A Little Bit Of Juneau, and Mt. Roberts Tramway

Pinch me, it all felt surreal,

and unbelieveable that we were actually 

there and in Alaska.

   

Looking back at the gangway.

Even though we were on the aft

end of the ship, it turned out to

be a great location even if we did

have a lot of extra walking to get anywhere.

I don't know what's behind the grill

window, but I'm thinking it's there

to vent engine exhaust maybe.

That's the Westerdam at anchor behind us.

There were several of these cool

rain gages along the pier railing.

We passed by a commercial fish processing

plant on our way off the pier. 

We could see the salmon dropping from 

a conveyor belt into a spiral slide that

sent them inside to the building. 

 I loved watching what was going on

on the pier.   

Soon enough we were going to

be on the Tramway heading up Mt. Roberts.

It was a bit of  relief to see that the cables

were thicker than they seemed from further away.

We had enough time to do a little

bit of exploring before our appointed

gathering time to ride the tramway 

together with our friends.

There were lots of jewelry store

in town that happen to belong to the

cruise lines.... hmmm.

Good thing I'm not too interested in jewelry.

Artwork from 

Juneau's native inhabitants the Tlingits,

 was evident everywhere in town

on totems, buildings,  and signs.

Tours were offered for whale watching,

glacier visits, and everything else.

Juneau has too much to offer for the 

limited time we were to be in town.

We didn't go see Mendenhall Glacier,

so I guess we'll have to visit Juneau

again.  (smile)

We had two excursions planned,

plus a walk to the post office which

turned out to be too far away with the

time constraints we had.

Can you imagine?

It's yours, on sale for $69.

After finding an expensive bottle of water,

it was time to head up the mountain.

The wait in line with our friends 

went quickly.  

And we're off,

up in the air.

It's amazing how small Juneau is

for being Alaska's state capital.

The main road through town was on 

the waterfront in the beginning.

 The land was expanded between the

main road and  Gastineau Channel  

with gold mine tailings 

from the mountainside tunnels.

I was surprised that 

it was standing room only inside

the tramway cars. 

We were packed in

with little room for photography.

Luckily I got close to a window.

The Golden Princess is looking a bit

small from way up here.

Passengers on the Westerdam

had to use tenders to get to Juneau.

That would have been a fun experience,

but I'm glad we got to walk off.

They had a birds eye view of the float planes

landing beside them.

Another plane skimming by.

Looking at Gastineau Channel

through the tramway windows.

We made it to the top

of Mt. Roberts.