Juneau: Alaska Day 6

Today we put in to the port of Juneau. Most people assume that Anchorage is the capital of Alaska, but it is in fact Juneau. Juneau also has the distinction of being the third largest city in the world in terms of total landmass. Only Kiruna (Sweden) and Sitka (Alaska) are larger!

We took a shuttle to a National Park Service Compound on the outskirts of Juneau where apparently there are often sightings of bears. We didn’t see any while we were there, but we did get to see the skins of a brown bear and a black bear at the Ranger Compound.

Bears are scary

Beyond the compound there was a hiking trail that led to an incredible view of another glacier as well as a huge waterfall within a mere few hundred feet of each other! It was quite spectacular though somewhere while climbing out to the waterfall I lost my sunglasses in the rocks!

The Glacier and waterfall

The beach was also very rocky which I loved because I enjoy skipping rocks. Though the first few didn’t work, I did manage a throw of 7 skips which was enough to amaze a Japanese family that was nearby.

Luckily a heavy fog and light rain started rolling in as we were leaving so we caught the weather just right!

Once back on the ship I played a few games of shuffleboard with James. While my understanding of the game is very basic, I don’t see how you can ever win if you’re the first shot because the person who shoots second will always shoot their disc into yours putting it out of play! Or so was the process when playing with James anyway…

James reigns victorious yet again

Tonight was one of the best dinners so far of the cruise and I celebrated by eating a massive plate of king crab legs. The food on the cruise is absolutely incredible. There is always a dish on the dinner menu that would normally be a $30 or $40 affair at a classy restaurant that you could easily get seconds or even thirds of. And the meals are served in four courses but not in oversized portions, so you actually get to enjoy a full four course meal and dessert without feeling like you’re going to explode! That is, unless you stuff yourself full of crab legs and lobster and filet mignon as I have done in the last few nights!

After dinner I challenged my dad to a game, which became several games of ping pong. Though I definitely improved through the course of playing him, I was never able to beat him even though I think we played about 7 or 8 games. I came close though, and now consider myself a table tennis champion so I am open to any challenges. You provide the table, I’ll provide the ass kicking. Friendly ass kicking of course.

It was also interesting because this was the first night that we could really feel the motion of the ship. We first noticed while playing ping pong that the pool was sloshing around like a wave pool. It was a somewhat unsettling feeling even though I have experienced it before!