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Juneau is the capitol of Alaska. It has a population of about 30,000 people. It can only be reached by sea, air, or (as our guide will tell us) birth canal. To get to Juneau we must head north along Baranof Island and then past the entrance to Glacier Bay. We travel through Icy Strait and into Lynch Canal, which isn’t a canal at all, but a narrow stretch of water on the Inner Passage. We turn right and then left up increasingly narrow straits. A final left turn reveals the city at the head of an arm of water. Two cruise ships are already in port, and we warp into a space between the two. A fourth ship, coming behind us, anchors in the channel. Behind the city we see snow capped mountains receding into the distance as the sun rises on another clear, warm day. By 8:30 the gangplank is down and we are ready to head for shore where the ever present buses await.

Today we are taking the Mendenhall Glacier and Juneau City tour at a cost of $39.00 each. The tour is scheduled to last for three hours. Other tours include the Juneau Fly Out Fishing Adventure ($369.00/6 1/2 hours), the Native Canoe Paddle to Mendenhall Glacier ($119.00/3 1/2 hours), the Wildlife and Whale Quest ($109.00/4 hours – sightings guaranteed), and the Four Glacier and Sled Dog Adventure by Helicopter ($389.00/4 hours - very limited capacity). Travelers who are more experienced than we are or more adventurous can reduce the price and, perhaps, improve the quality of their shore excursions by booking them directly rather than through HAL. The Internet provides plenty of information about tour providers in each port of call. In addition, a wonderful guide to Alaska called The Milepost (http://www.milepost.com/) has ads for dozens of tours and expeditions, which can be booked directly. On this trip, we have relied completely on offerings from HAL.

Our tour bus driver, a very pleasant young man born in Alaska whose parents ran one of the tourist adventures for many

years, takes us through downtown Juneau on our way to the Mendenhall Glacier. Juneau, the state capitol, has had the advantage of state spending in building office buildings as the core of the state's administrative workings. The government also provides steady, reasonably paid employment. Despite these advantages, the town appears, from shipboard, to be a somewhat seedy and rundown place. It doesn't improve much close up. Storefronts on the main tourist streets don’t have the spiffy sprightliness of Sitka. An old gold mine looks like a bombed out building on the side of a mountain where it dominates the view as we approach the city. Built on the side of a mountain, Juneau has steep, short streets. Many of the houses terraced up the hills can only be reached by climbing steep stairways maintained by the city. The bus wends its way along through steep streets, headed north out of town. Juneau has 47 miles of paved roads from north to south.

We drive past Fred Myers and Wal Mart. The stores provide free shuttle service for cruise ship crew members to these stores. All day long the shuttle runs back and forth. Crew members come back carrying boxes full of food stuffs as well as new electronic gear. We travel along the Gastineau Channel and turn right at a traffic signal, heading past suburban housing and rushing silt-filled streams toward the glacier. For $1.50 we could have taken a city bus to within a mile and a half of the glacier, but then we would have forfeited the interesting patter of the driver.

The Mendenhall Glacier lies within the huge Tongas National Forest, a 17 million acre temperate rainforest covering almost all of southeast Alaska. Within the Forest lies the Juneau Icefield, 1500 square miles of ice feeding 38 major valley glaciers, one of which is Mendenhall, named after a former USGS superintendent. Since the mid-1700s the Mendenhall Glacier has receded about two miles, but in recent years the glacier has moved back and forward. It seems difficult to determine whether the glaciers are responding to natural climatic change or to global warming. The glacial ice calving into Mendenhall Lake today started high in the ice field perhaps 250 years ago. During this time snow has fallen upon snow building up tremendous pressures which turn the snow into extremely dense ice glowing bright shades of blue as they approach the glacier face or open up into dangerous crevasses along the surface. The visitors center provides a film and interesting interactive displays about the natural history of glaciers. We then walk out to the viewing area.

The day is crystal clear. The glacier’s face shows its rugged surface and deep scars where it has calved into the lake. Ice bergs float away and head toward Mendenhall River as they slowly melt. An ice cave, opened by the calving shows dark blue against the prevailing dirty white. To the right, a waterfall cascades over rocks into the lake. A path leads to the base of the waterfall, but we haven’t time before re-boarding the bus to walk there. Despite the crowds, we obtain marvelous views from the viewing area. Helicopters fly over, headed for the glacier surface with people from the cruise boats. We head back to the visitor center to watch the film and then head to the bus. Somehow, what with johnny stops, I lose contact with Irene and Mom and get stuck between the bus and the center looking for them. Irene finally shouts for me from across the street and I scurry over to board the bus, the last one aboard.

Our next stop is the Macauley Salmon Hatchery where every year 140 million salmon are hatched and released into the ocean. Several privately operated non-profit hatcheries have been responsible for the renaissance in Coho, King, Pink, Chum and Sockeye Salmon in the Pacific Ocean. The salmon return to their stream of origin to spawn where the hatchery removes the eggs from ripe females and fertilizes them with sperm from the males. The fry are then raised at the hatchery for over a year, imprinted with the chemical signature of their home stream, and eventually acclimated to salt water into which they are then released. Three or four years later about 1.5 to 3 percent of the released salmon return to spawn in the same stream and the process is repeated. The rest are either eaten by other species, caught by sport or

commercial fishermen, or die in the ocean. Pacific salmon grow and develop in the ocean rather than being farm raised as are Atlantic salmon, yielding a firmer, better tasting flesh.

Eagles perch in the trees behind the hatchery, waiting for a fish to be caught on the shore. One flies right over our heads and perches on a pier about fifty yards away. I fumble for my camera but miss my best opportunity to snag a close-up of a Bald Eagle. We walk through the gift shop where smoked salmon is sold for consumption or mailing as gifts to the lower forty-eight. This tour and the gift shop provide major funding for this important resource development project. We return to the ship, hearing the Moose Joke for the fourth time.

It seems a young man seeking employment in Alaska arrived a few weeks before the tourist season reached full employment. HAL, trying to help him, offered to have him dress as a moose and step out of the woods as tour buses passed in order to assure that cruise passengers saw some wildlife. Knowing he only had to wear the moose suit for a few weeks, the young man accepted. On his first day, he stepped out of the woods to show himself as the first bus stopped along the road. Visitors watched and waved. When the second bus arrived, he stepped out of the woods again. As he shook his antlers, he noticed the passengers weren't looking at him, but over his shoulder. He looked and saw a bear coming out of the woods. Quickly he rose to his hind feet and began to run. Soon he heard the bear's footsteps pounding along behind him. The bear caught him and wrestled him to the ground. As they wrestled, the bear put his mouth close to the man's face and said, "Will you stop running or we'll both lose our jobs."

After lunch we head back down the gangway to do a little shopping. Today is a bright, sunny day. Typically, Juneau has 222 rainy days a year and in 2001 it rained 91.32 inches downtown. Summer average highs are between 45 and 65 degrees. Today's high will re

ach into the low 80s and everyone is happy. In addition to several thousand tourists off cruise boats, the streets are teeming with locals. The shops in Juneau seem a little more commercial and a little less refined than the nice ones in Sitka. The town seems a bit on the run down side, and Mom quickly tires of shopping. I find an Internet shop which charges much less than the ship for access to a high speed line. Mom and Irene go back to the ship while I walk and take pictures. I'm looking for a spot where I can get a good photo of the ships at the city dock. I climb one of the wooden staircases and find a pretty good vantage point. I also notice the high traffic in float planes arriving and departing from a dock along the waterfront. Rather large, heavy planes which must carry nine or ten passengers are busily buzzing about. These can’t all be taking cruise passengers on flight seeing trips. Many are providing transportation to remote spots for people with business in Juneau. I return to the ship to pick up my computer and go back into town to download e-mail.

As we are sitting at the dinner table, we pull away from our dock, make a careful turn in the harbor, and head down the Inner Passage towards Ketchikan, 275 miles south of us. This evenings entertainment in the Rubens Lounge is a British magician who seems pretty good, but puts me to sleep. I slip out of the lounge and head up to the Crows Nest to watch scenery and look for whales. Other entertainment on board ship today has been: the artist in residence program. Snowball Jackpot Bingo, "Name That Tune" with Shaun, Newlywed/Not-So-Newlywed Game, 50s/60s Sock Hop, and Dancing to Our DJ. Movies in the theater are "Kate and Leopold" and "The Count of Monte Cristo." The casino is open when we are not in port as are the shops and the bars. There's plenty for people to do that has nothing to do with seeing Alaska, watching for whales, or shopping in town.