Juneau, Not The Movie

Early on Thursday morning we found ourselves docked in Alaska’s landlocked capitol city. It was cold and raining as we left the ship.

We wanted to go to the Glacier Gardens so we found a city bus that would take us there. We should have known better. The city bus was full of interesting folks. Recently sober job seekers, non-stop talkers, Jesus is my Lord and savior proclaimers, people who hadn’t bathed in weeks and more. The ride to the gardens took forever.

Juneau’s Glacier Gardens

When we first arrived at the gardens it looked promising as there were many colorful blooms visible before the admission payment desk. After paying our admission we were taken to a golf cart tram for our tour through the gardens. After just a few minutes the flowers disappeared and we found ourselves simply climbing through the Tongass National Forest. Sure, it was beautiful but not what we were planning to see. The tour lasted less than an hour. We then had to wait nearly as long to board a repeat performance of the City Bus Follies.

Mt. Roberts Tramway

When we finally arrived downtown we found half of our time in Juneau had already passed. We boarded the Mt. Roberts Tramway for a ride up the side of the mountain in an enclosed gondola. The view is pretty cool as the cruise ships lined up below soon look like children’s toys. We had lunch at the top of the mountain before taking another ride down.

A View From The Top Of Mt. Roberts Tramway

I had originally wanted to tour the Alaskan Brewery but as our all board time was rapidly approaching, we had to skip that idea. Instead, we briefly visited the Taku cannery and then some shops near the cruise ships. 80% of these shops are pushing the same Made in China trinkets and keychains to gullible tourists.

After reboarding, we relaxed a bit in our room. We then attended the invitation-only Captain’s Cocktail Hour. We only stayed there for about 30 minutes before heading off to the night’s entertainment in the Showroom At Sea—a comedian ventriloquist.