Summer Hols West - Juneau

Summer Hols West - Juneau
(13-Aug-07)

Here we are heading into Alaska's State Capital - Juneau.


We discovered the answer to the age old philosophical question, "What do they do with excess toilets in Alaska?"

The answer, of course, is that they put them in wheelbarrows and dump them on the dock.



Oh no! A bear is about to eat the children! Quick, somebody do something!



Flipper to the rescue!



So we jumped on a tour bus and went for a drive to the other side of the channel.

Look - there's our ship.

And as for those cables heading up the mountainside - well, we'll get to that in a minute.



Or a couple of seconds in blogotime.

Look - it's the Mount Roberts Tramway.



Up to the top we go where we are greeted by this dude that has been standing here for so long that the tree has grown around him.



Here is our guide showing us her amazing shadow puppet skills.



Looking back down the hill we see our ship heading out into the channel - Uh oh!



Trees in Alaska are weird.
This one grew in a circle.



A Bald Eagle.
(They're not really bald, just blonde - hmm - Blonde Eagle doesn't really have the same ring to it...)



They are very picky about what goes on the tram.






Time to go down.
There's our ship out in the middle of the channel.
Some other ship has parked in our spot.



When we get to the bottom we discover that our friend Taku, the Japanese exchange teacher that stayed with us a few years back, has gone into the fish smoking business.



Arr! The noodly appendages of the Flying Spaghetti Monster reach all the way to Alaska!



The Red Dog Saloon.
We would have had lunch here except that most of the passengers from the three cruise ships in town were lined up ahead of us.



Check out the artwork on the public toilets.
(Most artwork I've seen on public toilets is done in spraypaint and usually has something to do with what goes on inside...)



So, small problem - how do we get out to the ship?



We catch one of the ship's tenders of course.



All aboard.



And when we get back to our rooms, what do we find?



Time for some ping pong.



Ah sunset - another day done.