Our sole planned excursion in Juneau was to the Mendenhall Glacier. The driver of our bus provided a commentary on Juneau sites as he drove, then left us at the glacier to organize our own time there.

We decided to go to the main viewpoint, then take the one mile hike up to Nugget Falls, the waterfall that can be seen beside the glacier.

The glacier was beautiful, but Nugget Falls took my breath away. The water roared down the cliff with a power that I found very impressive, perhaps because we were so close to the falls once we reached them. Or perhaps it was because from a distance the falls look small against the immensity of the glacier beside them. I don’t know. I stood and gaped and was very glad I had the opportunity to see them.

After we returned to Juneau we had lunch at the Red Dog Café near the harbour area, then walked up a steep hill to St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church. On our way there and back, we had a chance to see some of the interesting buildings and sites around town. Juneau is a gold rush city, so most of it was built in the twentieth century. There were some attractive early 20^th century clapboard buildings, as well as some in the Art Deco style, but most of the construction was mid-century.

Juneau is the capital of Alaska. We weren’t able to visit the State capital building though, or even really get an idea of what it looks like, as it is under restoration and all wrapped up in sheathing, but we stopped to take a picture of the Art Deco Stewart Legislative Office Building beside it. Later we came upon Juneau’s City Hall, a low-rise building that looks like a 1970s commercial space, except for a large wall mural in the Native style.

As the day wore on the cooler temperatures and overcast of the morning gave way to sunshine and heat, so after we returned to the Island Princess we capped off our day with a dip in the outdoor pool and a soak in one of the hot tubs. A fun day!