Juneau, our first port of call

After our first day cruising, we did get that cruising is all about and almost only about good eats. The three of us are eating constantly, since food is right at your fingertips, free and so tasty. You think you could get tired of eating but no: they change and rotate the food so quickly that temptation to try new things is always around the corner. The good news that the Captain shared with us (and we decided to totally believe him on that one), is that when you leave the cruise and put on back the clothes you had when you arrived,they may feel a little tighter. This is absolutely not because you gained weight but only because it has been proven that the salt water air shrinks fabric:) Anyways, despite this accurate statement, we decided we would try to get some exercise today.

On land, in the state capital of Alaska

As we were sailing towards Juneau, the water had finally calmed down. Our first night on the ship was so peaceful. The second night was quite the opposite: rocking boat, cracking noises in the cabin and just a lack of stability wherever you were walking or sitting. That morning, all the furry of the ocean had vanished. It was flat but the weather was ever changing along our route: within one hour, we had rain, a rainbow, sun, clouds and rain again. Even the captain could not really tell us what to expect in Juneau. As we secured onto shore, looks like we would not have rain. We left the ship, like a huge cattle range, all aligned to set our feet back on firm ground. Th three of us left the herd quickly, determined to make our own program and stroll in town incognito. We found the town bus and after a little investigation, took the right bus that would take us to the Mendenhall Glacier, 12 miles outside of town. The bus diver was a big help to get us on the right track as he dropped us off 1.5 miles from the park entrance.
We walked the rest of the way to the Visitor center and finally to the Glacier's lake, where only a few minutes after our arrival, a black bear and her cub walked to the river. This was also the first sight for Stanley of a glacier, and even Caroline and Chad were impressed by it: looks like you can't get tired of the beauty and diversity of the Alaskan Glaciers.

Hiking through the rain forest

The area around Juneau is covered with a rain forest, a tempered one and not a tropical one. We were unsure about what it looks like: was it going to be like the Amazon forest? Odd to think that there is a rain forest here, where it never gets that warm and where you get a lot of snowfall. we started hiking the East Glacier trail and immediately, we were surrounded by deep green: the moss covered ground and rocks were providing a luscious pillow for the tall Sitlka pine trees, angel hair (a sort of local Spanish moss) hanging down their limbs. As we were walking on the trail, the sound of dripping water caught our attention: lots of small to bigger waterfalls were all along the path. We crossed quite a few wooden bridges that revealed lovely streams with moss covered rocks.

Also, we saw a lots of different mushrooms, from all sizes and shapes: some looked so tasty and some other quite scary, like this purple "door knob" variety. Too bad none of us had a clue as to which ones could be eatable: we certainly could have had a feast back on the ship. As we continue up on the trail, we could see the glacier through the trees and finally reached the main falls, which marked the half point of the loop trail. The raging sound of the water forced us to speak out louder as we were commenting on our surrounding. Even the bear bell that we were wearing (check out Chad's left shoe) to let the bears know we were here was not to be heard anymore. Finally, we started our descent through steep wooden stairs built along the steep mountain; as this was an old mining area, we spot along the trails remains of mining tracks and equipments, now partly hidden by the lush moss. We felt so remote from the cruising crowds and the bustling downtown area, enjoying the natural beauty of the Alaskan rain forest.

We walked back towards the main road, in order to catch the bus back. Looks like we just missed the 6:30pm and since we had to wait an hour till the next one, we decided to try hitch hiking, and test out if Alaskans were as nice as we had experienced before. Having no luck for the first 20 minutes, we were about to give up but then Chad's charm finally worked and a couple stopped. They had moved here a year ago from Maryland and would be happy to give us a lift to town. Along the drive, they told us a few things that we should definitively check out in town like the Governor's mansion, which we did. We finished the day with a well-deserved beer at the famous Red Dog Saloon, where we had the locally brewed Alaskan White and an Amber. This had been quite an active day and I am sure we were roughing it up quite a notch compared to our fellow cruisers.