Juneau

Juneau is the capital city of Alaska. Alaskans refer to it as "little San Francisco" It has narrow streets, steep hills and colorful buildings. 

We went out on a whale watching boat in Juneau and they told us we "may" see a whale or two during our adventure. 

Then we saw this... 13 humpback whales, over and over again. 

 They were "bubble feeding". The group herds a school of fish, releasing bubbles to confuse the fish and keep them together. The ring of bubbles is visible on the surface just before the whales come up. Then, as one, the whales come up at 45 degree angles to feed. It was incredible to see. 

 Next stop was the Mendenhall Glacier. It is 12 miles long and located in Tongass National Forest. 

 No trip to Juneau is complete without a trip to the Red Dog Saloon downtown

View of Juneau and our cruise ship from across the bay

Twisted Fish Company goes down as the BEST clam chowder I have EVER eaten. We have even called since returning home to see if they can ship to CA. Sadly, we had no luck. 

 I rushed back onto the ship that night to watch a presentation by Libby Riddles, the first woman to ever win the Iditarod. If you don't know what the Iditarod is, it is a sled dog race from Anchorage to Nome Alaska that is held in March each year. 1,049 miles through the Alaskan wilderness. (go watch the movie Iron Will). Libby spoke on an Alaskan cruise when I was 9 years old. She became my hero. I was set on racing in the Iditarod someday. I read her biography and did every single school report I could on Ms. Libby Riddles. (At some point I realized I hated camping/animals so that was never going to happen...)As I was exiting the theater she was right next to me and started up a conversation, I was relaying to her how much she inspired my 9 year old self. She pulled me to the front of line of people waiting to see her and took a picture with me and signed the children's book she wrote that I had purchased for my nephew earlier that day. Thanks Libby!

 There was the most beautiful sunset when leaving Juneau. Me attempting to capture it.