Monday, June 30th: Juneau
The adventurers woke up feeling fine and hungry. We met the gang at breakfast and at last were able to eat a full meal ;-).
The ship got into port a little earlier than expected, so we decided to check out the stores in Juneau for a while. Our shore excursion was not until 12:30. Outside is dense fog, gray pea-soup thick fog that makes you want to stay in and read by the fireplace. NOT the kind of weather for hiking and riding trams up mountains, which is exactly what our excursion is.
Unfortunately, the excursion I really wanted was voted down. I wanted to do the dog mushing one. You got to meet the female winner of the Olympic Iditarod competition and learn how to drive a dog sled. You also got to meet the dog teams and play with the puppies. Who would vote down that? My hubbies family, that’s who. I’ll be a sport and go along, even though riding a tram up a steep mountain is not a person afraid of heights’ idea of fun.
[Remind me to tell you about our hot-air balloon adventure sometime…]
Well, the tram ride was nothing scary at all. The hike, however, was not the ‘leisurely walk in the mountains’ that was advertised. I knew I was in trouble when our guide, Betsy, handed out walking sticks. By the time we had hiked up the side of Mount Roberts, my stick was my new best friend. I would not have made it out of there alive without him!
I did not wimp out, and I made it up and back without any side-adventures. I had to take a photo of Juneau from the tram before it began its decent. Why? To show my daughter and granddaughters that Grandma still got gumption. In case they were starting to worry about me.
I was never so happy to hike back down the mountain and get into the crazy tram to get back to the ship! Betsy was a fun and knowledgeable guide. She taught us about the plant life we saw along the way, encouraged us, took us to a place to have all natural ingredient teas and little cookies. We also got a peak at the parks ‘bear cam’ and watched adult grizzlies catching salmon. I love watching grizzlies on TV.
Since it drizzled rain all day, we were tired, hungry and scruffy looking returning to the ship.
I noticed they have a lot of diamond jewelry stores in Juneau. I, luckily, did not have time (or the energy) to shop.
Jodi Lea's Place 