Day 12: Juneau, Alaska

A new day and a new stop . . . Juneau, Alaska!

We are in port for about twelve hours so I decided to rent a car and be our own tour guide!  It was about a mile walk to the rental car place which is farther than I expected.  As we were walking up to the rental place, I made a comment about this super tiny baby blue car . . . well . . .

It was ours!  I laughed!  I have never seen a car so small.  We only needed it for a few hours so I booked the cheapest car possible but never expected it to be so small.  We managed to all fit and were off.  We had a real map too but somehow ended up on the wrong street.  We got back on track and arrived at our first stop, Mendenhall Glacier.  We did a quick stop at the Visitor Center with a viewing of the movie.  I always like to view the movie before exploring a new area.  The weather was okay with it looking as if the bottom could fall out with a lot of rain at any moment.  We headed out on Nugget Falls Trail.  The waterfall is beautiful . . .

 . . . and look left and see Mendenhall Glacier!

 

It was an easy walk, and we were front and center of the Falls and Glacier! 

Nugget Falls seemed so big up close compared to Mendenhall Glacier but when went on the Photo Point Trail you step back and the glacier is way bigger . . . look at the tiny waterfall!

I am certain he was up to no good!

Loved the random chunks of ice . . . 

We headed back to the car to figure out our next stop.  Food!  Since we are sort of off the beaten path, we decided to grab lunch.  The rental car lady suggested this local dive joint called Sandbar & Grill which had some really, really good Halibut Fish and Chips!

I had never had halibut and it was really good!  Juneau is another town that is limited in the road system so we decided to just drive to the end of the road.  We made a stop at Eagle Beach State Recreation Area . . .

The wildflowers are starting to bloom and so pretty!

No eagles and the rain really started to pour so we headed back to the car.  We made a stop at Shrine of St Therese . . .

Macaulay Salmon Hatchery . . . 

. . . we were too early in the season and the salmon had not started spawning yet.  They did have thousands maybe millions of tiny salmon in tanks inside that will be released in the future.  The weather was not so great so we topped the car off with gas and headed back downtown.  I dropped my parents off  near the ship while Colin and I returned the rental car.  Before we got back on board the ship we stopped for a snack at Peterson’s Pretzels . . .

. . . it was the best jalapeno pretzel!  We headed to our cabin to change into some dry clothes.  The snack today was okay; 3 of the 4 were good but the 4th had been sitting so was afraid to give it a try as it looked to have raw fish. 

We linked up with my parents and had yet another afternoon drink . . . I have had way too many this trip but why not?