If it's Thursday, it must be Juneau

Today was "Juneau Tourist" day and that we did.  First thing after breakfast, we were off to the Mendenhall Glacier.   In the 1920's this was a tidewater glacier, but no longer as it is receding quickly.   In 1950 the face was a mile downstream of the Visitor's Center and now the face is a few miles upstream.  

Karen & I were here in June of 2010 on a Holland Cruise Ship.   In the intervening 14 years, the glacier has noticeably receded.  In 2010, the glacier face spanned most of the valley, today it is only the left portion of the valley and the face is about 1/2 as high.

Be that as it may, this is still a beautiful glacier and national park.

We hiked out to Nugget Falls.

And we hiked out to Photo Point.

Then it was beer tasting time at the Alaskan Brewery and Tap Room.  

Clearly, I am stumped by the selection of IPAs.   Frankly the differences were really subtle.   Each was increasingly hoppy, but the structures were otherwise identical between them.   I thought they were all quite good.   But they do not knock off my favorite IPAs, Black Raven Trickster (thank you, Mark, for introducing me to this) and Lagunitas IPA.

A quick visit to the Alaskan Brewery gift shop, where we all restrained ourselves and didn't buy any overpriced merchandise.

Back to the boat for naps, minor chores, and reading.   I just finished the second Peter Ash novel by Nick Petrie, thank you Bill.   Now on to the third.

We hiked into town for dinner.

On the way we stopped by the Whale Project which marks the north end of the Juneau Seawalk.   The Whale Project culminated in a life size bronze statue of a breaching humpback whale.   The statue named, Tahku, was completed in the summer of 2016.   Very impressive work.

The Seawalk was lovely and very well done, recapturing a bit of the history of the area, pre-gold rush.   It is about 1/4-mile long boardwalk over the seashore and what used to be tidal marshlands.

On to dinner.   Tracy gave us crabs.   I did not invent that saying, it was all over their tee shirts and sweatshirts.   I just liked it.

It was locals' night, so we partook of the crabfest.   The line was long, and the tables/benches turned-over pretty quickly.   This place was packed and humming.   They must be printing cash here.

Red King Crab was the meal of the night.  One for Kippy & Dean to share and another for Karen & me.   As I'm not a big crab fan, I added a side of BBQ pulled pork for me; leaving more crab for Karen.  

I don't think she is complaining!

Tomorrow morning, we are off to Tracy Arm, about 45miles south of Juneau.   That is the home of the Sawyer Glacier, and a few others which will be on the agenda for Saturday.

Good Night.