Alaska Cruise - Part 2

Dear Friends:

This is the second post about our cruise to Alaska.  If you want to read the previous post, click here.

Today, the ship docked in Juneau - the capitol of Alaska.  It certainly isn't a big town, and nowhere near the size of Anchorage.  However, it had more to it than most of the other ports.  It was, as you would expect, simply gorgeous.  This is the incredible view from our room, as we docked:

Our big planned adventure for the day was to go whale-watching.  We climbed aboard a smaller catamaran, and headed out to the Inside Passage via Auke Bay.  The water was absolutely smooth...very little waves.  It made for an easy trip, especially for anyone that gets sea-sick.  The view from the boat was just as amazing as the cruise ship.  Huge mountains all around.  Here's just a sample of the view from the deck of the catamaran:

While on board, the tour people offered some donut holes, for those that were hungry.  I tried to hide mine, but I don't think it worked:

What donut?

While the ship's captain moved to several different places to find any whales, we just enjoyed the snow-capped mountains, set against the beautiful water:

We spotted some whale spouts.  This is what a whale watching tour looks like - everyone standing on deck with their cameras in a constant state of readiness:

We came up on a buoy, and found a few sea lions perched on top.  Apparently, they're quite territorial, so we didn't get too close:

We found a calf that was rising for air on a pretty regular basis.  We stayed quiet and got close enough to shoot this:

Again, when not watching for the calf or its mother, we just enjoyed the view...

Calm water

At one point, the mother and the calf started rising together - it was awesome to see then in tandem:

Just after this last video was shot, the baby breached the surface in the most amazing jump I've ever seen while whale watching in Alaska, Hawaii or California.  Sadly, we don't have any pictures or video, but it's something we won't ever forget!

Once off the ship, we were hungry for lunch.  We heard about this awesome seafood restaurant called Tracy's King Crab Shack.  It's well known, as it sits right on the dock, near where the cruise ships were docked.  I had some awesome King Crab - check out the size of the legs:

My sister had snow crab - or what I would call Mutant Snow Crab.  Seriously...those legs are huge!

We did a little bit of shopping - my wife found a Christmas-themed store that sold Russian dolls and Santas.  She loves these, ever since she toured Russia as part of BYU's Young Ambassadors performance group.  While most of the carved statues were much to expensive, she found that she really liked.  It's so fun to see her happy like that ; )

With extra time in the afternoon, we decided to take a tram from sea level to the top of the nearest mountain.  I'm really glad we did, as the views were incredible.

Here are some of the pictures taken from the tower at the very top of the Mount Roberts tramway:

That's our little boat - the Coral Princess

At the top, they had a nature center, where they have rescued a bald eagle.  She's 40 years old, but still amazing to see up-close:

In addition to the tram facilities, there were a series of hiking trails that took you all over the mountain.  I managed to convince everyone to hike around the mountain - only a mile.  The views just got better and better.  I'm so glad we went on the hike.  I wish we could have gone further, but I'm really glad for what we experienced:

This is a panorama shot, taken from a look-out point along the hiking trail.  It gives you a little more perspective on the size of Juneau, and then how it's tucked into the mountains:

On our way back to the ship, we passed by the giant tree with about six bald eagles, sitting on various branches.  I'm sorry the picture isn't more clear - we were behind a fence, close to the ship:

While this far north, the sun stays in the sky even later than you would normally think.  It was still light out at 10pm, when we all sat on our balcony and just watched the amazing mountains roll by - as we departed Juneau for the next port:

We stayed up late, just talking.  It was such a fantastic conversation with fantastic people - the kind that you can't have over the phone.  It reminded me that I need to work even harder to make this kind of time with others in my family.

Thus ended a truly awesome day in Juneau!  The days just kept getting better and better!  Join me for the next post, as we stop in Skagway and have the best experience of the entire trip ; )