Juneau

The next morning we awoke to the beautiful Tracy's Passage. It was amazing! I still can't believe how blue the water was and the shoreline was littered with waterfalls... some pretty great litter if you ask me! :) We cruised in this section until around 1:00 when we arrived in Juneau.


AMAZING! How does the cruise boat fit in this passage?... VERY SLOWLY!



It was stunning!

In Juneau we geared up to go Kayaking at the face of the Mendenhall Glacier. We were in a two person kayak in the ocean!! We really wanted to see whales however we 'settled' for a ton of eagles and sea otters. (plus, we saw whales later and were REALLY glad we didn't see any of these majestic animals in our little kayak... it would have been WAY to close for comfort!!)

Such flattering dry suits! :)

oh and you thought it couldn't get more flattering! :) That is the glacier in back of us. Pretty cool! While kayaking with our little group, Mary and I had a little challenge for each other.. we tried to see who could keep their hand in the water longest... we ended in a truce/tie because our hands went numb after a few minutes and we could have left them in the water for hours! :)




There were so many eagles and they were magnificently HUGE! this was a little beach party that we were able to get right up on before they flew away.



In Juneau, we had the most amazing crab from this little shack on the water. It was incredible! The crab bisque and poorboy were so good!!




Here is the lady in action... I have never seen a crab leg that big!!!

That evening we were able to make it on an evening whale watching quest. It was so cool! These pictures just don't do it justice. Our whale spotter was named Tally Teal and she had a zest for whales... and that is putting it mildly!! She was jumping up and down in excitement. They were cool after all... We saw humpback whales and orca whales (which they only see 10% of the time) and they were breathtaking!


Here is the mommy and baby orca.

and here is the daddy orca

The huge (male) killer whale jumped out of the water twice. We are talking seaworld style! and I missed it the first time. You might ask why did I miss the whale on the whale watching cruise? Oh... I was just taking a picture of the Alaskan beer... It was a cute label! Of course! Don't worry I did see it the second time and it was great!

We also had the chance to stop by this 'cute' (not polka dots and pink/green cute but like guns, filth, liquor, cadavers, and rustic cute) saloon. I kind of equate this to the Marthas Vineyard black dog logo. This was quintessential Alaska at its best!

Cheers Alaskans!!