day 27 - whale watching in Juneau

Thursday June 29– Day 27 of trip – Deanna’s birthday – and whale watching tour

Written by Tori “Eldest child of Erik and Lilly”

We awoke late this morning in the trailers - late being not earlier than 5AM (as seen by the fathers of this trip). An exception was made for today though as little sleep was had yesterday. Consequently, we headed out to the whale watching tour on a very tight schedule. After nearly leaving without Shane and Erik (parking the caravan) all nine of us got on the boat and began the search for whales. We were not disappointed. The tour brought us right up into a pod of Humpback Whales, and we spent several hours watching them blow (take a breath making a spray of water and whale mucus- my favorite). The most exciting- and most photogenic- moments were when the whales would dive, flipping their tails out of the water majestically. No full breaches (when a whale launches its upper body out of the water) apparently, they only do that when they are in Hawaii (possible next trip, maybe? Please?) but an awesome sight nonetheless.

After whale watching, the tour dropped us off at Mendenhall glacier. Many beautiful pictures have been taken of the blue ice, which is unfortunately retreating much faster than it naturally should. After initial pictures from a distance, we took a hike to Nugget Falls and a closer view of the glacier. And here is where the mischief begins. Shane was carrying a large hiking backpack and foolishly left the top compartment opened, so Erik began slipping a few extra items in. Shane failed to notice the water bottles and coffee travel mugs that were carefully added to his load. We reached Nugget Falls and got lots of pictures of it and of the huge Mendenhall Glacier- including pictures of eating ice, vomiting glaciers, and general jack-legging. While parents were distracted, Amanda grew her rock collection by slipping stones into her boots. On the walk back, mischief to Shane’s pack escalated. Much of the expanded stone collection trickled in, preceded by giggles and snorts of laughter. It culminated when Erik attached a Luke-sized tree branch to the pack without Shane’s knowledge. In fact, everyone in the area noticed but him.

"I don't have any friends" sign

Tourists paused to stare and only Amanda’s careful shushing kept anyone from alerting him. He was even reported to a park ranger for “taking from the forest” the ranger only laughed. He eventually took the pack off, but didn’t notice the tree branch till he went to put it back on. A good laugh was had by most (guess who wasn’t laughing).

Mendenhall Glacier and calf

Next, we went into town and looked around in the shops, where there were copious amounts of carvings, jewelry, and magnets. Shane treated everyone to ice cream- delicious huckleberry flavor was appreciated. We also had brownies with more ice cream after dinner in celebration of Deanna’s birthday.

Also, when shopping for groceries we discovered catfish fillets that cost a dollar more than salmon fillets. A DOLLAR more than SALMON. Made relaxing to a salmon dinner that much more sweet.

Overall, enjoying the Alaskan life, looking forward to more of it.