It Rains a Lot in Alaska! Now I Know, and Now Juneau!

The sky is falling, everyone!

The weather forecast gave us partly cloudy weather, but the actual weather gave us rapidly shifting clouds as the Norwegian Pearl pulled in to the port of Juneau, capital of Alaska! This remote capital is only reachable by boat or plane, as no roads actually connect it with any other part of the world!

Today was supposed to be a huge adventure, a helicopter glacier trek! We were super excited to touch down on some Alaskan ice, got all dressed up, lined up in front of the helicopter, and then the pilot came out to tell us that the clouds had sunk too low and it was no longer safe to fly! Oh no!

So we headed back into town to find something to do. I at least wanted to see the state capitol building, which was a pretty basic limestone box without a lot of ornamentation. Built as a federal building, it was dedicated 28 years before Alaska even became a state!

From the capitol building, we called a taxi to take us as close as we could get to a glacier without a helicopter or a kayak. That put our next stop at the Mendenhall Glacier, one of Juneau’s biggest draws, about 11 miles north of town!

Though still massive at thirteen miles in length, the Mendenhall Glacier, named for meteorologist Thomas Mendenhall, is less accessible than ever. Since it was first measured in 1911, it has receded 1.7 miles across Mendenhall Lake! The closest we’d be able to get on foot would be to walk down the Nugget Falls Trail for one mile in the rain. When visiting Alaska, it’s always important to prepare for rain!

At the end of the trail, we took in the roaring magnificence of Nugget Falls, and gazed sadly at the distant glacier, which we would not touch this time. I wondered how much further it would recede within my lifetime and what the glaciers’ disappearance would mean for the creatures that depend on their motion. It makes me want to explore as many glaciers as I can!

We caught another expensive taxi back into Juneau for a king crab feast, and then we had to head back to the Pearl. We left so much undone in Juneau that I’m kind of sad. This shore excursion was so brief; I hope tomorrow’s trip to Skagway feels a little longer, but like life itself, we get finite time and have to make the most of it! At least in this case, we got a nice refund for the canceled helicopter trek!

50,000 pennies saved are 50,000 pennies earned!