Juneau Day 2

Ferry in the Gastineau Channel as we flew into Juneau from Sitka on Friday evening.

Juneau from the air.  I really wanted to get up to visit the capital but since we were afoot and there were many hills, I did not. Knees do not like to climb hills any longer.

Another view of Juneau from the air.

We got to downtown Juneau on Sunday morning before all of the tourists were out and about.  I managed to get this picture of one of the streets without interference of tourists.

Juneau is built at sea level, but the mountains begin immediately and it is not at all unusual to see these stairways going uphill to homes.

I love Turrets.

Another downtown picture.

Stairway between two buildings up to homes on the hill.

We took a bus out to the Mendenhal Glacier in the afternoon.  The walk out to the glacier itself was a rather pleasant one. About one mile along a very well maintained trail. Of course, with my bum knees, it took us much longer than normal but I made it.  Along the way, I spotted this huge boulder with the white rock embedded in it. I have no idea what it was, but you can see veins of it running through the rock.  One thing about walking slowly, you see so many more things that you miss when you make a beeline to the destination.

A blooming cottonwood. May have missed this too if I were not strolling (limpimg) along the path.

As close as we could get.  Apparently a few years ago, the glacier covered the rocks to the right of the picture completely.  By looking at the picture, you could imagine that it also went up to the green line to the left side of the glacier also. Because it was a rather overcast day, the glacier presented as a beautiful blue.

Nugget Falls, right beside the glacier.  In the foreground is the reflection of the falls in a small pond.

I wanted to stick around long enough for Cassandra to arrive and see how she answered but we had a bus to catch and I do not walk a 10 minute mile any longer.
Hope she said yes.

Fireweed along the trail.

I have no idea what they are, but I found them rather pretty.

Again, I know we missed much of what there is to see because we were afoot. A car would be nice so we could explore the 40+ miles of roads. I really felt like we missed a lot, but after walking all over Sitka and the walking we did do in Juneau, we were beat and made an early retreat to our hotel.