At last... Juneau

After a grueling night out in the open ocean, we have finally arrived at Juneau. It's raining, but Shelley and I were prepared with our waterproof jackets. If you forget a jacket, you can buy water resistant jacket with a hood at the gift shop just outside of the ship for about $20.

Now let me do you a favor and help you get around Juneau for a bit less than the cruise will charge you. Let's say you want to visit the glacier? That will be $7 billion euros (I choose euros because the dollar is a bit of a pansy at the moment) plus the souls of 8 defenseless kittens if you opt to go with the cruise excursions. Orrrr.... when you get off the boat, you can take the bus for $14 round trip every 20-30 minutes.

Mendenhall glacier is the first glacier I have ever seen. It was like watching Expedition Alaska on Discovery, but somehow you figured out how to get the 1080p working on the new 74' (that's foot not inches) LCD television. It was a cold and rainy day, but we got some nice pictures of the glacier and had a nice time hiking around the park.

So after freezing and soaking yourself into a chilled raisin for about 2 hours, what better way to warm up than to have some beer. That's right. I'm talking about the Alaskan Brewery in Juneau. But let me stop and save you some money. The cruise will happily book an excursion to the brewery for $90+ per person... on a bike. Hmmm... something doesn't sound right here. Bike riding and beer tasting (in my case gulping) go together like rollerblading on a Nascar track mid-race with a blindfold. Not a good idea. How about taking the bus for $3 per person to the brewery. It's about a 1/2 mile from the bus stop and here's the best part... THE BEER TASTING IS FREE.

When you get to the brewery, the nice brew master (pictured above) will hand you a glass and start you on the light beer. It's all good beer but I am partial to the Alaskan Amber. Shelley and I almost got through the beer line twice. The tour isn't so much a tour as it is a story-telling session in the middle of the brewery. Every so often, if the brew master sees too many empty glasses, he stops the tour for some refills. But all good things must come to an end. Shelley and I took the bus back into town and ended up at the Red Dog saloon and met some new friends that happened to be on the same cruise, and surprisingly, close to our age. It's a nice little bar with some live music and plenty of Alaskan Amber.

More pictures of Juneau? Go to Picasa.