Juneau, Alaska

When we woke in the morning, we weren't quite to Juneau.

Looks like the weather is going to cooperate.

We were too late to see the lead lines shot out of the ship, but we did see them used to pull in the docking lines. 

Dock workers caught the lines then wound them around a winch to pull in the docking lines. 

The docking lines were put around the capstan.

Then the dock workers headed off to the next line while ship workers tightened the docking lines. 

This mural in downtown Juneau honors Elizabeth Peratrovich, a Tlingit civil rights icon, who died in 1958.

Our excursion bus took us to Mendenhall Glacier.  It is one of 38 large glaciers that flow from the Juneau Icefield, a 1,500 square mile expanse of snow and ice.  

This map shows the area.  We walked up the ramp to the Visitor Center (right between where the orange trail and the red trail meet), then walked the Photo Point Trail (top orange one) and the Nugget Falls Trail (top purple one).

There were many signs along the way up the ramp to the Visitor Center which described some of the flora of the area. 

View from Photo Point

Trail to Nugget Falls

Nugget Falls

My sister saw this seal with a fish at Nugget Falls

Double click on photo to enlarge for reading. 

Seen on the way to the fish hatchery.  Folks over thirty can remember a line similar to this from a song from Sir Mix-a-Lot's 1992 song "Baby Got Back"

Totem poles outside the fish hatchery

This is kind of hard to read since it is over three photos. 

We could see what we thought were eagles on a distant building.  Once we zoomed in with our cameras we could see that they were eagles.  We saw eagles on a log along the bay and on light poles during our trip. 

Once inside the hatchery, we saw a bear display. 

Juvenile salmon, particularly chinook, are tagged before they are released into the wild. This helps in tracking their migration patterns and survival rates.  

The hatchery has a large fish tank with lots of colorful animals.   Our bus driver told us to look for the Pacific Spiny Lumpsucker.  Surely this was a joke as who would name a fish such a horrible name.  She said the fish was 1 to 2" long.  We looked for it anyway.

No, not what we are looking for - too large. 

This is a crab, so definitely not the fish we are looing for. 

Starfish and sea anemone.

sea slug and more starfish. 

Again too big, and not spiny enough. 

We found a small tank inset in the wall.  Do you see him?  It's a Pacific Spiny Lumpsucker.  The driver wasn't lying!

We saw this mural as we headed back to the ship.

Flowers in barrels fit the Juneau theme.