Tuesday 3 October 2023
Juneau, Alaska

I am writing this blog entry on Wednesday afternoon. I interrupted the previous blog about sailing to Juneau so that I could attend high tea and stuff myself with sandwiches and pastries.

Service at Tea:  Before and After--I Even

Left a Few Pastries Behind

But now I return to yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon.

The Westerdam docks in Juneau on schedule at noon. There are two even larger cruise ships than this one already docked and anchored. Holland America's Koningsdam, one of its newer, larger ships, with close to 3,000 passengers, is disgorging all of them on shore, while a Norwegian Line ship is anchored close behind. I sailed on the Koningsdam shortly after it began service in early 2016. I hated the ship so much that I fell out of bed and broke my hip so I could be taken off in Cartagena, Spain. You can scroll down to the bottom of the page and link to October 2016 to read all the gory details, if you should choose. These are the last three ships visiting Alaska until next spring.

Downtown Juneau, where the ship docks, is a small and walkable town mostly comprised of souvenir and jewelry shops. The metro area is quite large, however, extending to several suburbs where most of the locals live. I will pass a number of these sub-divisions on the way to Mendenhall glacier on my shore excursion.

The bow is open for passengers as we pull into port. I take the opportunity for some photos:

As I disembark for my shore excursion, several ship's officers are waiting on the dock to greet passengers. The handsome man on the left is Cruise Director Nick, from Belgium.

I have about 30 minutes to wander and take a few photos of the port area and to call Will on my phone--without paying the exorbitant rates T-mobile charges for calls from the ship.

A Juneau local is the tour guide and driver this afternoon. We drive north through the narrow city along the Gastineau Channel. The roads are quite good here. We pass the international airport and turn inland to visit Glacier Gardens, a privately-run, ego-driven project constructed on the side of a mountain to fill a large area gutted by a mudslide into the sea some years ago. The garden rises from sea level to 550 feet as tourists ride a tram up the steep, curving, and bumpy road.

Upside Down Tree Stumps with Plantings on Top

Planted Gardens

View Through Tram Front Window

In addition to native plants that thrive year round, such as skunk cabbage, annuals are hand-planted throughout the year so that even in this cooler weather--check the thermometer below--there is much color to enjoy. At the top, there are extensive views of the Juneau coastline stretched out to the north.

View of Gastineau Channel from 550 Feet

The garden is set in a large forest of hemlock and spruce trees that manage to thrive in the rocky ground. To tell the difference: hemlock bark looks like bacon and spruce bark looks like potato chips—or is it the reverse?

It’s a short ride through the suburbs where most locals live in typical sub-division homes to reach the bottom of the Mendenhall glacier. Like all Alaskan glaciers, the Mendenhall is fed by the world’s largest packed ice field ten miles to the east.

Although the scenery of the glacier and waterfall is still stunning to the senses, the sad news is how far the glacier has receded in just the last ten years. It used to grow by 300 feet a year, but that has been reversed by the culprits of human development and climate change.

The tour bus gets me back to the ship just in time for dinner at my usual table:  (very) hot and sour soup; Caesar salad; strip loin steak with carrots, green beans, and fries; raspberry crumble with vanilla ice cream; and my usual bottle of Perrier, and a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon. 

It’s close to 9pm when I finish dinner and the Westerdam sails from Juneau at 11pm--but by then I am lost in dreamland.