Do You Know Juneau?

Jeff and I at the Mendenhall Glacier (see how foggy it was)
Well, I didn't know of Juneau before today. We arrived this morning in Juneau, Alaska to a cloudy and overcast day. As we disembarked the ship we were greeted by a plethora of vendors offering tours of the area. We found that it would be difficult to get a car from downtown, so we opted for a tour.

Humpback Whales
The first tour we took was a Whale Watch. Well, many of you know that we tried this in Maine without any sightings, so we were a little apprehensive about seeing them this time, but the money back guarantee enticed us. I'm happy to report that we did see two single humpback whales and a grouping of five that were "bubble feeding." It was very exciting to finally see whales after a failed previous attempt.

The boats are not allowed to get more than 200 yards from the whales, so I was a little disappointed with the photographs even with my 200mm lens and a 2x converter. I wish that I could show you photographs, but I'm still without a computer. I'm actually in the Juneau Public Library typing this message. More on the laptop later.

Sea Lions Hanging Out

On the way to see the whales, the boat came up to this channel marker where a group of seal lions meet. They were fun to watch!

At the boat harbor, we were able to see this bald eagle. There were flocks of them on the way back to town as the tide was going out feasting on the fish. We could clearly see them from the bus, but not able to stop and photograph them. This will have to do for now.

Mendenhall Glacier

Closeup of the glacier

Piece of the glacier that broke off/"calfing" while we were at the park
After returning from the whale watch we went to Mendenhall Glacier, it was AMAZING. I don't know what I was expecting, but it was unbelievable sight to behold. Helicopters were not flying today, we wanted to actually go on one and land on a glacier, but we will have to save that for another trip. With the day being very cloudy and overcast, so most of my photographs lack color; they are mostly various shades of grey. To NSPS readers, the zone system was not working completely today!

Nugget Falls (fed by the Mendenhall Glacier) . Can you see the people at the bottom?
We are both quite tired from the day and our ship is leaving at 10:00 p.m. en route to Skagway. Don't know what is planned, but we are enjoying the journey.

Speaking of journeys, here is the update on the computer. It was suppose to be Next Day Air to Juneau and arrive here today. Last night I got a email message saying it would arrive tomorrow to Juneau, but we wouldn't be there. I contacted the UPS store and they were very helpful in getting the package re-routed. I will be reunited with my laptop on Sunday when we arrive in Anchorage. Just FYI nothing can be overnighted in Alaska unless you have the Ice Road Truckers take it for you.