2024-08-18: Juneau, Mendenhall, and Salmon

We woke up at 7:30am this morning. We watched the ship pull into Juneau while we got cleaned up and had some breakfast in the Windjammer. We were going on different tours today. Amanda and Michael were visiting the Mendenhall Glacier and then visiting a salmon hatchery. Darrell and Patrick were also visiting the Mendenhall Glacier but then were going to a salmon bake instead of a salmon hatchery. Amanda and Michael left first. They had to be in the ship’s theater at 8:45am to join their tour. Darrell and Patrick didn’t have to be there until 9:30am.

Amanda and Michael

Amanda and Michael got off the ship and made their way to their tour bus. Michael picked the back row because it was roomy but they soon learned it is also hard to hear the guide at the back. They set off for the Mendenhall Glacier visitor center. After a short drive out of Juneau they arrived and took the next hour to explore and walk the trails. After getting to a view point close to Nugget Falls, Michael decided he was close enough. The pair watched a yellow lab play with a stick in the lake. Then they started to make their way back along the shore line and missed the exit to the pathway. After attempting one path back to the main trail, they returned to the shoreline of the lake and followed it until it returned to the trail. Phew, only a minor minute of “Yikes!” A quick stop at gift shop and one magnet later, they were back on the bus and one their way to the Macaulay Salmon Hatchery. The Salmon Hatchery has a “fish ladder” the salmon return to and climb kind of like stairs to get back into the hatchery for breeding. The indoor tanks had over 600,000 King salmon and 226,000 Coho Smolt. It takes between 12-24 months to raise the salmon babies from eggs until they are ready to be released into the ocean. After 1-6 years in the ocean before returning to their birthplace to spawn. It was an interesting stop. Amanda and Michael learned a lot about the spawning process. Next stop was back to the ship for a bit of lunch and to drop off our gear before heading into the town to meet Darrell and Patrick.

Darrell and Patrick

Darrell and Patrick got off the ship and loaded onto a tour bus. The bus took them to the Mendenhall Glacier visitors center. They passed four other cruise ships in port (Viking Orion, Silver Nova, Norwegian Sun, and Ovation of the Seas). From there, you can take a couple of hikes. One is about a mile each way that takes you to Nugget Falls which is a waterfall close to the face of the glacier. It is an impressive waterfall. The other hike is about 1/4 mile each way and takes you to a nice viewpoint where you can see the glacier. The glacier is receding like most glaciers these days but the views of the glacier are still amazing. Patrick and Darrell did both hikes and took a bunch of pictures before paying a visit to the visitors center. There are a few displays and informational signs in the visitors center. There is supposed to be a video about the glacier as well, but it wasn’t running due to a broken projector. They had about an hour and 45 minutes to enjoy the views before the bus picked them up again.

After visiting the glacier, Darrell and Patrick were taken to Gold Creek Salmon bake for some lunch. They give you a cup of clam chowder when you arrive and then there is a buffet of items including salads, cornbread, baked beans, and pork ribs if you want them. The star of the show is baked salmon cooked over a bed of coals. The salmon was amazing. They have a gift shop that they checked out and there is a short walk to a small waterfall where they used to mine for gold. After a few more photos, they boarded the shuttle bus back to downtown Juneau.

Everyone met up again in downtown Juneau. We went shopping at a couple of souvenir stores where the kids each picked up another t-shirt. Michael got a Del Sol colour changing shirt. After finishing our shopping, we headed to the Mount Roberts Tramway. It’s a tram that takes you up 1800 feet to a viewpoint above Juneau. We enjoyed the views from the top and walked along the ridge for a bit before visiting the gift shop and heading back down.

Once we were down the mountain, we caught the shuttle bus back to the ship. Michael went swimming in the pool for a bit while Darrell took some pictures of Juneau from the upper decks. Amanda had a bit of a nap as she was starting to feel some cold symptoms popping up. Patrick just relaxed for a bit. We headed to the dining room for dinner at 6:45pm. It was USA night in the dining room. It was just us at the table tonight. The ship pulled away from port while we were eating.

After dinner we returned to the cabin and watched Juneau disappear behind us. We admired the views for a bit until it was time to head to the theatre for tonight’s show. Michael had a headache so he stayed in the room while the rest of us went to the show. The show featured Randal Cabral tonight. He is a comedian and juggler. He put on an entertaining show.

After the show we returned to the cabin and got ready for bed. We have an early excursion in the morning in Skagway.