On Monday we came into our first port of Juneau, Alaska. We woke up to seeing bald eagles and beautiful waterfalls from our balcony window! AMAZING!
We split up from Mom and Dad that day (as they had already experience Juneau on a previous cruise) and we had fun exploring the little town for a minute before deciding on an excursion. It was Adam’s day to choose to do whatever he wanted and he ended up deciding on a trip up to see Mendenhall Glacier followed by some KING Salmon Fishing!
You can’t really tell from these pictures but the entire day we had a constant DRIZZLE and it was COLD! We absolutely loved hiking around Mendenhall though and were just in awe with how beautiful it was up there.
This waterfall was incredible. And it was so powerful the wind from it blew my umbrella inside out!
We had an awesome tour guide bus driver that would tell us all about the history of Juneau and point out wildlife for us while we traveled. We had to laugh when he called the Bald Eagles “Alaskan Pigeons.” But the Eagles were literally EVERYWHERE!
After Mendenhall Glacier it was time for our Fishing Excursion! Our guide garbed us up in rain jackets, pants, and boots and away we went!
Me and my sweetie!
Adam reeling in his first big catch! A Chum Salmon.
That is one big Dog! (what they call these type of Salmon because of their nasty teeth!)
I wouldn’t want to get bit by him!
Because it was so wet and cold I ended up spending most of our excursion in the van while Adam fished out on the pier. Because Adam and I had hiked up to Mendenhall in the rain we were both SOAKED through and after about an hour of fishing I was cold to the bone and not having much fun. But another couple had come with us and the other girl and I decided talking in the van sounded much better than getting more wet out in the rain. So that is where we spent the remaining two hours of our fishing trip. She was a Native Alaskan Indian and it was incredible to hear about her life. She told me about the different foods she was raised on, how she and her family live off the land, how expensive things are to buy, family traditions, and about her language and culture. I loved getting to know a bit of her culture better.
When we got back to the cruise ship later we both took long hot showers and then took a short nap before heading out to dinner. We didn’t end up getting to the dining room until 8:30 or so that evening. We met a lovely couple though and had fun learning about their lives.
Then once again the waiters came and sang us an anniversary song and presented us with another piece of cake. We decided not to tell them they’d already sung to us already and instead we enjoyed the opportunity to celebrate again! 🙂
