Tuesday May 10th. We got up early and made the 2 1/2 hour drive to Indianapolis to catch our noon flight. Getting to the airport and leaving the car in Economy Parking turned out to be a piece of cake. We hopped the shuttle to the terminal and made our way through security. Security was a breeze and quick as they have made some changes and I was glad since this was they first time my parents went through the process. We waited at the gate for our flight and the first of three flights on the day. This was my parents first time flying so I was very nervous for them and hoped they tolerated it well. Turns out they didn't think it was bad at all so my nervousness was unwarranted. Our first leg was Indy to Detroit. During our hour and a half layover we ate at Chick fil a. Not my first choice of restaurants but with our indecisive group it was the easiest choice and near our gate. Our second leg was Detroit to Seattle which was the longest flight. When we arrived in Seattle we only had about an hour layover before our final leg to Juneau. We arrived in Juneau at 7:45pm local time and 10:45pm central. Our travels that day totaled 16 3/4 hours. When we got to our B&B we dumped our clothes off and headed down to get some food. We settled on Hangar at the Wharf. The food and service was very good, after eating we went back to the B&B and right to bed.
The next day we got to sleep in a little as our scheduled excursion didn't start until 1pm. We got breakfast at the B&B and then headed down town to find most of the shops were closed until 10am or after. We went down to the wharf and got to see bald eagles, harbor seals and lots and lots of ravens. My father kept making noises at the Ravens so we gave him the native American name of Talks with Ravens. After a bite to eat at the Alaska Fish & Chips Company at the Flight Deck we headed to the Red Dog Saloon for our pick up for our whale watch which was about 20 minutes late. We headed up to Auke Bay and loaded into the OB One with Captain Liz for our excursion. For the first hour or so we found a few humpback whales but they were very sporadic and they seemed to deep dive frequently staying under for several minutes. We got a call that there were some Bravo Whiskeys spotted. I had no clue what that meant but Needle picked up on the code lingo. Bravo Whiskey was B&W aka. Black and White aka Orcas. We headed to the report of the sighting and picked up on a lone bull traveling. After several minutes more started to come into the pod and before we knew it we had several traveling parallel to the boat. We had a wonderful experience to share with my parents. On the way back to town we got to stop off at Mendenhall Glacier. We only had an hour and Needles and I wanted to visit Nugget Falls so we hoofed it the 2 mile round trip to the Falls. We got back just in time to catch the 50 person bus just for us to return back to town. When we got back to town we were ready for supper so we headed back to the Hangar for food. Like I said it was very good. That evening after returning to the Inn, Needles and I headed for a dip in the hot tub and then to bed.
The next morning we had to be up early for our Tracy Arm Fjord cruise. After about an hour we ran across some humpback whales so we got to stop and whale watch some more. We proceeded on to see some icebergs which grew more and more frequent as we made our way deeper into the fjord. Just after we passed through the current of the channel heading into the fjord we happened on a large iceberg with a bald eagle perched on it. After several minutes we proceeded on to view the sheer walls and hundreds of waterfalls that seem to be around every corner.When we got about 7 miles out we were starting to get nervous as the icebergs were starting to bang against the boat and we were going considerable slower due to the ice. We zigged and zagged through the ice field and made our way past South Sawyer Glacier. We could see it but we couldn't get close due to the ice. We did however get really close to North Sawyer Glacier, a smaller less active glacier. We did see small bits of ice falling almost constantly into the waters below but no big event ice fall. There were several harbor seals bobbing in the waters around the glacier. On our way back we were surprised and excited that we got to see 3 bears along the edge of the fjord eating muscles off of the rocks that were exposed due to low tide. Just before we left the fjord we happened by a very large iceberg that had recently flipped over and exposed deep blue colors of the compressed ice. The deep and varying shades of blue unlocked by the sea water was amazing to see. We returned back to Juneau and went to the Red Dog Saloon for lunch. I am glad we had the experience of the Red Dog Saloon but I can't say I would recommend it. The food was OK and the service...Not so good. On the way back to the Inn we stopped off at Heritage Coffee Shop. We returned back to the Inn for another dip in the hot tub and to rest up for our final day in Juneau.
Our final day in Juneau started off with a walk down town to find mostly closed shops since a cruise ship wasn't expected until 1pm. We wasted time before the Mt. Roberts Tram opened up and we were able to head up. We grabbed a bite at the Timberline Restaurant, then went to the gift shop and Raptor Center. We made a small loop of trail at the top of the mountain with a few scenic views. We return downtown and found a trolley tour of Juneau and over onto Douglas Island. After the tour was over we headed back to the Hangar for supper. After some quick souvenir shopping just before the shops closed we went back to the Inn to get some rest in preparation of another long travel day.
Our day started at 4:45am Juneau time 7:45am central and ended at 11:30pm central for a 15 hour trip. We had a great trip and many neat experiences but we were glad to be home. Mom & Dad spent the night and headed home a little after 10am Sunday morning.
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