Our next port of call was Juneau, Alaska.  Juneau is the only state capital in the United States that is not accessible by road.  It is only accessible by water or air.  Juneau was once home to three of the largest gold mines in the world.  The mines are now closed and Juneau is home to over 30,000 people.  With an area of over 3,200 square miles, it is the third largest municipality (by area) in the world.

We arrived in Juneau early in the morning and would be there until late afternoon.  Since we had most of the day, we booked two shore excursions.  The first excursion put us aboard a helicopter for a flight to the Norris Glacier.  It was a rainy and overcast day so we thought it was possible the excursion would be cancelled.  But we were told it was a “go” so went to the heliport by bus, donned snow boots, received a safety briefing, and then boarded the helicopter for the flight to the glacier.  These are some of the pictures I took while we were en route – the harbor in Juneau (including our cruise ship), glaciers, mountains, and helicopters that had already arrived.

We landed on Norris Glacier where there is a camp of huskies and Iditarod race veteran mushers.  We were able to meet one of the mushers and interact with the dogs.

Then we boarded a dog sled for a ride on the glacier.  One of the mushers led a team of dogs and we went along for the ride.  There was another couple in our group.  We took turns riding in the same sled as the musher and one that was pulled behind her.  These are pictures we took while we were riding, including one of another group.

The picture immediately below is of the sled on which we rode.  When we finished our ride, it was time to return to Juneau.  We heard the helicopter approach and then leave.  It had become so foggy that it wasn’t safe for the helicopter to land.  So we got another short ride around the camp and were able to see the tents where the mushers lived and ate.  The tents were on skis and were heated by propane tanks.  After a delay of about an hour, our helicopter was able to land and we returned to the heliport and then to the area where our ship was docked.

We had booked a second shore excursion and weren’t sure if we would be back in time for that excursion due to the delay at the dog musher camp.  But we made it – we literally got off the bus that brought us back from the heliport and boarded another one that would take us to the starting point of our next excursion.  This time we would be off to Taku Lodge by float plane.  We actually did this same excursion when we made our first trip to Alaska in 2006.  We debated booking it again – our expectations were very high and we hoped a repeat of the adventure would live up to our memories.  We were not disappointed.  We boarded a small float plane – each of us had a window that gave us good views of the glaciers below.  In the last picture, it is easy to see why glaciers are sometimes called rivers of ice.

We landed on the Taku River – this area is in the Tongass National Forest.  We were 35 miles from Juneau, but if we went up river 12 miles, we would be in Canada.  As we approached, we had views of the Hole in the Wall Glacier.  This is one of the few advancing glaciers in Alaska.  The log cabin at Taku Lodge was built in 1923.   Taku Lodge is on the National Register of Historic Places.  Shortly after our arrival, our hosts were cooking Wild Alaskan King Salmon on the grill.  We would enjoy the salmon along with several side dishes served in the log cabin.

We were not the only ones to notice that our salmon was cooking.  Soon after it was removed from the grill, a bear came from a tree, approached the grill, and enjoyed a few scraps and the juices from the salmon.

After enjoying our lunch, we took a short guided nature walk.

These last pictures are of the Hole in the Wall Glacier as viewed from in front of the log cabin, a float plane taking off from the Taku River, and a glacier that looked like it had recently calved that we saw on our return trip.  As I mentioned earlier, we chose this shore excursion both in 2006 and 2012.  We thoroughly enjoyed it both times and would highly recommend the Taku Lodge experience.