We awoke to see our ship docked in Alaska's capital city of Juneau. Art reminded me that Juneau is the only capital that cannot be driven to. It can only be reached by plane or boat.
6:30 Buffet Breakfast
The bus to take us on the 9:00-12:30 Rainforest Garden and Mendenhall Glacier Combo Excursion was on time. Our tour guide was Jim.
Jim informed us that Mendenhall glacier goes 12 miles up the mountain. Tongass National Forest is the largest temperate rainforest in the world. Ummm... he also told us that Subway foot-longs are $7.00 in Juneau instead of $5.00 like the rest of the 49 states.
We went to the Nature Center first where we were able to see the Mendenhall glacier and watched their intro video.
There was a piece of 250 year old glacier ice that was on display. Ummm.... it was cold.
Close up, the ice was very beautiful. It's made of interlocking ice crystals.
Mom and Auntie Grace had fun with with the bear skin. They didn't realize how soon they would come in contact with the real thing.
On our walk to view the glacier, we saw this black bear not 8 feet away from us. It was busy foraging for good things to eat in order to store energy for the long winter ahead. There were about a dozen of us mesmerized by this close-up view when I noticed someone actually trying to get the bear's attention in order to get a better photo. I wanted to bop him upside the head (the idiot guy, not the bear). What the heck, I was behind him so it didn't matter. The bear would get to him first.
The glacier was gorgeous! We saw lots of snow in Chicago... but this was special.
The ice was blue where there had been recent calving... which again we did not see.
Next on the tour was the Rainforest Gardens. I have to say Art was not entirely impressed by it. However, Auntie Grace and mom found it fascinating. All it was were trees that had been uprooted, turned upside down, stuck back in the ground and had flowers planted among the roots.
Back at the ship preparations were underway for an evening New Years party. Gracious! First we get Christmas in August. Now we get New Years on September 1st. Strange. Interesting, but strange. No, we did not stay up for the balloon releasing festivities.
This was our second Formal Night. Notice that Auntie Grace had brought another outfit. Here we thought she had struggled to find one suitable formal wear and she had TWO gorgeous outfits. This lovely blouse had glittery designs all over it and shimmered when she moved.
Our maitre d', Ricky said he had an extra, extra special dish he wanted us all to try. As soon as I saw it, I knew what it was. Art and I had it in Paris many years ago. I told Ricky not to tell mom or auntie what it was just yet. They tried it and pronounced it excellent. Must be the butter and salt. We then told them it was escargot. Snails!!! Surprisingly, mom said she now understood why the French like it so much and why it was famous. Both Auntie Grace and mom really enjoyed it and Ricky was pleased.
When we looked around, we noticed nobody else had been given escargot. We wondered if it might be because we were first time cruisers and they wanted to encourage us to come again. On two or three other nights, Ricky and Chris had brought us special dishes they said were just for us. We couldn't figure out why.
And now here's a sampling of a few of the other dishes we had. This was a Crab, Scallop, Shrimp Salad with a duo of Caviar and Papaya dressing.
Broiled Lobster Tail and King Prawns with Lemon Butter came next. I've heard several people saying they ordered two servings of this dish. We could barely finish what we were served. I was worried that it was going to be a bit messy to get the meat out of the shell.
No problems! Chris came around and did the job masterfully for all of us.
Then came the desserts! The Milky Chocolate-Hazlenut Souffle was OK.
This Semi-Frozen cookie and Cream Parfait was much more to my liking. Too bad it wasn't the one I ordered. It was Art's and he gave me a taste. This doesn't quite strike me as looking like a parfait though.
And just as we were getting ready to leave feeling we could not possibly eat another bite, Chris came around with yet another plate of something (we didn't order ourselves). Petit Fours! Sheesh! But you know what? We ate it!
Totally stuffed, we went back to our cabin, changed to our informal clothing and went to see yet another fabulous musical show by the Princess singers and dancers.
The ship sailed to Ketchikan while we slept.
