Alaska - Day 5, Juneau & Mendenhall Glacier

Thursday, September 25

Weather: Mid 50'sF

Windy, drizzly, rainy. A gray day. The sun did try to break through the thick clouds today, but not very hard.

Arriving in Juneau

We had breakfast in our room this morning, since our bus was leaving so early. After a brief heart attack when my husband's room key went missing (you can't leave the ship without it) five minutes before we were to disembark, we located our tour bus and were on our way to Mendenhall Glacier.

Mendenhall Glacier

It looked just like in the pictures! Imagine that! And there was a spectacular waterfall next to it that was spraying mist all over. We did all the walking we had time for (two hours), going all the way to the falls and back, then visiting the visitor center (small, but very nice and quite informative). There's a map of the ice fields on the wall at the center. It's miles and miles with many glacier arms, and Mendenhall is just a tiny part of it. A small dot. I was impressed. Some of the glaciers are receding, but some are growing. I was heartened to learn that.

We thought it was surely a
decoy, until it ruffled its feathers!

We saw very few wildflowers on our walk, as it was too late in the season. There was some fall color, mainly the yellow variety, to make up for the shortage of flowers. Very pretty. We had hoped to see bears here, but no. Not this time. We did, however, see a couple of bald eagles. One of them was hitching a ride on a little iceberg that had broken away from the glacier. I don't know why I thought that was fascinating, but I did.

Here we are, close to the visitor center.
You can see it's quite a walk to that
waterfall, but it's paved, mostly flat,
and easy.

What a gorgeous spot it was. I became rather nostalgic for Glacier Park and Waterton Lakes and Banff and Jasper. I had hoped to go camping there this summer, but that didn't happen. I am wondering what camping would be like at this stage of the game, actually, with my husband's memory issues. Ah, well. I need to figure out how to best deal with the ever-changing situation. Keep calm and carry on, as they say.

The Red Dog Saloon. It was crowded!

After our tour, we returned to the ship for lunch, then walked downtown in the rain for a bit of shopping*, sightseeing, and a libation at the famous Red Dog Saloon, where we were treated to live music. 

Nice totem pole at the
Governor's Mansion.

We managed to find the Governor's Mansion, which is a very nice place with a small yard that's enclosed by a white picket fence. There's a small sign that reads, “Private garden. Please keep out.” It is a surprisingly unprivate house with quite open and rather inviting grounds. You almost get the impression that if you rang the doorbell, you'd be invited inside. Almost. The neighborhood seems like an ordinary sort of place where you'd feel perfectly comfortable taking your dog for a stroll. If your dog likes to walk in the rain, which mine doesn't.

Scenic Juneau, even in the rain.

Juneau, on the Gastineau Channel in the Alaskan panhandle, is the capital of Alaska. Our tour guide had mentioned that Juneau's State Capitol Building was voted 50^th most beautiful in the whole country! For those of you not from the United States, please note that there are only 50 State Capitol Buildings in the United States. And I hate to say it; but, yes, it's very plain indeed.

The wind was blowing a gale as we returned to the ship in a drizzle. I'd begun to wonder why we'd brought our ski shells. Today, I figured it out! We stayed warm and dry with our layers on, and the gloves were most welcome against the chill wind, too.

I could have used this shot of the
welcome sign at the top, eh?
But I didn't. 

We attended a fascinating presentation on board in the afternoon. Libby Riddles, the first woman to win the Iditarod (coming up on March 7 this year), spoke about the preparation, dedication, and mental toughness required to participate in the race. Wow. I have quite an imagination, but I can't even imagine giving that a try. And I am pretty well convinced that I don't have what it takes to be a frontier woman. At least, not any more. But she sure does!

Tonight's dinner: We both enjoyed the sea scallop ceviche. For our next course, I had celery and apple cider cream (cold) soup, and Harry had lamb broth with barley. For our main course, he had beef fajitas that he really liked. I had perfectly prepared grilled orange roughy on a bed of creamed leek with carrots and potato. Guess what we had for dessert?

The show this evening was a salute to Motown by the singers and dancers, “Motor City,” and it was very good. We had planned to go dancing for a bit, but we decided to turn in. We have another early day tomorrow in Skagway. We're going on a train ride to the Yukon!

*Shopping has been interesting so far, and the rescheduling of our itinerary has inconvenienced lots of people besides those on the ship. Yesterday, in Ketchikan, the shopkeepers were rushing to open up for us, since they weren't expecting us until later in the week. “You weren't supposed to be here yet.” Quite a few of the shops didn't bother, and more than one was attended by staff who had just rolled out of bed and were clearly suffering from whatever late-night activities they'd indulged in the night before. Today, in Juneau, we heard, “You were supposed to be here yesterday.” Would have been if I could, my friend! Lots of the shops had already packed up and stayed closed, which probably saved me and others a bunch of cash. So, thank you!

I love this shot of my husband making his way down the path.

Alaska - Day 4, Ketchikan

Wednesday, September 24

Weather: High 50's

Misty, drizzly, sunny, rainy – You name it

Arriving in Ketchikan,
early in the misty morning.

I awoke as the ship was approaching Ketchikan, ahead of the alarm I had set. I was excited to be here, and I didn't want to waste a moment of this much-anticipated stop. I once worked with a young woman who was from Ketchikan and was very curious to experience what she'd described to me. The mist was hanging on and between the mountains. It was drizzling, but it was easy to see what a beautiful spot this is. The water was like glass, the mountains that I could see were thickly blanketed with trees. It was very green. 

You walk off the ship, and there you are.

It rains a lot in Ketchikan, and rain is such a welcome thing to me right now, as we are having a drought emergency in California. Wouldn't it be fabulous if a method could be found to ship this water back home? But not in little plastic bottles.

We stood on the little bridge
for quite a while, watching the
salmon make their way upstream.
I managed a shot of one as it
leapt out of the water.
Not bad for a point-and-shoot!

In Ketchikan, you get off the ship, and there you are. No need for taxis and such if you are just planning to hang around town, which we were. We did a walk-about today, taking photos of totem poles and the local sights for what seemed like hours. The streams were rushing and full of spawning (and dying) salmon. The smell was a little unfortunate, but that's nature. They spawn, then they die. Kinda sad, actually. The gulls were happy, though, and having a feeding frenzy.

Totem poles abound.

Down by Creek Street, where the “shady” ladies used to ply their trade (I am taking the liberty of assuming here that this no longer happens, but I could definitely be wrong about that), there were salmon carcasses and piles of roe everywhere on the banks of the creek.

We did some shopping, and all the standing and walking and waiting did my husband in a bit. I need to keep in mind that the illness causes disorientation and rapid mood swings. It really isn't helpful at all if I'm impatient or otherwise inattentive to his increasing needs. Mostly, though, it was fine. Especially in retrospect. While hours of shopping used to be a wonderful diversion for him, half an hour now seems interminable. Funny. Half an hour of shopping has felt that way to me for ages!

Where the shady ladies used to hang out. Shops now.
At least, that's the story...

We made our way back to the ship at noon to have lunch, after which we went down to the Piazza to have some more of those heavenly meringues. But there weren't any today! As crushing disappointments go, it was a relatively minor one. But, still. I was so looking forward to that burst of flavor.

As the ship was due to leave at 2 p.m. anyway, we decided to take a nap. Harry slept for over two hours, and then he was cranky because I didn't have an activity scheduled. Note to self: Schedule, schedule, schedule. You can always cancel, cancel, cancel!

When a town is built on a
mountainside, sometimes
the streets are actually just
stairs. First time seeing this!

We watched for whales from our balcony as we sailed away. The mountains were heavily shrouded in mist and obscured by rain. I was very much reminded of our trips to British Columbia. The scenery must be stunningly splendid when it isn't a dark, gray day, because it was lovely anyway.

Everyone came to dinner tonight, and we sang “Happy Birthday” to Mark. He's 21 now (cough, cough)! Judy was feeling much better and looked gorgeous. No wonder he likes her! They took a flying excursion to Misty Fjords, which they said was great.

Here's what we ate for dinner: We both had the tempura sushi, which was like a deep-fried California Roll and was served chilled. We both enjoyed the cream of garlic soup. And also the coconut soup with lychee, because who can decide? The good news is, you don't have to. You can have both. Huzzah! On to the entrée, which was roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, and potatoes. Delicious. And for dessert, see if you can guess what my husband had? Give up? Crème brulée. I had Drambuie soufflée with pear sauce. Divine. I know!

Look! The sun came out!

Tonight's show featured hypnotist Matthew Fallon. It was highly entertaining, and we ran into one of the participants later in the evening. Her husband and I were chatting (and chuckling) about some of the antics we'd witnessed. She had absolutely no idea what we were talking about. None. No memory of what had transpired at all, except just one part: She remembered feeling very hot (a hypnotic suggestion). I reassured her and told her that it was all in good fun, and she'd done nothing to be embarrassed about. Much.

The Adagio Strings (three violins and a cello) were playing in the Vista Lounge to a packed and appreciative house. These beautiful young women from Ukraine are spectacular musicians. The second heat of Princess Pop Star followed, and then it was time for bed.

Tomorrow morning, we'll be rising at 6:30 to allow plenty of time for waking up, getting ready, and eating breakfast. Our Juneau tour to Mendenhall Glacier had originally been scheduled at a leisurely 2:30 p.m., but the change in itinerary now means we have to be dockside by 7:50 a.m. My gratitude to the Longshoremen increases daily. But we're having a wonderful time in spite of it all. So far, Alaska is fabulous!

Downtown Ketchikan

By the way, Tom Sheridan has a website called "Tom's Port Guides." If you're going on a cruise, be sure to check it to see if the ports you're visiting are included. You won't be sorry. Friends have thanked me for suggesting his site. You will, too. Here's the one for Ketchikan. Take a look, and you can follow his map to see where we wandered today.