Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Alaska Cruise- Day 3

Most of the morning was spent making our way to Juneau. We were scheduled to arrive at 11 a.m. I wanted to get up early to see the ocean and the islands that we would be passing by. I got up at 5 a.m. and the sun was already up but it still created some great early morning shots. I saw a few porpoises  and a whale in those early hours. The mountains rising up from the ocean were majestic as we continued to make our way to Juneau. Eventually everyone got up. We went out on the seventh deck and watched as the ship passed by the mountains with their wisps of early morning fog.  











We finally made it to Juneau. We had traveled 1,009 miles form Seattle We watched as the ship pulled up to the port and looked at a bald eagle in a tree just beyond the dock area. As we were looking we heard a bang and then Cindy made a startled scream. It turned out that the deck below her fired a small rocket with a rope tied to it at the dock. The dock workers reeled it in and each rope was tied to a larger rope until the large rope that would hold the ship to the dock was brought in.






















We had lunch and then went to catch a bus to the Mendenhall Glacier. The normal fair is $16 round trip per person but we made a deal with the many vendors wanting your business for $13 per person. It saved us $30. The bus driver was a school bus driver from Boise who came up here on a whim. She was very funny and I become known as "10" because of the ten people in our group. We were dropped off and then started on the trail to the glacier.
















Mendenhall Glacier is 12 miles long and at the lake edge is 2000 feet wide and 70 feet tall. The blue color of the ice in the glacier is really beautiful.

 
Next to the glacier is Nugget Falls that is the end of the hiking trail. It is amazing how much water is pouring into the lake from the falls.









The lake has small icebergs in it that have broken off from the glacier.


















We had one final look at the glacier as we headed for our next adventure.
 Maddie and I went to do a zipline on Douglas Island which was across from Juneau. The other 8 went on a whale watching tour.




We went on a small boat across the channel and then were outfitted into our gear and then transported by this monster truck up a very steep hill to the zipline site.



The area is an old gold mine site that closed in the 1930's and is now naturally revegetated. Each zip line was from tree top to tree top.







We would land on a platform, worked our way around the deck high up in the tree and then did the next zipline. Only ten are taking on a tour at one time because of the platform size. The highest point was 180 feet above the ground. It really was a fun time.
























We also had two bridges we had to cross to get to some other trees. Once we reached the end of the course we had to be lowered down out of the tree.





It was then back across the bay to Juneau. 









Cindy and the rest of the other group were not back yet so Maddie and I walked around town.  There are some small alleys with tall stairways that lead to homes. I would hate to have to carry groceries to those houses.

It is really interesting to have a town and then waterfalls in the background. It really started to rain and Maddie and I wander stores until the rest of the group arrived at about 9 p.m. We then got on the ship, got something to eat, watched a show and then went to bed as the ship headed for our next destination. 


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