The ship docked in Juneau Tuesday, June 16th at 8:00 AM. At breakfast we spotted seabirds diving for fish along with about five Bald Eagles. I’ve never seen more Bald Eagles in one place at the same time! We went ashore and boarded a coach for a tour to the Mendenhall Glacier. Jay, the tour guy was hilarious and offered interesting information and anecdotes about the city and local flora and fauna*. We saw another half dozen or so Bald Eagles on poles, in trees and in a field. Cindi quipped, “This place is lousy with them!” At the Mendenhall Visitor center, we decided to take the hike on the Nugget Falls Trail. The trail was very well maintained with minimal gain and about a mile to the falls. We spotted Mountain Goats with binoculars on two peaks along the way which was an added bonus. After the glacier tour, we walked to the Juneau tram station. The station was jammed with people and lines extended well outside the building. We decided to return to the ship and relax a bit before trying again. A couple of hours later, the queue was much shorter and we took the tram to the top for great views of the harbor. We saw another pair of Bald Eagles swarming around the tram as we descended. We made it back to the ship with plenty of time to spare to enjoy yet another beautiful sunset from the balcony of our stateroom.

*Use your hand to remember the top five Salmon names: 1.) Thumb = Chum or Dog or Keta, 2.) Index Finger (i.e., poke eye) = Sockeye or Kokanee, 3.) Middle Finger (i.e., longest) = King Salmon or Chinook, 4.) Ring Finger (i.e., shiny ring) = Silver Salmon or Coho, and 5.) Pinky = Pink Salmon or Humpback.