Alaska 2008: Day 4 (Juneau)

On day 4 of our cruise, we stopped in Juneau. My folks went off on a whale
watching / glacier trip early in the morning, and my excursion wasn’t until
the afternoon, so I was on my own for a change. I took a tram to the top of
Mt. Roberts, walked around the town, ate lunch, and then it was time for my
"Photo Safari". We took a special boat designed for photographers out into
the inlets surrounding Juneau. After that, we had a land portion near the Mendenhall
Glacier.

Needless to say, lots of photos were taken — and you can see my favorites
after the link.

Morning view from our balcony

My first activity was taking this tram to the top of Mt. Roberts

It’s a pretty expensive trip up the mountain. The view is nice,
but I’m not sure if it’s $25 nice.

A more zoomed-out view of Juneau

There was so much snow at the top that you couldn’t hike very far

Cool stuff growing on this tree

Back at sea level, I walked past the Westerdam, which is larger than our ship,
and similar to the Noordam that I sailed on two years ago

Here’s our ship

Downtown Juneau

Definitely an old city

An old Russian Orthodox church

The State Capitol building is sort of underwhelming

I like the statue though

Now, onto the Photo Safari by Land and Sea!

We saw quite a few humpback whales, but no orcas

The tail on this one looks pretty beat up

Lighthouse

There’s lots of action at this buoy

Getting up onto the buoy isn’t particularly easy

My thoughts exactly

A sea otter, a fairly uncommon sighting in these waters

A good lookout spot

The Alaska Marine Highway

A salmon stream near Mendenhall Glacier

Lupine, I think

More cool stuff growing on a tree

Mendenhall Glacier

Love the blue ice

A panoramic view of the glacier (view larger)

Next up: Skagway and a trip on the White Pass & Yukon Railroad!