our way back down:

We split a delicious chicken panini from a sandwich place beside the Alaska Shirt Company, right across the street from the tram, before heading back to meet our tour contact.

As instructed on the phone by Callie in the H&M office, we looked for a young man in an orange shirt holding a clipboard, right outside the security gate for our ship. We easily found him and chatted while we waited for the van to show up. Everything was very professional. We were soon on our way to pick up two couples from the Rhapsody, which was at the furthest dock.

Our driver acted as a tour guide on the drive to Auke Bay, where we would board our 6-passenger boat. Our captain was no grizzled Alaskan seafarer, but a 20 year-old blonde young woman wearing Chaco sandals and khakis - Jayleen, who is the daughter of "Marv" (real name Jay - Harv and Marv were middle school nicknames Jay and his friend called themselves). She was terrific!

The day was clearing, the water was calm, it was time to find some whales! Jayleen had already been out on one tour, and of course all the captains talk to each other about where the whales are "hanging out" on a particular day. Today it was Young Bay, so we headed that way. I'll let the pictures tell the story, but it was great! The only think I wasn't able to catch on camera was a breach, which we saw in the distance. But the bubble feeding was amazing!

It was such a gorgeous day, warm even out on the water, and calm and quiet until when we were waiting for whales to appear.

All too soon it was time to head back in.

After we got back to the dock, we boarded a van to be dropped off for a quick visit to Mendenhall Glacier. There is a self-guided tour, which we would have enjoyed, but we decided to just take the H&M shuttle. We would have just waited and paid for the local shuttle if we had not visited Matanuska and Exit Glaciers earlier in the trip, but there were a few things we wanted to do downtown. The views are nice even from near the visitors' center:

Our shuttle driver picked us up after about 20 minutes, and we asked her if she could drop us off at the Alaska State Museum. She was happy to do so, as it is on the way back to the docks. We enjoyed our visit; there are some fascinating exhibits. I had to take a pic of this abacus in honor of our son, who is finishing his teaching degree in math and even has a dog named Abacus:

After the museum we were quite hungry and pulled out our downtown map to help hunt for the alley where this amazing place - Tracy's King Crab Shack - is located:

Crab legs, bisque, and beer. Alaskan beer, of course. Life is good indeed.

Aw, isn't Bruce a good sport?

After that delicious detour we walked through town and then went back up on the tram, showing our handstamps from earlier in the day, to take some photos and see the views on this beautiful clear evening.

Inside the tram car:

I always enjoy watching the docking process for these huge cruise ships.

We were back on board by about 7, and we had a snack in the Windjammer before watching sailaway from our balcony at 9. Another amazing day in the Last Frontier!

LINKS INCLUDED ON THIS PAGE:

Harv & Marv's
Mount Roberts Tramway
Mendenhall Glacier
Mendenhall Self-Guided Tour
Downtown Juneau Map
Alaska State Museum
Tracy's Crab Shack