Cruise - Juneau, Alaska

Juneau is the capital city of Alaska. No roads connect it with the rest of Alaska or North America. Population is about 32,000. It was named after Joe Juneau, a gold prospector. Read more here and here. 

We docked in Juneau for about 8 hours. Click on any of the photos to see a larger image.

 Approaching Juneau about noon

 Juneau is nestled between mountains and the Gastineau Channel in the Alaskan panhandle. Glaciers are above the town. (Our ship was high but not high enough for this view. Our son and his family took these pictures from a floatplane*.)

4 story totem pole in front of Juneau's City Museum. 4 story refers to the four clan stories told, not the height. This museum had many interesting exhibits - and it was a nice walk uphill on the way so my legs and body got a good workout. Joe stayed on the ship in this port. 

A salmon processing plant was close to the cruise ship dock. Fish were conveyed from boats, under the street, and up into the plant. The bins below were labeled with different kind of salmon. 

tram up to Mount Roberts 

waterfalls galore visible from downtown & the ship

This photo gives you an idea of the size of the cruise ship. See the white structure in the middle? That's the ship. It's as tall as some of the downtown buildings. I remember seeing this in Nassau where the cruise ships dwarfed the downtown buildings. 

That's our ship on the right, in the back

This is the only bear I encountered on my walk through Juneau. 

Now our family - they went on an excursion to see real bears!

Wait - I think I've seen those black creatures in Worthington and Kirkland!

Bald eagle - bears - ravens? starlings? BIG black birds

rainbows

Our ship, Ruby Princess, docked at Juneau

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*Seaplane vs floatplane - We'd never heard the term floatplane until we moved out here All floatplanes are seaplanes. Not all seaplanes are floatplanes. A floatplane has pontoons which come in contact with the water. The term seaplane includes floatplanes as well as flying boats. However, the terms seem to be somewhat interchangeable. Notice that the company for the Kings' plane is Alaska Seaplanes. More here