Juneau and Mendenhall Glacier

After a wild, stormy night we awoke in cool, calm Juneau. When we docked there we’re already two other boats in town. Two more arrived later and Juneau was packed by lunchtime. After a short shuttle ride from the pier to downtown, we found a taxi that would take us to Mendenhall Park for $45. Another couple nearby also wanted to go to the park and so we split the fare, making it a very economical $9 per person each way.

While at the park we hiked a mile to Nugget Falls and a great view of the namesake glacier.

The glacier had calved earlier in the day, leaving that dark blue spot of freshly exposed ice.

After returning to the visitor’s center Elizabeth and I took a short trip down steps trail to see some salmon, both living and dead. At 12:30 we returned to the taxi stand to catch our ride back downtown, which had filled considerably since the morning. For lunch we went to a lesser known beer pub, Devil’s Club and had some excellent local brew with our lunch.

In the evening we finally got to the dining room all together on time for the first time. The crowds from the first few days had nearly evaporated and we were out in time to see the 7:30 showing at the Princess theater. After the show we went to the mid-ship piazza to listen again to the string duet we had heard a few days before.