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Juneau - Thursday, July 16
We docked in Juneau at about 7 AM.
Juneau
is the capitol of Alaska and is the only capitol city in the world
without any roads in or out of the city. The only access is by
air or by sea (or by dog sled, I suppose). It covers an area
almost as large as Rhode Island and Delaware combined, although its
population is only about 31,000. The town sits at sea level below
steep mountains reaching about 4000 feet. Atop these mountains
sits the Juneau Icefield, which is a large icefield feeding about 30
glaciers. The Mendanhall Glacier is the most famous and most
viewed of these, being only one of two accessable by road.
Juneau
grew with the statehood of Alaska in 1959 and then again after the
construction of the Alaska Pipeline in 1977. Cruise ship tourism
has increased from about 230,000 in 1990 to over a million today.
Although this is good for the local business, it does not
contribute much to the year round population. Juneau is the third
larges city in Alaska by population, trailing only Fairbanks and
Anchorage. By area, it is one of the largest cities in the world.
It is second largest in the US trailing only Sitka, Alaska.
It is the only US state capitol to border another country.
The eastern border is with Canada.
We are signed up for a combination excursion to the Mendenhall Glacier, a Salmon fishery and a Salmon bake dinner today.
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We are approaching the dock in Juneau.
The captain is using the stern thrusters to swing the rear of the
ship up to the dock.
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After docking, the ground crew uses forklifts to place the two gang planks, and in this case the stairways.
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Our tour bus took us on a tour of downtown Juneau on its way to the Mendenhall Glacier. |
The Mendenhall Glacier provides a striking
view. There are foot paths allowing you to hike right to the foot
of the glacier. We chose not to.
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Rosemarie waves to the camera wearing her brand new Alaska bought jacket. I bought a similar one, only mine is not pink!
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An interesting piece of ice was caught on the ground in shallow water by the shore.
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I took this picture by holding my camera up
to one of the high power spotting scopes the Visitor Center had set up.
It shows the texture of the glacier as though you were quite
close.
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To the right side of the glacier was a beautiful waterfall.
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As we boarded the bus, someone said a bear
had walked right through the crowd outside the Visitor Center. I
jumped off the bus and got this picture of him disappearing into the
shrubbery. Yes, that really is a bear!
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| On our ride from the glacier to the fish hatchery, we passed these bald eagles relaxing along the shores of the river. |
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At the fish hatchery, this boat was pulling
in a net full of Salmon. I am sure this had something to do with
the hatchery, as commercial fisherman would not be allowed in this
harbor. |
In one of the tanks where the Salmon grow, young fish are jumping, but cannot go anywhere.
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We next went to the Salmon bake. Dinner
was served buffet style, with the Salmon baked over this large grill.
Even though we had to wait for them to grill a new batch of fish,
everything was delicious. I think this was the best Salmon we had
the whole trip!
I failed to take any pictures until after
eating. By then most of the people had dissipated. It was
really crowded earlier. |
After being brought back by the bus, we did a
walking tour of downtown Juneau. This is a shot inside the famous
Red Dog Saloon.
The saloon is the oldest man-made tourist attraction in Juneau and was very popular during the mining days.
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Juneau is a very modern city with a completely different look from Ketchikan.
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| Back on the ship, Libby Riddles, the first
woman to win the Iditarod dog sled race gave a presentation about her
experiences. She won in 1985. |
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Libby is autographing a book Rosemarie bought
for her young nephew. The book, "Danger, the Dog Yard Cat" is a
children's story Libby wrote about her own cat, who is named Danger.. |
| The ship departed Juneau about 9 PM. The sun was still quite high and it was brighter than this picture shows. |
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