Juneau, Day 2

Juneau, Alaska Day 2

So glad we arranged the extra day to explore this area! We walked the cruise docks, where all the shops are having sales because this week marks the end of the cruising season and the start of cold and snow. Oddly, a major king crab processing plant is wedged in among the ships loading tractor trailer trucks with frozen crab legs destined for your local Costco. However, there are no roads into or out of Juneau, which is surrounded by saltwater and ice fields. They are driven onto barges for the three day trip to Seattle; flying is the only other way out.

We took a trolley tour to the 370 ft Nugget Falls outflow by Mendenhall Glacier which has been shrinking for over 100 years. The generous two hours there allowed us to hike all three trails and the visitor center. Every few blocks you see a Bald Eagle sitting atop a street lamp.

We had a great dinner at the Harbor Docks, which was and is the float plane dock. Alaska Airlines was founded by local float plane bush pilots. Juneau is the location of one of the extremely few documented instances of an aircraft fishstrike, which occurred on March 31 when a bald eagle carrying a salmon in its claws was shocked into dropping it while gaining altitude. The pilots were surprised, but carried on. The incident made national news on April Fools Day.

The downtown Red Dog Saloon dates back to goldrush days, where marshals collected guns before one could dine. Wyatt Earp was miffed, especially because when he finished drinking around sunrise (a man after my own heart) the marshalls were off duty and he had to abandon his gun, which is still on display above the bar.

The Alaska State Museum was very interesting, with a fascinating emphasis on the ethnic first peoples lives. A coach took us and our pre-loaded luggage to the ship for lunch and the initial briefings. We had the least luggage of the 90 cabins (hey, there's free laundry machines and pods on board).Read more