Wednesday, June 23 - There's a Reason Why Juneau is in a Rainforest......

Woke up this morning to grey skies and a light rain in Juneau this morning. Went up and had another good breakfast (made to order omelets!) and got ready for our day exploring Mendenhall Glacier. We had no set plan, were just going to take a bus to the glacier and spend the day on the many hiking trails in the area. Well.......down the gangplank we went, and out into the POURING rain!! Didn't look that bad from ship! We decided to change our plan and starting investigating bus tours. We ended up on one that was leaving in just a few minutes and it was definitely a good choice. We were on a school bus (but with better seats) with 9 others. Again, a very chatty and informative tour guide who drove us first around the city of Juneau (that doesn't take long!) and then out to the Mendenhall Glacier. The downtown area is actually quite picturesque as the city is built right against the mountain, so there are some very steep streets (some were just a set of stairs!). We drove past the capitol building, Governor's mansion, Alaska State Museum, etc.
We got off the bus at the glacier and were able to stay for an hour. It was definitely too miserable out to do much hiking, but we did walk down to the "photo point" and then warmed ourselves up in the visitor's center, looking at the exhibits there. Everything was definitely green and lush in the area (for good reason!) and would be very pleasant on a nicer day. The shuttle picked us up and we headed back into town after passing through the "valley" where 2/3 of the city's population lives and most of the major shopping is. After leaving the shuttle, we walked over to the capitol building via the State Office Building (enter on the 1st floor, take the elevator to the 8th, get out, and the capitol is a block away).
We took a tour, where the guide, after learning we were from Texas, was thrilled to show up the picture that showed the state of Alaska superimposed over the entire US, where you can see that Alaska is MUCH bigger than Texas!! The capitol, however is much smaller....and has no dome! We made a quick stop at a very old Russian Orthodox church and then back to the ship. After a late lunch, we did some laundry and had some time to rest and dry out from the day. Dinner was very delicious - I had seafood pate, roasted tomato soup, lobster and shrimp, and chocolate pudding pie for dessert. Instead of going to the comedy/hypnotist show tonight, we went to the lounge and watched 3 couples play the "Newlywed/Not-so-Newlywed Game", which was really funny. One more shore day - Ketchikan tomorrow. Can we hope for a little less rain??