Birthday Celebration in Juneau

Today is my birthday, I'm 64 today. It is overcast and drizzling again today. Seems to be the norm for this trip. However, I have a tour to go see the Mendenhall Glacier and a whale watching trip. One of the ladies from the solo traveler's group is going to head out with me. Teresa, who lives in Peterborough, meets me for breakfast, and then we head off.
Juneau is a booming metropolis with 31,500 people in residents. Alaska itself only has 741,000 people living there. Juneau is so big that it actually has a Costco! It is also only 8 miles from Canada.
Our tour leaves at 11AM. We have some time, so we walk the main drag. There are plenty of shops here and I think the ratio is 2 jewelry stores to one souvenirs store. I do get a couple of Christmas decorations and a hoodie.
We pick up the bus and head to Mendenhall Glacier. There are several trails, and we pick the lookout point. Here we see the glacier and a nice waterfall. I also spot a juvenile bald eagle in a tree. They don't get their white feathers until they are around years old. We have about an hour to explore before the bus picks us up to go to the harbour.
Once on board, we head out to find some whales! The weather isn't the greatest, but that is out of our control. Out on the water, the wind and rain make it much cooler. Even with double layers, hat, scarf, etc, it is still cold. We do start to see water spouts from the whales blow. We head over and see some of them crest the water. These are grey whales. Some of the mom's even have their babies. We do see on tail fin, but it is slim pickings today.

Teresa invites me to one of the specialty restaurants o board for a birthday dinner. Teresa has dinner passes to use up. We went to the French restaurant called La Bistro. I have the French onion soup and the lamb chops. (I got food pics this time) we have a nice bottle of wine and she managed to get a birthday cake in there as well. It was so nice of her to through all this trouble for someone she had just met.

It has been a full day, so it's time for bed. I have excursions for the next two days as well, so stay tuned.Les mer