Well not much to say here. The second morning on the Alaska Marine Highway was ushered in by our arrival to Juneau. Yup. The capital of Alaska herself. Gene'o was determined to get us off the ship and explore about the Mendenhall Glacier. Whats the Mendenhall Glacier you ask? Well I was soon to find out...keep scrolling if you are curious too.
Only 3 hours...and we were delayed at that...to explore Juneau. And just when I was firmly getting my sea legs too. Gene'o and I had a solid hour with the "Tourons" - not my term but with Haley's permission I'd like to use it - exploring the glacier. I had never seen a tidal glacier before and what a jaw-dropping sight it was for me. Spending an hour there was not enough but little did I know that Mendenhall Glacier was just going to be "the tip of the iceberg" so to speak...
Every day on this ship was full of endless conversations with strangers. Some even just came up to me and asked why I was always writing. I even got a few "Christopher McCandless" shout outs. I hope that wasn't foreshadowing...
Much of the afternoon and evening was spent on deck, walking around and enjoying the scenery. The birdwatching crew all scrambled to the bow and assembled there expensive cameras, tripods, and monoculars. While they were busy taking pictures of the birds they pretended they knew the names of, I took the opportunity to take pictures of THEM. Taking pictures of birdwatchers in their natural environment of taking pictures of birds in their natural environments. Overall, pretty entertaining.
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| Good Morning, Mt. Doom! |
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| Little did I know how much my life would soon be mirroring Middle Earth...NERD! |
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| SO BLUE! |
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| Mendendhall Herself...Himself? |
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| It won't likely be larger this ever again... |
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| Yup...I'm still not convinced this wasn't a dream... |
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| Those specs on the bottom...yup...people. Only 3 made it back...Ok not really but what a story that would make. |
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| First glimpse of Alaskan Salmon |
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| CALL ME ISHMAEL! |
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| Slap me some skin, Whale! |
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| DIVE DIVE DIVE! |
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| 15 degrees Down Bubble! |
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| Add caption |
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| These guys had an arsenal of optical equipment. |
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| Lens measuring contest... |
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| Good guys. The hooded guy always called me The Last Samurai |
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| So tempted to ring this every time I saw it... |
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| I think this one wins... |
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| Such determination...dooooon't smile! Don't you smile! |
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| I love clouds. |
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| Queue the Charlie Brown music? |
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| Inner Monologue: "Why is this punk stealthily taking pictures of me?" |
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| Randy...an extraordinarily generous man. Without whom my Denali adventure would have been dead in the water...so to speak. |
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| THAR SHE BLOWS! |
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| All I want to know is HOW? And then...WHY NOT ME! |
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| Somewhere in the distance... |
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| Strangers united under a banner of awe and beauty |
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| Where much of what seemed like miles of pacing took place. |
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| Right on... |
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| Can you just drop me off here? |
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| Sun...aka Navigational Beacon |
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| Upcoming tight squeeze |
Just awe-inspiring. Glad you took pictures. I can definitely see why you'd start to think of it as a dream. Happy to see that your trip is going so well. Hope your day of endless conversation with strangers reset your human interaction. can't wait to see the next blog!!
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