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Published: June 12th 2010
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Today we’re back in Juneau and I was on a mission to start seeing what there is to see in the area. I rented a car and took two friends along for the ride. The downfall of our day was we discovered that not only was it cold, but it was raining. Having the car meant we got from place to place nice and dry, but it made the outdoors bone chilling. Still, we headed out.
Our first destination was the Mendenhall Glacier, the most visited glacier in Alaska mainly because it is so accessible. It was only about a 20 minute drive from the cruise ship dock. We arrived just before all the tour buses too which made it a bit less hectic there. We walked along the short pathway to the lookout spots across the bay to the glacier. Took some photos. Then we were ready to thaw a bit so we went into the visitors centre. They have a short video about the glacier and the park area around it. The centre was small but really interesting. I learned all about the formations of glaciers, how they change and shape the land. One of the coolest things
was a display that explained about the different types of trees that grow in the area and when they start to grow based on glacier movements; then looking out the huge window beside the display you could clearly see a change in the tree line which meant where the glacier had once been but has since retreated. While in Hawaii a couple weeks back (was it really only a couple weeks ago??), it was so interesting to see how the land had been formed and shaped from volcanoes and lava flows. Now here I get to see the same sort of land formation but from ice. Fire and ice. Really interesting.
After the glacier, we drove further out along the highway. The woman at the rental car company highly recommended that we drive out to the Shrine of Ste Therese. We didn’t really know what we were going to see, but she’d said it was beautiful and we had the time. I am so glad we went!! Off the highway we took a short winding road through the forest. Already it was very pretty. Then we parked and took a short walk. The shrine is on an island just
off the coast with a causeway connecting it. The view of the water and the forests along the coast was so pretty as we went along the causeway. Then we reached the little island and I felt like we’d stepped into a fairytale. We were standing in a tall forest of evergreen trees and moss grew on the rocks and ground all around us. Through the trees you could see the ocean around the land. In the middle of it all was a small church. It felt majestic. We went inside the chapel which was very nice. But it was the surroundings and just the feeling of the place that was so incredible.
From the shrine, we headed back towards Juneau and stopped at the Alaska Brewing Company. I’d read that they give free tours of the brewery and free samples so we were all about that. The tour only really goes into a side room that looks into the brewery. But the guide was really great, very interesting. And of course, we thoroughly enjoyed the samples! I’d tried the Alaska Amber last week in Ketchikan and wanted to try others. Their beers are really good. But the amber
is still my favourite!
Our last stop of the day was at the Macaulay Salmon Hatchery. If it was later in the season, we’d be able to see salmon swimming upstream. But we still saw some salmon - immature ones that hadn’t been released yet. They were so tiny! Crazy to think that in such a short period of time they’d grow to be the large fish everyone fishes and craves. Inside the hatchery they had a really great aquarium with lots of different fish and sea critters. They also had a touch tank and we got to see sea cucumbers and starfish. Their gift shop had king salmon dip samples - so good!
That was all we had time for today before we had to get the car returned and get back to the ship. Our port times are so short on this itinerary! But we covered a lot in the few hours we had out.
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