Woke up inside the Gastineau canal, making our way to Juneau. Snow-capped mountains line both sides of the canal and the view is breath-taking. At this point I have to say, Alaska looks exactly like what you expect it to look and it's spectacular.
Juneau can be seen from afar, surpsinginly small for a state capital. We are told it has a population of 30 thousand and is the third-largest city in the state. We decided to call it the "Rio of the North," based on the fact that we can. Turned out it has a cable car leading to the top of Mt. Roberts, but we did not know that when we made our naming decision.
Our scheduled tour for the day was a helicopter ride to a glacier, where we would land and walk around. We got down to the pier, a little bit anxious to find the meeting point for our group. Guides were standing all over the pier with signs for their tours, but nothing for ours. I started getting nervous; Turns out our guides were running late, but eventually showed up and took us to the heliport, on nearby Douglas Island. Our driver was a transplant from Utah.
Our helicopter pilot, a transplant from Livermore, took us and another couple on a beautiful 20-minute ride over Juneau, We went around Mt. Roberts and Sheep Mt and landed on the Taku glacier. We got out of the helicopter and walked on an actual glacier; a small step for man, but luckily one in which I did not slip and fall. The ground was actually grippy and not slippery like I had expected, so walking was easy. Rivulets ran through it, creating deep crevasses that showed us the blue ice beneath.
One geeky note. On the flight to the glacier I agonized over what amount of exposure compensation to use for all the snow I was expecting to see: +0.5? +1.0? How much would be enough to give us good pictures? All worry in vain, though. The surface of the glacier was mostly a dark gray making underexposure concerns moot.
Our fifteen minutes were over way too fast, but Sharon and I agreed it was the right amount of time. Not including the fact that it was chilly, the other option would have been an one hour stay at the glacier and that seemed just too much. So we got back in the helicopter and after another 15 minutes of beautiful scenery where back at the heliport.
After a reinvigorating espresso we went to the end of town (a 5 minute walk) for our ride up to Mt. Roberts. Turns out that the "Rio of the North" actually does have a cable car leaving for the top of the mountain every five minutes. So we soon found ourselves on top of the mountain, where there was a restaurant, the ever present gift shops and trails going all over the place. After reading the instructions on how to deal with bears (mostly curl up in a ball and pray), we were off to a nice walk that took us through a temperate rain forest, up above the tree line and back to the gift shop, with some nice spots to stop, enjoy the view and catch one's breath along the way. A lot of fun, even though at times it felt like exercise.
At the gift shop we acquired some trinkets, and got to see an actual real Sarah Palin 2011 calendar. Ah, free enterprise!
We made it back to the boat safely and spent the rest of the evening consuming martinis and enjoying the view. The show that night was an Elton John tribute and the entertainer did a credible job of being Elton Johnish. He looked the part, dressed the part , sang the parts and had a very funny shtick going with one of the band members where the guy kep trying to play the tambourine on each and every song.
Wildlife sightings: 7 bald eagles, one humpback whale.
Pictures can be found here.
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