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August 11, 2013 Sunday
Day 35
Drove to downtown Juneau this morning. The road, Glacier Highway ran alongside a beautiful wildlife preserve with vast wetlands on either side of the road.
Had bagels at Silverbow where the tea selection was wonderful. We browsed through the shops for a bit, but we didn't really like downtown Juneau very much - too many people, too touristy and there were at least 5 cruise ships in port. If you average 3,000 people per ship, that's 15,000 people all trying to squeeze into stores that were mostly owned and run by cruise ships, selling stuff made in China! Made no sense to us, we only shopped in locally owned shops, but after a bit, the crowds were too much for us, especially after being in so many quaint little fishing villages. To get away from anywhere near the cruise ship docks, we went up.
Yes, we took the tram, the Mount Roberts Tramway for spectacular views, hiking, fun, food and Native arts. We ascended 1800 feet in the tram from downtown Juneau to the Tram Mountain House where we could look down on Juneau, Douglas and Admiralty Islands, Gastineau Channel, the Inside Passage, Lynn Canal and the Chilkat Mountains. We saw their movie, looked around in the shops and nature center exhibit, then hiked about two miles farther up Mount Roberts, trying to reach a snowfield. At one point when we were stopped admiring the panoramic views, we heard what sounded like a baby's cry. A local woman who had been hiking near us said that it sounded like a baby bear and it was really close, so we decided it was a good time to start heading back to the visitors center, pronto. Besides, my knee has been hurting since the fishing trip, (must have strained it on the boat, trying to maintain my balance in the boat on the rocky seas while reeling in all those fish).
We decided to have dinner at their mountaintop restaurant, the Timberline Bar and Grill. It was a cool place and we sat outside with fantastic views. They were offering all you can eat Dungeness crab- the crabs were alive in their tank. We asked (half-jokingly) if the two of us could share this meal. Amazingly, she said we could. Wow! We ordered beers and salads and then proceeded to eat crab till we were full. Delicious!
Wildlife Sightings
Bald Eagles
Porcupine
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