Juneau

Docking here in the capital city of Juneau was quite a change in scenery from where we have been this week, but a smorgasbord of activities awaited us. A high wind forecast did manage to cancel out two of our options, the zip line tour as well as the flight seeing, but still some good options prevailed.

Visiting the Mendenhall Glacier proved to be the highlight of the day for most, spotting a black bear with cubs up close! Most of us were able to observe her weaving in and out on a trail meandering near the visitor center, not minding people, with her two cubs in tow. One of the park rangers mentioned this was the third set of cubs that he had witnessed with this particular bear in the park, and perhaps having them here provides her with some protection from aggressive males.

Besides great viewing and photo ops of this trio going about their day, we also saw the mom manage to grab a salmon from the stream, another good reason for her to be in this area. The glacier is impressive in its own right, stretching 12 miles from the Juneau ice field to Mendenhall Lake. At its widest point, the glacier is more than 1.5 miles wide, with ice 100 to 1,800 ft. deep.

Tearing ourselves away from the bears, our next stop was the Alaska State Museum, one of the best museums in the state, with Native, mining, fishing and Russian displays, as well as traveling and cultural exhibits. The featured temporary show was of the native Yu’pik peoples who live in the central and western portions of Alaska.

A small group managed to do a hike from the ship, cruising through downtown Juneau to the edge of the city, picking up a trail that went along the old railroad bed and following Gold Creek back into town. Beautiful greenery of salmon and thimble berry bushes graced the trail, as a gentle intermittent rain highlighted the steep gray walls around us. Other highlights were an old mining ruin, cascading falls and a walk-by the governor’s house, a colonial style 35-room mansion complete with a totem pole outside, on our way back to the ship. There was ample time for shopping and just enjoying some down time, be it in a local pub, restaurant or staying on the ship.

A lively re-cap with a surprise guest—an old timer reminiscing about his life as a miner aka Linda Nicklin – and a sing-along about bears led by Bette Lu left us light-hearted as we sailed out of Juneau. Despite being surrounded by four of the big cruisers, we managed to have some good adventures in Juneau and wildlife viewing as well.