Juneau, Alaska (06-21-14)

Who knew that Juneau is in a rain forest?? Tongass National Forest, situated in southeast Alaska,  is the largest national forest in the U.S. and most of it is a rain forest.  I suppose we could have guessed by looking at the forecast.

As a state capital, Juneau probably ranks as one of the more difficult ones to get to. The only way to get there is by boat or by plane.  We took the ferry from Skagway.

The day we arrived was beautiful and the two and a half hour ferry ride was easy and uneventful.   This is the Juneau area.







Having seen the weather forecast we elected to take advantage of the nice weather to push on and go check out Mendenhall Glacier. The information about that will be in another post.

In our research of  things to do in Juneau, we found out about a small mining museum and decided that should be on our list of things to do on our second day- we figured if it was going to rain, we might as well be in a museum.  Except, much of this museum is outside.

Next on our agenda was a trip to the Red Dog Saloon, home to the Duck Fart- a shot that has Crown Royal, Baileys, and Kahlua.  Trying to get to the Red Dog was how we discovered that there are actually very few parking spots in Juneau that will fit us.  The only open one we found was a mile away, which meant….yup- a mile walk in the rain. 

We sure did feel like we deserved that drink, to warm us up! It was pretty good, and we enjoyed the live piano music while we ate our lunch.  These guys are good at getting people involved with the songs they are playing.

One of our adventures took us to Eagle Harbor, which is known for it’s concentration of Bald Eagles.  The salmon were jumping out of the water all over the place- plenty of Eagle food around!

We saw tons of Eagles- sometimes as many as a dozen in one tree! There were a lot of juveniles around as well, and for the first time, we got to see some courting, where a pair of eagles fly together, swooping apart and then together again.

The scenery itself was worth the drive out there- very dramatic and gorgeous.

The Alaskan Brewing Co. is located in Juneau and although I don’t feel compelled to visit every brewery I come across, I wanted to check this one out. I like their Alaskan White, which is similar to Blue Moon. 

They don’t give tours of the brewery itself but they do have a tasting tour where they talk about the history of the brewery and some of their beers. They are fairly unique in that they don’t have one master brewer, they have 7 brewers.  They also allow their employees to try their hand at making small batches of beer-called Rough Drafts.  If visitors like it, they make bigger and bigger batches.





There was plenty to keep us busy during our 5 days in Juneau.  We probably could have stayed longer but we wanted to book our return ferry when we booked the ferry to get there, so we guessed at how long we'd want to be there.

Tracy Arm Fjord (06-19-14)

We spent a fair amount of time researching potential day trips to take in Juneau, and the boat trip to Tracy Arm Fjord topped our list (not coincidentally it was at the top of Tripadvisor’s list too).

A fjord is a deep sea inlet, usually carved by glaciers. They are characterized by steep walls. We boarded the 56’ Captain Cook at the port in Juneau, at 7:45 AM for a 4 hour ride to get to the Tracy Arm Fjord. This will be an all day excursion.

Before we even left the harbor the captain stopped the boat when we all pointed to what we thought was a struggling Bald Eagle in the water.  We were sort of right.

The Bald Eagle was swimming! The captain explained that when an eagle swoops down and catches a fish, he will NOT let it go- not for any reason.  Even if the fish is too big for him to carry.  Instead, he will swim ashore with the fish in his talons. According to Steve, the captain, the eagle will drown before dropping its prey.  None of us had ever seen this behavior before.

Soon thereafter we stopped again- this time for a small group of three humpback whales. We saw a few tail flips but not much else.  They were pretty close to us though.

After a few more hours we made the turn into the fjord and saw our first iceberg. 

This one was a bonus because it had a Bald Eagle sitting atop it.

As we moved deeper into the fjord, more icebergs began appearing. I won’t lie, it was pretty exciting!

With steep walls surrounding us, there was no shortage of waterfalls.

The harbor seals were sunning themselves on the icebergs.

90% of an iceberg sits under the waterline, so maneuvering around them may not be as easy as it seems.

Soon there were so many icebergs  the captain slowed the boat to a crawl.

It seemed that we were surrounded by ice and harbor seals.  The seals come here to have their pups because Orcas don’t like icebergs so they don’t come looking for them here.

Sawyer Glacier was very impressive when it came into view.  It was even more impressive when we learned that the forward section is 200 feet thick and the back section is about 600 feet thick.  That does not include the 800 feet that sits beneath the surface of the water.  Wow.

The icebergs appear blue because the ice is so dense, when light hits it, most of the colors in the spectrum dissipate, or are absorbed.  The only color that is left for us to see is the blue.  We were so glad we picked the only sunny day to come and view this beautiful phenomenon!

The color was stunning!

 
 

The weather was awesome, with partly sunny skies and temperatures in the 50s, for the most part. It felt cold when the boat was moving, and when we were in and among the icebergs.  You could definitely tell who is from Alaska.  The captain was in short sleeves most of the day.

This is the only good weather we've had since the day we got here.  More on that later.

One of the awesome phenomenon to witness is the calving of a glacier.  Small or large pieces fall off into the water.  We were able to see several pieces calve off, and even though they looked pretty small, we were told that the smallest was bigger than a car.  A few seconds after they hit the water, a huge ”boom” is heard- similar to a crack of  thunder. Pieces that fall from above splinter, and do not make icebergs. Only the pieces that calve off from below the water usually form icebergs.

We spent an hour or so watching the glacier, the icebergs, and the wildlife. 

Eventually it was time to start the 4 hour trek back to the dock.  We didn't stop to see anything on the way back.  Many of us saw an Orca swimming near shore, but he wasn't breaking surface enough to get a good look.

As for the rest of Juneau…..that will be the next post….