Day 4 - Juneau, Alaska

I woke up at 6AM Monday morning

to do some whale watching.

There were some but not as many this morning.

They were probably sleeping in I guess.

We arrived in Juneau in wet drizzly weather.

But in Alaska rain doesn't stop any activities

except maybe helicopter rides.

Our first shore excursion was a tour of the town

where they took us down "THE" highway to

"THE" bridge and over to Douglas Island

to a lookout where we could see

Juneau from across the way.

Then we returned to town

where we went up this tram to take a hike.

We saw several eagles

but this is the only one I got a picture of -

probably because he was caged.

He had an injured eye and they

couldn't let him go free

for his own safety.

The hike was fun - although wet and muddy.

Our guide was often tramping into the

woods to bring us back various berries to try.

This 'other' cruise ship is actually

anchored in the middle of the water.

Their passengers had to be ferried

back and forth to the ship.

Another view of our tram ride.

This is the only bear we actually saw. :)

But we were always on the lookout.

Later that afternoon we took another

shore excursion to

Mendenhall Glacier.

It's hard to realize the size of the glacier.

I know it doesn't look so big but

besides the people in the middle of the picture,

there are people standing just

to the right of the glacier

that are difficult to pick out.

This is the lichen that grows as the glacier recedes.

It fertilizes the ground.

The flower is poisonous but I've forgotten it's name.

Also at the glacier there was a trail which

we only had time to go

a short way on or get left by the bus.

There was a mother and baby bear in the area

coming down to the water for dinner

(the stream was full of salmon)

but we never caught sight of them.