This was from the Stephens Passage... going into Juneau. It takes hours to actually get through the passage into Juneau.
Greetings from somewhere between Juneau and Sitka Alaska. Its 1:20am boat time but 4:20am Missouri time. This is the time I some mornings. My schedule is wrecked. So at some point this morning I and looked out and saw mountains! The scenery was beautiful all day. Mountains, snow caps, and streams on both sides of the ship. I attended a 9am class on how to use your binoculars. It lasted about 30 minutes and had a couple of helpful tips. Our ship was docked in Juneau before 1pm. We took a excursion today (20 people) first to a small boat to go out and see the whales that frequent Juneau and next to a trail walk through the Tongass National Forest to see Mendenhall Glacier. The whale boat was small and it could really move (up to 40 knots). It was kinda fun getting out to the whale area. We saw 4 or 5 different whales in different spots with the last girl being fairly close to the boat (maybe 30 feet away). The whales travel between Hawaii and Alaska. They give birth in Hawaii. Lots of interesting info on the whales today. I probably took 50 pics
but Im trying to select just a few for this blog. On our way to the boat we saw a huge pod of bald eagles first we saw 2 or 3 then 4 or 5 sitting together and then at least 10 of them just perched out on the marshland together. We saw bald eagles and fat ravens throughout Juneau today. We were transferred to the Tongass National Forest and our guide (Phil) told us all about the local legends, trees, lichens, algae, moss, etc. It was somewhat interesting. Phil was telling various stories on the ride to the trailhead and at one point he asked if there were any questions and a little girl says Yes, I would like to know where is the best place to buy stickers and keychains in Juneau. ? Sooooo. my interest was at least quite a bit higher than some of the group. We learned they make beer from the spruce tree berries so we plan to try that in Sitka. Some people ate the berries off the spruce trees today and said they were sweet. We held a piece of iceberg ice in our hands as it had floated close
to the shoreline so our guide grabbed it for us to all hold. We saw a video of how the glacier has melted over the last 10 years. We had a good, long day. We got back onboard and ate a quick, small dinner and I fell asleep. Now its the middle of the night here and Im awake. We are three hours ahead of Missouri now.
My thoughts on Alaska so far... the landscape is beautiful but its not necessarily something you cant see in the Seattle area or even in the upper eastern part of the states by Bar Harbor, Maine or just north of that into Canada. So far, Im not in awe like so many people claim to be of Alaska. We shall see what the rest of the state holds. Also, the houses in Juneau look EXACTLY like the houses in the outlying towns around Seattle....EXACTLY.... except Juneau isnt as clean or as the Seattle area tends to be. Nothing is manicured and the side areas arent kept mowed or trimmed, etc. Also, they only get..... THIRTY DAYS OF SUN A YEAR!! Thirty days! No wonder they dont keep up with their lawns
