A quick update before we head back on the ferry towards Haines. We spent the day exploring Juneau yesterday. We started by hiking in the Mendenhall glacier area.
This is definitely the highlight of Juneau, and where most of the cruise ship passengers go to explore. Unfortunately, you can't climb on the glacier itself (without a tour company), nor get close to it, because of the dangers involved with glaciers. As moving objects, glaciers frequently break apart or bump into things and create crevasses, and thus they aren't very secure. Hiking on them could actually result in you falling into a 10-story crevasse that is hidden by snow.
However, there was a nice 3.5 mile hike along the side of the glacier through the woods, so we did that and got some awesome views.
We also got to see some wildlife along the way.
This type of bird is actually a nuisance. We were once in a campground cleaning up, and this bird flew down and started pecking at Tammy's cereal. Needless to say, we were not thrilled to see it on the path, especially because it makes loud, obnoxious, threatening noises. But, we did snap a picture . . . and then scared it away.
After the hike, we went to the visitor center where Tammy learned all about glaciers. Her fact of the day comes from this visit. It is that while Mendenhall glacier is receding, it actually moves forward about a foot and a half a day. How is this possible? The face of the glacier is actually melting at a rate greater than the advance of the glacier down the valley. Interesting!
While in the visitor center, Steve also met up with Evan, a friend from law school who is on a cruise of Alaska for his bar trip. It was great getting to see HLS people out in Alaska, and we look forward to many more coming to visit us in Anchorage this year!
We then went into downtown Juneau for dinner.
This is cruise ship tourist central. We had a great Italian dinner and then went to the infamous Red Dog Saloon for a drink.
This bar has been around Juneau since the 1890s and contains a lot of fun memorabilia inside, including a gun allegedly left by Wyatt Earp as he was heading out of Juneau to Nome. You can learn more about this gun, and other treasures on the wall, simply by visiting their website: http://www.reddogsaloon.com/
We also got to try our first sip of Alaskan Brewery in the Red Dog Saloon. We are REALLY looking forward to more of this awesome beer over the next year.
Finally, we drove back from town toward our campsite, where we got another beautiful sunset.
Now that we'll be living on the Pacific, we're looking forward to many more of these over the next few months.
That's all for now. Off to Haines, back into Canada, Tok, and then Anchorage! Almost there!
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