I woke up at 6:15 AM as my mother had to be ready for a 7:15 AM Whale Watching Tour. Following another buffet breakfast, I left the Sun Princess in search of the $5 Trip to the Mendenhall Glacier.
The Mendenhall Glacier Trip 8/26/2004
As I walked into town I spotted the Last Frontier Tour Booth who sold me a round trip to the Mendenhall Glacier for $10. It would leave at 8:00 AM two parking lots to the north.
I sat on a bench watching the Mt Roberts Tramway doing the pre trip safety testing. A few minutes later a bus showed up with six of us boarding for our trip to the Mendenhall Glacier.
Our bus driver Susan pointed out of the sites of interest as we headed out of Juneau.
Up a side canyon I could see the Lemon Creek Glacier to the east.
Near the Juneau Airport we turned east and minutes later the Mendenhall Glacier came into view down the highway ahead of us.
Moments later we pulled into the US Forest Service Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center.
I walked to the shore of Mendenhall Lake.
I next took the Photo Point Trail for these views.
To the south is the Nugget Creek Waterfall.
Chris and the Mendenhall Glacier and Lake.
I walked back to the Visitor Center for more views of the Mendenhall Glacier.
A view from the far side of the Visitor Center. The Mendenhall Glacier is one of 38 large glaciers that flow from the 5000 square mile expanse of rock and ice known as the Juneau Icefield. The Mendenhall Glacier is 13.5 miles long down the journey to Mendenhall Lake.
Following visiting the gift shop, I took one last picture before going back to the parking lot to wait for the bus back to Juneau.
Dave, the husband of Susan, took me back to Juneau with me ready to start my next mini adventure.
Mt Roberts Tramway 8/26/2004
Back at the Mt Robert Tramway, I purchased a ticket for $21.95 for the 1800 feet elevation gain tramway trip up the side of Mt Roberts built in 1997.
The trip takes less than five minutes and the climb is spectacular.
Full size cruise ships turn into looking like toy boats very quickly.
Once we reached the summit, I photographed looking south down the Gastineau Channel that we had come up this morning.
A great view looking down at Juneau.
The view looking north towards the airport.
The view looking west across the channel.
I returned down to the port area. I walked into town to mail a post card that I had bought out at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center earlier this morning.
Since I was in capitol city of Alaska, I thought a look at the State Capitol would be in order.
The Juneau City Museum and yet another Totem Pole. I returned to the boat in time to have lunch in the buffet. My mother returned from a very successful Whale Watching Trip then I checked my E-mail in the Sun Princess Business Center. On the Ship's Television Channel I watched the BBC which showed highlights of the US Women winning the Olympic Gold Medal in Soccer beating Brazil 2-1. We watched "Big Fish" as the weather turned threatening before the sky let loose. Next we watched "Paper Lions". After the movie I went up to the Promenade Deck to watch the taking up of the anchor and the demooring of the cables. We floated away from the dock and were now on our way to Skagway. I changed for dinner then had my usual steak dinner. I watched ESPN Sport Center before calling it a night.
During the night, we returned south down the Gastineau Channel before we turned north up the Stephens Passage then up the Lynn Channel and Taiya Inlet to Skagway.
