July 15th, Part 1
Today is our Juneau day! The capitol of Alaska and a very different vibe from the other port stops. The downtown area is more hustle and bustle than others, there's several big ships docked and as Kira mentioned "It kind of feels like Mexico"
What she meant by that is there's a lot of the same stores that you see in all of the Caribbean ports, like Del Sol, Cariloha, Diamonds International, etc.
It’s definitely more scenic than Mexico and certainly, much cooler.
Disney docks south of the town, you have to take the free shuttle into town or walk for about 20-30 minutes.
From our verandah, you could see the Mt. Robert's tramway at the top. It's called Goldbelt Tram now. We were thinking of doing that in the afternoon but we never actually made it up there.
We started our day with breakfast at Cabanas, with another gorgeous view. We saw lots of float planes during our meal.
Same same.
Hashbrowns were different this morning.
for Kira, we continued her tradition that we started on our Spring Break cruise and ordered chocolate chip cookies from room service for her breakfast.
Once we were all ready to go, we headed off the ship. To get to the shuttle, you have to walk up this rather steep ramp. We all commented that our legs were struggling to get up this thing!
Coming back down, it didn't seem very steep but going up, I tell ya, you will feel it.
Onto the bus...
Which drops you off right next to where the Goldbelt Tramway entrance is.
The plan for today was to go to Mendenhall Glacier. I did not want to pay the $180 USD it would have cost us to book an excursion through Disney and be in a bus full of people with a schedule to follow so we did our own thing.
I was going to grab a taxi but there were none available and I didn't know what number to call for one so I just ordered us a Lyft. There is no Uber in Juneau but there is Lyft.
We got one almost right away and before we left, he explained to us that he did not have the required pass to be able to drop off passengers right at the entrance. He said only two taxi companies have access to that area. He said it was about a one-mile walk from the drop off area to the main entrance. Well, we needed the exercise anyway so away we went!
Rob chatted almost the entire way with our Lyft driver and it was about $30 I think. Once we got out, he said we could take the smooth, paved path, or the path that went through the woods. We'll take the less bear-y path, thanks
While the walk was slightly longer than one mile, the views were worth it!
You could see the top of the glacier from here.
I mean, LOOK at that!
It was worth the walk!
Here's where that woodsy path came out...
Around the bend, you could see the bus drop off area at the visitor centre.
There is a big trail around the area if you're interested.
Yay we finally made it!
The view of the glacier from the entrance area. We all had a bathroom break, there are nice, clean bathrooms right at the entrance. There's more inside the visitor centre.
We headed inside to get our tickets. While no one actually checks that you have a ticket (most people who are visiting have booked an excursion and the ticket price is included) we still made sure to buy our tickets. There are stairs that go up to the center or you can walk through here and take the elevator. If you go inside, you must wear a mask. They are provided for you if you need one. We had brought our own.
They had an auditorium playing a movie, some nice looking exhibits, bathrooms and a gift shop.
And here's a great view of the glacier and Nugget Falls through the glass...
The tickets were available inside the gift shop. Kids 15 and under are free so it was $5 each for Rob and I.
We had a teenager with us, so we skipped the movie and exhibits.
And headed outside...
Look how pretty that is! Now that we've already hiked about 1.5 miles, what should we do now?