Tuesday found us at our first port of Juneau. During the morning we all gathered in the Observation lounge to view the scenery. Having entered the inside passage, there was land on both sides of the ship and it was just beautiful. Periodically, someone would yell and everyone would get up and move over there. But we never actually saw anything, so if they were seeing whales or seeing otters or seeing us run over a kayaker we’ll never know.
We arrived in the afternoon and were planning to be off the ship by 3pm in order to pick up our rental SUV. We arranged to meet the tribe near the Internet Cafe, but when we tried to get down there, there was a line almost the entire length of the ship of people wanting to exit. We couldn’t even go down from the 7th floor to the 6th. Finally we were able to hook up, but it was a long line to exit the ship.
Even so, we still made it to our waiting car. Since there are no longer any car rental places at the port, I had rented a GMC Acadia from an individual who lives in Juneau through Turo, which is like an AirBNB, but with cars. I didn’t even know such existed until I read about it on Cruise Critic. I was very leery at first, but the car was right where it was supposed to be and was a very clean newer car with 3rd row seats. So we had plenty of room for the day, allowing us to do our own thing without having to take a ship’s tour.
First up, we headed straight for Mendenhall Glacier. When we arrived, it was pretty chilly with a light rain. The rain stopped on the walk to the photo lookout, where Jamie and I took some photos. Lizzie, Marge and Bob decided on the 1 mile hike to Nugget Falls. By the time they made it back to the car, Marge and Bob were pretty chilled through, but really enjoyed the hike.
Climate change has definitely hit the glacier. It is beautiful, but the amount it is receding is a shame. In fact, the fridge magnet I bought reads, “Mendenhall Glacier – it used to be bigger.” So that’s not a good thing.
After Mendenhall, we headed to the Alaskan Beer Company Tasting room, about halfway back to town. The local restaurant we had decided on for dinner was supposed to be right next door. Their website said dine in or carry out. As it turned out, the restaurant was actually a food truck and what they meant by “dine in” was that you could take your food into the tasting room. But the menu looked good and they had great reviews, so we went with it.
First, we went into the gift shop so that I could buy Gregg a t-shirt. The one he had from our cruise 10 years ago was starting to look pretty ragged. Lizzie also needed to buy a hoodie. With purchases made, we headed out to the food truck. But, as luck would have it, as soon as we started to place our orders, it started to lightly rain. I was up first so when my food came, I headed inside, while the rain continued to pick up. But finally everyone was seated in the warm tasting room, with beer, ciders or sodas to wash down what ended up being very excellent halibut fish and chips.
After our meal, we headed into Juneau to do some shopping. This included some peanut butter fudge for me and Lizzie, some chocolate goodies for the rest of the crew and some Juneau labeled items like our fridge magnet. I did wander into a shop for alpaca and sheep wool items. I saw a lovely, really expensive pair of hand warmers (fingerless gloves) and will probably regret not buying them.
The rain started to pick up so we decided to head back to the port and to the comfort of our ship. We left the SUV in the spot in which we found it and, thankfully, the rain let up just in time for us to make the short trek back to the ship. Since it was almost 9pm, we all decided to part company. Jamie and I ended up going back to our cabin to read a bit before bed. I, however, didn’t read a thing. I put on my jams and went straight to bed. It had been a really nice day. The scenery is just spectacular!
Tomorrow we’ll be headed for Skagway, where we’ll visit the town and then go meet some sled dogs up close and personal.
